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Intro
“Gabriel-Ernest” is set in the English countryside, in and around the woods belonging to local landowner and justice of the peace Van Cheele. Van Cheele’s friend Cunningham’s visit is concluding, and on the way to the train station he tells Van Cheele that there is a “wild beast” in his woods. Van Cheele is concerned with the state of his woods, but only a superficial level, and dismisses Cunningham’s cryptic statement without much thought. On his walk through the woods that afternoon, however, he discovers a naked 16-year-old boy who claims to be living there, hunting for “flesh” at night, including “child-flesh.” The boy disappears into the woods, leaving Van Cheele disturbed.
Van Cheele remembers that local game, livestock, and even the miller’s child recently went missing, but dismisses any connection to what he hopes was only the boy’s twisted joke. He is also concerned for his own reputation, which could be damaged if it becomes known that there is a strange boy in his woods. Returning home for dinner with his aunt, Van Cheele is unusually quiet. The next morning, he resolves to go visit Cunningham and find out what he meant about a wild beast. Before he can do so, however, the boy appears in his own home. Caught off guard, Van Cheele tells his aunt that the boy has lost his memory. She insists on taking care of him, naming him Gabriel-Ernest, and setting him to work helping her teach her Sunday school class.
Van Cheele travels to see Cunningham, who tells him what he saw: at sunset, a boy, presumably Gabriel-Ernest, was standing naked on the hillside. The moment the sun set, however, he was replaced by a wolf. Van Cheele hurries home as fast as he can. When he arrives, he learns that his aunt sent Gabriel-Ernest to take the Toop child home. Running after them, Van Cheele fails to get there before dark, hearing a scream as the sun sets. Only Gabriel-Ernest’s clothes are found, leading some, including Van Cheele’s aunt, to believe that the child fell into the mill-race and Gabriel-Ernest jumped in to save it, drowning in the process. Miss Van Cheele puts up a memorial to Gabriel-Ernest in their church, but Van Cheele refuses to support the memorial or believe this version of events.
