Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History The room in the tower, and other storiesThe Project Gutenberg eBook of The room in the tower, and other stories This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: The room in the tower, and other stories Author: E. F. Benson Release date: December 15, 2023 [eBook #72421] Most recently updated: March 3, 2024 Language: English Original publication: London: Mills & Boon, 1912 Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/72421 Credits: Chuck Greif, Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROOM IN THE TOWER, AND OTHER STORIES *** THE ROOM IN THE TOWER AND OTHER STORIES THE MORNING POST says: "Messrs Mills & Boon seem to have acquired a monopoly in clever first novels." THE PALL MALL GAZETTE says: "We have come to expect good work from the publishers of 'In Different Keys' (Mills & Boon)." THE GLOBE says: "One has almost come to regard Messrs Mills & Boon as the publishers of the unexpected. Alike in fiction and in more serious works, they introduce us to writers of exceptional ability, and to subjects of uncommon interest." THE NEW YORK HERALD says: "They have long ago acquired the reputation for the production of original books." Mills & Boon's New Novels _Crown 8vo, 6s. each_ THE LURE. E. S. STEVENS. THE DAUGHTER OF BRAHMA. I. A. R. WYLIE. THE ROOM IN THE TOWER. E. F. BENSON. A BACHELOR'S COMEDY. J. E. BUCKROSE. THE PALACE OF LOGS. ROBERT BARR. WHEN GOD LAUGHS. JACK LONDON. ASHES OF INCENSE. By the AUTHOR OF "MASTERING FLAME." HIS FIRST OFFENCE. J. STORER CLOUSTON. THE PRELUDE TO ADVENTURE. HUGH WALPOLE. THE BATTLE. CLAUDE FARRERE. STORIES WITHOUT TEARS. BARRY PAIN. THE FRONTIER. MAURICE LEBLANC. THE MARK. Mrs PHILIP CHAMPION DE CRESPIGNY. THE GIRL WITH THE BLUE EYES. Lady TROUBRIDGE. SONS OF STATE. WINIFRED GRAHAM. ENTER BRIDGET. THOMAS COBB. THE THORNBUSH NEAR THE DOOR. SOPHIE COLE. MEN AND DREAMS. MARY E. MANN. THE WRITTEN LAW. FRANCES G. KNOWLES-FOSTER. RUTH OF THE ROWLDRICH. Mrs STANLEY WRENCH. THE PRINCE. T. METCALFE. THE SILVER MEDALLION. PERCY J. BREBNER. THE PRINCE AND BETTY. P. G. WODEHOUSE. ALIENS NEAR OF KIN. N. VERNON. THE ROOM IN THE TOWER AND OTHER STORIES BY E. F. BENSON AUTHOR OF "THE ANGEL OF PAIN," "SHEAVES" SECOND EDITION MILLS & BOON, LIMITED 49 RUPERT STREET LONDON W. _Published 1912_ _Copyright in the United States of America, 1912, by E. F. Benson_ PREFACE These stories have been written in the hopes of giving some pleasant qualms to their reader, so that, if by chance, anyone may be occupying in their perusal a leisure half-hour before he goes to bed when the night and the house are still, he may perhaps cast an occasional glance into the corners and dark places of the room where he sits, to make sure that nothing unusual lurks in the shadow. For this is the avowed object of ghost-stories and such tales as deal with the dim unseen forces which occasionally and perturbingly make themselves manifest. The author therefore fervently wishes his readers a few uncomfortable moments. Some of those tales have appeared before in various magazines; the remainder are new. One, the story of "The Man who went too Far," is the germ of what subsequently developed into a book called "The Angel of Pain." E. F. BENSON. CONTENTS PAGE THE ROOM IN THE TOWER 1 THE DUST-CLOUD 22 GAVON'S EVE 44 THE CONFESSION OF CHARLES LINKWORTH 62 AT ABDUL ALI'S GRAVE 87 THE SHOOTINGS OF ACHNALEISH 107 HOW FEAR DEPARTED FROM THE LONG GALLERY 131 CATERPILLARS 155 THE CAT 169 THE BUS-CONDUCTOR 192 THE MAN WHO WENT TOO FAR 206 BETWEEN THE LIGHTS 241 OUTSIDE THE DOOR 260 THE TERROR BY NIGHT 273 THE OTHER BED 285 THE THING IN THE HALL 302 THE HOUSE WITH THE BRICK-KILN 321 THE ROOM IN THE TOWER It is probable that everybody who is at all a constant dreamer has had at least one experience of an event or a sequence of circumstances which have come to his mind in sleep being subsequently realised in the material world. But, in my opinion, so far from this being a strange thing, it would be far odder if this fulfilment did not occasionally happen, since our dreams are, as a rule, concerned with people whom we know and places with which we are familiar, such as might very naturally occur in the awake and day-lit world. True, these dreams are often broken into by some absurd and fantastic incident, which puts them out of court in regard to their subsequent fulfilment, but on the mere calculation of chances, it does not appear in the least unlikely that a dream imagined by anyone who dreams constantly should occasionally come true. Not long ago, for instance, I experienced such a fulfilment of a dream which seems to me in no way remarkable and to have no kind of psychical significance. The manner of it was as follows. A certain friend of mine, living abroad, is amiable enough to write to me about once in a fortnight. Thus, when fourteen days or thereabouts have elapsed since I last heard from him, my mind, probably, either consciously or subconsciously, is expectant of a letter from him. One night last week I dreamed that as I was going upstairs to dress for dinner I heard, as I often heard, the sound of the postman's knock on my front door, and diverted my direction downstairs instead. There, among other correspondence, was a letter from him. Thereafter the fantastic entered, for on opening it I found inside the ace of diamonds, and scribbled across it in his well-known handwriting, "I am sending you this for safe custody, as you know it is running an unreasonable risk to keep aces in Italy." The next evening I was just preparing to go upstairs to dress when I heard the postman's knock, and did precisely as I had done in my dream. There, among other letters, was one from my friend. Only it did not contain the ace of diamonds. Had it done so, I should have attached more weight to the matter, which, as it stands, seems to me a perfectly ordinary coincidence. No doubt I consciously or subconsciously expected a letter from him, and this suggested to me my dream. Similarly, the fact that my friend had not written to me for a fortnight suggested to him that he should do so. But occasionally it is not so easy to find such an explanation, and for the following story I can find no explanation at all. It came out of the dark, and into the dark it has gone again. All my life I have been a habitual dreamer: the nights are few, that is to say, when I do not find on awaking in the m |