Plot Summary The Signal Man

Plot summary

The story begins with the narrator calling "Halloa! Below there!" into a railway cutting. The signalman standing on the railway below does not look up, as the narrator expects, butrather turns about and stares into the railway tunnel it is his responsibility to monitor. The narrator calls down again and asks permission to descend. The signalman seems reluctant.

The railwaycutting is a cold, gloomy and lonely place. The signalman seems still to be in fear of the narrator, who tries to put him at ease. The signalman seems to have seen the narrator before. The narratorassures him that this is impossible. Reassured, the signalman welcomes the newcomer into his little cabin and the two men speak of the signalman's work. His labour consists of a dull, monotonous routine,but the signalman feels he deserves nothing better, as he wasted his academic opportunities when he was young. The narrator describes that the signalman seems like a dutiful employee at all timesexcept when he looks at his signal bell at two moments when it is not ringing.

The next day, as directed by the signalman, the narrator returns and does not call. The signalman tells him that he willreveal his troubles, that he is haunted by a recurring apparition: he has seen a spectre at the entrance to the tunnel during separate occasions and that each appearance was associated with atragedy. In the first instance, the signalman heard the shouted words that the narrator spoke and saw a figure with its arm across its face, waving the other in desperate warning. He questioned it but itvanished. He then ran into the tunnel but did not find anybody. A few hours later there was a terrible train crash with many casualties. During its second appearance, the figure was silent, with bothhands before the face in an attitude of mourning. Then a beautiful young woman died in a train passing through. Finally the signalman admits that he has seen the spectre several times during the past...