Verse of the Vampyre Read Online Free PDF

of Peter’s mysterious caller in her head. Could it have been Catriona?
    “Anyway, who’s to say Manfred is the stronger piece?” growled Roy Blade. “Within two years of its publication, The Vampyre was translated into French, German, Spanish and Swedish. Even before Polidori’s death it had been adapted for the stage.”
    Everyone began to speak at once.
    Lady Vee bristled. “ Any work by Byron would be a fahhhr more suitable choice than Polidori, who…”
    “But there are no roles for women in it!” Theresa protested.
    The idea that Lady Ives might have actually read Byron’s masterpiece momentarily dumbfounded the others.
    Into the silence, Grace placated, “After all, Polidori’s work was strong enough to be mistaken originally for Byron’s own. Goethe even called it Byron’s best work.”
    “It’s influenced a hell of a lot of writers,” Roy Blade declared. “Sheridan Le Fanu, Edgar Allan Poe and Bram Stoker to name a few.” He warmed to his theme, oblivious to the signs of restlessness in his audience. “True, it may not be the seminal vampire text, that credit would go to Burger or perhaps Goethe for Die Braut von Korinth —”
    “Brilliant bloke,” Derrick commented to Theresa, who put her hands to her head as though she felt a headache coming on—or wanted to cover her ears.
    Lady Vee ignored all this, speaking solely to Grace. “Goethe was being ironic . Vampires!” She made a noise of disgust. “I agreed to invest in a work of cultural significance. Polidori was a sycophant. He plagiarized the idea of a vampire from Byron, who had the good sense and exquisite taste to abandon the project as unworthy.”
    Roy Blade rose, towering over the elderly woman—who puffed up like an adder. “Perhaps if Byron and his snotty crowd of effetes hadn’t deliberately set out to humiliate and punish Polidori for having committed the unforgivable sin of working for a living instead of being born to aristocrats or intellectuals—”
    “ Work? He was a leech by profession and nature. He was hired to spy upon B. by his publisher.”
    “Would that be Polidori’s publisher or Byron’s?” Derrick queried with great interest.
    “I think we’re getting off the track,” Grace said.
    Catriona curled her lip. “You have the gift of understatement.”
    “And you have the gift of unproductive commentary.” Years of dealing with smart-ass adolescents had sharpened her tongue, but Grace regretted her hasty words when Theresa uttered a pleased, “Ooh!”
    “Please continue, Grace,” Lord Ruthven said. She assumed he was not encouraging her to attack his wife, but to address Lady Vee’s issues.
    “In fairness,” she went on, “while Polidori admitted he was inspired by Byron, his work was written and published before Byron ever penned his fragment.”
    Roy Blade burst out, “Who knows what he might have achieved if he hadn’t been driven by Byron’s ridicule and ostracization to take his own life. He was only twenty-six. A boy! He had a brilliant mind. The youngest man ever to receive his medical degree from the University of Edinburgh. Had he found an ounce of kindness or encouragement, he might have—”
    “Now, I don’t think you can blame what happened to Polidori in England on Byron,” Grace objected. “As far as I know, Byron never said anything disparaging about The Vampyre other than to make it clear it wasn’t his own.”
    “You’re not helping,” Catriona informed her. “Look, we’ve had this out. As Ms. Hollister points out, we voted.” She turned to Lady Vee. “ You were outvoted, if you will recall.” As she moved, she trod on the stage trapdoor.
    With a cracking sound, it gave way beneath her.

3
    A s Catriona dropped through the black square, Theresa screamed. There were outcries of shock and horror from the others.
    Catriona’s hands shot out and grabbed the edge of the stage. She hung there for a moment. Strangely, she never screamed, never made a sound. Her hands