Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

imposing mountain. He w onder ed w hat other men might think w hen looking
thr ough either.
?The villager s (and believe me, Denholm, these ar e lar gely ignor ant, stupid men)
w hen they r emember the Black Casino at all, say that it is cur sed. A few men say
they know of this fellow or that w ho has gone up to the abandoned place, per haps
desper ate to for age for any mar ble that so many other eyes may have missed or to
escape justice or an angr y father ?s gun. They say, (as men of a cer tain type often do
w hen pr essed, or w hen full of w hisky), that people do not r etur n and live. Str ictly
speaking, of cour se, it isn?t tr ue. I have been ther e many times myself for one thing
and r etur ned quite intact as you can see. Per haps I am just Lucky. But it does
enable me to advise you w ell about the place.?
Denholm inhaled his cigar thoughtfully then r eleased its smoke in a thick sw ir ling
miasma. He appr eciated the law yer ?s candour and self-r efer ential humour.
?Str angely Lucky, I have hear d only w hisper s and r umour s. I have been given
hints that I should ask you, but nothing beyond that. Nothing substantial.? He
br eathed out again, a hypnotic dr agon?s br eath of fine blue Cuban mist and looked
at the law yer intently.?Smoke and fog Mr Le?Ap? I w ould appr eciate your clar ity.?
?They say that the casino is cur sed by the souls of the dead.? Le?Ap r eplied.?By
the r estless souls of the men w ho killed themselves. By the ones w ho lost all their
money on foolish debts at the tables. They say that the ghosts live in a ter r ible
pur gator y and haunt the casino still. They say that, in fact, the ghosts caused the
death of the bandits w ho lived ther e and that these dead then added to their
number. They say that w ith such a dense number of ghosts, all full of r emor se and
bitter ness, hungr y for r estor ation of their for mer lives and w ealth, that in some
sense they coalesced? Is that your w or d? That they joined together if you w ill and
then somehow seeped into our w or ld at the casino.?
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