George then accuses Edgar of killing Elizabeth. When Edgar returns home the next morning, he does not remember where he has been, but George reads in the newspaper that Elizabeth was found murdered, and notices blood on Edgar's hands and coat. After the bartender pulls them apart, Edgar leaves, angrily repeating George's insult about Elizabeth. George angrily proffers Elizabeth's apartment key and calls her a tramp. That night, George meets a drunken Edgar at a pub, where Edgar announces his engagement to Elizabeth. Having lost the love of his life, George warns Edgar that he will never forgive him if he hurts her. George then goes to the restaurant that he and Elizabeth used to frequent and sees Edgar and Elizabeth there together. When Edgar does not show up for work the next day, George's suspicions are aroused when he telephones Elizabeth's apartment and discovers that she is not at home. Although Edgar invites them to attend the races the next day, George insists he has to work, and Elizabeth reluctantly declines. When Edgar returns, George reluctantly agrees to introduce his best friend to his girl friend, and is chagrined to see that Elizabeth is immediately attracted to Edgar. One day while Edgar is away on a business trip, George falls in love with Elizabeth Grange, whom he meets at a concert. The friends continue to work together in advertising after they graduate and, three years later, start their own business and share an apartment. In the years that follow, George tries to prevent Edgar from ever again drinking too much. One night at a college dance, Edgar's weakness for alcohol becomes evident when he becomes so drunk that he blacks out and remembers nothing. X lures the woman closer to the painting.Īs two lifelong friends named George Wheeler and Edgar Curtain grow into adulthood, it is evident that the younger Edgar shines more brilliantly than his staid friend George.
The young woman agrees that a delicate statue under the tree would balance the effect of the light, and, after confirming she owns a lighter, Mr. X, who is now dissatisfied by an open space under the tree in the painting. X hears a faint scream and a light appears in the painting. X breaks through the newest pane of glass covering the painting and enters the gallery. Snyder consents to light the candle in six minutes, after which Mr. Jarvis, who is now paralyzed by a toxin in the drink, realizes that he is to be the latest subject of Snyder's taxidermy. He then proposes giving Jarvis to Snyder for his trophy room in exchange for the lighted candle. X, who is obsessed with the idea of lighting an upper window, refuses to allow Jarvis to leave, and forces him to drink a concoction served by the woman. X now asks Jarvis for a match, but the tour guide has run out. X complains that Snyder owns the sole candle and flint in the house, and will light the candle only if Mr. Later, Jarvis meets Snyder, a taxidermist and the third resident of the house. X admits that this painting is his own work, Jarvis remembers that Mr. X assures the disoriented Jarvis that he is not experiencing a nightmare, but that people live in limbo in all paintings. X reveals he has been smoking cigarette butts procured from the gallery ashtrays, Jarvis offers him his own pack, and Mr. X confirms that he has furnished the house with objects from the gallery. Jarvis soon recognizes many pieces of artwork that have disappeared from the gallery throughout the years, and Mr. Jarvis is astonished when he realizes that he is inside the house, and meets a woman who lives there with Mr. When Jarvis follows his instructions, the door of the house opens and the two men enter the world of the painting. He then urges Jarvis to come close to the painting and focus on the details. X agrees and suggests that the house needs a light in an upper window.
X, remarking that the house in the painting appears to be deserted. When Rooke leaves, Jarvis converses with Mr. Jarvis later alerts gallery manager Rooke that the glass has again been mysteriously broken.
Jarvis, the tour guide, arrives with numerous patrons, he describes the painting as a masterpiece, and remarks that the long-dead artist is unknown. He then sits opposite the same painting, which depicts a dark house on a remote and foggy moor. X, a painter dressed in clothes from an earlier era, appears in a deserted art gallery shortly after the glass covering a painting shatters.