Audio recording: Anecdote
Dublin Core
Title
Audio recording: Anecdote
Subject
deciphered shorthand
Description
Reading of 'Anecdote', 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
Sound Item Type Metadata
Transcription
Title: Anecdote
Transcription: There is a story related, I think, by Cole which always struck me to be one of the best of ghost stories. Thus the story runs:
Once upon a time there was a German student extremely popular with his companions and quite the life of his university. No one fenced better, sang better, danced better, did anything better than he. Suddenly it was noticed that his whole appearance changed. He became melancholy, silent, worn and dejected. After a time, one of the student body who had always been his intimate friend was deputed to speak to him on the subject of this strange alteration in him. It was very difficult to induce him to open his lips but after a long time and much pressing, he said, “Know then, I am every night pursued by a phantom. When the city clock(s) strike/struck 12 it emerges from the closet in my room opposite the foot of the bed and stands there until morning.” In reply to the question how this spectre was dressed, he said in green, with a high-crowned green hat. The student returned to his companions and they arranged among themselves that one of their number should be thus dressed and should be concealed in the place in question. After appearing and being supposed by the afflicted student to be the ghost, he would then reveal himself and so work his cure. Under this guise, on a certain night, the student was hidden in the ghost’s place with instructions to come forth when the city clocks struck 12. As the hour approached, he saw from his concealment that the sleeping student became frightfully agitated. When it struck and the other emerged, he raised himself in/on his bed with a distorted face, marked/wracked with every possible expression of horror, cried out in agony "My God, there are two", fell back and died.
Transcription: There is a story related, I think, by Cole which always struck me to be one of the best of ghost stories. Thus the story runs:
Once upon a time there was a German student extremely popular with his companions and quite the life of his university. No one fenced better, sang better, danced better, did anything better than he. Suddenly it was noticed that his whole appearance changed. He became melancholy, silent, worn and dejected. After a time, one of the student body who had always been his intimate friend was deputed to speak to him on the subject of this strange alteration in him. It was very difficult to induce him to open his lips but after a long time and much pressing, he said, “Know then, I am every night pursued by a phantom. When the city clock(s) strike/struck 12 it emerges from the closet in my room opposite the foot of the bed and stands there until morning.” In reply to the question how this spectre was dressed, he said in green, with a high-crowned green hat. The student returned to his companions and they arranged among themselves that one of their number should be thus dressed and should be concealed in the place in question. After appearing and being supposed by the afflicted student to be the ghost, he would then reveal himself and so work his cure. Under this guise, on a certain night, the student was hidden in the ghost’s place with instructions to come forth when the city clocks struck 12. As the hour approached, he saw from his concealment that the sleeping student became frightfully agitated. When it struck and the other emerged, he raised himself in/on his bed with a distorted face, marked/wracked with every possible expression of horror, cried out in agony "My God, there are two", fell back and died.
Collection
Citation
Gerrard, Dominic, “Audio recording: Anecdote,” The Dickens Code, accessed July 19, 2025, https://dickenscode.omeka.net/items/show/75.