Not to Disturb by Muriel Spark Read Free Book Online Page A

McGuire.
    Lister closes his eyes with impatience while Mr McGuire
switches on again. The bobbins whirl. ‘The Baron gave orders that they were not
to be disturbed,’ Lister says.
    â€˜What’s next?’ says Mr McGuire.
    â€˜Play it back, Mr McGuire, please.’
    Mr McGuire sets the reels in reverse, concentratedly
stopping their motion a short distance from the beginning. ‘It would be about
here,’ he says, ‘that your bit begins.’ He turns it on. The machine emits two
long, dramatic sighs followed by a woman’s voice — ‘I climbed Mount Atlas alone
every year on May Day and sacrificed a garland of bay leaves to Apollo. At last,
one year he descended from his fiery chariot — ’
    Mr McGuire has turned off, and has manipulated the
machine to run further forward silently.
    â€˜That must be the last of your Klopstock sound-tracks,’
Lister says.
    â€˜Yes, it is the last.’
    â€˜You should have used fresh reels for us. We don’t want
to be mixed up with what Apollo did.’
    â€˜I’ll remove that bit of the tape before we start making
copies. Leave it to me,’ says Mr McGuire, getting up to unplug the machine.
    â€˜What is to emerge must emerge,’ says Lister, standing,
watching, while Mr McGuire packs the wire into place and fastens the lid on the
tape-recorder. He lifts it and follows Lister out of the room. ‘It’s a heavy
machine,’ he says, ‘to carry from place to place.’
    They descend the stairs to the first landing of the
servants’ wing. Here, Lister leads the way to the grand staircase, followed
after a little hesitation by Mr McGuire who has first seemed inclined to
continue down the back stairs.
    â€˜I hear no voices,’ Lister says as he descends, looking
down the well of the great staircase to the black and white paving below. ‘The
books are silent.’
    They have reached the ground floor. Mr McGuire stands
with his heavy load while Lister approaches the library door. He waits, turns
the handle, pressing gently; the door does not give.
    â€˜Locked,’ says Lister, turning away, ‘and silent. Let’s
proceed,’ he says, leading the way to the servants’ quarters. ‘There remain a
good many things to be accomplished and still more chaos effectively to
organize.’

III
    â€˜It must have happened quick. I wonder if they felt
anything?’ says Heloise. ‘Maybe they still feel something. One of them could
linger.’
    Lister says, ‘I can’t forbear to ask, does a flame feel
pain?’
    â€˜Lister and young Pablo,’ says Mr Samuel who is moving
round the servants’ room with his camera, ‘stand closer together. Lister, put
your hand on the chair.’
    Lister puts his hand on Pablo’s shoulder.
    â€˜Why are you doing that? It doesn’t look good,’ says Mr
Samuel.
    â€˜Leave it to Lister,’ says Eleanor at the same time that
Lister says, ‘I’m consoling him.’
    â€˜Then Pablo must look inconsolable,’ says Mr Samuel.
‘It’s a good idea in itself.’
    â€˜Look inconsolable, Pablo,’ says Lister. ‘Think of some
disconsolate idea such as your being in Victor Passerat’s shoes.’
    The camera clicks quietly, like a well-reared machine. Mr
Samuel moves a few steps then clicks from another angle. He then moves a lamp
and says, ‘Look this way,’ pointing a finger to a place in the air.
    â€˜Pablo smiled the second time,’ says Eleanor. ‘You want
to be careful.’
    â€˜Mr Samuel knows that the negatives are mine,’ Lister
says, ‘don’t you, Mr Samuel.’
    â€˜Yes,’ says Mr Samuel.
    â€˜Where is that wreath?’ Lister says. ‘Where’s our floral
tribute?’
    â€˜On the floor in my room,’ says Heloise.
    â€˜Go and fetch it.’
    â€˜I’m too tired.’
    â€˜I’ll go,’ says Hadrian,