Louise Garwood

I listened to a recording of 'Candle-Light' by Louise Garwood on the HorrorBabble channel on YouTube. This story was published in the November 1925 issue of 'Weird Tales'.

It is a rainy spring night. Our protagonist, a graying man named David, has gotten his guests out of the door. David has but one thing on his mind: his lost love, Eleanor, who promised to come back to him in the Spring. That was many years ago. David has let their old house grow musty. Sometimes he smells violets, which was the scent she wore. Once he found her yellowed silk handkerchief, normally kept locked in a wooden box where he keeps her things such as her gloves, letters, and a comb she used to wear; sitting on a chair.

It's David's bedtime, but he's going through the things in that box. He suddenly hears the click-clack of a woman's slippers climbing the stairs. He sees the light of a candle. Is it Eleanor at last?

This story has a nice atmosphere. We could assume it was real or David had just been dreaming, but the end leaves us in no doubt.… (mehr)