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211
A
school
of
alienists
slightly
less
academic
than
Dr.
Lyman
's
assign
to
Ward
's
European
trip
the
beginning
of
his
true
madness
.
Admitting
that
he
was
sane
when
he
started
,
they
believe
that
his
conduct
upon
returning
implies
a
disastrous
change
.
But
even
to
this
claim
Dr.
Willett
refuses
to
concede
.
There
was
,
he
insists
,
something
later
;
and
the
queerness
of
the
youth
at
this
stage
he
attributes
to
the
practice
of
rituals
learned
abroad
--
odd
enough
things
,
to
be
sure
,
but
by
no
means
implying
mental
aberration
on
the
part
of
their
celebrant
.
Ward
himself
,
though
visibly
aged
and
hardened
,
was
still
normal
in
his
general
reactions
;
and
in
several
talks
with
Dr.
Willett
displayed
a
balance
which
no
madman
--
even
an
incipient
one
--
could
feign
continuously
for
long
.
What
elicited
the
notion
of
insanity
at
this
period
were
the
sounds
heard
at
all
hours
from
Ward
's
attic
laboratory
,
in
which
he
kept
himself
most
of
the
time
.
There
were
chantings
and
repetitions
,
and
thunderous
declamations
in
uncanny
rhythms
;
and
although
these
sounds
were
always
in
Ward
's
own
voice
,
there
was
something
in
the
quality
of
that
voice
,
and
in
the
accents
of
the
formulae
it
pronounced
,
which
could
not
by
chill
the
blood
of
every
hearer
.
It
was
noticed
that
Nig
,
the
venerable
and
beloved
black
cat
of
the
household
,
bristled
and
arched
his
back
perceptibly
when
certain
of
the
tones
were
heard
.
212
The
odors
occasionally
wafted
from
the
laboratory
were
likewise
exceedingly
strange
.
213
Sometimes
they
were
very
noxious
,
but
more
often
they
were
aromatic
,
with
a
haunting
,
elusive
quality
which
seemed
to
have
the
power
of
inducing
fantastic
images
.
People
who
smelled
them
had
a
tendency
to
glimpse
momentary
mirages
of
enormous
vistas
,
with
strange
hills
or
endless
avenues
of
sphinxes
and
hippogriffs
stretching
off
into
infinite
distance
.
Ward
did
not
resume
his
old-time
rambles
,
but
applied
himself
diligently
to
the
strange
books
he
had
brought
home
,
and
to
equally
strange
delvings
within
his
quarters
;
explaining
that
European
sources
had
greatly
enlarged
the
possibilities
of
his
work
,
and
promising
great
revelations
in
the
years
to
come
.
His
older
aspect
increased
to
a
startling
degree
his
resemblance
to
the
Curwen
portrait
in
his
library
;
and
Dr.
Willett
would
often
pause
by
the
latter
after
a
call
,
marvelling
at
the
virtual
identity
,
and
reflecting
that
only
the
small
pit
above
the
picture
's
right
eye
now
remained
to
differentiate
the
long-dead
wizard
from
the
living
youth
.
These
calls
of
Willett
's
,
undertaken
at
the
request
of
the
senior
Wards
,
were
curious
affairs
.
Ward
at
no
time
repulsed
the
doctor
,
but
the
latter
saw
that
he
could
never
reach
the
young
man
's
inner
psychology
.
Frequently
he
noted
peculiar
things
about
;
little
wax
images
of
grotesque
design
on
the
shelves
or
tables
,
and
the
half-erased
remnants
of
circles
,
triangles
,
and
pentagrams
in
chalk
or
charcoal
on
the
cleared
central
space
of
the
large
room
.
Отключить рекламу
214
And
always
in
the
night
those
rhythms
and
incantations
thundered
,
till
it
became
very
difficult
to
keep
servants
or
suppress
furtive
talk
of
Charles
's
madness
.
215
In
January
,
1927
,
a
peculiar
incident
occurred
.
One
night
about
midnight
,
as
Charles
was
chanting
a
ritual
whose
weird
cadence
echoed
unpleasantly
through
the
house
below
,
there
came
a
sudden
gust
of
chill
wind
from
the
bay
,
and
a
faint
,
obscure
trembling
of
the
earth
which
everyone
in
the
neighborhood
noted
.
At
the
same
time
the
cat
exhibited
phenomenal
traces
of
fright
,
while
dogs
bayed
for
as
much
as
a
mile
around
.
This
was
the
prelude
to
a
sharp
thunderstorm
,
anomalous
for
the
season
,
which
brought
with
it
such
a
crash
that
Mr.
and
Mrs.
Ward
believed
the
house
had
been
struck
.
They
rushed
upstairs
to
see
what
damage
had
been
done
,
but
Charles
met
them
at
the
door
to
the
attic
;
pale
,
resolute
,
and
portentous
,
with
an
almost
fearsome
combination
of
triumph
and
seriousness
on
his
face
.
He
assured
them
that
the
house
had
not
really
been
struck
,
and
that
the
storm
would
soon
be
over
.
They
paused
,
and
looking
through
a
window
saw
that
he
was
indeed
right
;
for
the
lightning
flashed
farther
and
farther
off
,
whilst
the
trees
ceased
to
bend
in
the
strange
frigid
gust
from
the
water
.
The
thunder
sank
to
a
sort
of
dull
mumbling
chuckle
and
finally
died
away
.
Stars
came
out
,
and
the
stamp
of
triumph
on
Charles
Ward
's
face
crystallized
into
a
very
singular
expression
.
216
For
two
months
or
more
after
this
incident
Ward
was
less
confined
than
usual
to
his
laboratory
.
217
He
exhibited
a
curious
interest
in
the
weather
,
and
made
odd
inquires
about
the
date
of
the
spring
thawing
of
the
ground
.
One
night
late
in
March
he
left
the
house
after
midnight
,
and
did
not
return
till
almost
morning
;
when
his
mother
,
being
wakeful
,
heard
a
rumbling
motor
draw
up
to
the
carriage
entrance
.
Muffled
oaths
could
be
distinguished
,
and
Mrs.
Ward
,
rising
and
going
to
the
window
,
saw
four
dark
figures
removing
a
long
,
heavy
box
from
a
truck
at
Charles
's
direction
and
carrying
it
within
by
the
side
door
.
She
heard
labored
breathing
and
ponderous
footfalls
on
the
stairs
,
and
finally
a
dull
thumping
in
the
attic
;
after
which
the
footfalls
descended
again
,
and
the
four
reappeared
outside
and
drove
off
in
their
truck
.
Отключить рекламу
218
The
next
day
Charles
resumed
his
strict
attic
seclusion
,
drawing
down
the
dark
shades
of
his
laboratory
windows
and
appearing
to
be
working
on
some
metal
substance
.
He
would
open
the
door
to
no
one
,
and
steadfastly
refused
all
proffered
food
.
About
noon
a
wrenching
sound
followed
by
a
terrible
cry
and
a
fall
were
heard
,
but
when
Mrs.
Ward
rapped
at
the
door
her
son
at
length
answered
faintly
,
and
told
her
that
nothing
had
gone
amiss
.
The
hideous
and
indescribable
stench
now
welling
out
was
absolutely
harmless
and
unfortunately
necessary
.
Solitude
was
the
one
prime
essential
,
and
he
would
appear
later
for
dinner
.
That
afternoon
,
after
the
conclusion
of
some
odd
hissing
sounds
which
came
from
behind
the
locked
portal
,
he
did
finally
appear
;
wearing
an
extremely
haggard
aspect
and
forbidding
anyone
to
enter
the
laboratory
upon
any
pretext
.
219
This
,
indeed
,
proved
the
beginning
of
a
new
policy
of
secrecy
;
for
never
afterward
was
any
other
person
permitted
to
visit
either
the
mysterious
garret
workroom
or
the
adjacent
storeroom
which
he
cleaned
out
,
furnished
roughly
,
and
added
to
his
inviolable
private
domain
as
a
sleeping
apartment
.
Here
he
lived
,
with
books
brought
up
from
his
library
beneath
,
till
the
time
he
purchased
the
Pawtuxet
bungalow
and
moved
to
it
all
his
scientific
effects
.
220
In
the
evening
Charles
secured
the
paper
before
the
rest
of
the
family
and
damaged
part
of
it
through
an
apparent
accident
.
Later
on
Dr.
Willett
,
having
fixed
the
date
from
statements
by
various
members
of
the
household
,
looked
up
an
intact
copy
at
the
Journal
office
and
found
that
in
the
destroyed
section
the
following
small
item
had
occurred
: