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肩書を与える: Aylmer Vance and the Vampire
Author: Alice and Claude Askew
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Language: English
Date first 地位，任命するd: August 2006
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Aylmer Vance and the Vampire

by

Alice and Claude Askew

Aylmer Vance had rooms in Dover Street, Piccadilly, and now that I had decided to follow in his footsteps and to 受託する him as my 指導者 in 事柄s psychic, I 設立する it convenient to 宿泊する in the same house. Aylmer and I quickly became の近くに friends, and he showed me how to develop that faculty of clairvoyance which I had 所有するd without 存在 aware of it. And I may say at once that this particular faculty of 地雷 証明するd of service on several important occasions.

At the same time I made myself useful to Vance in other ways, not the least of which was that of 事実上の／代理 as recorder of his many strange adventures. For himself, he never cared much about publicity, and it was some time before I could 説得する him, in the 利益／興味s of science, to 許す me to give any 詳細（に述べる）d account of his experiences to the world.

The 出来事/事件s which I will now narrate occurred very soon after we had taken up our 住居 together, and while I was still, so to speak, a novice.

It was about ten o'clock in the morning that a 訪問者 was 発表するd. He sent up a card which bore upon it the 指名する of Paul Davenant.

The 指名する was familiar to me, and I wondered if this could be the same Mr Davenant who was so 井戸／弁護士席 known for his polo playing and for his success as an amateur rider, 特に over the 障害物s? He was a young man of wealth and position, and I recollected that he had married, about a year ago, a girl who was reckoned the greatest beauty of the season. All the illustrated papers had given their portraits at the time, and I remember thinking what a remarkably handsome couple they made.

Mr Davenant was 勧めるd in, and at first I was uncertain as to whether this could be the individual whom I had in mind, so 病弱な and pale and ill did he appear. A finely-built, upstanding man at the time of his marriage, he had now acquired a languid droop of the shoulders and a shuffling gait, while his 直面する, 特に about the lips, was 無血の to an alarming degree.

And yet it was the same man, for behind all this I could 認める the 影をつくる／尾行する of the good looks that had once distinguished Paul Davenant.

He took the 議長，司会を務める which Aylmer 申し込む／申し出d him--after the usual 予選 civilities had been 交流d--and then ちらりと見ることd doubtfully in my direction. 'I wish to 協議する you 個人として, Mr Vance,' he said. 'The 事柄 is of かなりの importance to myself, and, if I may say so, of a somewhat delicate nature.'

Of course I rose すぐに to 身を引く from the room, but Vance laid his 手渡す upon my arm.

'If the 事柄 is connected with 研究 in my particular line, Mr Davenant,' he said, 'if there is any 調査 you wish me to （問題を）取り上げる on your に代わって, I shall be glad if you will 含む Mr Dexter in your 信用／信任. Mr Dexter 補助装置s me in my work. But, of course--.'

'Oh, no,' interrupted the other, 'if that is the 事例／患者, pray let Mr Dexter remain. I think,' he 追加するd, ちらりと見ることing at me with a friendly smile, 'that you are an Oxford man, are you not, Mr Dexter? It was before my time, but I have heard of your 指名する in 関係 with the river. You 列／漕ぐ／騒動d at Henley, unless I am very much mistaken.'

I 認める the fact, with a pleasurable sensation of pride. I was very keen upon 列／漕ぐ／騒動ing in those days, and a man's prowess at school and college always remain dear to his heart..After this we quickly became on friendly 条件, and Paul Davenant proceeded to take Aylmer and myself into his 信用／信任.

He began by calling attention to his personal 外見. 'You would hardly 認める me for the same man! was a year ago,' he said. 'I've been losing flesh 刻々と for the last six months. I （機の）カム up from Scotland about a week ago, to 協議する a London doctor. I've seen two--in fact, they've held a sort of 協議 over me--but the result, I may say, is far from 満足な.

They don't seem to know what is really the 事柄 with me.'

'Anaemia--heart' 示唆するd Vance. He was scrutinizing his 訪問者 熱心に, and yet without any particular 外見 of doing so. 'I believe it not infrequently happens that you 競技者s overdo yourselves--put too much 緊張する upon the heart--'

'My heart is やめる sound,' 答える／応じるd Davenant. '肉体的に it is in perfect 条件. The trouble seems to be that it hasn't enough 血 to pump into my veins. The doctors 手配中の，お尋ね者 to know if I had met with an 事故 伴う／関わるing a 広大な／多数の／重要な loss of 血--but I 港／避難所't. I've had no 事故 at all, and as for anaemia, 井戸／弁護士席, I don't seem to show the ordinary symptoms of it. The inexplicable thing is that I've lost 血 without knowing it, and 明らかに this has been going on for some time, for I ye been getting 刻々と worse. It was almost imperceptible at first--not a sudden 崩壊（する）, you understand, but a 漸進的な 失敗 of health.'

'I wonder,' 発言／述べるd Vance slowly, 'what induced you to 協議する me? For you know, of course, the direction in which I 追求する my 調査s. May I ask if you have 推論する／理由 to consider that your 明言する／公表する of health is 予定 to some 原因（となる） which we may 述べる as 最高の-physical?'

A slight colour （機の）カム to Davenant's white cheeks.

'There are curious circumstances,' he said in a low and earnest トン of 発言する／表明する. 'I've been turning them over in my mind, trying to see light through them. I daresay it's all the sheerest folly--and I must tell you that I'm not in the least a superstitious sort of man. I don't mean to say that I'm 絶対 incredulous, but I've never given thought to such things--I've led too active a life. But, as I have said, there are curious circumstances about my 事例／患者, and that is why I decided upon 協議するing you.'

'Will you tell me everything without reserve?' said Vance. I could see that he was 利益／興味d.

He was sitting up in his 議長，司会を務める, his feet supported on a stool, his 肘s on his 膝s, his chin in his 手渡すs--a favourite 態度 of his. 'Have you,' he 示唆するd, slowly, 'any 示す upon your 団体／死体, anything that you might associate, however remotely, with your 現在の 証拠不十分 and ill-health?'

'It's a curious thing that you should ask me that question,' returned Davenant, 'because I have got a curious 示す, a sort of scar, that I can't account for. But I showed it to the doctors, and they 保証するd me that it could have nothing whatever to do with my 条件. In any 事例／患者, if it had, it was something altogether outside their experience. I think they imagined it to be nothing more than a birthmark, a sort of mole, for they asked me if I'd had it all my life. But that I can 断言する I 港／避難所't. I only noticed it for the first time about six months ago, when my health began to fail. But you can see for yourself.'

He 緩和するd his collar and 明らかにするd his throat. Vance rose and made a careful scrutiny of the 怪しげな 示す. It was 据えるd a very little to the left of the central line, just above the clavicle, and, as Vance pointed out, 直接／まっすぐに over the big 大型船s of the throat. My friend called to me so that I might 診察する it, too. Whatever the opinion of the doctors may have been, Aylmer was 明白に 深く，強烈に 利益／興味d..And yet there was very little to show. The 肌 was やめる 損なわれていない, and there was no 調印する of inflammation. There were two red 示すs, about an インチ apart, each of which was inclined to be 三日月 in 形態／調整. They were more 明白な than they might さもなければ have been 借りがあるing to the peculiar whiteness of Davenant's 肌.

'It can't be anything of importance,' said Davenant, with a わずかに uneasy laugh. 'I'm inclined to think the 示すs are dying away.'

'Have you ever noticed them more inflamed than they are at 現在の?' 問い合わせd Vance. 'If so, was it at any special time?'

Davenant 反映するd. 'Yes,' he replied slowly, 'there have been times, usually, I think perhaps invariably, when I wake up in the morning, that I've noticed them larger and more angry looking. And I've felt a slight sensation of 苦痛--a tingling--oh, very slight, and I've never worried about it. Only now you 示唆する it to my mind, I believe that those same mornings I have felt 特に tired and done up--a sensation of lassitude 絶対 unusual to me. And once, Mr Vance, I remember やめる distinctly that there was a stain of 血 の近くに to the 示す. I didn't think anything of it at the time, and just wiped it away.'

'I see.' Aylmer Vance 再開するd his seat and 招待するd his 訪問者 to do the same. 'And now,' he 再開するd, 'you said, Mr Davenant, that there are 確かな peculiar circumstances you wish to 熟知させる me with. Will you do so?'

And so Davenant readjusted his collar and proceeded to tell his story. I will tell it as far as I can, without any 言及／関連 to the 時折の interruptions of Vance and myself.

Paul Davenant, as I have said, was a man of wealth and position, and so, in every sense of the word, he was a suitable husband for 行方不明になる Jessica MacThane, the young lady who 結局 became his wife. Before coming to the 出来事/事件s …に出席するing his loss of health, he had a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 to recount about 行方不明になる MacThane and her family history.

She was of Scottish 降下／家系, and although she had 確かな characteristic features of her race, she was not really Scotch in 外見. Hers was the beauty of the far South rather than that of the Highlands from which she had her origin. 指名するs are not always ふさわしい to their owners, and 行方不明になる MacThane's was peculiarly 不適切な. She had, in fact, been christened Jessica in a sort of pathetic 成果／努力 to 中和する／阻止する her obvious 出発 from normal type. There was a 推論する／理由 for this which we were soon to learn.

行方不明になる MacThane was 特に remarkable for her wonderful red hair, hair such as one hardly ever sees outside of Italy--not the Celtic red--and it was so long that it reached to her feet, and it had an 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の gloss upon it so that it seemed almost to have individual life of its own.

Then she had just the complexion that one would 推定する／予想する with such hair, the purest ivory white, and not in the least marred by freckles, as is so often the 事例／患者 with red-haired girls. Her beauty was derived from an ancestress who had been brought to Scotland from some foreign shore--no one knew 正確に／まさに whence.

Davenant fell in love with her almost at once and he had every 推論する／理由 to believe, in spite of her many admirers, that his love was returned. At this time he knew very little about her personal history. He was aware only that she was very 豊富な in her own 権利, an 孤児, and the last 代表者／国会議員 of a race that had once been famous in the annals of history--or rather 悪名高い, for the MacThanes had distinguished themselves more by cruelty and lust of 血 than by 行為s of chivalry. A 一族／派閥 of 騒然とした robbers in the past, they had helped to 追加する many a 血-stained page to the history of their country.

Jessica had lived with her father, who owned a house in London, until his death when she was about fifteen years of age. Her mother had died in Scotland when Jessica was still a tiny child..Mr MacThane had been so 影響する／感情d by his wife's death that, with his little daughter, he had abandoned his Scotch 広い地所 altogether--or so it was believed--leaving it to the 管理／経営 of a （強制）執行官--though, indeed, there was but little work for the （強制）執行官 to do, since there were 事実上 no tenants left. Blackwick 城 had borne for many years a most unenviable 評判.

After the death of her father, 行方不明になる MacThane had gone to live with a 確かな Mrs Meredith, who was a 関係 of her mother's--on her father's 味方する she had not a 選び出す／独身 relation left.

Jessica was 絶対 the last of a 一族／派閥 once so 広範囲にわたる that intermarriage had been a tradition of the family, but for which the last two hundred years had been 徐々に dwindling to 絶滅.

Mrs Meredith took Jessica into Society--which would never have been her 特権 had Mr MacThane lived, for he was a moody, self-吸収するd man, and 未熟に old--one who seemed worn 負かす／撃墜する by the 負わせる of a 広大な／多数の／重要な grief.

井戸／弁護士席, I have said that Paul Davenant quickly fell in love with Jessica, and it was not long before he 提案するd for her 手渡す. To his 広大な／多数の／重要な surprise, for he had good 推論する／理由 to believe that she cared for him, he met with a 拒絶; nor would she give any explanation, though she burst into a flood of pitiful 涙／ほころびs.

Bewildered and 激しく disappointed, he 協議するd Mrs Meredith, with whom he happened to be on friendly 条件, and from her he learnt that Jessica had already had several 提案s, all from やめる 望ましい men, but that one after another had been 拒絶するd.

Paul consoled himself with the reflection that perhaps Jessica did not love them, 反して he was やめる sure that she cared for himself. Under these circumstances he 決定するd to try again.

He did so, and with better result. Jessica 認める her love, but at the same time she repeated that she would not marry him. Love and marriage were not for her. Then, to his utter amazement, she 宣言するd that she had been born under a 悪口を言う／悪態--a 悪口を言う／悪態 which, sooner or later was bound to show itself in her, and which, moreover, must 反応する cruelly, perhaps fatally, upon anyone with whom she linked her life. How could she 許す a man she loved to take such a 危険? Above all, since the evil was hereditary, there was one point upon which she had やめる made up her mind: no child should ever call her mother--she must be the last of her race indeed.

Of course, Davenant was amazed and inclined to think that Jessica had got some absurd idea into her 長，率いる which a little 推論する／理由ing on his part would 追い散らす. There was only one other possible explanation. Was it lunacy she was afraid of? But Jessica shook her 長，率いる, She did not know of any lunacy in her family. The ill was deeper, more subtle than that. And then she told him all that she knew.

The 悪口を言う／悪態--she made us of that word for want of a better--was 大（公）使館員d to the 古代の race from which she had her origin. Her father had 苦しむd from it, and his father and grandfather before him. All three had taken to themselves young wives who had died mysteriously, of some wasting 病気, within a few years. Had they 観察するd the 古代の family tradition of intermarriage this might かもしれない not have happened, but in their 事例／患者, since the family was so 近づく 絶滅, this had not been possible.

For the 悪口を言う／悪態--or whatever it was--did not kill those who bore the 指名する of MacThane. It only （判決などを）下すd them a danger to others. It was as if they 吸収するd from the 血-soaked 塀で囲むs of their 致命的な 城 a deadly taint which 反応するd terribly upon those with whom they were brought into 接触する, 特に their nearest and dearest.

'Do you know what my father said we have it in us to become?' said Jessica with a shudder.

'He used the word vampires. Paul, think of it--vampires--preying upon the life 血 of others.'.And then, when Davenant was inclined to laugh, she checked him. 'No,' she cried out, 'it is not impossible. Think. We are a decadent race. From the earliest times our history has been 示すd by 流血／虐殺 and cruelty. The 塀で囲むs of Blackwick 城 are impregnated with evil--every 石／投石する could tell its tale, of 暴力／激しさ, 苦痛, lust, and 殺人. What can one 推定する／予想する of those who have spent their lifetime between its 塀で囲むs?'

'But you have not done so,' exclaimed Paul. 'You have been spared that, Jessica. You were taken away after your mother died, and you have no recollection of Blackwick 城, 非，不，無 at all. And you need never 始める，決める foot in it again.'

'I'm afraid the evil is in my 血,' she replied sadly, 'although I am unconscious of it now.

And as for not returning to Blackwick--I'm not sure I can help myself. At least, that is what my father 警告するd me of. He said there is something there, some 説得力のある 軍隊, that will call me to it in spite of myself. But, oh, I don't know--I don't know, and that is what makes it so difficult. If I could only believe that all this is nothing but an idle superstition, I might be happy again, for I have it in me to enjoy life, and I'm young, very young, but my father told me these things when he was on his death-bed.' She 追加するd the last words in a low, awe-stricken トン.

Paul 圧力（をかける）d her to tell him all that she knew, and 結局 she 明らかにする／漏らすd another fragment of family history which seemed to have some 耐えるing upon the 事例／患者. It dealt with her own astonishing likeness to that ancestress of a couple of hundred years ago, whose 存在 seemed to have presaged the 漸進的な downfall of the 一族／派閥 of the MacThanes.

A 確かな Robert MacThane, 出発／死ing from the traditions of his family, which 需要・要求するd that he should not marry outside his 一族／派閥, brought home a wife from foreign shores, a woman of wonderful beauty, who was 所有するd of glowing 集まりs of red hair and a complexion of ivory whiteness--such as had more or いっそう少なく distinguished since then every 女性（の） of the race born in the direct line.

It was not long before this woman （機の）カム to be regarded in the neighbourhood as a witch. Queer stories were 循環させるd abroad as to her doings, and the 評判 of Blackwick 城 became worse than ever before.

And then one day she disappeared. Robert MacThane had been absent upon some 商売／仕事 for twenty-four hours, and it was upon his return that he 設立する her gone. The neighbourhood was searched, but without avail, and then Robert, who was a violent man and who had adored his foreign wife, called together 確かな of his tenants whom he 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd, rightly or wrongly, of foul play, and had them 殺人d in 冷淡な 血. 殺人 was 平易な in those days, yet such an 激しい抗議 was raised that Robert had to take to flight, leaving his two children in the care of their nurse, and for a long while Blackwick 城 was without a master.

But its evil 評判 固執するd. It was said that Zaida, the witch, though dead, still made her presence felt. Many children of the tenantry and young people of the neighbourhood sickened and died--かもしれない of やめる natural 原因（となる）s; but this did not 妨げる a mantle of terror settling upon the countryside, for it was said that Zaida had been seen--a pale woman 覆う？ in white--

flitting about the cottages at night, and where she passed sickness and death were sure to supervene.

And from that time the fortune of the family 徐々に 拒絶する／低下するd. 相続人 後継するd 相続人, but no sooner was he 任命する／導入するd at Blackwick 城 than his nature, whatever it may 以前 have been, seemed to を受ける a change. It was as if he 吸収するd into himself all the 負わせる of evil that had stained his family 指名する--as if he did, indeed, become a vampire, bringing blight upon any not 直接／まっすぐに connected with his own house..And so, by degrees, Blackwick was 砂漠d of its tenantry. The land around it was left uncultivated--the farms stood empty. This had 固執するd to the 現在の day, for the superstitious peasantry still told their tales of the mysterious white woman who hovered about the neighbourhood, and whose 外見 betokened death--and かもしれない worse than death.

And yet it seemed that the last 代表者／国会議員s of the MacThanes could not 砂漠 their ancestral home. Riches they had, 十分な to live happily upon どこかよそで, but, drawn by some 力／強力にする they could not 競う against, they had preferred to spend their lives in the 孤独 of the now half-廃虚d 城, shunned by their 隣人s, 恐れるd and execrated by the few tenants that still clung to their 国／地域.

So it had been with Jessica's grandfather and 広大な／多数の／重要な-grandfather. Each of them had married a young wife, and in each 事例／患者 their love story had been all too 簡潔な／要約する. The vampire spirit was still abroad, 表明するing itself--or so it seemed--through the living 代表者／国会議員s of bygone 世代s of evil, and young 血 had been 需要・要求するd as the sacrifice.

And to them had 後継するd Jessica's father. He had not 利益（をあげる）d by their example, but had followed 直接／まっすぐに in their footsteps. And the same 運命／宿命 had befallen the wife whom he passionately adored. She had died of pernicious anaemia--so the doctors said--but he had regarded himself as her 殺害者.

But, unlike his 前任者s, he had torn himself away from Blackwick--and this for the sake of his child. Unknown to her, however, he had returned year after year, for there were times when the 熱烈な longing for the 暗い／優うつな, mysterious halls and 回廊（地帯）s of the old 城, for the wild stretches of moorland, and the dark pinewoods, would come upon him too 堅固に to be resisted. And so he knew that for his daughter, as for himself, there was no escape, and he 警告するd her, when the 救済 of death was at last 認めるd to him, of what her 運命／宿命 must be.

This was the tale that Jessica told the man who wished to make her his wife, and he made light of it, as such a man would, regarding it all as foolish superstition, the delusion of a mind overwrought. And at last--perhaps it was not very difficult, for she loved him with all her heart and soul--he 後継するd in inducing Jessica to think as he did, to banish morbid ideas, as he called them from her brain, and to 同意 to marry him at an 早期に date.

'I'll take any 危険 you like,' he 宣言するd. 'I'll even go and live at Blackwick if you should 願望（する） it. To think of you, my lovely Jessica, a vampire! Why, I never heard such nonsense in my life.'

'Father said I'm very like Zaida, the witch,' she 抗議するd, but he silenced her with a kiss.

And so they were married and spent their honeymoon abroad, and in the autumn Paul 受託するd an 招待 to a house party in Scotland for the grouse 狙撃, a sport to which he was 絶対 充てるd, and Jessica agreed with him that there was no 推論する／理由 why he should forgo his 楽しみ.

Perhaps it was an unwise thing to do, to 投機・賭ける to Scotland, but by this time the young couple, more 深く，強烈に in love with each other than ever, had got やめる over their 恐れるs. Jessica was redolent with health and spirits, and more than once she 宣言するd that if they should be anywhere in the neighbourhood of Blackwick she would like to see the old 城 out of curiosity, and just to show how 絶対 she had got over the foolish terrors that used to 攻撃する，非難する her.

This seemed to Paul to be やめる a wise 計画（する）, and so one day, since they were 現実に staying at no 広大な／多数の／重要な distance, they モーターd over to Blackwick, and finding the （強制）執行官, got him to show them over the 城.

It was a 広大な／多数の／重要な castellated pile, grey with age, and in places 落ちるing into 廃虚. It stood on a 法外な hillside, with the 激しく揺する of which it seemed to form part, and on one 味方する of it there was a precipitous 減少（する） to a mountain stream a hundred feet below. The robber MacThanes of the old days could not have 願望（する）d a better 要塞／本拠地.

At the 支援する, climbing up the 山腹 were dark pinewoods, from which, here and there, rugged crags protruded, and these were fantastically 形態／調整d, some like gigantic and misshapen human forms, which stood up as if they 機動力のある guard over the 城 and the 狭くする gorge, by which alone it could be approached.

This gorge was always 十分な of weird, uncanny sounds. It might have been a storehouse for the 勝利，勝つd, which, even on 静める days, 急ぐd up and 負かす／撃墜する as if 捜し出すing an escape, and it moaned の中で the pines and whistled in the crags and shouted derisive laughter as it was 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd from 味方する to 味方する of the rocky 高さs. It was like the plaint of lost souls--that is the 表現 Davenant made use of--the plaint of lost souls.

The road, little more than a 跡をつける now, passed through this gorge, and then, after skirting a small but 深い lake, which hardly knew the light of the sun so shut in was it by overhanging trees, climbed the hill to the 城.

And the 城! Davenant used but a few words to 述べる it, yet somehow I could see the 暗い／優うつな edifice in my mind's 注目する，もくろむ, and something of the lurking horror that it 含む／封じ込めるd communicated itself to my brain. Perhaps my clairvoyant sense 補助装置d me, for when he spoke of them I seemed already 熟知させるd with the 広大な／多数の／重要な 石／投石する halls, the long 回廊（地帯）s, 暗い／優うつな and 冷淡な even on the brightest and warmest of days, the dark, oak-panelled rooms, and the 幅の広い central staircase up which one of the 早期に MacThanes had once led a dozen men on horseback in 追跡 of a stag which had taken 避難 within the 管区s of the 城. There was the keep, too, its 塀で囲むs so 厚い that the 荒廃させるs of time had made no impression upon them, and beneath the keep were dungeons which could tell terrible tales of 古代の wrong and ぐずぐず残る 苦痛.

井戸／弁護士席, Mr and Mrs Davenant visited as much as the （強制）執行官 could show them of this ill-omened edifice, and Paul, for his part, thought pleasantly of his own Derbyshire home, the 罰金 Georgian mansion, replete with every modern 慰安, where he 提案するd to settle with his wife. And so he received something of a shock when, as they drove away, she slipped her 手渡す into his and whispered:

'Paul, you 約束d, didn't you, that you would 辞退する me nothing?'

She had been strangely silent till she spoke those words. Paul, わずかに apprehensive, 保証するd her that she only had to ask--but the speech did not come from his heart, for he guessed ばく然と what she 願望（する）d.

She 手配中の，お尋ね者 to go and live at the 城--oh, only for a little while, for she was sure she would soon tire of it. But the （強制）執行官 had told her that there were papers, 文書s, which she せねばならない 診察する, since the 所有物／資産／財産 was now hers--and, besides, she was 利益／興味d in this home of her ancestors, and 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 調査する it more 完全に. Oh, no, she wasn't in the least 影響（力）d by the old superstition--that wasn't the attraction--she had やめる got over those silly ideas. Paul had cured her, and since he himself was so 納得させるd that they were without 創立／基礎 he ought not to mind 認めるing her her whim.

This was a plausible argument, not 平易な to controvert. In the end Paul 産する／生じるd, though it was not without a struggle. He 示唆するd 改正s. Let him at least have the place done up for her--that would take time; or let them 延期する their visit till next year--in the summer--not move in just as the winter was upon them.

But Jessica did not want to 延期する longer than she could help, and she hated the idea of redecoration. Why, it would spoil the illusion of the old place, and, besides, it would be a waste of money since she only wished to remain there for a week or two. The Derbyshire house was not やめる ready yet; they must 許す time for the paper to 乾燥した，日照りの on the 塀で囲むs.

And so, a week later, when their stay with their friends was 結論するd, they went to Blackwick, the （強制）執行官 having engaged a few raw servants and 一般に made things as comfortable for them as possible. Paul was worried and apprehensive, but he could not 収容する／認める this to his wife after having so loudly 布告するd his theories on the 支配する of superstition.

They had been married three months at this time--nine had passed since then, and they had never left Blackwick for more than a few hours--till now Paul had come to London--alone.

'Over and over again,' he 宣言するd, 'my wife has begged me to go. With 涙／ほころびs in her 注目する，もくろむs, almost upon her 膝s, she has entreated me to leave her, but I have 刻々と 辞退するd unless she will …を伴って me. But that is the trouble, Mr Vance, she cannot; there is something, some mysterious horror, that 持つ／拘留するs her there as surely as if she were bound with fetters. It 持つ／拘留するs her more 堅固に even than it held her father--we 設立する out that he used to spend six months at least of every year at Blackwick--months when he pretended that he was travelling abroad. You see the （一定の）期間--or whatever the accursed thing may be--never really relaxed its 支配する of him.'

'Did you never 試みる／企てる to take your wife away?' asked Vance.

'Yes, several times; but it was hopeless. She would become so ill as soon as we were beyond the 限界 of the 広い地所 that I invariably had to take her 支援する. Once we got as far as Dorekirk--that is the nearest town, you know--and I thought I should be successful if only I could get through the night. But she escaped me; she climbed out of a window--she meant to go 支援する on foot, at night, all those long miles. Then I have had doctors 負かす／撃墜する; but it is I who 手配中の，お尋ね者 the doctors, not she. They have ordered me away, but I have 辞退するd to obey them till now.'

'Is your wife changed at all--肉体的に?' interrupted Vance.

Davenant 反映するd. 'Changed,' he said, 'yes, but so subtly that I hardly know how to 述べる it. She is more beautiful than ever--and yet it isn't the same beauty, if you can understand me. I have spoken of her white complexion, 井戸／弁護士席, one is more than ever conscious of it now, because her lips have become so red--they are almost like a splash of 血 upon her 直面する. And the upper one has a peculiar curve that I don't think it had before, and when she laughs she doesn't smile--

Do you know what I mean? Then her hair--it has lost its wonderful gloss. Of course, I know she is fretting about me; but that is so peculiar, too, for at times, as I have told you, she will implore me to go and leave her, and then perhaps only a few minutes later, she will 花冠 her 武器 一連の会議、交渉／完成する my neck and say she cannot live without me. And I feel that there is a struggle going on within her, that she is only 産する／生じるing slowly to the horrible 影響（力）--whatever it is--that she is herself when she begs me to go, but when she entreats me to stay--and it is then that her fascination is most 激しい--oh, I can't help remembering what she told me before we were married, and that word'--he lowered his 発言する／表明する-'the word "vampire"--'

He passed his を引き渡す his brow that was wet with perspiration. 'But that's absurd, ridiculous,' he muttered; 'these fantastic beliefs have been 爆発するd years ago. We live in the twentieth century.'

A pause 続いて起こるd, then Vance said 静かに, 'Mr Davenant, since you have taken me into your 信用／信任, since you have 設立する doctors of no avail, will you let me try to help you? I think I may be of some use--if it is not already too late. Should you agree, Mr Dexter and I will …を伴って you, as you have 示唆するd, to Blackwick 城 as 早期に as possible--by tonight's mail North. Under ordinary circumstances I should tell you as you value your life, not to return--'. Davenant shook his 長，率いる. 'That is advice which I should never take,' he 宣言するd. 'I had already decided, under any circumstances, to travel North tonight. I am glad that you both will …を伴って me.'

And so it was decided. We settled to 会合，会う at the 駅／配置する, and presently Paul Davenant took his 出発. Any other 詳細（に述べる）s that remained to be told he would put us in 所有／入手 of during the course of the 旅行.

'A curious and most 利益／興味ing 事例／患者,' 発言／述べるd Vance when we were alone. 'What do you make of it, Dexter?'

'I suppose,' I replied 慎重に, 'that there is such a thing as vampirism even in these days of 前進するd civilization? I can understand the evil 影響（力） that a very old person may have upon a young one if they happen to be in constant intercourse--the worn-out tissue sapping healthy vitality for their own support. And there are 確かな people--I could think of several myself--who seem to depress one and 土台を崩す one's energies, やめる unconsciously, of course, but one feels somehow that vitality has passed from oneself to them. And in this 事例／患者, when the 軍隊 is centuries old, 表明するing itself, in some mysterious way, through Davenant's wife, is it not feasible to believe that he may be 肉体的に 影響する／感情d by it, even though the whole thing is sheerly mental?'

'You think, then,' 需要・要求するd Vance, 'that it is sheerly mental? Tell me, if that is so, how do you account for the 示すs on Davenant's throat?'

This was a question to which I 設立する no reply, and though I 圧力（をかける）d him for his 見解（をとる）s, Vance would not commit himself その上の just then.

Of our long 旅行 to Scotland I need say nothing. We did not reach Blackwick 城 till late in the afternoon of the に引き続いて day. The place was just as I had conceived it--as I have already 述べるd it. And a sense of gloom settled upon me as our car 揺さぶるd us over the rough road that led through the Gorge of the 勝利，勝つd--a gloom that 深くするd when we 侵入するd into the 広大な 冷淡な hall of the 城.

Mrs Davenant, who had been 知らせるd by 電報電信 of our arrival, received us cordially. She knew nothing of our actual 使節団, regarding us 単に as friends of her husband's. She was most solicitous on his に代わって, but there was something 緊張するd about her トン, and it made me feel ばく然と uneasy. The impression that I got was that the woman was impelled to everything that she said or did by some 軍隊 outside herself--but, of course, this was a 結論 that the circumstances I was aware of might easily have conduced to. In every other 面 she was charming, and she had an 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の fascination of 外見 and manner that made me readily understand the 軍隊 of a 発言／述べる made by Davenant during our 旅行.

'I want to live for Jessica's sake. Get her away from Blackwick, Vance, and I feel that all will be 井戸／弁護士席. I'd go through hell to have her 回復するd to me--as she was.'

And now that I had seen Mrs Davenant I realized what he meant by those last words. Her fascination was stronger than ever, but it was not a natural fascination--not that of a normal woman, such as she had been. It was the fascination of a Circe, of a witch, of an enchantress--and as such was irresistible.

We had a strong proof of the evil within her soon after our arrival. It was a 実験（する） that Vance had 静かに 用意が出来ている. Davenant had について言及するd that no flowers grew at Blackwick, and Vance 宣言するd that we must take some with us as a 現在の for the lady of the house. He 購入（する）d a bouquet of pure white roses at the little town where we left the train, for the 自動車 has been sent to 会合，会う us..Soon after our arrival he 現在のd these to Mrs Davenant. She took them it seemed to me nervously, and hardly had her 手渡す touched them before they fell to pieces, in a にわか雨 of crumpled petals, to the 床に打ち倒す.

'We must 行為／法令／行動する at once,' said Vance to me when we were descending to dinner that night. 'There must be no 延期する.'

'What are you afraid of?' I whispered.

'Davenant has been absent a week,' he replied grimly. 'He is stronger than when he went away, but not strong enough to 生き残る the loss of more 血. He must be 保護するd. There is danger tonight.'

'You mean from his wife?' I shuddered at the ghastliness of the suggestion.

'That is what time will show.' Vance turned to me and 追加するd a few words with 激しい earnestness. 'Mrs Davenant, Dexter, is at 現在の hovering between two 条件s. The evil thing has not yet 完全に mastered her--you remember what Davenant said, how she would beg him to go away and the next moment entreat him to stay? She has made a struggle, but she is 徐々に succumbing, and this last week, spent here alone, has 強化するd the evil. And that is what I have got to fight, Dexter--it is to be a contest of will, a contest that will go on silently till one or the other 得るs the mastery. If you watch, you may see. Should a change show itself in Mrs Davenant you will know that I have won.'

Thus I knew the direction in which my friend 提案するd to 行為／法令／行動する. It was to be a war of his will against the mysterious 力／強力にする that had laid its 悪口を言う／悪態 upon the house of MacThane. Mrs Davenant must be 解放（する）d from the 致命的な charm that held her.

And I, knowing what was going on, was able to watch and understand. I realized that the silent contest had begun even while we ate dinner. Mrs Davenant ate 事実上 nothing and seemed ill at 緩和する; she fidgeted in her 議長，司会を務める, talked a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定, and laughed--it was the laugh without a smile, as Davenant had 述べるd it. And as soon as she was able to she withdrew.

Later, as we sat in the 製図／抽選-room, I could feel the 衝突／不一致 of wills. The 空気／公表する in the room felt electric and 激しい, 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d with tremendous but invisible 軍隊s. And outside, 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 城, the 勝利，勝つd whistled and shrieked and moaned--it was as if all the dead and gone MacThanes, a grim army, had collected to fight the 戦う／戦い of their race.

And all this while we four in the 製図／抽選-room were sitting and talking the ordinary commonplaces of after--dinner conversation! That was the 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の part of it--Paul Davenant 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd nothing, and I, who knew, had to play my part. But I hardly took my 注目する，もくろむs from Jessica's 直面する. When would the change come, or was it, indeed, too late!

At last Davenant rose and 発言／述べるd that he was tired and would go to bed. There was no need for Jessica to hurry. We would sleep that night in his dressing-room and did not want to be 乱すd.

And it was at that moment, as his lips met hers in a goodnight kiss, as she 花冠d her enchantress 武器 about him, careless of our presence, her 注目する，もくろむs gleaming hungrily, that the change （機の）カム.

It （機の）カム with a 猛烈な／残忍な and 脅すing shriek of 勝利，勝つd, and a 動揺させるing of the casement, as if the horde of ghosts without was about to break in upon us. A long, quivering sigh escaped from Jessica's lips, her 武器 fell from her husband's shoulders, and she drew 支援する, swaying a little from 味方する to 味方する.

'Paul,' she cried, and somehow the whole timbre of her 発言する／表明する was changed, 'what a wretch I've been to bring you 支援する to Blackwick, ill as you are! But we'll go away, dear; yes, I'll go, too. Oh, will you take me away--take me away tomorrow?' She spoke with an 激しい earnestness--unconscious all the time of what had been happening to her. Long shudders were convulsing her でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる. 'I don't know why I've 手配中の，お尋ね者 to stay here,' she kept repeating. 'I hate the place, really--it's evil--evil.'

Having heard these words I exulted, for surely Vance's success was 保証するd. But I was to learn that the danger was not yet past.

Husband and wife separated, each going to their own room. I noticed the 感謝する, if mystified ちらりと見ること that Davenant threw at Vance, ばく然と aware, as he must have been, that my friend was somehow 責任がある what had happened. It was settled that 計画（する）s for 出発 were to be discussed on the morrow.

'I have 後継するd,' Vance said hurriedly, when we were alone, 'but the change may be a transitory. I must keep watch tonight. Go you to bed, Dexter, there is nothing that you can do.'

I obeyed--though I would sooner have kept watch, too--watch against a danger of which I had no understanding. I went to my room, a 暗い／優うつな and sparsely furnished apartment, but I knew that it was やめる impossible for me to think of sleeping. And so, dressed as I was, I went and sat by the open window, for now the 勝利，勝つd that had 激怒（する）d 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 城 had died 負かす／撃墜する to a low moaning in the pinetrees--a whimpering of time-worn agony.

And it was as I sat thus that I became aware of a white 人物／姿／数字 that stole out from the 城 by a door that I could not see, and, with 手渡すs clasped, ran 速く across the terrace to the 支持を得ようと努めるd. I had but a momentary ちらりと見ること, but I felt 納得させるd that the 人物／姿／数字 was that of Jessica Davenant.

And instinctively I knew that some 広大な／多数の／重要な danger was 切迫した. It was, I think, the suggestion of despair 伝えるd by those clasped 手渡すs. At any 率, I did not hesitate. My window was some 高さ from the ground, but the 塀で囲む below was ivy-覆う？ and afforded good foothold. The 降下／家系 was やめる 平易な. I 達成するd it, and was just in time to （問題を）取り上げる the 追跡 in the 権利 direction, which was into the thickness of the 支持を得ようと努めるd that clung to the slope of the hill.

I shall never forget that wild chase. There was just 十分な room to enable me to follow the rough path, which, luckily, since I had now lost sight of my quarry, was the only possible way that she could have taken; there were no intersecting 跡をつけるs, and the 支持を得ようと努めるd was too 厚い on either 味方する to 許す of deviation.

And the 支持を得ようと努めるd seemed 十分な of dreadful sounds--moaning and wailing and hideous laughter.

The 勝利，勝つd, of course, and the 叫び声をあげるing of night birds--once I felt the ぱたぱたするing of wings in の近くに proximity to my 直面する. But I could not rid myself of the thought that I, in my turn, was 存在 追求するd, that the 軍隊s of hell were 連合させるd against me.

The path （機の）カム to an abrupt end on the 国境 of the sombre lake that I have already について言及するd. And now I realized that I was indeed only just in time, for before me, 急落（する），激減（する）ing 膝 深い in the water, I 認めるd the white-覆う？ 人物／姿／数字 of the woman I had been 追求するing. 審理，公聴会 my footsteps, she turned her 長，率いる, and then threw up her 武器 and 叫び声をあげるd. Her red hair fell in 激しい 集まりs about her shoulders, and her 直面する, as I saw it in that moment, was hardly human for the agony of 悔恨 that it 描写するd.

'Go!' she 叫び声をあげるd. 'For God's sake let me die!'

But I was by her 味方する almost as she spoke. She struggled with me--sought vainly to 涙／ほころび herself from my clasp--implored me, with panting breath, to let her 溺死する.

'It's the only way to save him!' she gasped. 'Don't you understand that I am a thing accursed? For it is I--I--who have sapped his life 血! I know it now, the truth has been 明らかにする／漏らすd to me tonight! I am a vampire, without hope in this world or the next, so for his sake--for the sake of his unborn child--let me die--let me die!'.Was ever so terrible an 控訴，上告 made? Yet I--what could I do? Gently I overcame her 抵抗 and drew her 支援する to shore. By the time I reached it she was lying a dead 負わせる upon my arm. I laid her 負かす／撃墜する upon a mossy bank, and, ひさまづくing by her 味方する, gazed intently into her 直面する.

And then I knew that I had done 井戸／弁護士席. For the 直面する I looked upon was not that of Jessica the vampire, as I had seen it that afternoon, it was the 直面する of Jessica, the woman whom Paul Davenant had loved.

And later Aylmer Vance had his tale to tell.

'I waited', he said, 'until I knew that Davenant was asleep, and then I stole into his room to watch by his 病人の枕元. And presently she （機の）カム, as I guessed she would, the vampire, the accursed thing that has preyed upon the souls of her 肉親，親類, making them like to herself when they too have passed into Shadowland, and 集会 sustenance for her horrid 仕事 from the 血 of those who are 外国人 to her race. Paul's 団体／死体 and Jessica's soul--it is for one and the other, Dexter, that we have fought.'

'You mean,' I hesitated, 'Zaida the witch?'

'Even so,' he agreed. 'Hers is the evil spirit that has fallen like a blight upon the house of MacThane. But now I think she may be exorcized for ever.'

'Tell me.'

'She （機の）カム to Paul Davenant last night, as she must have done before, in the guise of his wife.

You know that Jessica 耐えるs a strong resemblance to her ancestress. He opened his 武器, but she was 失敗させる／負かすd of her prey, for I had taken my 警戒s; I had placed That upon Davenant's breast while he slept which robbed the vampire of her 力／強力にする of ill. She sped wailing from the room--a 影をつくる／尾行する--she who a minute before had looked at him with Jessica's 注目する，もくろむs and spoken to him with Jessica's 発言する／表明する. Her red lips were Jessica's lips, and they were の近くに to his when his 注目する，もくろむs were opened and he saw her as she was--a hideous phantom of the 汚職 of the ages. And so the （一定の）期間 was 除去するd, and she fled away to the place whence she had come--'

He paused. 'And now?' I 問い合わせd.

'Blackwick 城 must be 破壊するd to the ground,' he replied. 'That is the only way. Every 石／投石する of it, every brick, must be ground to 砕く and burnt with 解雇する／砲火／射撃, for therein is the 原因（となる） of all the evil. Davenant has 同意d.'

'And Mrs Davenant?'

'I think,' Vance answered 慎重に, 'that all may be 井戸／弁護士席 with her. The 悪口を言う／悪態 will be 除去するd with the 破壊 of the 城. She has not--thanks to you--死なせる／死ぬd under its 影響（力）. She was いっそう少なく 有罪の than she imagined--herself preyed upon rather than preying. But can't you understand her 悔恨 when she realized, as she was bound to realize, the part she had played? And the knowledge of the child to come--its 致命的な 相続物件--'

'I understand.' I muttered with a shudder. And then, under my breath, I whispered, 'Thank God!'

THE END

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