"Thank you, sir," says Felix, as he peers round Sam's shoulder. He wonders about Eleanor Montgomery and the type of person she is, one who is interested in old books like himself?
The clerk places a finger on the ledger, then hesitates before giving out information to a group of strangers. Grimes senses the hesitation and quickly shows his warrant card, reassuring the man that this is police business. "Right you are Detective, its 131 Berners Place, Bloomsbury. Like I said its just around the corner." He then hands a card to Sam, "Vawdrey's books can be found downstairs in the stacks. The room, aisle and shelf are listed on the card there. Would you be sure to return the card to me before you disappear downstairs." The clerk gestures at a small lecturn containing a few ink pens and some scraps of paper to record the card information. Sam dutifully copies the card down, before handing it back to the clerk.
Felix eagerly heads downstairs to find Vawdrey's books, especially The Invisible Path. When he is searching through the stacks he inhales deeply and shudders deliciously, "I love old books."
Heading into the stacks, the hunt takes a little over an hour before Vawdrey's work 'The Invisible Path' is in the hands of the investigators. It’s a small hardbound book of some two hundred pages, printed on poor paper. It is dedicated to ‘the reader’. Inside, the book appears to be collection of free-verse poetry.
Another of Vawdrey's books, 'A Journey Into Lonely Places' also claims to be available, but it’s lost in the stacks. Eventually it does finally turn up, Grime's keen eyes spot the slim volume - it’s being used to prop up the leg of a lop-sided reading desk.
OOC: Both books will take at least two hours each to skim read.
"Hmm", Millicent casts a glance to where the girl is still trying to locate facial blemishes in her compacts tiny mirror. A wry smile crosses her face, "I will stay here and flick through one of these books, if Felix is so desirous of inteviewing this Miss Mongomery person"
Grimes nods ascent, "that's fine by me. Felix you come with me we'll leave these two bookworms to the tawdry literature." He fastens his coat and with a gesture of his hand, 'shall we?' motions for Felix to follow him...
Sam and Millicent settle into a pair of comfortable and worn leather chairs in a corner of the reading room...
Millicent,Skimming '[i]A Journey Into Lonely Places[/i]' is downright painful – it’s very, very bad poetry full of complaints about how horrible everything is. There are also several short stories, which are either thinly disguised polemics against Abolitionism or dull ghost stories where the twist is obvious from the first paragraph. Millicent finds herself yawning almost throughout, though she sticks to the task in hand in case something becomes pertinent...it does not...
Sam,The library’s copy of The Invisible Path has not been treated well. Several pages are torn or stained with something coloured a sickly yellow, and a bizarre rant is scrawled across the dedication page (the book is dedicated ‘to the reader’), which reads:
[center]‘HE WATCHED THEM CRAWL ACROSS A RED SKY.
IT IS HIS DREAMS THAT I DREAM AND IT IS HIS WORDS THAT CONSUME ME LIKE TONGUES OF PENTECOSTAL FLAME.
I AM NOT WHAT I WAS AND I AM NOT WHO I WAS WHEN I BEGAN. THIS BOOK IS EVIL AND EVIL DWELLS WITHIN IT.
I WRITE THIS AS WARNING AND I WRITE THIS AS TESTAMENT. SOON I WILL BE DEAD, AND I WOULD BURN THE BOOK HAD I THE WILL.
IF ONLY I COULD FORGET HIM, BUT EACH NIGHT I DREAM OF A RED SKY.
DO NOT READ THIS.
J. R. SMITH, 30th October, The year of our lord nineteen hundred and twelve.’[/center]
Inside, the book is a collection of poorly written free-verse poetry. Several images are repeated – a red sky over an unnaturally lush and verdant plain, shapes moving through the heat-haze of a desert, an eye in the sea, things filtering down from the sky, star-headed beings and moving globules of slime, tablets locked in a dark cave, and the phrase ‘Ia! A’to! Ia! Ny-ho!’
The last poem in the book is entitled ‘The Red Eyes of Hounds’ and describes a vivid dream where the author is pursued down ‘corridors of the mind’ by ‘red-litten eyes of hounds from hell’.
Skimming the book takes two hours.
[ooc]Please make a Stability test (4+ difficult)[/ooc]
Millicent yawns, and pushes the book away, "Good grief, that..." she points at the book, "is possibly the most boring load of tripe I've ever had the misfortune to read. Bad poetry, worse prose and an awful diatribe against abolitionisn"
She takes her cigarette case from her handbag and opens it, uncaring of any 'No Smoking' signs, "Who wrote this rubbish and how did they manage to get it published?". Turning to Sam, who still seems engrossed in his book, she asks, "How is yours, better one hopes?"
She lights her cigarette, "One could certainly imagine that verbiage driving a reader to suicide, but killing to read it? No"
Sam reads the battered book, the free-verse poems inside are quite dreadful, after a while he notices various recurring themes; taken as a whole to book is quite unsettling. The verses seem to hint at more than they are describing, but due to the lack ow writers skill the themes remain unclear. Overall the books is quite unsettling and Sam pauses more than once to 'clear his mind' of the disturbing images that the verse try and describe. The last poem is especially unnerving and Sam gladly closes the cover on 'The Invisible Path'.
"I quite agree.. it's a wonder that this was published." he responds to Millicent reviewing his notes quickly, before he places his notebook into his pocket. Sam checks his watch "I suppose we had best return these and head over to the station, I hope Grimes and Henriot fare better than we have."
Looking at his pocket watch Sam realises that they will need to leave shortly for the station if they are to make their rendezvous with the others and the Oxford train.
OOC: Nothing to add per se, Sam will of course update Millicent fully on the details of 'the Invisible Path' whist in the taxi en-route to the station.
