I have said this to you before but it bears repeating: I didn't know of Edith Wharton before I found you and I didn't know if I cared much for her at first listen, but now... She is one of my most beloved and favorite writers of ghost stories. I love her and feel comfort for lack of a better word when your voice and her words are dancing through this dark, old and perhaps haunted house.
17 August 2024 - Morning coffee in the beautiful Bluegrass state of Kentucky, USA, listening to Tony read Edith. I love Edith Wharton, although did not as a student. (Ethan Frome is much anthologized,) She has such a great psychological insight into human behavior, especially the behavior of the wealthy or the controlling. IMO. I went to visit her house, The Mount, in Lenox, Massachusetts, a couple of years ago. I went with a friend who taught literature but had no idea Wharton wrote ghostly tales. I think they are her best work. The Wharton house and grounds well worth a visit! Cheers!
Good story and narration. I really enjoyed it. I actually listened to it three or four times! I kept going back to get every detail. Edith Wharton wrote some fine work. She tells us what is going on, and it is sometimes so subtle we miss it. Then, she clears it all up by the end. She was a great author! I love your chat explaining the story. It is so excellent! Thanks!
I'm sure you've heard this before, but I'm a chronic pain sufferer and have a lot of trouble sleeping. Im also a horror story fanatic. Listening to your readings are not only entertaining but your tone tends to be soothing and helps me relax enough to drift off most nights. Of course i often have to go back and finish the parts i miss, lol.
I love Wharton's descriptions. "Banishment to Arizona" indeed! I detect her opinion of the American Southwest coming out. 😂 And I love the idea of public transit sleighs but they probably weren't as charming in real life.
I think the foreshadowing actually comes right at the start, at the station, where Faxon queries (to himself and the reader) why the apparently solicitous uncle has allowed Rainer to venture forth on such a frigid night, and then again at the introduction of the signing of the will, the attention to time and date, whilst not mentioning the beneficiary/beneficiaries certainly gets the hackles rising! The nebulous shade of the uncle, standing behind him and presenting a hate-filled and evil visage projecting intense ill intent towards his nephew is the icing on the cake. Cracking story, very well narrated as always ☺️
Excellent story. I always enjoy Wharton's stories. Your reading was so good! I will be listening to this again shortly as I haven't read this story before and now after your chat, I have to go back and try to observe the nuances. Enjoy your vacation - sounds wonderful!
Thanks very much, Tony---always a pleasure to listen to one of your fantastic renditions. Ol' Edith is an amazing writer and I haven't read this one. I think I need to read to form a better appreciation of it. I set myself the task of reading "The House of Mirth' a couple years ago---oh my Lord. What a horrid ending and a nerve-wracking journey on your way to it...if you want to feel tense and depressed, that's the book for you.
Wonderful reading and psychologically took my breath away. Those are the best stories, aren't they, the ones about the lonely contrary soul whose danger comes often due to their distance from friends and family and connection. And so often friendship is offered and turned away.
Oh, I love me some Edith Wharton. I only came to her late in life. And then to be voiced by Tony... What a treat, as always. P.S. This makes me want to say, "I'll be your huckleberry." 😊
Edith Wharten lived during three major fraudulent financial scandals which ruined many people. She wrote another short story about a swindler who moved to England with his wife and buys and renovates an elegant country estate. Later, the ghost of a man he cheated comes to the house. Thank you again for being the best narrator of my favorite stories.
To quote Renton from Trainspotting "yasss, ya fckn dancer!" Cannae wait to get tore into another breath of fresh air story from the one and only... Of all my subscriptions, i look forward to yours most (well, you and Beyond Creepy but that's another story)
Big fan of Wharton, this tale is like meeting an old friend, just as gripping this time around. Masterful narration, Tony. Much appreciated, thank you.
From listening to your stories, Tony, I know Edith Wharton will provide me with a remarkable and superb narrative that will paint a picture of not only the physical surroundings, but of the characters themselves.
When the story started and he saw the pale and sickly thin Rainer, i thought that the uncle was draining him of his young blood (i forget what the procedure is called) and the doctor he trusted was supporting the uncle. It's just what i thought. Hello from Australia. Love your channel. I looked up the procedure, and it's ADRENACHROME, the transference of young blood into old bodies, therefore prolonging their youth.
I love Edith Wharton’s work but I’m glad you explained this one in your comments at the end because maybe I wasn’t paying attention but I just didn’t get what happened in the end. I missed the nephew’s death completely. I always love the way Wharton approached her ghosts from an unexpected and unconventional angle, as in Pomegranate Seed, Afterward, and Kerfol. I get this one now that you explained it. Great reading. Thanks!
Love your work, I was under the impression that the nephew was the one with the money, and the uncle had maybe lost his money thru his fraudulent dealings (or maybe the uncle only appeared to be wealthy and was a con man) because at the end of the story, the uncle's business had that infusion of money (perhaps the inheritance from the nephew) very much enjoyed this story, took me away from some very scary weather :)
Great story made even greater by your narration. I love the chatting/dismantling of the stories at the end. **SPOILER** I think the lad had inherited money when his parents died, but it was in a trust until he reached the age of majority. As he had just reached that age, the uncle had him draw up a will that made the uncle the sole heir, since the lad had no other living relatives. The lad was already chronically ill.. his uncle outwardly seeming to care..all the while slyly doing things like promote the lad stay in the cold, damp environment that would hurry along his impending demise. I think the evil manifestation was the uncle's doppelganger. Of course this is all my 2¢, and probably not worth a plug nickel. 🤷😆
Well read! So far, everything I've read by Wharton ends pitifully bad. She definitely knows how to put together a gripping story but, forgive me if I say, she is of a generation that regards the measure of a masterpiece by how tragically it ends. As for this story, I'd have to listen to it again but I thought the boy already had inherited money and the Uncle was making sure he was the boy's heir when the boy died. The Uncle nudged the circumstances along so that the boy would not recover and eventually die. The Uncle knew he was near ruination particularly when he received that phone call during dinner.
I imagine the lad would have inherited from his parents - if his mother was so 'well to do' she would likely have made a 'good' marriage to someone wealthy, and as their only son this would come to him, probably when he reached 21. I don't know how inheritance works in the USA, and specially not back then, but if his uncle was his only living relative then I would have thought he would inherit everything anyway if his nephew died, will or no will, but perhaps there is an American version of dying 'intestate' where some money goes to the Government if you are an adult and die without a will? - Or maybe his uncle would have inherited anyway and the 'writing of the will' scene is a plot device to get us already thinking about inheritance and money? One thing that did strike me is that the reference to the blood on his hands from Rainer would have worked far better at the time it was written, when TB was prevalent and everyone immediately KNEW what that meant. Nowadays in the UK, when younger people don't even have the distinctive TB vaccination scar on their arm from their school days the mention of blood suggests an injury - 'has Rainer been stabbed?' at first thought. Of course if you read old stories or watch films set in older times you know what the speckles of blood on a hanky clutched to the mouth mean, though we will -thankfully- never feel the thrill of horror at it in quite the same way as those previous generations who lived in such times when Consumption was still a killer.
This set me off on wondering about the reference to Terrapin, look into it sometime and how the species or Diamondback Terrapin was saved by prohibition. As for TB my granddad died of that in 1942. But being a humble farm worker in Suffolk there was no option for him but to just work until he dropped and yes granted there was the war and all that but I think even without that he would still have just worked until he could work no more. No options of a different climate or anything.
Any chance of a live stream collaboration D&D game? I've always wondered what it would be like to listen to articulate and intelligent people play D&D in some kind of multimedia format type thing.
Thank you! I’m enjoying hearing Edith Wharton stories. Not sure if you’re aware-some other audio story sites use AI voices. Nope! I click off immediately. It’s lovely to hear your real voice, and commentary. Thanks again.
when i was a kid, i UNDERSTOOD mathematics in a full, almost visual way. after a thorough romp through psychedelics in the latter 60's, one mysterious realm opened up while another realm, mathematics, BECAME mysterious. aren't explanations, that faith in science, suspect in and of themselves? when scientists seek 'explanations' of consciousness, aren't they looking for something like a 'textbook', which is no more than a collection of words, to explain something that quite beyond the power of words? the math textbooks that had once been crystal clear to me, now seem as opaque as dusty tomes of the occult.
Spoiler... I figured out the uncle's plan at dinner when one of the associates points out that they approached several doctors until they found one to tell them that it was okay to stay in the New England climate and not send Rainer to a dry climate.
SPOILER ALERT!!! I'm asking questions below that will give the story away. I don't get this story. What happened to the boy??? Why did he die? Did the secretary kill him or the uncle or noone??? I liked the story, I hate the ending. It's as if after the dinner scene the author forgot to write the rest of the story and just published her brief notes of the plot.
Nobody *directly* kills Frank, but both his uncle and Faxon help him on his way. Frank has tuberculosis--"consumption" as it was still called in Wharton's day. The only cure known at the time was to go to a place with a dry climate and pure air, but Frank sees "taking the cure" in New Mexico as banishment from everything and hates the idea. If Uncle Jack were to tell Frank to get on the next train for New Mexico, he'd DOUBTLESS do it, but Uncle knows that if he just lets Frank go his own gait long enough, the TB will do for him and he'll get Frank's inheritance. So he finds Frank a doctor who tells Frank just what he wants to hear--that it's perfectly OK for him to stay in New York and party. Thinking you're just fine and even getting better was a well-known sign of late-stage TB. The uncle knew quite well how far gone Frank was, and he was probably in a hurry to get that will signed. So who was the doppelganger? My theory is that Uncle invested so much of his energy into the malice he bore his nephew that that energy embodied itself in a form that was visible to a sensitive like Faxon. It fits with this man, whom Faxon expected to be some larger than life figure, a titan, being such a colorless cipher.
Fantastic story! Edith always delivers. I hate it when I follow a cute boy from the train station back to his place only to be mixed up in his family murder and ghost drama. It's such a bore.
Autumn is coming and it’s time for ghost stories and what a wonderful one to start with. Thank you for this.
I love the sound of this story, it's my birthday today, what a wonderful way to end it, thank you Tony 🙏💛
Happy ghostly birthday!
@@maryeckel9682 awwwww, thank you 🤗
Happy Birthday!
@@SusanLEller thank you, it was an amazing day, my family took me to see some roman ruins, it was lovely, love from the UK 🇬🇧 🤗💛
Happy Birthday!!
I have said this to you before but it bears repeating: I didn't know of Edith Wharton before I found you and I didn't know if I cared much for her at first listen, but now... She is one of my most beloved and favorite writers of ghost stories.
I love her and feel comfort for lack of a better word when your voice and her words are dancing through this dark, old and perhaps haunted house.
I didn't know she did ghost stories. Glad to find this!
17 August 2024 - Morning coffee in the beautiful Bluegrass state of Kentucky, USA, listening to Tony read Edith. I love Edith Wharton, although did not as a student. (Ethan Frome is much anthologized,) She has such a great psychological insight into human behavior, especially the behavior of the wealthy or the controlling. IMO. I went to visit her house, The Mount, in Lenox, Massachusetts, a couple of years ago. I went with a friend who taught literature but had no idea Wharton wrote ghostly tales. I think they are her best work. The Wharton house and grounds well worth a visit! Cheers!
Edith Wharton Bewitched, that's how I found Tony Walker many years ago! I'm so glad. Love all you read...thank you.
+@donnacostanza532 Hello Donna. 5 years ago!
Good story and narration. I really enjoyed it. I actually listened to it three or four times! I kept going back to get every detail.
Edith Wharton wrote some fine work. She tells us what is going on, and it is sometimes so subtle we miss it. Then, she clears it all up by the end. She was a great author!
I love your chat explaining the story. It is so excellent!
Thanks!
I'm sure you've heard this before, but I'm a chronic pain sufferer and have a lot of trouble sleeping. Im also a horror story fanatic. Listening to your readings are not only entertaining but your tone tends to be soothing and helps me relax enough to drift off most nights. Of course i often have to go back and finish the parts i miss, lol.
I am glad to be of help to you
Thanks Tony I've been absent and am so happy to see your channel growing!🇨🇦♥️👍
I love Wharton's descriptions. "Banishment to Arizona" indeed! I detect her opinion of the American Southwest coming out. 😂 And I love the idea of public transit sleighs but they probably weren't as charming in real life.
New England Winter---in a sleigh? omg.
Thanks Tony.
I hope that you're having a smashing time.
Thanks for all the dedication to the Authors and not just the stories.
The best way to start the weekend Thanks Tony
"What's going on here?" was my reaction throughout the story.
I think the foreshadowing actually comes right at the start, at the station, where Faxon queries (to himself and the reader) why the apparently solicitous uncle has allowed Rainer to venture forth on such a frigid night, and then again at the introduction of the signing of the will, the attention to time and date, whilst not mentioning the beneficiary/beneficiaries certainly gets the hackles rising! The nebulous shade of the uncle, standing behind him and presenting a hate-filled and evil visage projecting intense ill intent towards his nephew is the icing on the cake.
Cracking story, very well narrated as always ☺️
Thank you for the bedtime stories...you're the best!
Thank you. Wharton was a great writer.
Story ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Perfect Narration ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐❤️
ta !
Perfect for a Friday night. Thank you.
Excellent story. I always enjoy Wharton's stories. Your reading was so good! I will be listening to this again shortly as I haven't read this story before and now after your chat, I have to go back and try to observe the nuances. Enjoy your vacation - sounds wonderful!
😔 I felt sad for these two young men, lost in and to the world.
Thanks very much, Tony---always a pleasure to listen to one of your fantastic renditions. Ol' Edith is an amazing writer and I haven't read this one. I think I need to read to form a better appreciation of it. I set myself the task of reading "The House of Mirth' a couple years ago---oh my Lord. What a horrid ending and a nerve-wracking journey on your way to it...if you want to feel tense and depressed, that's the book for you.
Aw tony.. the last few weeks of covid sickness have only been bearable through your dulcet tones. Bless you, my friend
Hope you're better soon!
“Dulcet” !!
Wonderful reading and psychologically took my breath away. Those are the best stories, aren't they, the ones about the lonely contrary soul whose danger comes often due to their distance from friends and family and connection. And so often friendship is offered and turned away.
Tony. So many stories! I cant thank you enough! Marvellous.
Oh, I love me some Edith Wharton. I only came to her late in life. And then to be voiced by Tony... What a treat, as always.
P.S. This makes me want to say, "I'll be your huckleberry." 😊
+@ajcbng8289 I can say that if you want
Edith Wharten lived during three major fraudulent financial scandals which ruined many people.
She wrote another short story about a swindler who moved to England with his wife and buys and renovates an elegant country estate.
Later, the ghost of a man he cheated comes to the house.
Thank you again for being the best narrator of my favorite stories.
Afterward...my favorite Edith Wharton story.
I was totally out to lunch on this one. Completely missed Uncle John being the villain. Great story, well read and thank you for the commentary.
This makes me so happy 😊😊😊
Thank you so much 🎉
To quote Renton from Trainspotting "yasss, ya fckn dancer!" Cannae wait to get tore into another breath of fresh air story from the one and only...
Of all my subscriptions, i look forward to yours most (well, you and Beyond Creepy but that's another story)
Enjoyed this
Holy wow, i loved this take on the doppelganger
Awesome everything
Ayup, a New Tony is up!
I’m just outside Gargrave at the moment
Oh, one of my favorites, thanks Tony, and great read!
Thanks for listening. Nice to see you here
Your voice is soothing and helpful, going through some stress, I enjoy relaxing to these each day. I love Edith Wharton
Ditto this time around. Fantastic, Thank you!
Big fan of Wharton, this tale is like meeting an old friend, just as gripping this time around. Masterful narration, Tony. Much appreciated, thank you.
Another fabulous one, thanks! Happy travels, you two.
From listening to your stories, Tony, I know Edith Wharton will provide me with a remarkable and superb narrative that will paint a picture of not only the physical surroundings, but of the characters themselves.
Thanks for the reference to Donald Hoffman. I hadn't heard of him. Genuinely interesting.
+@newromantico he’s very interesting
I am settling in for this with the bulldog 🐶❤️
The snoring doesn't bother you? 😅
Thanks!
thank you very much
When the story started and he saw the pale and sickly thin Rainer, i thought that the uncle was draining him of his young blood (i forget what the procedure is called) and the doctor he trusted was supporting the uncle. It's just what i thought. Hello from Australia. Love your channel. I looked up the procedure, and it's ADRENACHROME, the transference of young blood into old bodies, therefore prolonging their youth.
I guess that he was a kind of Vampire. Great observation.
👍🔽🇦🇺
I love Edith Wharton’s work but I’m glad you explained this one in your comments at the end because maybe I wasn’t paying attention but I just didn’t get what happened in the end. I missed the nephew’s death completely. I always love the way Wharton approached her ghosts from an unexpected and unconventional angle, as in Pomegranate Seed, Afterward, and Kerfol. I get this one now that you explained it. Great reading. Thanks!
Cheers, Tony!
Love your work, I was under the impression that the nephew was the one with the money, and the uncle had maybe lost his money thru his fraudulent dealings (or maybe the uncle only appeared to be wealthy and was a con man) because at the end of the story, the uncle's business had that infusion of money (perhaps the inheritance from the nephew)
very much enjoyed this story, took me away from some very scary weather :)
+@ironsnowflake1076 Thanks. I live to hear people’s take on the story. I learn things I missed
This was my thought as well, that the young man was coming into his inheritance, which the uncle sought to plunder and invest in his corrupt scheme.
Great story
Glad you enjoyed it
Great story made even greater by your narration. I love the chatting/dismantling of the stories at the end.
**SPOILER**
I think the lad had inherited money when his parents died, but it was in a trust until he reached the age of majority. As he had just reached that age, the uncle had him draw up a will that made the uncle the sole heir, since the lad had no other living relatives.
The lad was already chronically ill.. his uncle outwardly seeming to care..all the while slyly doing things like promote the lad stay in the cold, damp environment that would hurry along his impending demise.
I think the evil manifestation was the uncle's doppelganger.
Of course this is all my 2¢, and probably not worth a plug nickel. 🤷😆
Thanks for this.... (I haven't listened yet, but i bet it is going to be good stuff) 🎉
Great stories
This was a good one! Thank you for introducing and reintroducing me to some great writers including yourself.👍
Another excellent story and narration. Thanks from a new Ghoul level subscriber.
thank you very very much !
@@ClassicGhost well deserved. Wish I could do the top level, but retirement keeps my funds limited.
Thank you for being here
Thank you! Keep uploading.
Until i cant any more :)
Love the commentary
Great narration
Afterward is truly haunting. 😮
This will be fun...thanks Tony
I love your channel, it’s been a pleasure, a friend and a comfort❤️🫡🥇
Nice to have you here
Thanks
Thank you very much ‘
Well read! So far, everything I've read by Wharton ends pitifully bad. She definitely knows how to put together a gripping story but, forgive me if I say, she is of a generation that regards the measure of a masterpiece by how tragically it ends. As for this story, I'd have to listen to it again but I thought the boy already had inherited money and the Uncle was making sure he was the boy's heir when the boy died. The Uncle nudged the circumstances along so that the boy would not recover and eventually die. The Uncle knew he was near ruination particularly when he received that phone call during dinner.
I imagine the lad would have inherited from his parents - if his mother was so 'well to do' she would likely have made a 'good' marriage to someone wealthy, and as their only son this would come to him, probably when he reached 21. I don't know how inheritance works in the USA, and specially not back then, but if his uncle was his only living relative then I would have thought he would inherit everything anyway if his nephew died, will or no will, but perhaps there is an American version of dying 'intestate' where some money goes to the Government if you are an adult and die without a will? - Or maybe his uncle would have inherited anyway and the 'writing of the will' scene is a plot device to get us already thinking about inheritance and money?
One thing that did strike me is that the reference to the blood on his hands from Rainer would have worked far better at the time it was written, when TB was prevalent and everyone immediately KNEW what that meant. Nowadays in the UK, when younger people don't even have the distinctive TB vaccination scar on their arm from their school days the mention of blood suggests an injury - 'has Rainer been stabbed?' at first thought. Of course if you read old stories or watch films set in older times you know what the speckles of blood on a hanky clutched to the mouth mean, though we will -thankfully- never feel the thrill of horror at it in quite the same way as those previous generations who lived in such times when Consumption was still a killer.
This set me off on wondering about the reference to Terrapin, look into it sometime and how the species or Diamondback Terrapin was saved by prohibition. As for TB my granddad died of that in 1942. But being a humble farm worker in Suffolk there was no option for him but to just work until he dropped and yes granted there was the war and all that but I think even without that he would still have just worked until he could work no more. No options of a different climate or anything.
I did not know that!
Yay!!!! Fantastic
It's heartbreaking hearing the old friend plead for the young man to go to Arizona---
This was so familiar I feel like you’ve read this before? Either way I loved hearing it. Great read.
Any chance of a live stream collaboration D&D game?
I've always wondered what it would be like to listen to articulate and intelligent people play D&D in some kind of multimedia format type thing.
Thank you! I’m enjoying hearing Edith Wharton stories. Not sure if you’re aware-some other audio story sites use AI voices. Nope! I click off immediately. It’s lovely to hear your real voice, and commentary. Thanks again.
grazie!!! no bots...
+@francescaemc2 not me :)
when i was a kid, i UNDERSTOOD mathematics in a full, almost visual way. after a thorough romp through psychedelics in the latter 60's, one mysterious realm opened up while another realm, mathematics, BECAME mysterious. aren't explanations, that faith in science, suspect in and of themselves? when scientists seek 'explanations' of consciousness, aren't they looking for something like a 'textbook', which is no more than a collection of words, to explain something that quite beyond the power of words? the math textbooks that had once been crystal clear to me, now seem as opaque as dusty tomes of the occult.
i loved this comment
Spoiler...
I figured out the uncle's plan at dinner when one of the associates points out that they approached several doctors until they found one to tell them that it was okay to stay in the New England climate and not send Rainer to a dry climate.
SPOILER ALERT!!! I'm asking questions below that will give the story away.
I don't get this story. What happened to the boy??? Why did he die? Did the secretary kill him or the uncle or noone???
I liked the story, I hate the ending. It's as if after the dinner scene the author forgot to write the rest of the story and just published her brief notes of the plot.
Nobody *directly* kills Frank, but both his uncle and Faxon help him on his way. Frank has tuberculosis--"consumption" as it was still called in Wharton's day. The only cure known at the time was to go to a place with a dry climate and pure air, but Frank sees "taking the cure" in New Mexico as banishment from everything and hates the idea. If Uncle Jack were to tell Frank to get on the next train for New Mexico, he'd DOUBTLESS do it, but Uncle knows that if he just lets Frank go his own gait long enough, the TB will do for him and he'll get Frank's inheritance. So he finds Frank a doctor who tells Frank just what he wants to hear--that it's perfectly OK for him to stay in New York and party. Thinking you're just fine and even getting better was a well-known sign of late-stage TB. The uncle knew quite well how far gone Frank was, and he was probably in a hurry to get that will signed.
So who was the doppelganger? My theory is that Uncle invested so much of his energy into the malice he bore his nephew that that energy embodied itself in a form that was visible to a sensitive like Faxon. It fits with this man, whom Faxon expected to be some larger than life figure, a titan, being such a colorless cipher.
Fantastic story! Edith always delivers. I hate it when I follow a cute boy from the train station back to his place only to be mixed up in his family murder and ghost drama. It's such a bore.
❤❤❤❤❤❤
Did Faxon murder Raynor?
👍👍👍
Does anyone else think Tony Walker sounds a lot like Robert Webb?
“Fetch” lol
Huh?
Another Story by Edith that is largely uninteresting. Although the narration is a plus as usual.😮
Oh Lord, Donald Hoffman. He has one "idea" and talks on and on about it, without offering anything of substance. Yawn.
i think there’s a little more to it than that
@@ClassicGhost The headset. That's it.