The Face in the Frost

him up. When the muffled striking had finished, two wooden doors opened tn the front of the clock and a small brass cannon rolled out. The spring-action barrel fired two metal pellets which flew across the room into the open mouth of a bust of Aristotle. The philosopher's eyes blinked red twice as the pellets went down his throat. Gulp-gulp, ping-ping. Roger stood staring at the spectacle.

'I do not think, Prospero,' he said, 'that one should attribute a very high degree of reality to your house.'

'That clock is altogether too real,' said Prospero. 'I think I will have to stuff Aristotle's mouth with paper.'

'You might try not winding up the clock,' said Roger.

'Oh, my no!' said Prospero, dead panning. 'What would the clock think?'

The two men sat down again, in the easy chairs. Prospero had brought a large floor candelabrum from the other room, and he had placed it between the two chairs. Now, he began to read by the wavering shadowy light. He mumbled the first few lines of the first page to himself and looked up.

'This seems to be a very thorough description of the book. Is it from a catalogue of some sort?'

'Yes,' said Roger. 'The monk kept a descriptive list of all his books. Most of the entries are very brief and limited to standard descriptive terms, but this note is quite elaborate, and it certainly goes beyond the kind of thing you'd expect to find in a book list. The rest of the material you have there I copied from a diary he kept. I didn't include anything that did not pertain to the book. At first, there are just a few scattered notes, but later he writes about the book obsessively. You will see why.'

'You do know how to arouse curiosity,' said Prospero, smiling 'Why don't I read this aloud? I hate long silences as much as you do, and we both enjoy being read to.'

'Very well,' said Roger, sitting back. 'Anyway, I haven't read the thing since I was in the archives at Glastonbury. Read on.'

Prospero began to read in a slow, matter-of-fact voice.

''Item 1036. Small quarto volume in vellum-covered boards. No markings on back or front cover or on spine. Little sign of wear. Contains 73 parchment leaves. Writing on both sides of leaves. Colored drawings in margins, small woodcuts used for initial letters, and some full-page wood cuts. Curious dolphin cross on last page. Bookplate on inside front cover. This latter has been defaced by some crisscross slashes probably made with a pen, but I can make out the design, which is this:'' Prospero found himself looking at a macabre heraldic device.

'Even though it's my drawing of his drawing,' said Roger, 'it's probably accurate. And, it's familiar too, though I can't think why.'

Prospero nodded. 'I feel the same way. Well, let's go on. The book appears to be written in a cipher, though i cannot even make out the alpha­bet that is used. The writing is neat and flowing, and there seem to be words and word groups. There is something vaguely disturbing about the writing. The decorations are similarly odd and much more unsettling. The flowers drawn in the margins are minutely detailed, though they correspond to no flowers that I have ever seen, either in life or in my herb-books. Some flowers have men and women rising from them. Woodcuts used for initial letters are executed with skill. One shows a lighted window in a moonlit tower. A figure in the window, hunched over a lectern. A similar cut shows the scholar at his desk before an open book. A shadowed figure, presumably a friend, looks over his shoulder. One full-page woodcut shows (I imagine) the Witch of Endor. Certainly, there are 'gods ascending from the earth.' The witch's back is to us and she is thrown into silhouette by the light of a fire. She holds a rod. The spirits, which are crawling out of the fire, look like horribly emaciated men. Some are on their knees begging, some are trying to flee, and one is crawling toward the witch with a look that gave me a bad dream the other night. Another full-page cut shows a man who has apparently just been awakened. He is in a nightgown and he holds a candle. Again, the face is away from us, for he looks toward a large open window. The light, or some­thing about the drawing, is incredibly well done, making the window a terrifying black hole. Anything might crawl through it. Not that there are shapes in the window. It seems absolutely dark. I have contemplated burning this woodcut, but I cannot do it. Twice I have awakened at night to find myself in the situation of the figure in the picture. Without a candle, but in bright moonlight. Once I woke up and found that I was unfastening the latch on my bedroom window. I have never been a sleep walker before. God save me from a moonless night!''

Prospero shuddered. 'Even reading about this is horrible! Did anything happen to the poor man?'

'No... well, that is to say, he was not dragged off by dark creatures. But, he-oh, read on! The diary is next.'

Prospero continued:

''October 15: Found an interesting-looking book in the library today. I asked the abbot if he would let me have it for my own collection in my laboratory, and he said yes. It appears to be in a strange language, and it may deal with magic.''

''November 28: I must find time to study that new book; I fear my lack of training in languages will hinder me.''

''January 21: I have been trying to unlock the cipher of this strange book. Having exhausted my supply of cryptographic manuals, I am sending to London for more. The writing looks as though it could be translated. That is, it is suggestive of some meaning.''

''February 3: The new books are no help. I am going to give up trying to interpret this piece of nonsense. It has taken up far too much of my time. After all, it may be in a language I do not know. But then, why does it seem so meaningful?''

''February 17: will give this damnable book one last try. To the devil with all manuals! I should be able to solve it with my native wits.''

''February 18: I stayed up all night, and toward morning, when the letters were twisting and squirming before my eyes, I found that the first two lines made sense. Laudate Dominum! All that is required, it seems, is concentration. It seems to be the beginning of an incantation of some sort. This has been a bitter winter. Wolves were howling last night in a grove of trees a few hundred yards from the abbey. I could see their eyes as I stood in my window.''

''February 20: I have asked the abbot to excuse me from prayers for a few days, so that I might finish something that will, I am sure, be for the greater glory of God. He consented, but reluctantly, and made a needlessly unpleasant remark about my haggard appearance. He has not wrestled with Powers and Principalities.''

''March 13: It has taken incredible concentration, but I have finished the first incantation. I assume it to be complete, since the next line is indented and begins with an ornamental capital. Tonight, I will try the spell and see what it brings.''

''March 14: At first, I was horribly disappointed. I chanted the words, but nothing happened. However, I soon came to see that one has to want some­thing specific to happen. I decided that the best thing would be to close my eyes and see what image formed. I saw many things, but one picture kept recurring, the snowy field outside my window, and in the middle of it, one gray wolf. (No doubt this was the result of what I mentioned in my note of February 18.) I chanted the words again and went to my window. It was ten o'clock at night, a three-quarters-full moon was in the sky, and in the snow, I saw a wolf staring up at me. In that instant, I realized that I had made him, and that I could keep him there only by intense concentration The moment my brain began to grow tired, the wolf began to shimmer and fade into the snow. When I ran outside, I saw that the creature had left tracks. I have done what Tiresias, Simon Magus, Arbaces, and all the sibyls could not do.''

Prospero dropped the papers into his lap. The two men stared at each other for a long time.

'Well,' said Prospero at last, 'I thought we were changing the subject when we started to read this thing.'

'So did I,' said Roger. 'Fool that I am I didn't notice the connection till you read it just now. This gives added significance to some things that happened later. Read on and you will see what I mean.'

Prospero picked up the papers again.

''March 15 : The wolf will not obey my commands, though I can hold him here for upwards of an hour, I must read more. The abbot will not allow me to have my meals brought here. I spoke to him