0:07

Hi and welcome back to Nighty Night,

0:09

Bedtime Stories to Keep You Away. I'm

0:12

your host, Rabia Jadri. I

0:14

have to admit, today's story is maybe one of

0:16

my favorites because of the tension

0:18

that it created in me in

0:21

trying to figure out who the real

0:23

victim is here. Here

0:29

Comes Back by E.F.

0:31

Benson. During

0:44

five years of childless marriage, Nellie

0:46

Mostyn had lived in bondage to

0:49

the fancied ailments and literary industry

0:51

of her husband. For

0:53

the last three of these, Christopher had been

0:55

engaged on a life and a definitive edition

0:58

of the lyrics of the most obscure

1:00

of Elizabethan poets, the

1:02

little-known and less-read Frances Holder,

1:05

and morning after morning it had been Nellie's

1:08

occupation to sit with her husband in his

1:10

study, looking up references, copying

1:12

out his notes, receiving his dictation,

1:14

and rising at punctual intervals

1:16

to fetch him his tonic or his

1:19

aspirin or his glass of hot water.

1:22

In the afternoon she took a drive with him

1:24

and was almost equally busy with putting one window

1:26

of the car an inch up or

1:28

the other two inches down with telling

1:31

the chauffeur not to drive so fast or

1:33

a shade faster with adjusting the

1:35

color of Christopher's coat or with

1:37

shifting his hot water bottle. Sometimes

1:40

if it was not too warm or too cold he

1:42

got out to walk for half a mile and

1:44

then she carried his woolen muffler so that he

1:47

could assume it again at a moment's notice if

1:49

the breeze grew chilly or the sun went behind

1:51

clouds. When he

1:53

got back into the car he would say, well

1:55

we've had a famous walk today, Petsey, and

1:58

then perhaps he would doze a little. Though which is

2:00

large head. Nodding and low lying on that

2:03

wrinkled neck. Which. Was so like that

2:05

of a plucked chicken. Or. He had

2:07

little tenderness as for her of much the same

2:09

nature as those of an elderly woman has for

2:11

her lap dog. Little stroll games

2:13

and squeezes and padding. but pet

2:15

names and baby language. Her.

2:19

Youth and vigor were always tonic to him

2:21

and he was eager to get home and

2:23

set to work again. It

2:26

was so this afternoon on this day

2:29

of peerless. Spring weather. As. They

2:31

passed through woods tapestry would primrose and anemone,

2:33

and more than once she had to use

2:35

the speaking to have to tell the chauffeur

2:38

to go a shade saucer. For. Christopher

2:40

would like to clear two hours for

2:42

dictation between t time and seven o'clock.

2:44

When. He always rested for half an hour. If.

2:47

He fell asleep. It was Melees duty to give

2:49

him five minutes law and then wake him up.

2:53

And this evening, Patsy He said it

2:55

may be though, I promise nothing. But

2:57

I saw have a little surprise for you. Ah,

3:01

I think we will have the window quite up. The

3:03

spring weather is often treacherous. The.

3:05

Couldn't Elegans? There's a considerable dropped.

3:08

A. Surprise I was saying. How

3:10

excited you will be when I tell you now

3:12

you should get a word more out of me.

3:14

Don't tease me into telling you, my little

3:16

rascal girl. They.

3:19

Had left the woods see they would spring

3:21

below them and were mounting to flank of

3:23

a hill where the village of Poll Street

3:25

stood on a shelf of the high down.

3:27

A. Couple of dozen shots mind the entrance to

3:29

it. And. After that came a circle.

3:31

Of brick built houses around the

3:34

green antique. And mellow. A

3:36

survival of more spacious days when land

3:38

and leisure we're not so dearly bought

3:40

as now. It was at

3:42

the farthest of these that their motor drew up.

3:45

Beyond. It stood. the church. the graveyard

3:47

of which came up to the low garden wall. And

3:50

below the ground sell rapidly away towards

3:52

the woods to which they had passed.

3:55

T. Was ready and before five. o'clock

3:57

christopher with it's rugs spread over his

4:00

knees, and his notes in front of him had

4:02

begun to dictate. They

4:04

worked at the big table in his study, lined

4:06

with books, and by the fireside was

4:08

the rocking chair in which he sat when Nellie

4:10

read over to him some finished section. A pause

4:14

occasionally broke the even flow of his voice when

4:16

he sipped his hot water. Nellie

4:19

took down his words automatically. Her

4:21

hand had formed a habit of accurate

4:23

transcription, and she could unleash her thoughts

4:25

to wander where they willed. Today

4:27

they were alive with the sense of spring.

4:30

They went dancing with the daffodils, coming

4:32

back only now and then to supervise

4:34

her manual employment. Her blood

4:36

was alert with April, and here

4:38

she sat day after day, so many of

4:40

them, over her sapless employment,

4:43

without lot or portion in the rights of

4:45

her own spring season, and in the

4:47

briskness of her youth. Never

4:50

did any of their neighbours, with one

4:52

exception, cross the threshold of the joyless

4:54

house, for after the morning's work

4:57

Christopher could not contemplate the strain of

4:59

a guest at lunch, who might linger

5:01

unduly and curtail the hours of his

5:03

motor-drive. He

5:05

was followed by work again, and after that

5:07

he did not feel up to more than

5:09

a quiet, frugal dinner with a little reading

5:12

allowed till bedtime. Nor could

5:14

he accept hospitalities from others if

5:16

it was thus impossible to return them. Besides,

5:19

Hostesses, ignorant of the sad plight of

5:21

his digestion, might provide a dinner which

5:24

would be just so many plates of

5:26

poison to him, and Nellie, of

5:28

course, could not go out and leave him alone. All

5:32

this had long been fermenting within her, a perilous

5:35

brew, and a sense of spring

5:37

today had caused it to bubble afresh. It

5:41

may be easily conjectured who was

5:44

the one person from outside who

5:46

entered this hermitage. Dr.

5:48

Bernard Eaves paid a visit here regularly

5:50

once a week to see that no disquieting

5:52

symptoms were sprouting to approve the

5:55

continuance of the current dietary or

5:57

suggested modification, And

5:59

in addition to this, He would usually some

6:01

and once or twice between his six

6:03

to visit to dispel chance alarms. He

6:06

was a young man. Lately. Come

6:08

here and crist for. Had the highest

6:10

opinion of his abilities. He

6:12

was cheerful. He had a lasting i

6:15

which became suitably grave when he tapped

6:17

impressed and brightened up again as he

6:19

congratulated his patient on his general soundness.

6:23

When. The examination was over. Interviewed Nellie

6:25

and gave her the prescribed commissariat for

6:27

the next week. Hardly

6:30

a word at President of the personal

6:32

import had passed. Between them. But

6:34

both knew that there was fire kindling.

6:39

She recalled herself to her work. Opposite

6:41

her that her husband with his dell

6:43

that skullcap on his head, fingering the

6:45

scanty grace brown beard that drip from

6:47

his chin. Though. He was

6:49

not yet system he appeared and old

6:52

man. His. Mouth had a see

6:54

now droop. His eyes at

6:56

unfocused watery vagueness, his hands

6:58

creased would wrinkled skyn. Fresh

7:01

from her April thoughts. Nellie. Suddenly

7:03

shuttered with a qualm of whore and with

7:05

at the sight of him. Is

7:10

custom was to spread slips of paper with his

7:12

notes written on them over the table in front.

7:14

Of his oak armchair. Is

7:16

dictation was founded on these. And

7:18

as each was finished with, he tore it up. Now.

7:22

There was but one left and he was the getting

7:24

to tear it. For.

7:26

Me he said. It. Will

7:28

be sufficient reward to have rescued from

7:30

oblivion one who whatever his feelings we

7:32

must consider to be one of the

7:34

sweetest minor singers. In the Choir of English

7:36

Melody. Nearly

7:39

took down his words and paused for the

7:41

next. Then she

7:43

understood. Oh

7:45

Christopher she said i see what

7:47

your surprises The books finished. He.

7:51

Rose with a chuckle of delight and a

7:53

fondling hand. Clever Nalley he

7:55

said. What is it? Not

7:57

wonderful? Little. day think when three years

7:59

ago I set myself this great task that I

8:01

should have the strength to finish it. Tomorrow

8:05

Nellikins we will have a holiday, and

8:07

then we must buckle to again. You

8:09

shall do the talking then, lazy girl, reading it all

8:11

over to me from the beginning, just

8:14

for verbal corrections, and then off it goes to

8:16

be typed. Shall Christopher give

8:18

Nellie Ickle a kiss for her cleverness and guessing?

8:21

Such a bright little petsey. The

8:26

reading of the finished manuscript duly began

8:29

after a day's holiday. Christopher

8:31

found it less fatiguing to listen than to

8:33

dictate, and an after-dinner session was

8:35

added to the usual hours for work. Never

8:39

was such progress made, until

8:41

one evening when progress seized

8:43

altogether. Christopher

8:46

was seized with an attack of severe pain

8:48

which hot water failed to soothe. Dr.

8:50

Eaves was sent for. He

8:52

recommended an examination by X-ray. That

8:55

left little doubt that his patient was suffering

8:58

from malignant disease, and no doubt

9:00

at all that an operation was impossible. One

9:04

morning some six months later Bernard

9:07

Eaves had paid his daily visit to the sick room

9:09

and was now giving his report to Nellie. He

9:13

has very little pain, he was saying, because

9:16

he's only really half-conscious. It's

9:18

like an uneasy dream, probably to him, not

9:20

more than that. What's

9:22

so astonishing is his vitality. A

9:25

few months ago I should have said that it was quite

9:27

impossible that he should live through the summer. Nellie's

9:30

face was like a mask, for

9:33

weeks now that hardness had been habitual to

9:35

it. Tell me what

9:37

you expect, she said. I

9:39

don't know what to expect, he said. All

9:41

I can do is keep him free from pain. Any

9:44

recovery is absolutely out of the question,

9:46

but his resistance amazes me. Suddenly

9:50

the mask dropped from her face. She

9:53

got up, quivering and shaking. Bernard

9:57

I can't bear it much longer, she said.

10:00

It's a daily horror and something is giving way

10:02

inside me under it. His eyes

10:04

are like the eyes of a dead man who is

10:06

yet terribly alive. It's a miracle, you say, that

10:08

he's alive at all. What if another miracle

10:10

happens and he gets well? I simply

10:13

couldn't go through more years of it." Nellie,

10:17

darling, he can't get well, said Bernard.

10:19

You may take my word for that. Of course,

10:22

for everybody's sake. His,

10:24

yours, mine. One hopes

10:26

it will be over soon." She

10:28

shook her head. She found no comfort

10:30

there. "'And sometimes I

10:33

think he knows how I shudder at him,' she

10:35

said, and why I long for it to

10:37

be over. He looks from me

10:39

to you then back again. When

10:41

people go on living on the brink of death

10:44

like that, who knows but that the veil of

10:46

material things wears thin and they

10:48

see the things of the spirit. I

10:51

believe he knows." He

10:54

looked up at her sharply. "'Come,

10:57

Nellie, you're talking nonsense,' he said. It's

10:59

an awful strain on you, I know, but

11:01

you can keep a hold on yourself and you must. I

11:04

wish you could go away till it's all over but

11:06

that's impossible. Remember that he's hardly

11:08

conscious and when he gives those long looks

11:11

at you and bed at me, he's like

11:13

someone half asleep who sees figures by his

11:15

bed. They are no more

11:17

than dreams are to us. Besides,

11:19

how could he know? Utterly

11:21

impossible." The

11:25

nurse who attended Christopher went out for a couple of

11:27

hours in the afternoon, leaving Nellie to

11:29

sit in his room or in the dressing room

11:31

adjoining. Usually he lay in

11:33

a druggid torpor, but she had

11:35

given instructions to give him a dose from an

11:37

opiate mixture if he got restless or showed

11:40

any signs of being in pain. This

11:43

afternoon when she was with him he

11:45

began muttering and turning in bed, and

11:48

she went to the table where the bottle stood. There

11:52

were three doses left in it, and

11:54

she poured the whole into his glass

11:57

and gave it to him. minutes,

12:00

he was quiet again, and after

12:02

some half hour she told a servant to ring

12:04

up Dr. Eves and bid him come at

12:06

once. In ten minutes

12:08

more he was with her, and she

12:10

pointed to the empty bottle. Bernard,

12:13

I gave him three doses of

12:16

the opiate, she said. He

12:18

stared at her, incredulous. It's

12:21

quite true, she said. He

12:24

rushed back to his surgery a hundred yards

12:26

away, where she dispensed drugs and brought back

12:28

with him certain apparatus and a bottle unconnected

12:30

with them. But his

12:32

efforts to revive the patient were unavailing,

12:35

and when the nurse came in from her walk, Christopher

12:38

Mostyn was dead, and

12:41

in the bottle of opiate mixture were three

12:44

doses. A

12:46

sudden collapse, he said to her, such as I have

12:48

been expecting for many days. This

12:58

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match, limited by state law. The

14:01

funeral was over and Nellie came back to

14:03

the house feeling that the last rim of

14:05

the shadow of the eclipse years had passed

14:07

off even as the blinded windows

14:09

once more led in the day. She

14:13

had no touch of remorse or regret for what she

14:15

had done. Christopher had

14:17

been doomed to death and she had but

14:19

freed him from further days of drugged

14:21

discomfort. Since

14:23

that afternoon she had not seen Bernard for

14:26

he had received news almost in the same

14:28

hour of his mother's serious illness and had

14:30

gone off at once. Nor

14:32

had she heard from him since but

14:35

nothing was more natural than that he should not

14:37

write to her just yet. He

14:39

knew everything. He had been prompt

14:41

and wise in filling up the bottle to the level at

14:43

which it had stood when the nurse went out and

14:46

she felt that by that action he had accepted

14:48

what she had done. Before

14:51

he left he had written the certificate of

14:53

death giving malignant disease followed by heart failure

14:55

as the cause and when

14:58

he came back the past would be dead and

15:00

done with. They would have to wait

15:02

some months you suppose possibly a year before

15:04

they married. The

15:08

day was closing in chilly with flaws

15:10

of rain that tapped against the windows. Otherwise

15:13

the house was quite quiet. No

15:17

muffled sounds came from the bedroom immediately

15:19

above nor was she presently hear the

15:21

step of the nurse on the stairs coming down to

15:23

give her news of the patient. Often

15:26

about this hour he had grown restless and asked

15:28

to see her and then he

15:30

would lie staring at her. But

15:33

as Bernard had said perhaps not knowing

15:35

her it was an infinite

15:38

relief to sit here secure from

15:40

these ghastly errands and listen to the

15:42

rain on the darkening windows and

15:44

the soft flapping of the flame on the hearth.

15:49

Then there came to her ears the sound of

15:51

an electric bell and her

15:53

heart leaked for Bernard might have

15:56

returned. She

15:58

heard the step of a servant in the passage outside. night,

16:00

but instead of turning the corner to the front door, it

16:03

went on towards Christopher's study. After

16:07

a pause it returned and the door opened. What

16:10

was that bell? she asked. Not the

16:12

front door? No, ma'am,

16:15

it was the bell from the study, said the maid. I

16:17

suppose you were there. You

16:20

must have made a mistake, said Nellie. See if it is

16:22

not the front door. The

16:25

maid did not come back, so there could have been no one

16:27

at the door, and Nellie rose and

16:29

went to the study. It

16:32

was nearly dark now, and as she turned on

16:34

the switch for the light, she

16:36

thought she heard a creak from the

16:38

oak-rocking chair where for so many mornings

16:40

of work Christopher had sat over his

16:42

notes. She

16:45

looked and saw that the

16:47

chair was oscillating slightly as if

16:49

someone had just got up from it. For

16:53

a moment she stared at it motionless

16:55

and tense, but that familiar movement

16:58

conveyed to her the sense of Christopher's

17:00

presence in a manner terribly

17:02

vivid. Had

17:04

he stood there visibly reaching up for a book

17:06

from the shelves, she could not have received a

17:09

sharper impression of him. She

17:11

glanced around the room, almost expecting to

17:13

see him or hear his voice, but

17:15

there was nothing, just a gleam

17:17

of light on the big polished table and

17:19

lying there on his blotting pad a

17:22

duplicate of the printed proofs of his

17:24

book, which had arrived only a week or

17:26

two ago, when he was past all

17:28

thought of them. The

17:30

movement of the rocking chair died away, but

17:33

the shock to her nerves remained, and,

17:35

determined to control and master them, she

17:37

moved about the room and finally went to the

17:40

window and looked out. The

17:42

rain had ceased, and a splash of sullen

17:44

red in the west showed that the sun

17:46

had already set. Just

17:48

outside lay the bounding wall of the

17:50

churchyard with its rows of headstones, and

17:53

rows at hand the mound of earth

17:55

that marked the most recent of the

17:57

graves. In this queer dim

18:00

light the dark soil looked like a hole cut

18:02

in the grass, as if the grave

18:04

had never been filled in. She

18:08

drew the blind, ran the curtains along

18:10

their pole, and left the room locking

18:12

the door. Her

18:15

nervous perturbation passed off, and she

18:17

fell down for a tranquil, undisturbed

18:19

evening. Tomorrow she thought,

18:22

rain or find, she would go for a

18:24

long tramp on the downs, and by tomorrow

18:26

night perhaps Bernard would be back, or

18:29

she would have at least heard from him. If

18:31

he was back he would be sure to let her

18:33

know, and he must dine with her. She

18:36

would tell him about that chair so strangely

18:38

rocking, and he would laugh at her for

18:40

imagining anything of the sort. Some

18:48

germ of fear still lurked in her

18:50

mind, for she wanted to be assured that it

18:52

was but her eyes that had played her a trick,

18:55

or her tread on a loose board that had caused

18:57

the rocking movement. She

18:59

dozed a little, she read a little, basking

19:01

in the sense that no call could come for

19:03

her. She told her parlor maid

19:06

that she need not sit up. By

19:09

eleven o'clock she was ready for bed,

19:11

and she went along the passage, quenching

19:13

the lights past Christopher's study to the

19:15

stairs. Opposite

19:18

the door she paused, that germ

19:20

of fear had fructified, and

19:22

she must destroy its brood. So

19:25

with the summons to her courage she unlocked the

19:28

door and entered. But

19:30

now there was no need to press the switch, for

19:33

his green shaded reading lamp by the rocking

19:35

chair was burning, and

19:37

on the table beside it lay the

19:39

printed proofs of his book, and

19:42

the rocking chair was again oscillating

19:45

to and fro, as

19:47

if its invisible occupant had risen on her

19:49

entry. Even

19:52

as she stood there, feeling her

19:54

hands grow cold and moist, that

19:56

spectral light faded, And she

19:59

was looking into the black. News of an unlit

20:01

room. But. something

20:03

stirred there. She

20:06

heard the same time the footfall on

20:08

the carpet. Pacing. There

20:10

and pausing in the darkness. She.

20:18

Woke next morning to the radiance of

20:21

a crisp October day. And what

20:23

was even better to an indifference to that

20:25

which last night had made her shape as

20:27

with an egg? What did it matter? After

20:30

all, if the spirit of Christopher are some

20:32

astros semblance of it had survived a crumbling

20:34

and perishing of his body and haunted the

20:36

scene of. His earthly laborers. It.

20:39

Could not hurt her, it could not

20:41

cramp and mummify as he had done

20:43

the life which tangled within her and

20:45

which was now free of. There

20:49

was business to be gone. Through in the morning,

20:51

but she lunged early and set off not

20:53

for one of those good walks of a

20:55

quarter of an hour, but for a long

20:57

swinging circuit of the windy downs. Hour

21:00

after hour she drank. Of the clear

21:03

wine of the sun and open spaces. And

21:05

it was not till dusk was gathering that he

21:07

came back past the village green. But.

21:10

As she let herself into the house, she

21:13

felt that something was waiting for her return.

21:15

And. Her vigor and brisk less began to slip

21:18

from her. They. Were letters

21:20

on the whole table? But.

21:22

The one she looked for was still missing.

21:27

It seemed as if the presence was have

21:29

manifested itself and Christopher study last night. Was.

21:31

Spreading like some chili missed through the

21:34

house. She went

21:36

upstairs to change her walking and tire and

21:38

on her way down again as she passed

21:40

the door of the room where he had

21:42

died. She found that

21:44

it was open. She

21:47

could not imagine who had gone in there. Or

21:50

was it that someone? had come out. She

21:53

looked in. It was dark but

21:55

she heard coming. From the place where the

21:58

she did bed stood a sound. The

22:00

of moaning and muttering very

22:02

st. She

22:04

turned on the light, but the room was

22:07

empty. Only.

22:09

On the table by the bed the stood a bottle.

22:12

And she saw that it was the same,

22:14

which held three doses of the opiate mixture.

22:19

She could have sworn that it had been removed

22:21

with all the other appliances of the sick room.

22:24

And she advanced a step or two with the

22:26

intention of taking it away. But

22:29

some invincible or seized her.

22:32

And she left it standing there. Downstairs.

22:37

For parlor made was bringing in her teeth and

22:39

she. Noticed that the woman look scared

22:41

and white. What's

22:44

the matter? Married She said

22:46

anything wrong. The

22:49

woman looked at her with twitching lips. No

22:51

ma'am she said. Nelly.

22:54

Was a good mistress. She was

22:56

unfriendly confidential terms with her servants.

22:59

I'm Mary she said kindly. Something that

23:01

set you won't you tell me. I

23:04

was shutting up in their half an hour

23:07

ago ma'am she said and I heard someone

23:09

moving about the masters room overhead. And

23:11

ah, perhaps it was you that you had come in

23:14

by the garden gate and I went upstairs to see.

23:17

Nearly gave a little sigh of relief. Ah,

23:20

and you left the door of the room open She

23:22

said. No. Ma'am

23:24

it was open and I shut. It

23:27

said marry. The

23:30

woman went back to the servants' quarters and

23:32

again the house was quiet. But.

23:36

Presently, Nelly rose and went along

23:38

the passage Christopher Study. It.

23:41

Was just because she feared going there that she

23:43

had to do so. Her

23:45

fear was the force that pulled her. She

23:49

unlock the door. And once more, there was no

23:51

need to turn up the light. But.

23:53

The reading lamp by the rocking chair was burning.

23:57

And in the chair with is

23:59

proof. his hand, sat

24:01

Christopher. He

24:05

turned and looked at her, setting

24:08

the chair in oscillation, and

24:11

then she found herself staring into blackness.

24:15

She closed the door and stood leaning

24:17

against the wall outside, bracing herself against

24:19

this wave of terror, cold

24:21

as the arctic seas which streamed over

24:23

her. And

24:26

though she had left him inside the room, yet

24:28

here he was, both beside her in

24:30

the brightly lit passage. As

24:33

she fought against this awful sense of

24:35

his encompassing presence, she heard

24:37

a bell ring somewhere in the house. Was

24:40

he summoning her to come back and read his proofs

24:42

to him? She fled

24:44

from the place back to her sitting room, and

24:47

then there came steps in the passage. There

24:51

was a hand on the door, and in

24:53

panic she crouched in her chair. No,

24:56

no, don't come in. I can't bear it, she

24:58

whimpered. And

25:00

then the door opened, and

25:02

Bernard stood there. She

25:06

flew to him, hands outstretched. Oh,

25:09

Bernard, you've come, you've come, she cried. Oh, I've

25:11

been longing for you. I've been terrified, but that's

25:13

all past now that you're here, but

25:15

I can't stop here. She

25:18

looked at him and her voice died away into silence.

25:22

What is it? She said at length. But

25:25

she knew what it was. He

25:27

tried to speak, but could not. He

25:31

put out his hands to her and drew them back. She

25:34

watched him curiously detached and

25:36

emotionless. I'll tell

25:39

you then, she said, you've

25:41

come to say that you can't see me again, because

25:43

I killed him. She

25:46

moved a step away towards the tea table, and

25:48

then suddenly her terror stilled for the

25:50

moment by Bernard's presence and her love

25:53

for him surged back on her together.

25:57

Bernard, you can't leave me, she said. You

25:59

know what? What I did was merciful. Besides,

26:01

we love each other, and there's more than that. Christopher

26:04

has come back. He's in the house. He

26:06

was in a study last night, though I did not

26:09

see him, and his lamp was lit and his chair

26:11

rocking." Her voice rose.

26:14

"'This afternoon he was in the bedroom where he died,'

26:16

she said. And just now I saw

26:18

him visibly. He's getting more hold over

26:21

me. His grip is tightening, and it's only you

26:23

who can loosen it. He

26:25

knows, and he's trying to keep us apart so that

26:27

he'll get possession of me again, and I

26:29

shall be his. But I'm not

26:31

his. I'm yours. And you must save me

26:34

from him. He can't come

26:36

between us if we are one. He

26:38

mustn't." Her

26:41

voice, which had risen to a scream, died

26:43

away again, and the last

26:46

words were but whispered. Her

26:48

eyes were on Bernard no longer, but

26:51

on some point in the air between them

26:53

and were focused intently on it,

26:56

and he, watching her, saw

26:59

what she was looking at. A

27:02

mist of filmy grey began to form there,

27:05

twining and wreathing within itself and

27:08

growing swiftly more substantial and taking the

27:10

form and outline of a man. Features

27:14

defined themselves on the face,

27:16

blind-looking watery eyes and

27:18

a scanty beard, a bald head covered

27:20

with a black skull cap. From

27:24

being transparent, the spectre assumed a

27:26

seeming solidity. The

27:28

mouth twitched and mumbled as if trying to

27:30

speak. The hands were held

27:32

out as if to sever them. Then

27:36

its solidity melted again. The

27:38

weaving vapours out of which it had

27:40

formed itself grew thin and vanished, and

27:43

the two who were left there were looking at each other,

27:46

white and blanched with a helpless

27:48

horror that stared from their unanswering

27:51

eyes. that

28:00

her dinner was ready. She

28:02

was asleep apparently in her chair by

28:04

the fire and

28:06

on the table by her stood the

28:09

empty bottle which had held three doses

28:11

of the opiate mixture. But

28:18

wait, there's more

28:21

to the story.

28:24

Now many of the stories

28:26

we've shared this season have left relatively little

28:28

gray area in terms of ethical quandaries but

28:31

E.F. Benson's Christopher Came Back leaves

28:33

us with more questions than answers

28:35

about good versus evil. Was

28:38

Christopher a weak defenseless old man forced to

28:40

suffer at the hands of a scheming gold

28:42

digger or was Nellie a

28:44

desperate young woman with no options facing

28:46

years of forced labor and loneliness? Published

28:50

first in England in 1934,

28:52

Christopher Came Back would have been presented

28:54

to audiences at a time and place in

28:56

history in which every reader would have known

28:58

some basic facts about life and the law,

29:01

giving them a very different lens for viewing

29:03

the tale than we have today. Women

29:06

only had the legal right to file for divorce for

29:08

a decade by that time and even

29:10

then the law required that the wife

29:12

demonstrate that she had been subjected to

29:14

extreme cruelty. By the end

29:16

of the 1930s women would be granted

29:18

an additional ground on which they could file for

29:21

divorce. A husband would

29:23

quote, incurable insanity. So why

29:26

not just skip marriage altogether you may ask? Well

29:28

there were very few conditions under which a

29:30

woman could own property back then. There

29:33

were absolutely no professions in which a

29:35

woman could support herself with even a

29:37

modicum of comfort or dignity and unless

29:39

she was from a wealthy family it

29:42

was quite literally impossible to maintain a

29:44

stable housing situation on her own.

29:47

And all of that is before one even

29:49

begins to consider the personal

29:51

and emotional toil of spinsterhood.

29:54

Society saw single women as lesser beings,

29:56

unworthy of respect or sometimes

29:58

even company. Women quite

30:00

simply had to marry if they were going

30:02

to have any chance of stability or

30:05

happiness, and once they were in the

30:07

marriage, there was no way of getting out.

30:10

Except, of course, for death. The

30:13

idea of May-December romances is not new, nor

30:15

is the notion that a young woman may

30:17

marry a much older, or in

30:19

Christopher's case somewhat older but sickly man,

30:22

in the hopes that he will pass away early

30:24

in the marriage, and she'll be set for life

30:26

without the burden of invalid care. We

30:29

might view them as opportunistic or

30:31

unscrupulous today, but in the days of

30:33

Nellie and Christopher, it was just

30:35

practical. So what happens if

30:37

a woman enters this arrangement, believing it to

30:39

be tolerable only because it will be short-lived,

30:42

yet finds herself chained to a man who

30:45

turns out to be chronically but not fatally

30:47

sick, and controlling to the

30:49

point of abusive rather than merely condescending?

30:52

History is filled with true stories of

30:55

women poisoning their husbands for many different reasons.

30:57

Some, like Amy Archer Gilligan and Mary

31:00

Ann Cotton, poisoned husbands

31:02

for property and life insurance policies.

31:05

Others, like Helen Nastlund and Rebecca

31:07

Payne, served poison-laced meals to

31:09

husbands who had physically and sexually

31:11

abused them for years. And

31:14

there have even been women in old world Europe,

31:16

like Juliana Tofana in 17th

31:19

century Rome, and Zuzu-Sana

31:21

Fazikas in early 20th century

31:23

Hungary, who poisoned hundreds, yes

31:25

hundreds, of men in their regions

31:27

on behalf of women who came

31:29

to them with stories of abuse

31:31

at home. Literary

31:34

critics and scholars who have spoken about

31:36

Christopher Comes Back have often noted that it's

31:38

a sad and chilling tale, but not

31:40

really a horror story like so many

31:42

others of its era with monsters or

31:44

outright murder. Although, you could

31:46

argue that's what happened here. E.F. Benson

31:49

did not seem to share that line of thinking

31:51

as he crafted Nellie's narrative. The

31:53

contrast she experiences between moments outdoors

31:55

and away from Christopher, where

31:57

the air is described as fresh and her blood

31:59

is Blood alert like a spring day, and then

32:02

those moments in the dark home in

32:04

Christopher's presence, and the fear of

32:06

his lingering, the author even uses

32:08

the word horror to show us Nellie's state of

32:10

mind. In the end,

32:12

this young, vibrant woman chooses her

32:15

own death over the

32:17

prospect of an endless future bound to

32:19

one who will slowly but surely suck the life

32:21

out of her. And I can't

32:23

say I blame her for any of her

32:26

actions. Nighty

32:29

Night is co-produced and distributed by

32:31

Podcast One. It's also executive produced

32:33

by Paul Anderson and Nick Pinella

32:35

for Workhouse Media, editing and sound

32:37

design by Steve Delimator. And

32:40

a big thanks to my executive producer, Stacy

32:42

Pera. And finally, a thank you to Sarah

32:44

Kalin, my researcher for the extra little tidbits

32:46

at the end of every story. Thank

32:49

you guys for listening. Until next time, Nighty

32:51

Night.