Read Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror for Free Online Page B

course.'
    'Yes, Uncle,.' I said. 'I meant to ask why it was so significant.'
    'That is its significance,.' he answered more solemnly. 'It is a demon.'
    I waited in vain for my uncle to elaborate upon this opaque statement.
    'Is there some story connected with this engraving, Uncle?' I asked, after the pause had become uncomfortably long.
    'How perceptive of you, Edgar,.' he said. 'But would you really want to hear another of my foolish inventions?'
    'I have not called them foolish, sir,.' I said. 'And I would very much like to hear another of your stories.'
    Uncle Montague chuckled softly and laid his hand upon my shoulder.
    'Then let us sit down once more and I shall tell you a tale concerning our curious friend here.'
    We returned to our chairs. Again, I could have sworn that I heard footsteps outside the window and the sound of whispering - of children whispering. My uncle seemed oblivious to it and so I took it to be my imagination, excited by my uncle's stories, playing tricks on me.
    'But I wonder if this tale may be too disturbing for you,.' said Uncle Montague, seeing me peering towards the window, turning to the fire and prodding at a log with the poker.
    'Really, Uncle,.' I said, pushing out my jaw. 'I am not as timid as you seem to think.'
    Uncle Montague lay down the poker and turned to me with a warm smile - a smile that quickly faded from his face as he linked his long fingers together and began this new story.

Thomas Haynes first saw the tinker outside the bank in Sidney Street. His parents were inside, dealing with some dull financial matter, and Thomas was waiting in the street, watching the tide of Cambridge life flow past.
    As he was standing there, the tinker shuffled by, dressed in a long frayed top coat and dusty wide-brimmed hat, his filthy hands gripping the spars of a rickety barrow, filled to overflowing with a seemingly random collection of rugs, clothes, shoes, scrap metal and broken furniture.
    A rusting birdcage hung from a hook and chain, clunking against the side of the barrow with every step the tinker took and Thomas was amazed to see a thin, bedraggled monkey, wearing a gaudy waistcoat and tiny red fez, suddenly emerge from under a blanket and come to the side to inspect him.
    The tinker stopped in his tracks and turned to face Thomas. His eyes twinkled in the shadow of his hat and narrowed. A strange expression played across his face, as if he recognised him, though Thomas was sure they had never met.
    Thomas was unnerved by this unwanted eye contact and was about to retreat into the bank when at that very moment his parents stepped out. They were about to walk on and go for lunch, when his father noticed the tinker's barrow still standing beside them.
    'Good Lord,.' he said, reaching towards something among the bric-a-brac. The monkey dashed towards him, baring his teeth and Thomas's father pulled back his hand.
    'Filthy creature!' he hissed, shooing him away. The monkey ran chattering to the tinker, jumping on to his shoulder and staring back at Thomas's father malevolently. The tinker did not move.
    'I say!' said Thomas's father. 'I say - you there!'
    The tinker still did not move.
    'The impertinence of the man,.' muttered Thomas's father. 'You there!' he shouted, slapping the side of the barrow. The tinker flinched slightly and turned slowly round. His grim and unpleasant face wore the beaten and fragile expression Thomas had seen many times on his grandmother's face during one of her migraine attacks.
    'What can I do for you, governor?' he said in a comically loud voice, as if he were calling from the other side of a river rather than two feet away.
    'The poor man's clearly a little deaf, dear,.' said Thomas's mother, putting her hand to her mouth to hide her smile.
    'There's something in your cart here,.' shouted his father. 'Your monkey . . .'
    'Pablo won't hurt you, sir,.' shouted the tinker.
    'Don't be afeared.'
    'Very well, then,.' shouted Thomas's father, feeling a little