M. R. James: Mr. Humphreys and His Inheritance

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This night again was fair and brilliant and calm, and Humphreys lingered almost as long at his window. The Irish yew came to his mind again as he was on the point of drawing his curtains…

“Mr. Humphreys and His Inheritance” is the last story in Volume 1 of M. R. James’ complete ghost stories.

It’s one of James’ longer stories and might be described as laborious – but not in the manner of being boring or too detailed. It’s more laborious in the sense one might feel trying to make their way through a maze.

Of course, that’s the main aspect of Mr. Humphreys’ inheritance. In addition to an estate and all the servants that come with it, there is also a maze. The library in the estate (there’s almost always a library) gives some clues as to how and why the maze was set up. The maze is enough to provide fright; however, the supernatural does show up in a few places but it wouldn’t be fair to give these details away.

So that’s all of M. R. James ghost stories. It’s been quite fun reading through all of them. I think my favorite is still “‘Oh Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad'” which I read a few years ago. But so many of them come close to being just as great.

M. R. James: Martin’s Close

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‘…and I hope to God…that she will be with you by day and by night till an end is made of you.’

This week at Mirror With Clouds, I’ll be playing catch-up from last week in which my schedule was a little off.

First up is the penultimate story from Volume 1 of M. R. James’ complete ghost stories – “Martin’s Close”.

If I recall correctly, I don’t think trial scenes have played a role in any of James’ stories until now (feel free to correct me if I’m wrong) and, of course, the trial is not in present time – it’s a transcript from 1684, several hundred years prior to the story’s present.

George Martin is on trial for the murder of Ann Clark, a young girl who, in his mind, ruined a better marriage prospect for himself. He is accused of the murder because of the way he reacts to what most consider to be Ann Clark’s ghost.

I won’t ruin the story by stating the outcome of the trial but one might guess based on the story’s title. While the ghost isn’t questioned as a witness, even if that would be kind of interesting, it seems the ghost is key to the accusation and even the judge doesn’t question its existence as evidenced by the above quotation.

M. R. James: The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral

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This matter began, as far as I am concerned, with the reading of a notice in the obituary section of the Gentleman’s Magazine for an early year in the nineteenth century…

While the above first line of M. R. James’ “The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral” may not be the most exciting or scary line of the story, I couldn’t help but immediately be fascinated with its understatement. The narrator finds the beginning of his story in reading an obituary “as far as [he was] concerned”. I also immediately asked the question “who else would be concerned”?

As I’ve found it to be customary by now for M. R. James, this story unfolds from an obituary to the old diaries and papers. In this case, they belong to the archdeacon of Barchester Cathedral. The narrator obtains the papers from a librarian and then proceeds to put together the pieces of the story.

At least in this story, I the find the putting together of the pieces to be just as exciting and interesting as the supernatural scary aspects – and those are quite good, too. It’s tough to get past a demon cat attached to an ancient carving in a church. But the connecting of numerous diary entries builds the suspense.

M. R. James: Casting the Runes

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More than once on the way home that day Mr. Dunning confessed to himself that he did not look forward with his usual cheerfulness to a solitary evening. It seemed to him that something ill-defined and impalpable had stepped in between him and his fellow-men – had taken him in charge, as it were.

M. R. James’ “Casting the Runes” has a slightly different tone than his other stories in that the “scary dude” actually gets his comeuppance – in a rather humorous way.

Mr. Dunning rejects a paper that the “scary dude” submitted to a museum regarding alchemy and the occult. Turns out, the “scary dude” had a paper rejected in the past and he cast runes on the guy that rejected it. Not wanting to suffer the same fate, Mr. Dunning does some of his own research regarding alchemy.

It’s interesting that most of this story is told through conversation at a dinner party and then a conversation on a train. We don’t run into the author of these papers until the end. It’s not surprising that the ending is dark even if the good guy wins. It’s not surprising that its funny, either!

M. R. James: The Tractate Middoth

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Toward the end of an autumn afternoon an elderly man with a thin face and grey Piccadilly weepers pushed open the swinging door leading into the vestibule of a certain famous library, and addressing himself to an attendant, stated that he believed he was entitled to use the library, and inquired if he might take a book out.

M. R. James’ “The Tractate Middoth” begins with a missing library book. My interest in libraries and my interest in books made me think “It can’t get better than this”. After finishing the story, I admit it may not have been perfect but there is a charm about it and some twists that make it well worth reading.

The bulk of the story is more of a traditional mystery and as in many mystery stories, a plot point occurs that is WAY too convenient. While I can’t help but point this out, ultimately I was able to live with it.

Also, it can’t be a M. R. James story without something supernatural; however, in this story the supernatural is sort of thrown in at the last minute and not really explained. In fact, I thought I might be reading my first M. R. James story that didn’t include a ghost – but I wasn’t. I will say that the fun of this story is more the charm of the librarian who becomes the protagonist – and the detective.

The final paragraph contains another little twist that provides some wonderful humor and a great ending that covers up any potential faults previously mentioned. I still recommend this one. It’s just not as scary!

M. R. James: The Rose Garden

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‘You see, I couldn’t tell: it was the sort of shock that upsets you in a dream. You either wake up or else everything goes black.’

“The Rose Garden” is another one of M. R. James’ stories with a plain title. But the subject of this title throws mild-mannered couple into quite a story.

Mr. and Mrs. Anstruther requests their gardener to rearrange some things in their rose garden. While a seemingly inconsequential task, the gardener seems to have some reasons for not doing it.

At the crux of the story is a dream that more than one person has in which the dreamer is on trial and set to be executed. The telling of the dream and the connection made to other characters and ultimately to the historical link of the rose garden gives the story its suspense and enjoyment.

In this case, the terror contrasts nicely with the mellow older couple experiencing it.

M. R. James: A School Story

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Two men in a smoking-room were talking of their private-school days. ‘At our school,’ said A., ‘we had a ghost’s footmark on the staircase. What was it like? Oh, very unconvincing.

M. R. James’ “A School Story” comes across as a little more low key than some of his other stories. There are still ghosts, a history with some nefarious business, but it’s from the point of view of an adult man telling what happened to him as a younger boy at school.

In the case of this story, the title, as plain as it sounds, suits the story quite well. And there’s nothing negative in that – the story is enjoyable. It’s also one of the shorter James stories I’ve read so far at about six pages.

Even ghost stories can be good without being over the top. And of course if anyone is going to make “low key” come across as good it would be M. R. James.

M. R. James: The Treasure of Abbott Thomas

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They parted upon this, and if Mr. Gregory woke once or twice in the small hours and fancied he heard a fumbling about the lower part of his locked door, it was perhaps, no more than what a quiet man, suddenly plunged into a strange bed and the heart of a mystery, might reasonably expect. Certainly he thought, to the end of his days, that he had heard such a sound twice or three times between midnight and dawn.

M. R. James’ “The Treasure of Abbott Thomas” contains all of the fun elements of a story that reminds me of Dan Brown’s novel The DaVinci Code or Walt Disney’s film National Treasure. I can’t go into all of the detailed clues our hero finds because it would ruin the story for those who haven’t read it before. I will say that it involves a stained glass window which James vividly describes and uses to great effect.

A difference might be that a supernatural guardian exists to ward off our heroes. In this case maybe the the story is more like Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Telling the story out of chronological order isn’t a surprise here but it also adds to the suspense – keeping the reader asking where the clues might lead.

It’s difficult to say that any M. R. James story isn’t entertaining but I found this one even more so. Go read it! It’ll be fun!

M. R. James: Count Magnus

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It was about nine o’clock on a moonlight August night when he neared the place. He was sitting forward, and looking out of the window at the fields and thickets – there was little else to be seen – racing past him. Suddenly he came to a cross-road. At the corner two figures were standing motionless; both were in dark cloaks; the taller one wore a hat, the shorter a hood.

The quotation above from M. R. James’ “Count Magus” actually comes toward the end of the story. The timeline, in addition to the varying narrations within narrations, gives the story an odd feel but that no longer comes as a surprise to me – James seems to always make it work.

Mr. Wraxall, the “he” from the quotation, has written an account that begins three hundred years prior with a “Black Pilgrimage”. It ends with his pursuit by the dark figures mentioned above. This account has been discovered by the purchaser of Mr. Wraxall’s house at least several decades after the account.

All kinds of coffins, bodies with skulls as faces, dark nights, dark figures, meetings at cross-roads, serve up a horror story above all others even though I could probably say that about any M. R. James story.

Interestingly, the ending provides a surprise twist but it’s after the terror has taken place. While not that terrifying, it’s not something I want to spoil for future readers.

M. R. James: Number 13

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M. R. James’ story “Number 13” isn’t quite as scary as some of his other stories. There’s some screams that come from the title room of a hotel in Denmark but for the most part it’s just fun reading about the perplexity of the occupant of Number 12. He sometimes sees a Number 13 next to his room and sometimes it’s a Number 14. In case you wondered, when he sees Number 13, his room is smaller.

I don’t think any of the stories of James that I’ve read so far have been set in Denmark. Most if not all have been set in England. Comments pop up like “Such things rarely happen in Denmark…” that get a little humor out of the Danish twist. Maybe it’s more difficult to set scary stories in Denmark.

The occupant of Number 12 happens to be an historian (which by now is no surprise) who is interested in the early years of the Protestant Reformation. Through sheer genius, James gets some humor out the Protestant/Catholic conflict, too.