Chapter 1 Cast ing the Runes15th April 1902Dear Mr KarswellI am tur ning your paper on The Truth of Alchemy , which you have kin dly offered to read at our next club meeting . Unfortunately , we do not feel able to accept your offer .W. Gayton, Secretary18th April 1902Dear Mr KarswellI am afraid that I am not able to arrange a meeti ng with you to discuss your offer to read a paper on alchemy . However, the club considered your offer most carefully , and we did not refuse it until we had asked for the opinion of an expert in these matters .W. Gayton, Secretary20th April 1902The Secretary writes to inform Mr Karswell that it is impossible for him to give the n ame of any person or persons who were asked for an opinion on Mr Karswells paper on alchemy. The Secretary also wishes to say that he cannot reply to any further letters on this matter .And who is Mr Karswell ? asked the Secretarys wife . She had called at his office and had just picked up and read the last of these letters.Well, my dear, replied her husband, just at present Mr Karswell is a very angry man . All I know abut him is that hes rich , lives at Lufford Abbey in Warwickshire , and considers himself to be an alchemist. And I dont want to meet him for the next week or two . Now , shall we go ?What have you been doing to make him angry ? asked the Secretarys wife.The usual thing , my dear. He sent us a paper which he wan ted to read at our next meeti ng . We showed it to Edward Dunning almost the only man in En gla nd who knows about these things and he said it was no good, so we refused it. Now Karswell wants to see me about it and to find out whose opinion we asked for . Well, youve see n my reply to that . Of course, you must nt say anything about it to anyone .You know very well that I would n ever do a thing like that .In deed, I hope he does nt discover that it was poor Mr Dunning .Why do you say “ poor” Mr Dunning ? said the Secretary. Hes a very happy man and quite rich ,I believe . He has a comfortable home and plenty of time to spend on his hobbies .I only meant that I would be sorry for him if Mr Karswell discovered his name and made trouble for him .Oh yes! He would be poor Mr Dunning then , agreed her husband. The Secretary and his wife were lunching with friends that day , a Mr and Mrs Bennett , who came from Warwickshire . Mrs Gayton decided to ask them if they knew Mr Karswell . However, before she could do so, Mrs Benn ett said to her hus band:I saw Mr Karswell this morning . He was coming out of the British Museum as I was driving past.Did you really ? said her husband. I wonder what brings him up to London .Is he a friend of yours ? asked the Secretary, smiling at his wife .Oh no! said Mr and Mrs Bennett together .Hes one of our neighbours in Warwickshire , explained Mrs Bennett, but hes not at all popular. Nobody knows what he does with his time and they say he believes in all kinds of strange and unpleasant things. If he thinks you have been impolite to him , he never forgets it, and he never does anything kind for his neighbours .But, my dear, said her husband, youre forgetting the Christmas party he gave for the children .Oh no, rm not, replied his wife . Thats a good exam ple of what I mean . She turned to the Secretary and his wife .The first winter he was at Lufford this horrible man invited all the village children to a Christmas party at his house. He said that he had some of these new mov ing pictures to show them . Every one was rather surprised because they thought hat he did nt like childre n ； he used to be very angry if any of the village children came on to his land . However, the chil dren all went and a friend of ours, Mr Farrer, went with them to see that everything was all right .And was it ? asked the Secretary.In deed it was not! replied Mrs Benn ett . Our friend said it was obvious that Mr Karswell wan ted to frighten the children to death , and he very nearly did so . The first film was “ Red Riding Hood ”, and the wolf was so terrible that several of the smaller children had to leave the room . Theother films were more and more frightening . At the end Mr Karswell showed a film of a little boy in the park surrounding Lufford Abbey every child in the room could recognize the place. There was a horrible creature in white followi ng the little boy . At first you could see it hiding in the trees , then it became clearer and clearer and at last it caught the little boy and pulled him to pieces. Our friend said that it gave him some very bad dreams , so you can imagine how the children felt . Of course, this was too much and Mr Farrer told Karswell that he must stop it . All Mr Karswell said was : “Oh! The dear children want to go home to bed , do they ? Very well , just one last picture.”And then he showed a short film of horrible creatures with wings and lots of legs .