The Unquiet Grave.docx

1、The Unquiet GraveThe Unquiet Grave by M.R.James The PictureFor several years Mr Williams worked for the museum at the University of Oxford，enlarging its already famous collection of drawings and pictures of English country houses and churchesIt is hard to imagine anything less alarming than collecti

2、ng pictures of houses and churches，but Mr Williams found that even this peaceful work had its unexpected dark cornersHe bought many pictures for the museum from the London shop of Mr JWBritnellTwice a year Mr Britnell sent a list of pictures to all his regular customers，who could then choose which p

3、ictures they wanted to look at before deciding whether to buyIn February 1895 Mr Williams received a list from Mr Britnell with the following letter：Dear Sir，I think you might be interested in Picture Number 978 in our list，which I will be happy to send to you if you wishJWBritnellMr Williams turned

4、 to Number 978 in the list and found the following note：Number 978Artist unknownPicture of an English country house，early nineteenth century25 centimetres by 40 centimetres20It did not sound very interesting and the price seemed high However，Mr Williams added it to the pictures that he asked Mr Brit

5、nell to send to himThe pictures arrived at the museum one Saturday afternoon， just after Mr Williams had leftThey were brought round to his rooms in college so that he could look at them over the weekendMr Williams found them on his table when he and his friend，Mr Binks，came in to have teaPicture Nu

6、mber978 showed the front of quite a large country houseIt had three rows of windows with the door in the middle of the bottom rowThere were trees on both sides of the house and a large lawn in front of itThe letters AWF were written in the corner of the pictureMr Williams thought that it was not ver

7、y well done，probably the work of an amateur artist，and he could not understand why Mr Britnell thought it was worth twenty poundsHe turned it over and saw that there was a piece of paper on the back with part of a name on itAll he could read were the ends of two lines of Writing The first said，ngly

8、Hall；the second，ssexMr Williams thought that it would be interesting to see if he could find the name of the house in one of his guidebooks be fore sending the picture back on Monday morning Meanwhile，he put the picture on the table，lit the lamp because it was now getting dark，and made the teaWhile

9、they were having tea，his friend picked up the picture，looked at it and said，Wheres this house， Williams？Thats just what I was going to find out，said Williams， taking a book from the shelfIf you look at the back，youll see its Something Hall in either Essex or SussexHalf the names missing，you seeI don

10、t suppose you recognize the house，do you？No，I dont，said Mr BinksIts from Britnell，I suppose，isnt it？Is it for the museum？Well，I would buy it if the price was two pounds，replied Mr Williams，but for some reason he wants twenty pounds for itI cant think whyIts not a very good picture and there arent ev

11、en any figures in it to make it more interestingI agree its not worth twenty pounds，said Binks，but I dont think its too badThe light seems rather good to me and I think there is a figure here，just at the edge，in the frontLet me see，said WilliamsWell，its true the light is quite well doneWheres the fi

12、gure？Oh，yes！Just the head， in the very front of the pictureAnd indeed there wasright on the edge of the picture just the head of a man or a woman，who was looking towards the houseWilliams had not noticed it beforeStill，he said，though its better than I thought at first， I cant spend twenty pounds of

13、the museums money on a picture of a house I dont even knowMr Binks，who had some work to finish，soon left and Mr Williams spent the time before dinner trying to find the name of the house in his guidebooksIf I knew the letter before the“ngly”，he said to himself，it would be easy enoughBut there are ma

14、ny more names ending in“ngly”than I thoughtDinner in Mr Williamscollege was at seven oclock and afterwards a few of his friends came back to his rooms to play cardsDuring a pause in the game Mr Williams picked up the picture from the table without looking at it and passed it to a man named Garwood，w

15、ho was interested in picturesGarwood looked at it and said：This is really a very fine picture，you know，Williams The light is very well done，in my opinion，and though the figure is rather unpleasant，it is quite interestingYes，isnt it？said Williams，who was too busy giving drinks to his guests to look a

16、t the picture againWhen his visitors had gone，Williams had to finish writing a letter，so it was after midnight before he was ready to go to bedThe picture lay face upwards on the table where Garwood had left it and，as Williams was putting out the lamp，he saw itFor a moment he was too surprised to mo

17、ve，then he slowly picked up the picture and stared at it in horrorIn the middle of the lawn，in front of the unknown house，there was a figure where there had been no figure earlierIt was crawling on hands and knees towards the house，and it was covered in a strange black garment with a white cross on

18、the backAfter a second or two Mr Williams took the picture by one corner and carried it to an empty roomThere，he locked it， face downwards，in a cupboard，then closed and locked the door of the empty roomHe went back to his own room and locked the door behind himBefore going to bed，he sat down and wro

19、te a note describing in detail the extraordinary change in the picture since he had received itHe was glad to remember that Mr Garwood，who had looked at the picture earlier in the evening，had also seen a rather unpleasantfigureHe decided that in the morning he must ask someone to look carefully at t

20、he picture with him， and he must try very hard to discover the name of the house He would ask his neighbour，Mr Nisbet，to have breakfast with himThen he would spend the morning looking for the house in his guidebooksMr Nisbet arrived at nine oclock and the two men sat down to breakfastWhen they had f

21、inished，Mr Williams，feeling both nervous and excited，hurried to the empty roomHe unlocked the cupboard，took out the picture，still face down- wards，and，without looking at it，went back to his own room and put it into Nisbets handsNow，Nisbet，he said，I want you to tell me what you see in that pictureDes

22、cribe it，please，in detailIll tell you why afterwardsWell，said Nisbet，I have here a picture of an English country house by moonlightMoonligh？Are you sure？Oh，yesThe moon is shown quite clearly and there are clouds in the skyAll rightGo onBut Im sure，added Williams quietly， that there was no moon when

23、I first saw itWell，theres not much more I can say，Nisbet continued The house has three rows of windows，five in each row，except at the bottom，where theres a door instead of the middle one andBut what about figures？said Williams with great interestFigures？replied NisbetThere arent anyWhat？No figure on

24、 the grass in front？NoNot a thingAre you sure？Of course I amBut theres one other thingWhats that？One of me windows on the ground floor，on the left of the door，is openIs it really？Oh dear！I suppose hes got into the house， said Williams，with great excitementHe hurried across to where Nisbet was sittin

25、g and，taking the picture from him，saw for himselfIt was quite true There was no figure on the lawn，and there was the open win- dowFor a moment williams was too surprised to speak，then he sat down at his desk and wrote for a few minutesWhen he had finished，he brought two papers across to NisbetHe ask

26、ed him to sign the first one，which was Nisbets own de scription of the picture，then to read the other one，which was the note Williams had written the night beforeWhat can it all mean？asked NisbetThats what I must find out，said WilliamsNow，there are three things I must doFirst，I must ask Garwood exac

27、tly what he saw when he looked at the picture last night，then I must have the picture photographed before it goes any further and，thirdly，I must find out where this house isI can take the photograph for you myself，said Nisbet But，you know，I think we are seeing something terrible happening hereThe qu

28、estion is，has it already happened or is it going to happen？You really must find out where this house isHe looked at the picture again and shook his headI think you are right，you knowHe has got inIm sure there will be some trouble in that houseIll tell you what Ill do，said WilliamsIll show the pictur

29、e to old Doctor GreenHe grew up in Essex and he often goes to Sussex to see his brother who lives thereHes been going there for yearsHe must know both places quite wellThats a very good idea，agreed NisbetBut I think I heard Green say that he was going away this weekendYoure right，said WilliamsI reme

30、mber nowhes gone to Brighton for the weekendIll leave a note asking him to see me as soon as he returnsMeanwhile，you take the picture and photograph it and Ill see Garwood and ask him what he saw when he looked at it last nightHe pausedYou know，he added，I dont think twenty pounds is too much to ask

31、for this picture，after allIn a short time Williams returned to his room，bringing Mr Garwood with himMr Garwood said that when he had looked at the picture the figure was just starting to crawl across the lawnHe remembered that it was wearing a black garment with something white on the backhe was not sure if it was a crossWhile he was writing this down，Mr Nisbet returned and said that he had photographed the pictureWhat are you going to do now，Williams？asked Mr Gar woodAre you goi