Professor Pawpaw

Professor Pawpaw is a reclusive scholar whose unusual surroundings and knowledge of occult history initially make him seem a figure of deliberate mystery. His significance, however, rests on a quieter act of recognition: when Augustus Landor returns to ask about Henri le Clerc, Pawpaw retrieves an old book and sees that Landor recognizes the man pictured in it from another rendering. Their exchange turns a scholarly image into a clue, while the ivory crucifix Pawpaw silently places in Landor’s hand gives the moment a personal, uncertain edge.

Identity and Setting

When Landor arrives at Pawpaw’s house shortly before dusk, he has been searching for Lea Marquis and has ridden there on horseback. The approach presents a striking change in the setting: the jasmine and honeysuckle have died away, and the frog bones, birdcages in the pear tree, and dead rattler over the doorway are gone. The passage does not explain the change, but the missing objects make the house feel unlike the place Landor expects to find.

Pawpaw’s appearance deepens that disorientation. At the door, Landor sees drab pantaloons, vaguely striped stockings, and an ivory crucifix at the man’s neck. He nearly fails to recognize him, and thinks of him as looking like a retired sexton. The contrast is pointed: the doorway no longer displays the unsettling curiosities, while its occupant appears plain and almost clerical. Pawpaw’s identity as a professor is conveyed through Landor’s address and through the library that becomes the setting for their conversation; the evidence offers no fuller account of his academic position or private life.

Knowledge of Henri le Clerc

Landor comes to ask about a witch hunter Pawpaw had previously described: a man who went over to the other side, was burned at the stake, and cast his book into the flames. Pawpaw supplies the name, Henri le Clerc. Landor’s question is not simply a request for background; he wants a picture. Pawpaw checks that this is all Landor seeks, then takes him to the library.

There, Pawpaw locates a half-crumbling duodecimo on a shelf, climbing up to retrieve it without assistance. The book contains an image of a man Pawpaw identifies as a devil worshipper. Landor sees a priest’s collar and a richly pleated dark robe, with features that seem open and confessional rather than monstrous. The gap between the label and the portrait matters: the image does not settle the man’s character, but gives Landor something recognizable. Pawpaw notices the recognition and tells Landor he has seen the man before. Landor confirms that he has seen him in another rendering. Their exchange establishes a connection between the book’s likeness and an earlier encounter without explaining, in this scene, the full meaning of that connection.

The Crucifix and Their Exchange

After recognizing what Landor has seen, Pawpaw reaches behind his neck, unsnaps the chain, and places the ivory crucifix in Landor’s hand, closing Landor’s fingers around it. No words pass between them during the gesture. Its meaning remains deliberately unresolved: Pawpaw does not explain why he gives it, and Landor does not treat it as proof of anything. Instead, Pawpaw remarks that he is generally not superstitious, though every month or so he indulges in superstition like sweets. Landor smiles and returns the crucifix to Pawpaw’s palm.

The exchange shows Pawpaw’s response to the recognition without turning it into a declared belief. His brief offering acknowledges the moment’s strangeness; his qualification makes room for skepticism as well as occasional susceptibility. Landor’s return of the object leaves the gesture shared rather than converted into a lasting gift. The crucifix thus sharpens the scene’s tension between material evidence—the old printed image—and the uncertain interpretations people attach to it.

Narrative Role

Pawpaw functions here as a custodian of obscure knowledge and as the person who makes a particular image available for comparison. His contribution is concrete: he identifies Le Clerc, finds the volume, and recognizes Landor’s response to the portrait. He does not solve the mystery for Landor, and the scene does not establish what Pawpaw knows beyond the information he has already shared about Le Clerc.

The episode also changes the reader’s view of Pawpaw. Landor arrives expecting the eccentric figure suggested by the house’s former decorations, but encounters a comparatively austere man with a crucifix and a private library. The encounter does not erase the earlier strangeness; it complicates it. Pawpaw can speak of a devil worshipper, handle a fragile old book with practiced confidence, and acknowledge his occasional taste for superstition, all while remaining careful about what the evidence proves. His importance lies less in an explicit explanation than in helping Landor recognize a likeness—and in leaving that recognition charged with uncertainty.