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Acolyte, v. 2, issue 3, whole no. 7, Summer 1944
Page 13
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marching abreast mingled with the intoxicant shrilling of the trumpets of victory; and the Old King's scarred shoulders stiffened, and in his eyes gleamed the sparks of the years that were; once more in his ears rang the frenzied shouts of his people as he rode in state down that jewel-paved road; once more, once more, three times ten thousand men had knelt in homage at his feet, and thrice ten thousand sword-blades flashed at his word of command; once more he was a conqueror, once more he was a King!...till the music stopped...and he slowly looked down at the rags on his body and the chains on his feet, and tried to close a fist that he did not have, and to speak without a tongue; and as he sobbed in unthinkable shame and sank to his knees in the muck and slime of the stables, amid mocking tinkles from the balcony the King knew, fully and completely, the vengeance of the harp. LITTLE-KNOWN FANTAISITES BY HAROLD WAKEFIELD 5. A. M. BURRAGE -o0o- A, M. Burrage had began to write stories while still at school, and became a professional author at 17. Serving as a private in the Artists' Rifles during the last war, he was invalided home in 1918, and has been contributing stories and articles to most of the better known English magazines since that time. Under the pen-name of "Ex-Private X", he has published two books, War Is War and Someone in the Room, and then later under his own name another collection of creepy tales entitled Some Ghost Stories. Though obviously a disciple of M. R. James, he will never achieve the stature of his master, but on occasion he conveys a potent thrill to his readers. In one of the best of Burrage's stories, Smee, a game of hide-and-seek is played by a group of twelve grownups at a christmas party. Into this game a thirteenth player intrudes, and it is not until one of the players seeking refuge in an already occupied alcove actually talks to and touches his companion that the true nature of the grisly occupant is revealed. The reader will readily discern the influence here of M. R. James. Another powerful piece of writing is One Who Saw. It tells a mysterious woman who sits at night in a garden with her face always averted, death or madness awaiting any many with the hardihood to gaze on her features. In Nobody's House, a fine example of mounting suspense, a man reconstructs a murder of twenty years ago, an experiment which ends in death for himself. The Waxwork is a psychological horror story in which the victim is killed by his own imagination. Laid in the chamber of horrors at waxworks museum, this story builds up a powerful atmosphere. The very trite theme of the ghost of an unjustly executed man returning to prove his innocence is saved by fine handling in Browdean Farm. Though very similar in theme, I consider this story to be far superior in treatment to E. F. Benson's The Hanging of Alfred Wadham. An unusual and pathetic story is The Oak Saplings, in which the spirits of two murdered young lovers haunt a pair of saplings. The (concluded on page 15) -- 13 --
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marching abreast mingled with the intoxicant shrilling of the trumpets of victory; and the Old King's scarred shoulders stiffened, and in his eyes gleamed the sparks of the years that were; once more in his ears rang the frenzied shouts of his people as he rode in state down that jewel-paved road; once more, once more, three times ten thousand men had knelt in homage at his feet, and thrice ten thousand sword-blades flashed at his word of command; once more he was a conqueror, once more he was a King!...till the music stopped...and he slowly looked down at the rags on his body and the chains on his feet, and tried to close a fist that he did not have, and to speak without a tongue; and as he sobbed in unthinkable shame and sank to his knees in the muck and slime of the stables, amid mocking tinkles from the balcony the King knew, fully and completely, the vengeance of the harp. LITTLE-KNOWN FANTAISITES BY HAROLD WAKEFIELD 5. A. M. BURRAGE -o0o- A, M. Burrage had began to write stories while still at school, and became a professional author at 17. Serving as a private in the Artists' Rifles during the last war, he was invalided home in 1918, and has been contributing stories and articles to most of the better known English magazines since that time. Under the pen-name of "Ex-Private X", he has published two books, War Is War and Someone in the Room, and then later under his own name another collection of creepy tales entitled Some Ghost Stories. Though obviously a disciple of M. R. James, he will never achieve the stature of his master, but on occasion he conveys a potent thrill to his readers. In one of the best of Burrage's stories, Smee, a game of hide-and-seek is played by a group of twelve grownups at a christmas party. Into this game a thirteenth player intrudes, and it is not until one of the players seeking refuge in an already occupied alcove actually talks to and touches his companion that the true nature of the grisly occupant is revealed. The reader will readily discern the influence here of M. R. James. Another powerful piece of writing is One Who Saw. It tells a mysterious woman who sits at night in a garden with her face always averted, death or madness awaiting any many with the hardihood to gaze on her features. In Nobody's House, a fine example of mounting suspense, a man reconstructs a murder of twenty years ago, an experiment which ends in death for himself. The Waxwork is a psychological horror story in which the victim is killed by his own imagination. Laid in the chamber of horrors at waxworks museum, this story builds up a powerful atmosphere. The very trite theme of the ghost of an unjustly executed man returning to prove his innocence is saved by fine handling in Browdean Farm. Though very similar in theme, I consider this story to be far superior in treatment to E. F. Benson's The Hanging of Alfred Wadham. An unusual and pathetic story is The Oak Saplings, in which the spirits of two murdered young lovers haunt a pair of saplings. The (concluded on page 15) -- 13 --
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