A Vignette
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| "A Vignette" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by M.R. James | |
 Cover for The London Mercury and Bookman (November 1936) | |
| Country | England |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Ghost story |
| Publication | |
| Published in | The London Mercury and Bookman |
| Media type | Print, magazine |
| Publication date | November 1936 |
"A Vignette" is a ghost story written in 1935 by the British author and academic M. R. James. At just over 2,000 words, it is the shortest of his stories and was the last he wrote.[1][2] It is an unusually autobiographical story that seems to be based on an incident in James’s early life in Great Livermere[3] when, it is said, he had an experience in a haunted Plantation. "A Vignette" was first published in November 1936 in the literary journal The London Mercury five months after his death.[2]
The story begins with the garden of a country rectory, the childhood home of the narrator, which is next to a large park separated from the Rectory by a strip of ancient trees, about thirty or forty feet in width. This strip of trees is known as the Plantation. Access to the Plantation is obtained through a gate of split oak from a path which circles the garden. For someone to open the gate they must reach through a small square hole in it and lift a hook. On passing through this gate another of iron is encountered which leads to the park.
The narrator describes how as a young boy he had walked home through the park one evening. For part of the way a villager walks with him until the boy reaches the iron gate leading to the Plantation, at which point the villager stops and watches him. By this time it is beginning to get dark. The boy feels that someone is in the woods with him. The person is not known to him and is wearing a hood or cloak. The boy hurries home, ensuring that he shuts the wooden gate behind him. On looking out of his bedroom window he thinks he sees something moving by the wooden gate.
Soon after the narrator starts to have a recurring nightmare which always begins with himself looking out of his bedroom window and seeing the gardener and his assistants working. As evening approaches they leave as quickly as they can. From his window the narrator searches the now empty garden looking for movement. He notices some by the wooden gate. As he continues to look out of the window the narrator is aware of the sound of footsteps on the stairs behind him and a hand on his door. He wakes up.
He notices that people always walk quickly to get past the wooden gate and seem glad of company as they approach it.
On a bright and sunny afternoon when he is alone in his bedroom he is reading a novel when he reaches a frightening passage in the book. Looking out of the window at the Plantation he notices that the wooden gate is shut and that no-one is on the path beyond it. But he notices that something "white or partly white" can be seen through the small hole in the wooden gate. Wanting to know what this is, the narrator goes down to the gate and looks through the small hole - and sees a face on the other side. While its forehead seems to be fringed with a white shroud, the face is not ghostly or frightening. The face is pink and hot-looking with a blank expression but with large eyes which stare straight at the narrator. Despite the blankness of the face the narrator believes that its owner wishes him harm. In a panic he runs back into his bedroom where, once safely inside, he again looks out of the window - but he can see no sign of the figure in white at the wooden gate. However, he does see a hooded figure shuffling through the trees of the Plantation.
On their return the narrator's parents notice that their young son is upset over something but he manages to avoid telling them about the white figure outside the wooden gate. Even as an adult he remembers the chilling encounter and would still prefer not to walk past the gate to the Plantation.
The story concludes with the narrator considering if such creatures like the one he saw at the gate as a young boy were once a regular sight but are now only seen occasionally at specific locations.
