M. R. James: 'A Warning to the Curious' and 'Casting the Runes' recap

Two stories follow men endangered by deliberate contact with the supernatural. In “A Warning to the Curious,” amateur archaeologist Paxton finds one of three legendary Anglo-Saxon crowns buried to protect England. Removing it summons the dead guardian, William Ager. With help from two fellow visitors, Paxton returns the crown, but the guardian deceives and kills him; the survivors keep the site secret. In “Casting the Runes,” occultist Karswell retaliates when Edward Dunning rejects his academic paper. Dunning receives a slip bearing runes and is stalked by an unseen creature. Henry Harrington explains that his brother died after Karswell used the same curse. Dunning and Harrington secretly return the runes to Karswell before the appointed deadline. Karswell cannot pass them back and is killed by a falling stone in circumstances echoing his earlier victim's death, while Dunning survives.

At the seaside town of Seaburgh, an amateur archaeologist named Paxton investigates a legend that three Anglo-Saxon crowns were buried on the English coast as protective talismans. The local family assigned to guard the surviving crown has died out, and Paxton locates and removes it from its mound. He immediately senses that a figure is following him. Terrified, he confides in two other visitors, the narrator and Henry Long, who agree to help him return the object. The three replace the crown, but its dead guardian, associated with the last watcher William Ager, continues to pursue Paxton. It imitates the appearance or voice of his companions and lures him out alone. The narrator and Long find Paxton killed on the shore. They suppress what they know about the crown's location, concluding that the burial must remain undisturbed and that curiosity has already cost one life.

Paxton's removal of the protective crown at Seaburgh awakens its guardian; even after the crown is replaced, the apparition deceives and kills him, and his companions keep the site secret. In the second story, scholar Edward Dunning recommends that an alchemical paper by the occultist Karswell be rejected. Karswell covertly passes him a paper marked with runic signs. Dunning is then troubled by warnings, an unnatural hand, and an invisible pursuer. Henry Harrington reveals that his brother received a similar curse after criticizing Karswell and died when a stone fell from a church at Abbeville. The curse can be escaped only if the runes are returned to the sender before its deadline. Dunning and Harrington follow Karswell on a train and secretly place the marked paper back among his belongings. Karswell discovers the exchange too late to reverse it and is subsequently killed at Abbeville by a falling stone. The pursuing presence leaves Dunning, while Karswell suffers the fate he had assigned to others.

In “A Warning to the Curious,” Paxton succeeds in replacing the ancient crown, but the act does not release him. The guardian imitates his companions and draws him away from safety before killing him on the shore. The narrator and Henry Long conceal the crown's location, leaving it buried as a protection that should not be tested again. In “Casting the Runes,” Dunning and Harrington learn that Karswell has passed Dunning a runic curse with a fixed deadline, just as he did before Harrington's brother died. They maneuver Karswell into taking back the marked slip during a train journey. Unable to return it before the deadline, Karswell travels abroad and is killed at Abbeville by a falling stone associated with the same church involved in the earlier death. Dunning is freed from the pursuing presence, but the means of survival has transferred the sentence back to the man who sent it.