October 10 - 58
Urgent! For PROF. GERRICHT SAVAGE's eyes only.
Dear Prof. G. Savage.
It is not common for my correspondence to act as more than a telling of the facts as close to the truth as my fickle memory may muster. Since defining the function of Madistone house much information of procured curios has been communicated with little aplomb or embellishment. I fear however that on this occasion the circumstances demand a slight deviation in tone.
It is well within your knowledge that attempts at intellectual espionage have increased. Whilst these are themselves singular it is the curious behaviour of the residents of Connollham coupled with these acts which demands that I ask of you a favour most unprofessional but nonetheless life-affecting. Before the query is made it demands your full understanding. If you would kindly set aside sufficient time to read this in detail I would like to recount the peculiar sights of Flint and The None-Seeing Eye.
Disappearances of the First Kind
A trend is evident in my letters to you: A pseudo-cryptic title is adorned upon some recently procured definiendum, a great ornamented web spun before any explanation of it or its nature begins. Fortunately however I can reveal at least one half of the month's oddities within but a few paragraphs.
Ruffians and vagabonds have been employed by forces unknown (although heavily assumed to be under the instruction of I. Prendergast) to invade the premises of Madistone house. A current tally sits at sixteen total attempts at invasion of which only two have possessed wits enough to make it inside. The first made their way into the newly uncovered basement system and is presumed lost, due to its inexplicable geometry.
The second, and most recent, attack was of one child who simply walked onto the premises without concern or abashment and proceeded to examine the interior of the house. Duly he was reprimanded and currently sits in the local, newly crowded, constabulary house. The adornment sat upon his neck, however, currently holds residence in our house due to its unusual abilities.
The matinee necklace, highly out-of-keeping for a young boy, weighs a little under three ounces with chain, is made of sterling silver with embedded topaz and sapphire. The jewels themselves are arranged in a fairly common eye-like motif the primary sapphire acting as pupil. The local travelling population (a contradiction, one might suppose) are known to emblazon themselves in similar 'all-seeing eye' bejewelments.
The remarkable, or perhaps unremarkable, property of the item demonstrates itself when one steps away. The detail on the pendant itself may be minutely described by anybody who has ever seen it since, so alluring is its appearance, one can seemingly focus on nothing else. The area surrounding the object whilst observable cannot be recounted in any detail beyond blurred shape and colour.
Whilst I am not one to pass judgement upon those who ply the dark trades, having dabbled myself with varying successes, the attempted logic of this intruder escapes me. Whilst anybody who wears this necklaced pendant indeed evades personal recognition this does not equate to invisibility. Those who adorn this 'None-Seeing Eye' may not be recognised since any detail one cares to identify them with becomes blurred and unnoticeable. Nevertheless one can certainly tell that some-body is indeed there!
As a passing comment the origin of such an accoutrement is as yet a mystery. The presumed knowledge I. Prendergast possesses on the ability to corrupt the focus of the mind may approach an explanation. Nevertheless the connection to the travelling populous remains plausible but naturally unverifiable. The pendant holds no hallmark and the chain, peculiarly, no clasp.
This matter constitutes only half of the tale, however. For the remaining and utmost important dictation we turn to the affairs of Connellham.
Disappearances of the Second Kind.
I had the good fortune a fortnight ago to dine with Ernest Rutherman, a man mentioned several times in these correspondences. Whilst meeting with him is not itself uncommon, since the affairs in Marsham of the 'Shadow of Thorns' and the 'Letter of I', it is a great circumstance to converse with him when his spirits are high. Order is restored to Marsham, the basis of his constabulary, and the town seems in fine fettle. Moreover the fellow himself seems red of cheek and of considerable vim due to personal matters unrelated.
Nevertheless the man seems to have acquired a skill as a great carrier of portent. Whilst polite conversation was exchanged in the Oculus club dining area he had chance to inform me of the happenings in Connellham. During a gathering of chief constables in the area - perhaps more accurately described as a carouse - the primary topic of discussion seemed to revolve around a case of disappearances in the south-west, centrally around the village of Connellham. The constable for the area remained evasive of gossip presumingly to save face and reputation.
A little light investigation later indicated that the disappearances took no common form besides the missing persons being unfamiliar with the area. The official line is that of the dangers of travelling through local bog and marshland, although the geography of the area marks this as unlikely. Furthermore reported sightings of a strange abnormally proportioned man stalking the hills had been gaining frequency prior to the disappearances. This itself seemed curious although, since our occupational shift, not curious enough to investigate personally. Once I bade Ernest leave I instead returned to Madistone house and instructed one master Galloway, a student there, to travel to Connellham and investigate, taking every care possible and communicating back each day.
Under the guise of a holiday-maker from the city the boy set himself up in nearby lodgings and began to investigate the area. For the first three days his correspondences read of little intrigue. I was prepared to allot a week of his time in this investigation, after all paid sight-seeing is hardly studious. However once correspondence failed to arrive on the fourth day my suspicions rose. By the fifth day still nought was heard and so I instigated my own investigations. I summoned Mr. Brimley at once for personal protection and we boarded the immediate train to the area.
Upon arrival we bedded at the Grey Cliffs Inn to the east of the town and began our examination of the surroundings under the clear sunrise. The rural swathes were largely that of short grass covering dense soil and stone. The marshlands of officialdom were not to be seen, although an alternate natural explanation might have been falling from high rock upon hard rock. By now it was probable that sinister forces were in play and so to the populous we turned.
The village of Connellham itself was largely as one would imagine a village in the south-west: several farm houses and four dozen or so thatched buildings housed the villagers and basic utilities including a flour mill, post office, bakery and butchery. We examined these in turn as far as the convivial inhabitants would permit. By the afternoon of the same day our attentions arrived at the door of butchery and it is there the story complicates.
Upon entering the shop-front we were coldly greeted by a stern gentleman, generous of eyebrow and little more, clearly proprietor of the establishment. An attempt to look further into the facility was denied in the harshest of terms. We stood upon the brink of being ejected for our perceived intrusion when the storeroom door opened. Through it walked a most bizarre sight that in all my years of biology had escaped my attentions.
The man who emerged from the door seemed either coated in or entirely constructed from a great mixed mass of what appeared to be igneous stone. The arms extending from sleeves bore the appearance of crumbled granite, the head of fragmented, misshapen, peachy marble. The facial features were not at all evident in the stone itself but acquired a distinctly human-like appearance when in motion. Description is difficult: An illustration of the face would appear as nought but poorly arranged rockery which ill-represents the fluidity and humanism of their movement.
At once the grinding figure, carrying the remnants of some unfortunate livestock animal, saw visitors it stood apprehensively. The manager sternly called 'Flint, back in the storeroom please!' as if to hurry some terrific secret from view. I interrupted as quick as I might calling the figure back so as to acquire a better examination. I asked the figure in what I hoped to be a calming tone whether his name was Flint, as the proprietor implied. A low, raspy male voice emerged from the cobble with a crunch and replied 'yes.'
By this time the agitation of the owner had grown to levels which his already substantial eyebrows could barely express. He demanded that I leave the curious fellow alone in the strictest of terms. It was at that point that I made the mistake of attempting to assuage his concerns by revealing to him that I was, by profession, a biologist and naturally interested in the stony fellow. At once the owner hurdled to a nook in the room to pull harshly upon a rope which dangled from the ceiling. From outside the sound of a tolling bell clanged into the distance, the owner muttering under his breath of trouble-makers. The stony fellow began to make efforts to calm the owner down and dissuade him from this curious action.
Before long the shop-front had crowded in response to the toll with village-members and police-men, largely adorned with determined and impolite mannerisms aimed squarely at my friend and I. Despite the best, and considerably entertaining, efforts of Mr. Brimley we became overwhelmed by the population who promptly began to envelop us in their agitated numbers. A hessian sack was forcibly placed upon my head and the next I saw was the damp, cold interior of a make-shift prison cell.
Imprisonment and Bargaining
I confess my spirits took somewhat of a drop at this juncture. I have recently partaken in two escapades from the city-life only to have the first interrupted by a grotesque pseudo-siren and the second to be confronted by what can only be described as a living statue protected from curiosity by village mob. Although I do concede taking no small entertainment from knowing that, after the criminal activities I have engaged in in the course of my investigations, I am to be incarcerated for taking interest in a man's appearance and skin.
Our surroundings and situation seemed equally bleak. The grey cobbled floors shone with damp and stench, an entrance of rusted wrought iron bars blocking access and a singular window so high in the wall as to be unobservable. The availability of straw in the room inferred to me that I might suppose it was once a stables and the poor installation of the bars was indicative of a hurried redefinition.
By good fortune the cell opposite us contained our good friend Galloway safe and well, minus the inconvenience. He informed us of his predicament, initially much the same as our own, only that he had been trapped for three nights more and had been well-fed and hydrated for the duration, if uncomfortable. He was not, he claimed, a prisoner in the traditional sense, simply an indefinitely held visitor.
I confess to having been baffled by our situation. From what could be surmised little made practical sense, some-thing I endeavoured to explain to our overseer as immediately as I may. Soon enough a well-dressed fellow by the name of Michaels, the local post-master, entered the adjoining corridor and in a kind-spoken manner first asks our forgiveness before explaining the most bizarre situation both parties found themselves in.
According to his tale several months prior the town had heard rumours that several ramblers and countryfolk were being aided from injury and harm by 'the very stone around them'. Those who fell from great heights upon the unforgiving stone landscape found themselves transported to safety and rudimentarily treated without knowledge of the event. Before long explicit sightings of a man made of rock grew to unavoidable levels. A party organised in search of this guardian golem and of a morning the fellow was discovered aiding to a neighbouring orchardman having collapsed due to hypothermia.
Despite his extraordinary appearance the townsfolk believed the man had done nought wrong, indeed his only ventures were to help others. And so, in a manner most unusual for rural-folk, they adopted the fellow as their own adorning him with the name 'Flint' in the process. His disposition was one of grateful assistance, a willingness to aid anybody and everybody in their endeavours. Since the son of the local butcher had in tragedy died not a year before the town saw it fitting that Flint take his place as assistant, a task he duly and gratefully accepted. Soon the fellow had become an integral part of the village workings, a friend to all. This is a story of unusual inspiriting in the nature of human-kind. Unfortunately such an extraordinary event could not go with-out some repercussion.
Trouble began when a visitor to the city, so astonished by the appearance of the stony fellow, threatened to reveal his existence to the authorities. Rather than risk an unfortunate end to the man who had so protected and aided the town, the inhabitants decided the best course of action was to silence the interloper. The initial mob-fuelled decision was simply to kill the man, remove a 'bad' life to save a 'good' one. Fortunately, and apparently under the protests of Flint himself, it was decided that the fellow should simply be incarcerated until the matter could be concluded humanely.
It is in this situation that we found ourselves. Many visitors had passed through the town, discovered the bizarre and had to be imprisoned for the safety of Flint. No logic could yet develop a step to follow the entrapment and so the visitors remain held. By fortune Michaels was a convivial fellow and allowed me to explain my situation in return and how I might be able to help.
It was clear to me that matters could not continue in this vein. Holding an indefinite number of visitors for an indefinite period of time was clearly unsustainable. Furthermore having detained myself, Mr. Brimley and master Galloway, Avon university were now well aware of a problem in Connellham and would investigate anon and in force were we not to return. To persuade the obviously desperate Michaels to consider alternative routes away from this predicament I explained that I had regularly dealt with curiosities of Flint's kind in my profession and that I might find a way to aid them.
After he had my assurance that my aim was not to eliminate or make an exhibit of the fellow, Michaels took heed of my words and considered it only fair to bring Flint into the conversation. Duly, us still in our cell, the stony fellow was brought grinding with each curiously organic motion. Having conversed with him for some time I can say that Flint is of a kind and considerate disposition, not exactly of high intellect but a most pleasant if stunted conversationalist. He remembers nothing before his time as an elusive rural saviour and confesses to being most comfortable in his current occupation.
It was at this moment that I made the connection which must seem most trivial from the narrative of this letter. I admitted to Flint and Michaels that I had a means to ensure that Flint may continue in his current situation entirely without interference but that clearly this could only be initiated were I able to contact the outside world. It was concluded by the two that it remained too great a risk to allow me free despite pleas that I had no intention of taking this matter beyond my department.
And so here I sit, now relocated to the far more pleasant interior of the Grey Cliffs Inn but still under lock. Mr. Brimley, Galloway and I are are being served as well we might expect and are promised to continue to be until this letter is responded to. This letter shall be read by Michaels, who shall in turn read it to the naturally illiterate Flint, to ensure nothing surreptitious escapes these walls by ink.
And so to you professor I have a most earnest request: Having only recently procured the item would it be possible to retrieve the None-Seeing Eye pendant and gift it to Flint? By adorning himself with this pendant at all times I hope to provide him with sufficient distraction so that any and all visitors will not see him for a curiosity but rather a blur outfitted in jewellery.
I understand this suggestion is contradictory to our methods and hardly in keeping with our attempts to contain the anomalous. Nevertheless the villagers of Connellham seem to have nought by the best interests of Flint in mind, I see no reason to relocate him and I presume this to be the most logical course of action, effectively nullifying two unnaturals at once. One might suppose that escorting Flint to Madistone house would facilitate a similar effect: Curiously the fellow shows significant distress at the description of the house, a course that has most upsetting connotations. I believe adornment of the eye is the only humane option to cease this convoluted affair.
Indeed if possible this would allow our freedom and that of our fellow prisoners: Anybody sent here to examine this marvel of biology shall be unable to find it, as such any whistle-blower shall simply be disbelieved.
Should this either fail or be unacceptable I have been permitted to make an examination of Flint during the period before your reply to develop an alternative treatment. I shall have a full study - as best as my tools and Flint's discretion do allow - should this matter be satisfactorily concluded.
I sincerely hope you consider the proposal justly and well, either taking this action or any justification you see fit which ensures the safety and continued anonymity of Flint.
Of course our freedom remains something of a priority. If all else fails please contact the Boy and Miss Watson. I'm sure they'll know how to handle the situation.
Yours,
Dr. Nicholas P. Henderson.
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