Dreams from the Witch House: Female Voices of Lovecraftian Horror Read Online Free PDF Page A

a few morsels. At these times Magdalena was acutely conscious of the nurse Helge hovering just outside the door, and of Hannah in the pantry, waiting for her mistress to ring a little silver bell to summon her (Hannah also prepared meals, a duty she took very seriously. Magdalena had several times offered to help her but had always been rejected: "Miss Schön, I am Mrs. Kistenmacher's cook"). On Mondays there came to the house on Charter Street a husky red-haired woman of about forty named Mavis who did laundry and heavy cleaning, and this woman was friendly with Hannah, who hired her, and often Magdalena could hear the two whispering and laughing together, in Magdalena's very presence. One day at dinner, Magdalena was miserable hearing Hannah and Mavis in the pantry, peeking through the swinging door at her, and under the pretext of seeking out a glass of fresh ice water for her aunt, before the older woman could ring her little bell, Magdalena stormed out into the pantry and confronted her startled tormentors—"Why don't you like me? What have I ever done to you?" Tears brimmed in the girl's eyes but the women turned away embarrassed and sullen.
    Following that, relations between Magdalena and the household staff would be more strained than ever.
    Aunt Erica, aware of far more that happened under her roof than one might imagine of one with sight and hearing deficiencies, scolded Magdalena for such behavior—"Child, it isn't fitting." Her admonishments were playful but accompanied by light slaps on Magdalena's wrist clearly meant to evoke more solid blows.
     
    §
     
    On the second Sunday of Magdalena's residence at the house on Charter Street, her aunt invited a number of people for "afternoon tea". Magdalena was surprised to learn that Erica Kistenmacher knew so many people. What a flurry of faces, names, handshakes! The majority of the visitors were women of her aunt's age, widows like her, and neighbors; but there were gentlemen as well, former business associates of the late Mr. Kistenmacher, and legal and financial advisors of Mrs. Kistenmacher; and the formidable Dr. Meinke, white-haired and garrulous. Among the guests was a youngish man of about twenty-seven, a junior associate of Mrs. Kistenmacher's accountant, whom eventually Magdalena Schön would marry; but, at the time of their first meeting, Magdalena scarcely heard his name in her confusion, and scarcely saw his face, and forgot him, as she forgot most of the others, almost immediately afterward.
     
     
    3.
     
    Now the day is over
    Night is drawing nigh
    Shadows of the evening…
     
    From her room at the top of the brick house on Charter Street, Magdalena Schön looked out restlessly upon the mysterious city of Edmundston. Repeatedly her attention was drawn to the Merrimack River, glittering like a snake's scales, and the Merrimack Bridge that seemed almost to beckon to her. Now the weather had turned warmer, now the evenings were longer, she dared to open her windows wide, and leaned out, breathing in an intoxicating fragrance of lilac laced with fresh, chill gusts of air from the ocean. Her eyes were widened, sharpened. It seemed to her that she could see vividly a long distance; in hazy-gloomy Black Rock where the air was singed with smoke and fumes from the iron foundry, she'd hardly been able to see a quarter mile. And how acutely she could hear!—sounds from miles away.
    Crystal-like chimes of a church's bell. And another bell deeper, more solemnly tolling like a great, ponderous heart.
    A rougher, more rhythmic music—an accordion?
    A beautiful voice, lifted in song. Difficult to determine at this distance if it was male or female. Now the day is over, night is drawing nigh… The voice was blown on the wind, now distinct, now fading. She leaned out her window dangerously far, cupping a hand to hen-ear like her deaf Aunt Erica. How exquisite, how beautiful this music, how it called to her: Magdalena, come! Hurry!
    These sounds were wafted to her