The Feasting Dead

Colonel Habgood's young son, Denis, had a strange attraction to a curious French companion, whom he had learned to know while visiting at the rundown old country house of a family connection in Auvergne, an attraction which at first seemed but a passing fancy, and then gradually, insidiously grew into an obsession. Colonel Habgood was worried, then alarmed, and when at last he sought to investigate the man, Raoul, he found himself hopelessly involved and enmeshed in a web of superstition which grew daily more terrifying and, yes, spiritually horrible. When at last the full horror of Denis's peril burst upon his frantic father, Raoul had gone, and another creature--Un epouvantail--was there in Raoul's stead. Or were they one and the same? This subtle story mounts to an unforgettable climax.