DEAR GOODTHINKER:326Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡecgLqDFtp5
Such a place this is!
It continues to amaze me---as to the reactions of the townsfolk in the closest village to my lodgings. I speak of a queer little place that goes by the quaint name of Minister's Corners. It was there that Edgar contracted me for the weekly provisions. The other errand, that of securing a sufficient supply of cordwood for the coming winter, was likewise attended to. But Ed returned with gloomy countenance, and when I asked him what was the matter, he replied grimly enough:
"The locals judge you to be insane, Mr. Beal!"
I laughed and said that perhaps they had heard of the brain fever I had suffered after my Suzanne died---certainly I spoke madly enough at that time, as you can attest.
But Ed protested that no one knew anything of me except through my cousin Theodore, who contracted for the same services as I have now made provision for. "What they said, sir, was that anyone who would live in Wellfall must be either a lunatic or run the risk of becoming one."
This left me utterly perplexed, needless to say. "Who has given you this amazing communication?" I asked. He told me that I had been referred as such by a sullen and rather besotted pulp-logger named Price, who owns four hundred acres of pine, birch, and spruce, and who logs it with the help of his five sons, for sale to the mills in Styrewood and to householders in the immediate area.326Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYFBGmIa4h
When Ed, all unknowing of his queer prejudice, gave him the location to which the wood was to be brought, this Price stared at him with his mouth agape and said that he would send his sons with the wood, in the good light of day, and by the sea road.
Edgar, apparently misreading my bemusement for distress, hastened to say that the man reeked of whisky and that he had then lapsed into some kind of nonsense about a deserted village and cousin Theodore's relations---and something called the living darkness! Edgar finished his business with Price's boys, who, I take it was, rather surly and no too sober or freshly-scented himself. I take it there has been some of this reaction in Minister's Corners itself, at the general store where Ed spoke with the shopkeeper, although this was more of the gossipy, behind-the-hand type.
None of this has disturbed me much; we know how the country folk love to enrich their lives with the smell of scandal and myth, and I suppose poor Theodore and his side of the family are fair game. As I told Ed, a man who has fallen to his death almost from his own front porch is more than likely to stir talk.326Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4szBuzEdYH
The house itself is a source of constant amazement. Twenty-three rooms, Goodthinker! The wainscoting which panels the upper floors and the portrait gallery is mildewed but still stout. While I stood in my late cousin's upstairs bedroom I could hear the rats scuttering behind it, and big ones they must be, from the sound they make---almost like people walking there. Ugh! God forbid I should encounter one in the dark; or even in the light, for that matter! Still, I have noted neither holes nor droppings. Odd.326Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKhmUhzjmXl
The upper gallery is lined with bad portraits in frames which must be worth a king's ransom. Some bear a resemblance to Theodore as I remember him. I believe I have correctly identified my Uncle Russell Beal and his wife Lilith; the others are unfamiliar. I suppose one of them may be my own notorious grandfather, Anthony. But Theodore's side of the family is all but unknown to me, for which I am heartily sorry. The same good humour (sic) that shone in Theodore's letters to Suzanne and me, the same light of high intellect, shines in these portraits, bad as they are. For what foolish reasons families fall out! A rifted escritoire, hard words between brothers now dead three generations, and blameless descendants are needlessly estranged. I cannot help reflecting upon how fortunate it was that you and John Troost succeeded in contacting Theodore when it seemed I might follow my Suzanne through the Gates----and upon how fortunate it was that chance should have robbed us of a face-to-face meeting. How I would have loved to hear him defend the ancestral statuary and furnishings!326Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqQUmatYot2
But do not let me denigrate the place to an extreme. Theodore’s tastes were not my own, true, but beneath the veneer of his additions there lie pieces (a number of them, shrouded by dust-covers in the upper chambers) which are true masterworks. There are beds, tables, and heavy, dark scrollings done in teak and mahogany, and many of the bedrooms and recieving chambers, the upper study and small parlour, hold a somber charm. The floors are rich pine than glow with an inner and secret light. There is dignity here; dignity and the weight of years. I cannot yet say I approve of it, but I do respect it. I am eager to watch it change as we revolve through the changes of this northern clime.326Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmsy2vds0Ob
Oh God, I am running on! Write to me soon, Goodthinker. Tell me what progress you make, and what news you hear from Troost and the rest. And please do not make the mistake of trying to persuade and new Southern acquaintances on your views too forcibly---I understand that not all content to answer merely with their mouths, as is our long-winded friend, Edgar.326Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY5UiKxiRo0
Yr. Affectionate friend,326Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFrxrqsK6TI
CHARLES
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