Ferris, substantially, and visibly moved by the play has gone straight home, while Arty and Dr. Blake return to Monty's consulting rooms for brandy and supper. I will let Monty's player summarize the proceedings :
After Arty and Stephen left, Monty retired for the night but found sleep to be rather elusive. Thoughts of the afternoon's events roiled within his mind. Eventually he concentrated on how he could uncover more about the play and it's author, and once his plan had taken shape he was finally embraced by the arms of Morpheus.
He arose early, and with his actions for the day already determined went about putting them into action, after breakfast and his wardrobe.
First he phoned a journalist working for The Express, Liquid Len, who had contacted him a number of times in the past to ask him to contribute his professional opinion to the coverage of a number of sensational stories which had grabbed the public's attention in the past. He told Len that he had been present at The Scala the previous afternoon and was so perplexed by what he had seen he wanted to find out more about what could have contributed to the events. Len was very pleased to hear from an actual eye witness and arranged to meet Monty at 11:30 at the Punch & Judy on Fleet St.
After speaking to Len he placed a call to McGraw-Hill and found out that Talbot's agent was called Jessica Jones and could be contacted through the publisher. He sent a note to Jessica Jones c/o McGraw-Hill explaining who he was and expressing his desire to meet her as soon as possible,
Monty then caught a cab to Charing Cross Road to see if any of the bookshops had, or could acquire, a copy of each of Talbot Estus' five books. To attract the attention of the booksellers he let them know that he would be paying £5 a volume to the first person to provide him with a copy of each of the books. He was in luck and the second shop he visited had a copy of "The Curse of Beydalus." He had left his card at each of the shops and hoped to hear from them shortly.
His business with the book shops was completed about 10:30, and from the last shop he placed a call to his Harley St. offices and found that he had received a reply by telegram from Jessica Jones asking him to visit her at 14:30 in Hampstead.
With just under an hour to spare, he decided there was enough time for him to walk, cautiously, to Fleet Street, arriving at the Punch & Judy almost bang on 11:30.
Liquid Len pumped Monty for a pretty comprehensive description of the previous days events paying particular attention to the quantity of blood and gore. In return Monty found out that Talbot was actually an American - which with hindsight, was hinted at through his rather affected accent the previous day. He also found out that Talbot lived somewhere in Belsize Park but Len didn't know exactly where. He has a fairly loyal following of mainly older female devotees, but does not court public recognition. Although when he does go out he has a rather flamboyant manner and his tendency to stop and stare up into the sky has been commented upon.
After catching a cab to Hampstead and having lunch, he visited Jessica Jones. She seemed rather pleased to see Monty, possibly being under the impression that he was looking for a new agent. She was completely unaware of the events of the previous day and was rather surprised when Monty described them. He explained that the mass hysteria/psychosis he had witnessed was of professional interest to him and that he was trying to gain some understanding of the influences that had led Talbot to write the play.
He found out that a couple of years previously, Talbot had acquired a copy of a German book called "Der Wanderer durch den See" (The Walker by the Lake) and had referred to it as being an influence a number of times. She did not know who the author of this book was. The origins of the play were confirmed as being a book in French called "The Yellow King" by Thomas de Castaigne which is not a well documented book and seems to have appeared around 1895. It was this book that Talbot translated and adapted into the play "Carcosa". Jessica thinks it is unlikely that Talbot would want to meet Monty and does not provide an address, nor is she willing to make an appointment for him, but she does say that the next time she meets Talbot she will hand him Monty's card. She provides Monty with a copy of Talbot's most recent book "The Revenant King", which has not been at all well received.
Monty catches a cab back to Charing Cross Road to revisit the book shops and add "Der Wanderer durch den See" and "The Yellow King" to the list of books he is seeking. It quickly becomes apparent that these two books are much more unusual requests, unheard of in most of the shops. Even wih an offer £20 for each of these volumes it becomes apparent that he needs to visit an antiquarian booksellers, rather than a bookshop. He makes his way to Grafton St. to see if it is available at Quaritch's. At Quaritch's they have heard of the books and even know private collectors who have them. Monty explains that he is not a book collectors, but is interested in the contents of the books and he would be willing to purchase facsimiles of the books if the owners are not willing to part with them.
He leaves his card at Quaritch and heads back to Harley Street, there not being much more that he can do other than start reading "The Curse of Beydalus" and "The Revenant King".
The books are not hefty tomes and Monty is not studying them in depth, but rather trying to pick up the key concepts and ideas they contain. He finishes both volumes in the early hours of the morning, retires to bed starts to mull over the contents of both books.
He feels that the archetypes vaguely alluded to in "The Curse of Beydalus" - The Magician, The Demon Princess and The Family - bear some resemblance to those portrayed in "Carcosa" - The Stranger, The King in Yellow and Cassilda and her children.
"The Revenant King" was a much harder read. It seems to be an incoherent product of a delusional mind. Describing Talbot as delusional doesn't quite jibe with the impression gained the previous day, but on reflection the exuberance of Talbot's manner was not far removed from mania and the way in which he periodically scurried across the foyer and peered out of the door up into the sky was, in hindsight, noteworthy.
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