An Absent Vicar by Bernard Capes
The Reverend Septimus Prior exchanges livings temporarily with the absent Mr. Fearful and arrives at a lonely Vicarage inhabited by Fearful’s pretty niece, June Robin, and the grim housekeeper Mrs. Gaunt. June explains that her uncle is erratic, absent-minded, violent when crossed, and accustomed to receiving mysterious visitors from the port. Prior, already unnerved by the bleak house, church, wind-torn landscape, and Mrs. Gaunt’s silence, becomes increasingly fascinated by June. Seeking somewhere to compose his sermon, Prior enters Fearful’s forbidden study, a dusty room full of scientific instruments, jars, anatomical prints, and a curtained recess. Mrs. Gaunt protests that neither she nor June has ever dared enter it, but June joins Prior in exploring. When they draw back the curtain, they discover what appears to be the livid corpse of a dark foreign man lying on a couch. Mrs. Gaunt remembers admitting him to Fearful a week earlier and never seeing him leave. Horrified by bottles containing supposed babies, bones, and a fish-kettle, she concludes that Fearful has murdered visitors and used their bodies for experiments. June suggests that her uncle may simply have forgotten the dead man, but Prior imagines Fearful’s exchange of livings was a scheme to escape suspicion. The three decide that Fearful must be warned not to return, while the apparent corpse must be secretly disposed of in an old well. In the terror and excitement, Prior promises to rescue June from the house and take her to Clapton, where his mother lives; June readily agrees. As they drag the body from its recess, Fearful suddenly appears and demands to know what they are doing with his “Senassee.” He kneels beside the man and manipulates his tongue, whereupon the supposedly dead body revives. Fearful explains that the visitor is a Yogi who has demonstrated a trance-like feat for him. Fearful had forgotten the man was still lying in the study when he arranged the exchange and returned by an early train to attend to him. He contemptuously dismisses their suspicions, identifies the “babies” as embryo simiade, and insults Mrs. Gaunt when she gives notice. June, taking Prior’s arm, accuses her uncle of cruelty and declares that Prior has a mother. Fearful angrily orders Prior back to Clapton and tells him to take June with him.
By Bernard Capes · First published 1906 · Genre: Gothic Comedy, Humorous Mystery, Victorian/Edwardian Literary Fiction · 3,971 words
First lines
"Exactly," said the Reverend Septimus Prior; "the exchange was the most fortuitous, not to say the most fortunate" (he gave a little giggle and bow) "possible. Your uncle saw my advertisement, answered it, and for a brief period he goes to my cure, and I come to his."
"Well, if you feel certain," said Miss Robin, regretfully resting in her lap the novel she was reading.
Similar titles
- A Shocking Affair by P. G. Wodehouse
- The Dog And The Physician by Ambrose Bierce
- To Have And To Hold by W. W. Jacobs
- Made To Measure by W. W. Jacobs
- The Elixir Of Love by Edgar Saltus
- A Bubble Reputation by Bernard Capes
Genres
- Gothic Comedy — The story combines a bleak isolated vicarage, sinister laboratory, apparent corpse, mysterious household, and macabre specimens with escalating comic misunderstandings and absurd revelations.
- Humorous Mystery — Its plot is driven by the apparent discovery of a murder victim and the characters' attempts to infer the vicar's supposed crimes, before the mystery is comically explained.
- Victorian/Edwardian Literary Fiction — The work uses period clerical settings, social manners, elaborate narration, irony, and dialogue characteristic of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century British fiction.
- Farce — Mistaken assumptions, concealed information, mounting panic, exaggerated reactions, and the abrupt exposure of an innocent explanation give the narrative a strongly farcical structure.
Tags
Edwardian fiction · comic gothic · supernatural suspense · country vicarage · remote English parish · seaport setting · clerical exchange · absent-minded vicar · forbidden study · eccentric scientist · anatomical curiosities · apparent murder
What this Textopian page supports
An Absent Vicar is listed on Textopian as a short story by Bernard Capes, dated 1906 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Short story
- Author: Bernard Capes
- Date: 1906 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Gothic Comedy, Humorous Mystery, Victorian/Edwardian Literary Fiction, Farce, Satire
- Length: 3,971 words
- Structure: 1 section, 112 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for An Absent Vicar by Bernard Capes
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph