Audio recording: The Two Brothers
Dublin Core
Title
Audio recording: The Two Brothers
Subject
deciphered shorthand
Description
Reading of 'The Two Brothers', a shorthand dictation exercise from the notebooks of Dickens's shorthand pupil Arthur Stone
Creator
Gerrard, Dominic
Date
2023
Rights
You may use this recording in accordance with the license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Credit: Dominic Gerrard
Format
audio/wav
Language
English
Identifier
The Two Brothers.wav
Sound Item Type Metadata
Duration
2:21
Transcription
Title: The Two Brothers
Transcription: I once heard a story when I was living in Scotland from the mouth of a deceased judge which struck my imagination very forcibly. He told it by the dying light of a wood fire with a high wind roaring outside. I ought to premise that he had been counsel in an action that afterwards shared of the gains attending a will made by one of the wards. This is the story:
There were two old bachelor brothers of whom one reposed at Slough and the other at London. They were in the habit of visiting each other for a week or so at a time. It happened that the Slough brother, being on one of these visits to the London brother, felt rather unwell said ‘I will go home. My old housekeeper will help me. I shall soon be all right and will then come back. Once again they parted.
A few nights afterwards, the London brother being in bed and finding himself uncomfortable and unable to sleep, lighted a candle and composed himself to read. Suddenly the door of his room opened and an appearance of his brother, dressed in white, pale and looking very attentively at him. He spoke to the figure but it made no answer. So it passed on to the end of the room turned and went out at the door. The London brother’s immediate impression was that his mind was ill, had some fullness of blood in the region of the brain and had best be bled. So he put on his dressing gown to call up his servant., he heard the sound of a carriage in the street which came over and stopped at his door. On his opening the window and asking who was there, he was answered ‘A messenger to take you to your brother who is very ill and supposed to be dying.’
Of course, he accompanied the messenger instantly. When he arrived in his brother’s room, there were several people present. On sight of them all, the brother rose in his bed with difficulty and spoke these words: ‘John, you have seen me before tonight and you know it!’
With that, he fell back on his pillow and never spoke another word.
Transcription: I once heard a story when I was living in Scotland from the mouth of a deceased judge which struck my imagination very forcibly. He told it by the dying light of a wood fire with a high wind roaring outside. I ought to premise that he had been counsel in an action that afterwards shared of the gains attending a will made by one of the wards. This is the story:
There were two old bachelor brothers of whom one reposed at Slough and the other at London. They were in the habit of visiting each other for a week or so at a time. It happened that the Slough brother, being on one of these visits to the London brother, felt rather unwell said ‘I will go home. My old housekeeper will help me. I shall soon be all right and will then come back. Once again they parted.
A few nights afterwards, the London brother being in bed and finding himself uncomfortable and unable to sleep, lighted a candle and composed himself to read. Suddenly the door of his room opened and an appearance of his brother, dressed in white, pale and looking very attentively at him. He spoke to the figure but it made no answer. So it passed on to the end of the room turned and went out at the door. The London brother’s immediate impression was that his mind was ill, had some fullness of blood in the region of the brain and had best be bled. So he put on his dressing gown to call up his servant., he heard the sound of a carriage in the street which came over and stopped at his door. On his opening the window and asking who was there, he was answered ‘A messenger to take you to your brother who is very ill and supposed to be dying.’
Of course, he accompanied the messenger instantly. When he arrived in his brother’s room, there were several people present. On sight of them all, the brother rose in his bed with difficulty and spoke these words: ‘John, you have seen me before tonight and you know it!’
With that, he fell back on his pillow and never spoke another word.
Collection
Citation
Gerrard, Dominic, “Audio recording: The Two Brothers,” The Dickens Code, accessed January 15, 2026, https://dickenscode.omeka.net/items/show/20.