The Haunted Boardinghouse
Enan receives word at university that his benefactor has remarried and will no longer pay his tuition. Recalled home, he departs with little beyond a copy of Moralia gifted by a professor.
Returning to his hometown, Enan finds employment as a clerk. A year passes, and he, a scholar, laments the education he was forced to abandon.
Enan receives a letter from a friend at university relaying news of a small academy in Granville seeking a librarian. Elated, Enan sends an application to Headmaster Seely of the New Lake School.
Inquiring after Granville, Enan learns that the city has fallen into disrepair after a period of decline. He passes the summer expecting a return letter from Seely but receives none. Enan writes the headmaster again, determined to secure the position.
In autumn, Enan receives a message from Seely instructing him to take up his post as head librarian by mid-September. Enan responds that the reply was delayed but that he will leave at once.
Enan bids his parents farewell and boards a coach bound for the town nearest Granville. A fellow passenger cautions Enan about his destination, its ancient roots and strange occurrences. The man asks how Enan intends to ford the river to reach Granville.
From the edge of a fallen bridge, Enan surveys the wide river, frozen at the edges. Short of money and anxious to take up his post, Enan abandons the idea of waiting for a full freeze and walks upriver in search of a crossing. After several miles, he sees Granville in the distance and attempts to pass along a narrow path of ice. The ground gives way, and Enan plunges into the cold water.
Enan dreams of riding in a cart to a cemetery and of seeing his parents mourn at his graveside. He finds himself condemned to Hell, where he begs for and is granted the mercy of an angel.
Waking in a room with high windows, Enan encounters a matronly woman who offers him soup. The youth tells the woman that he died, but she dismisses him.
Enan notices a shadow pass through his closed door. Weak but curious, Enan rises unsteadily from bed and explores the hallway and adjoining rooms. He opens a window and steps out onto a shingled roof. From the high vantage, Enan sees several turrets protruding from a cascade of connected roofs and notices the miles of marshland beyond the Granville city wall. Overhead, the shape of a woman appears briefly beside a soaring falcon.
While exploring the roofline, Enan notices through a window a weeping woman dressed in black. The maiden recognizes Enan and explains that she cries for the death of a boy who fell from a tower. Enan questions the manner of the boy’s accident, and the maiden admits that the building is configured strangely.
The maiden invites Enan inside and leads him down a ladder. She opens a door, revealing a room full of cots and a gray-haired man seated at a writing desk. Enan supposes the man to be the master of the house. The pair arrive to a room at the top of a staircase, where Enan sees an old woman bent over a shapeless form. The maiden urges Enan to lie down in bed. The old woman shakes Enan awake and is relieved to find him alive. Enan looks for the maiden, but she vanishes.
The old woman identifies herself as Mrs. Boyle. She explains that the men who pulled Enan from the river carried him to the New Lake School after they found the headmaster’s letter in his pocket. Enan, despairing, learns that his post has been given to another and that he is to be sent home after he recovers his health. Boyle reassures Enan, noting that his mother writes the school daily in worry.
Enan is visited by Wade, a young student. Wade shows Enan his textbooks, one on American geography and another on English composition. Enan recommends a book by W.H. Hudson, but Wade explains that the librarian is unhelpful. Wade helps Enan dress and escorts him through the house, which he identifies as belonging to Seely.
To test the school’s mettle, Enan quizzes Wade on language, the classics, mathematics, and geography. Enan notices the undulating floors and discovers that the house has been cobbled together from adjoining buildings long abandoned. Wade leads Enan to the ground floor and across the desolate street.
Entering the New Lake School, Wade and Enan locate the library but find it locked. Enan pounds at the door and, when the librarian answers, demands a copy of Hudson’s Green Mansions. The librarian attempts to bar Enan from entering. Claiming the library as his own, Enan tries to force his way inside. The librarian pummels Enan into unconsciousness.
A gray-haired teacher, Snyder, finds Enan bloodied. Enan hands Wade a pair of books, one by Hudson and another by Hawthorne. Wade marvels at the novels, thrilling Enan.
Seely visits Enan and asks about his condition. Enan, unable to remember being treated by a physician or otherwise, reports good progress. The headmaster shows Enan a draft letter to his mother explaining that the boy will return home to recover before starting as master librarian in the spring. Overwhelmed, Enan urges Seely to send the note to his parents. Seely voices regret that his original correspondence was delayed.
