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| No excuse needed ... |
Fiction ~ short story
First published in Illustrated London News, 13th January 1906
Collected in The Room in the Tower (1912)
4,305 words
(First read 06/01/2012)
One of EFB's curiously 'back-to-front' supernatural stories: he tells you what to expect later in the yarn ~ then tells you it. This one takes place in a part of Scotland I've actually been to very recently ~ in fact, purely by coincidence, I've been to the exact area of the setting, near the village of Helmsdale in Sutherland. Anyway, it deals with a witch, a 'strapping Viking adonis' of a gillie, a mysterious death, Satanic ritual, and the ever-trusty presence of Hugh Grainger (here transmogrified for no good reason into Hugh Graham). All in all, not bad, as long as you don't mind hoary old twaddle. It's available online here.
Fiction ~ short story
Published 21st November 1894
Approx. 1,800 words
(First read 27/12/1994)
My original 1994 review of this one was a tad dismissive:
A fishing story. Picture this: I'm sitting in my London club on a dreary afternoon in November at the tail end of the 19th century. All inside is snug as a bug; I've just had a splendid lunch. I pick up The Sketch and find in it a new story by 'that Benson cove'. "Jolly good," I think to myself; "he's always good to pass an idle moment." I embark on George's Secret ... and after no more than two minutes I'm sound asleep.
I re-read it last June (2013) and actually found it quite funny. It's the simple tale of a chap who, having never fished before, goes at it like a bull angling for Dresden figurines, and ~ much to the displeasure of his pals ~ has stupendous beginner's luck. When he introduces 'Art' to his technique, the streak fails. Available in Fine Feathers and Other Stories (1994).
