Castle Ferenczy,7 March 1928.Dear C.—Hadd a Squd of 20 Militia up to talk about what the Country Folk say. Must digg deeper and have less Hearde. These Roumanians plague one damnably, being officious and particular where you cou'd buy a Magyar off with a Drinke and food. Last Monthe M. got me ye sarcophagus of ye Five Sphinxes from ye Acropolis where He whome I call'd up say'd it wou'd be, and I have hadde 3 Talkeswith What was therein inhum'd. It will go to S. O. in Prague directly, and thence to you. It is stubborn but you know ye Way with Such. You shew Wisdom in having lesse about than Before; for there was no Neede to keep the Guards in Shape and eat'g off their Heades, and it made much to be founde in case of Trouble, as you too welle know. You can now move and Worke elsewhere with no Kill'g Trouble if nedful, though I hope no Thing will soon force you to so Bothersome a Course. I rejoice that you traffick not so much withThose Outside; for there was ever a Mortall Peril in it, and you are sensible what it did when you asked Protection of One not dispos'd to give it. You excel me in gett'g ye formulae soanothermay saye them with Success, but Borellus fancy'd it wou'd be so if just ye right Wordes were hadd. Does ye Boy use 'em often? I regret that he growes squeamish, as I fear'd he wou'd when I hadde him here nigh fiften Monthes, but am sensible you knowe how to deal with him. You can't saye him down with ye Formula, for that will Worke only upon such as ye other Formula hath call'd up from Saltes; but you still have strong Handes and Knife and Pistol, and Graves are not harde to digg, nor Acids loth to burne. O. sayes you have promis'd him B. F. I must have him after. B. goes to you soone, and may he give you what you wishe of that Darke Thing belowe Memphis. Imploy care in what you calle up, and beware of ye Boy. It will be ripe in a yeare's time to have up ye Legions from Underneath, and then there are no Boundes to what shal be oures. Have Confidence in what I saye, for you knowe O. and I have hadd these 150 yeares more than you to consulte these Matters in.Nephreu—Ka nai HadohEdw: H.For J. Curwen, Esq.Providence.
Castle Ferenczy,7 March 1928.
Dear C.—
Hadd a Squd of 20 Militia up to talk about what the Country Folk say. Must digg deeper and have less Hearde. These Roumanians plague one damnably, being officious and particular where you cou'd buy a Magyar off with a Drinke and food. Last Monthe M. got me ye sarcophagus of ye Five Sphinxes from ye Acropolis where He whome I call'd up say'd it wou'd be, and I have hadde 3 Talkeswith What was therein inhum'd. It will go to S. O. in Prague directly, and thence to you. It is stubborn but you know ye Way with Such. You shew Wisdom in having lesse about than Before; for there was no Neede to keep the Guards in Shape and eat'g off their Heades, and it made much to be founde in case of Trouble, as you too welle know. You can now move and Worke elsewhere with no Kill'g Trouble if nedful, though I hope no Thing will soon force you to so Bothersome a Course. I rejoice that you traffick not so much withThose Outside; for there was ever a Mortall Peril in it, and you are sensible what it did when you asked Protection of One not dispos'd to give it. You excel me in gett'g ye formulae soanothermay saye them with Success, but Borellus fancy'd it wou'd be so if just ye right Wordes were hadd. Does ye Boy use 'em often? I regret that he growes squeamish, as I fear'd he wou'd when I hadde him here nigh fiften Monthes, but am sensible you knowe how to deal with him. You can't saye him down with ye Formula, for that will Worke only upon such as ye other Formula hath call'd up from Saltes; but you still have strong Handes and Knife and Pistol, and Graves are not harde to digg, nor Acids loth to burne. O. sayes you have promis'd him B. F. I must have him after. B. goes to you soone, and may he give you what you wishe of that Darke Thing belowe Memphis. Imploy care in what you calle up, and beware of ye Boy. It will be ripe in a yeare's time to have up ye Legions from Underneath, and then there are no Boundes to what shal be oures. Have Confidence in what I saye, for you knowe O. and I have hadd these 150 yeares more than you to consulte these Matters in.
Nephreu—Ka nai HadohEdw: H.
For J. Curwen, Esq.Providence.
But if Willett and Mr. Ward refrained from shewing this letter to the alienists, they did not refrain from acting upon it themselves. No amount of learned sophistry could controvert the fact that the strangely bearded and spectacled Dr. Allen, of whom Charles' frantic letter had spoken as such a monstrous menace, was in close and sinister correspondence with two inexplicable creatures whom Ward had visited in his travels and who plainly claimed to be survivals or avatars of Curwen's old Salem colleagues; that he was regarding himself as the reincarnation of Joseph Curwen, and that he entertained—or was at least advised to entertain—murderous designs against a "boy" who could scarcely be other than Charles Ward. There was organized horror afoot; and no matter who had started it, the missing Allen was by this time at the bottom of it. Therefore, thanking Heaven that Charles was now safe in the hospital, Mr. Ward lost no time in engaging detectives to learn all they could of the cryptic bearded doctor; finding whence he had come and what Pawtuxet knew of him, and if possible discovering his current whereabouts. Supplying the men with one of the bungalow keys which Charles had yielded up, he urged them to explore Allen's vacant room which had been identified when the patient's belongings had been packed; obtaining what clues they could from any effects he might have left about. Mr. Ward talked with the detectives in his son's old library, and they felt a marked relief when they left it at last; for there seemed to hover about the place a vague aura of evil. 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.