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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12647 ***
+
+J. S. LE FANU'S GHOSTLY TALES, VOLUME 4
+
+Ghost Stories of Chapelizod (1851)
+The Drunkard's Dream (1838)
+The Ghost and the Bone-setter (1838)
+The Mysterious Lodger (1850)
+
+by
+
+Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
+
+
+
+
+
+
+GHOST STORIES OF CHAPELIZOD
+
+
+
+
+Take my word for it, there is no such thing as an ancient village,
+especially if it has seen better days, unillustrated by its legends of
+terror. You might as well expect to find a decayed cheese without mites,
+or an old house without rats, as an antique and dilapidated town without
+an authentic population of goblins. Now, although this class of
+inhabitants are in nowise amenable to the police authorities, yet, as
+their demeanor directly affects the comforts of her Majesty's subjects, I
+cannot but regard it as a grave omission that the public have hitherto
+been left without any statistical returns of their numbers, activity,
+etc., etc. And I am persuaded that a Commission to inquire into and
+report upon the numerical strength, habits, haunts, etc., etc., of
+supernatural agents resident in Ireland, would be a great deal more
+innocent and entertaining than half the Commissions for which the country
+pays, and at least as instructive. This I say, more from a sense of duty,
+and to deliver my mind of a grave truth, than with any hope of seeing the
+suggestion adopted. But, I am sure, my readers will deplore with me that
+the comprehensive powers of belief, and apparently illimitable leisure,
+possessed by parliamentary commissions of inquiry, should never have been
+applied to the subject I have named, and that the collection of that
+species of information should be confided to the gratuitous and desultory
+labours of individuals, who, like myself, have other occupations to
+attend to. This, however, by the way.
+
+Among the village outposts of Dublin, Chapelizod once held a
+considerable, if not a foremost rank. Without mentioning its connexion
+with the history of the great Kilmainham Preceptory of the Knights of St.
+John, it will be enough to remind the reader of its ancient and
+celebrated Castle, not one vestige of which now remains, and of the fact
+that it was for, we believe, some centuries, the summer residence of the
+Viceroys of Ireland. The circumstance of its being up, we believe, to the
+period at which that corps was disbanded, the headquarters of the Royal
+Irish Artillery, gave it also a consequence of an humbler, but not less
+substantial kind. With these advantages in its favour, it is not
+wonderful that the town exhibited at one time an air of substantial and
+semi-aristocratic prosperity unknown to Irish villages in modern times.
+
+A broad street, with a well-paved footpath, and houses as lofty as were
+at that time to be found in the fashionable streets of Dublin; a goodly
+stone-fronted barrack; an ancient church, vaulted beneath, and with a
+tower clothed from its summit to its base with the richest ivy; an humble
+Roman Catholic chapel; a steep bridge spanning the Liffey, and a great
+old mill at the near end of it, were the principal features of the town.
+These, or at least most of them, remain still, but the greater part in a
+very changed and forlorn condition. Some of them indeed are superseded,
+though not obliterated by modern erections, such as the bridge, the
+chapel, and the church in part; the rest forsaken by the order who
+originally raised them, and delivered up to poverty, and in some cases to
+absolute decay.
+
+The village lies in the lap of the rich and wooded valley of the Liffey,
+and is overlooked by the high grounds of the beautiful Phoenix Park on
+the one side, and by the ridge of the Palmerstown hills on the other. Its
+situation, therefore, is eminently picturesque; and factory-fronts and
+chimneys notwithstanding, it has, I think, even in its decay, a sort of
+melancholy picturesqueness of its own. Be that as it may, I mean to
+relate two or three stories of that sort which may be read with very good
+effect by a blazing fire on a shrewd winter's night, and are all directly
+connected with the altered and somewhat melancholy little town I have
+named. The first I shall relate concerns
+
+
+
+
+The Village Bully
+
+
+About thirty years ago there lived in the town of Chapelizod an
+ill-conditioned fellow of herculean strength, well known throughout the
+neighbourhood by the title of Bully Larkin. In addition to his remarkable
+physical superiority, this fellow had acquired a degree of skill as a
+pugilist which alone would have made him formidable. As it was, he was
+the autocrat of the village, and carried not the sceptre in vain.
+Conscious of his superiority, and perfectly secure of impunity, he lorded
+it over his fellows in a spirit of cowardly and brutal insolence, which
+made him hated even more profoundly than he was feared.
+
+Upon more than one occasion he had deliberately forced quarrels upon men
+whom he had singled out for the exhibition of his savage prowess; and in
+every encounter his over-matched antagonist had received an amount of
+"punishment" which edified and appalled the spectators, and in some
+instances left ineffaceable scars and lasting injuries after it.
+
+Bully Larkin's pluck had never been fairly tried. For, owing to his
+prodigious superiority in weight, strength, and skill, his victories had
+always been certain and easy; and in proportion to the facility with
+which he uniformly smashed an antagonist, his pugnacity and insolence
+were inflamed. He thus became an odious nuisance in the neighbourhood,
+and the terror of every mother who had a son, and of every wife who had a
+husband who possessed a spirit to resent insult, or the smallest
+confidence in his own pugilistic capabilities.
+
+Now it happened that there was a young fellow named Ned Moran--better
+known by the soubriquet of "Long Ned," from his slender, lathy
+proportions--at that time living in the town. He was, in truth, a mere
+lad, nineteen years of age, and fully twelve years younger than the
+stalwart bully. This, however, as the reader will see, secured for him no
+exemption from the dastardly provocations of the ill-conditioned
+pugilist. Long Ned, in an evil hour, had thrown eyes of affection upon a
+certain buxom damsel, who, notwithstanding Bully Larkin's amorous
+rivalry, inclined to reciprocate them.
+
+I need not say how easily the spark of jealousy, once kindled, is blown
+into a flame, and how naturally, in a coarse and ungoverned nature, it
+explodes in acts of violence and outrage.
+
+"The bully" watched his opportunity, and contrived to provoke Ned Moran,
+while drinking in a public-house with a party of friends, into an
+altercation, in the course of which he failed not to put such insults
+upon his rival as manhood could not tolerate. Long Ned, though a simple,
+good-natured sort of fellow, was by no means deficient in spirit, and
+retorted in a tone of defiance which edified the more timid, and gave his
+opponent the opportunity he secretly coveted.
+
+Bully Larkin challenged the heroic youth, whose pretty face he had
+privately consigned to the mangling and bloody discipline he was himself
+so capable of administering. The quarrel, which he had himself contrived
+to get up, to a certain degree covered the ill blood and malignant
+premeditation which inspired his proceedings, and Long Ned, being full of
+generous ire and whiskey punch, accepted the gauge of battle on the
+instant. The whole party, accompanied by a mob of idle men and boys, and
+in short by all who could snatch a moment from the calls of business,
+proceeded in slow procession through the old gate into the Phoenix Park,
+and mounting the hill overlooking the town, selected near its summit a
+level spot on which to decide the quarrel.
+
+The combatants stripped, and a child might have seen in the contrast
+presented by the slight, lank form and limbs of the lad, and the muscular
+and massive build of his veteran antagonist, how desperate was the chance
+of poor Ned Moran.
+
+"Seconds" and "bottle-holders"--selected of course for their love of the
+game--were appointed, and "the fight" commenced.
+
+I will not shock my readers with a description of the cool-blooded
+butchery that followed. The result of the combat was what anybody might
+have predicted. At the eleventh round, poor Ned refused to "give in"; the
+brawny pugilist, unhurt, in good wind, and pale with concentrated and as
+yet unslaked revenge, had the gratification of seeing his opponent seated
+upon his second's knee, unable to hold up his head, his left arm
+disabled; his face a bloody, swollen, and shapeless mass; his breast
+scarred and bloody, and his whole body panting and quivering with rage
+and exhaustion.
+
+"Give in, Ned, my boy," cried more than one of the bystanders.
+
+"Never, never," shrieked he, with a voice hoarse and choking.
+
+Time being "up," his second placed him on his feet again. Blinded with
+his own blood, panting and staggering, he presented but a helpless mark
+for the blows of his stalwart opponent. It was plain that a touch would
+have been sufficient to throw him to the earth. But Larkin had no notion
+of letting him off so easily. He closed with him without striking a blow
+(the effect of which, prematurely dealt, would have been to bring him at
+once to the ground, and so put an end to the combat), and getting his
+battered and almost senseless head under his arm, fast in that peculiar
+"fix" known to the fancy pleasantly by the name of "chancery," he held
+him firmly, while with monotonous and brutal strokes he beat his fist, as
+it seemed, almost into his face. A cry of "shame" broke from the crowd,
+for it was plain that the beaten man was now insensible, and supported
+only by the herculean arm of the bully. The round and the fight ended by
+his hurling him upon the ground, falling upon him at the same time with
+his knee upon his chest.
+
+The bully rose, wiping the perspiration from his white face with his
+blood-stained hands, but Ned lay stretched and motionless upon the grass.
+It was impossible to get him upon his legs for another round. So he was
+carried down, just as he was, to the pond which then lay close to the old
+Park gate, and his head and body were washed beside it. Contrary to the
+belief of all he was not dead. He was carried home, and after some months
+to a certain extent recovered. But he never held up his head again, and
+before the year was over he had died of consumption. Nobody could doubt
+how the disease had been induced, but there was no actual proof to
+connect the cause and effect, and the ruffian Larkin escaped the
+vengeance of the law. A strange retribution, however, awaited him.
+
+After the death of Long Ned, he became less quarrelsome than before, but
+more sullen and reserved. Some said "he took it to heart," and others,
+that his conscience was not at ease about it. Be this as it may, however,
+his health did not suffer by reason of his presumed agitations, nor was
+his worldly prosperity marred by the blasting curses with which poor
+Moran's enraged mother pursued him; on the contrary he had rather risen
+in the world, and obtained regular and well-remunerated employment from
+the Chief Secretary's gardener, at the other side of the Park. He still
+lived in Chapelizod, whither, on the close of his day's work, he used to
+return across the Fifteen Acres.
+
+It was about three years after the catastrophe we have mentioned, and
+late in the autumn, when, one night, contrary to his habit, he did not
+appear at the house where he lodged, neither had he been seen anywhere,
+during the evening, in the village. His hours of return had been so very
+regular, that his absence excited considerable surprise, though, of
+course, no actual alarm; and, at the usual hour, the house was closed for
+the night, and the absent lodger consigned to the mercy of the elements,
+and the care of his presiding star. Early in the morning, however, he was
+found lying in a state of utter helplessness upon the slope immediately
+overlooking the Chapelizod gate. He had been smitten with a paralytic
+stroke: his right side was dead; and it was many weeks before he had
+recovered his speech sufficiently to make himself at all understood.
+
+He then made the following relation:--He had been detained, it appeared,
+later than usual, and darkness had closed before he commenced his
+homeward walk across the Park. It was a moonlit night, but masses of
+ragged clouds were slowly drifting across the heavens. He had not
+encountered a human figure, and no sounds but the softened rush of the
+wind sweeping through bushes and hollows met his ear. These wild and
+monotonous sounds, and the utter solitude which surrounded him, did not,
+however, excite any of those uneasy sensations which are ascribed to
+superstition, although he said he did feel depressed, or, in his own
+phraseology, "lonesome." Just as he crossed the brow of the hill which
+shelters the town of Chapelizod, the moon shone out for some moments
+with unclouded lustre, and his eye, which happened to wander by the
+shadowy enclosures which lay at the foot of the slope, was arrested by
+the sight of a human figure climbing, with all the haste of one pursued,
+over the churchyard wall, and running up the steep ascent directly
+towards him. Stories of "resurrectionists" crossed his recollection, as
+he observed this suspicious-looking figure. But he began, momentarily,
+to be aware with a sort of fearful instinct which he could not explain,
+that the running figure was directing his steps, with a sinister
+purpose, towards himself.
+
+The form was that of a man with a loose coat about him, which, as he ran,
+he disengaged, and as well as Larkin could see, for the moon was again
+wading in clouds, threw from him. The figure thus advanced until within
+some two score yards of him, it arrested its speed, and approached with a
+loose, swaggering gait. The moon again shone out bright and clear, and,
+gracious God! what was the spectacle before him? He saw as distinctly as
+if he had been presented there in the flesh, Ned Moran, himself, stripped
+naked from the waist upward, as if for pugilistic combat, and drawing
+towards him in silence. Larkin would have shouted, prayed, cursed, fled
+across the Park, but he was absolutely powerless; the apparition stopped
+within a few steps, and leered on him with a ghastly mimicry of the
+defiant stare with which pugilists strive to cow one another before
+combat. For a time, which he could not so much as conjecture, he was held
+in the fascination of that unearthly gaze, and at last the thing,
+whatever it was, on a sudden swaggered close up to him with extended
+palms. With an impulse of horror, Larkin put out his hand to keep the
+figure off, and their palms touched--at least, so he believed--for a
+thrill of unspeakable agony, running through his arm, pervaded his entire
+frame, and he fell senseless to the earth.
+
+Though Larkin lived for many years after, his punishment was terrible. He
+was incurably maimed; and being unable to work, he was forced, for
+existence, to beg alms of those who had once feared and flattered him. He
+suffered, too, increasingly, under his own horrible interpretation of the
+preternatural encounter which was the beginning of all his miseries. It
+was vain to endeavour to shake his faith in the reality of the
+apparition, and equally vain, as some compassionately did, to try to
+persuade him that the greeting with which his vision closed was intended,
+while inflicting a temporary trial, to signify a compensating
+reconciliation.
+
+"No, no," he used to say, "all won't do. I know the meaning of it well
+enough; it is a challenge to meet him in the other world--in Hell, where
+I am going--that's what it means, and nothing else."
+
+And so, miserable and refusing comfort, he lived on for some years, and
+then died, and was buried in the same narrow churchyard which contains
+the remains of his victim.
+
+I need hardly say, how absolute was the faith of the honest inhabitants,
+at the time when I heard the story, in the reality of the preternatural
+summons which, through the portals of terror, sickness, and misery, had
+summoned Bully Larkin to his long, last home, and that, too, upon the
+very ground on which he had signalised the guiltiest triumph of his
+violent and vindictive career.
+
+I recollect another story of the preternatural sort, which made no small
+sensation, some five-and-thirty years ago, among the good gossips of the
+town; and, with your leave, courteous reader, I shall relate it.
+
+
+
+
+The Sexton's Adventure
+
+
+Those who remember Chapelizod a quarter of a century ago, or more, may
+possibly recollect the parish sexton. Bob Martin was held much in awe by
+truant boys who sauntered into the churchyard on Sundays, to read the
+tombstones, or play leap frog over them, or climb the ivy in search of
+bats or sparrows' nests, or peep into the mysterious aperture under the
+eastern window, which opened a dim perspective of descending steps
+losing themselves among profounder darkness, where lidless coffins gaped
+horribly among tattered velvet, bones, and dust, which time and
+mortality had strewn there. Of such horribly curious, and otherwise
+enterprising juveniles, Bob was, of course, the special scourge and
+terror. But terrible as was the official aspect of the sexton, and
+repugnant as his lank form, clothed in rusty, sable vesture, his small,
+frosty visage, suspicious grey eyes, and rusty, brown scratch-wig, might
+appear to all notions of genial frailty; it was yet true, that Bob
+Martin's severe morality sometimes nodded, and that Bacchus did not
+always solicit him in vain.
+
+Bob had a curious mind, a memory well stored with "merry tales," and
+tales of terror. His profession familiarized him with graves and goblins,
+and his tastes with weddings, wassail, and sly frolics of all sorts. And
+as his personal recollections ran back nearly three score years into the
+perspective of the village history, his fund of local anecdote was
+copious, accurate, and edifying.
+
+As his ecclesiastical revenues were by no means considerable, he was not
+unfrequently obliged, for the indulgence of his tastes, to arts which
+were, at the best, undignified.
+
+He frequently invited himself when his entertainers had forgotten to do
+so; he dropped in accidentally upon small drinking parties of his
+acquaintance in public houses, and entertained them with stories, queer
+or terrible, from his inexhaustible reservoir, never scrupling to accept
+an acknowledgment in the shape of hot whiskey-punch, or whatever else
+was going.
+
+There was at that time a certain atrabilious publican, called Philip
+Slaney, established in a shop nearly opposite the old turnpike. This man
+was not, when left to himself, immoderately given to drinking; but being
+naturally of a saturnine complexion, and his spirits constantly requiring
+a fillip, he acquired a prodigious liking for Bob Martin's company. The
+sexton's society, in fact, gradually became the solace of his existence,
+and he seemed to lose his constitutional melancholy in the fascination of
+his sly jokes and marvellous stories.
+
+This intimacy did not redound to the prosperity or reputation of the
+convivial allies. Bob Martin drank a good deal more punch than was good
+for his health, or consistent with the character of an ecclesiastical
+functionary. Philip Slaney, too, was drawn into similar indulgences, for
+it was hard to resist the genial seductions of his gifted companion; and
+as he was obliged to pay for both, his purse was believed to have
+suffered even more than his head and liver.
+
+Be this as it may, Bob Martin had the credit of having made a drunkard of
+"black Phil Slaney"--for by this cognomen was he distinguished; and Phil
+Slaney had also the reputation of having made the sexton, if possible, a
+"bigger bliggard" than ever. Under these circumstances, the accounts of
+the concern opposite the turnpike became somewhat entangled; and it came
+to pass one drowsy summer morning, the weather being at once sultry and
+cloudy, that Phil Slaney went into a small back parlour, where he kept
+his books, and which commanded, through its dirty window-panes, a full
+view of a dead wall, and having bolted the door, he took a loaded pistol,
+and clapping the muzzle in his mouth, blew the upper part of his skull
+through the ceiling.
+
+This horrid catastrophe shocked Bob Martin extremely; and partly on this
+account, and partly because having been, on several late occasions, found
+at night in a state of abstraction, bordering on insensibility, upon the
+high road, he had been threatened with dismissal; and, as some said,
+partly also because of the difficulty of finding anybody to "treat" him
+as poor Phil Slaney used to do, he for a time forswore alcohol in all its
+combinations, and became an eminent example of temperance and sobriety.
+
+Bob observed his good resolutions, greatly to the comfort of his wife,
+and the edification of the neighbourhood, with tolerable punctuality. He
+was seldom tipsy, and never drunk, and was greeted by the better part of
+society with all the honours of the prodigal son.
+
+Now it happened, about a year after the grisly event we have mentioned,
+that the curate having received, by the post, due notice of a funeral to
+be consummated in the churchyard of Chapelizod, with certain instructions
+respecting the site of the grave, despatched a summons for Bob Martin,
+with a view to communicate to that functionary these official details.
+
+It was a lowering autumn night: piles of lurid thunder-clouds, slowly
+rising from the earth, had loaded the sky with a solemn and boding canopy
+of storm. The growl of the distant thunder was heard afar off upon the
+dull, still air, and all nature seemed, as it were, hushed and cowering
+under the oppressive influence of the approaching tempest.
+
+It was past nine o'clock when Bob, putting on his official coat of seedy
+black, prepared to attend his professional superior.
+
+"Bobby, darlin'," said his wife, before she delivered the hat she held in
+her hand to his keeping, "sure you won't, Bobby, darlin'--you won't--you
+know what."
+
+"I _don't_ know what," he retorted, smartly, grasping at his hat.
+
+"You won't be throwing up the little finger, Bobby, acushla?" she said,
+evading his grasp.
+
+"Arrah, why would I, woman? there, give me my hat, will you?"
+
+"But won't you promise me, Bobby darlin'--won't you, alanna?"
+
+"Ay, ay, to be sure I will--why not?--there, give me my hat, and
+let me go."
+
+"Ay, but you're not promisin', Bobby, mavourneen; you're not promisin'
+all the time."
+
+"Well, divil carry me if I drink a drop till I come back again," said the
+sexton, angrily; "will that do you? And _now_ will you give me my hat?"
+
+"Here it is, darlin'," she said, "and God send you safe back."
+
+And with this parting blessing she closed the door upon his retreating
+figure, for it was now quite dark, and resumed her knitting till his
+return, very much relieved; for she thought he had of late been oftener
+tipsy than was consistent with his thorough reformation, and feared the
+allurements of the half dozen "publics" which he had at that time to pass
+on his way to the other end of the town.
+
+They were still open, and exhaled a delicious reek of whiskey, as Bob
+glided wistfully by them; but he stuck his hands in his pockets and
+looked the other way, whistling resolutely, and filling his mind with the
+image of the curate and anticipations of his coming fee. Thus he steered
+his morality safely through these rocks of offence, and reached the
+curate's lodging in safety.
+
+He had, however, an unexpected sick call to attend, and was not at home,
+so that Bob Martin had to sit in the hall and amuse himself with the
+devil's tattoo until his return. This, unfortunately, was very long
+delayed, and it must have been fully twelve o'clock when Bob Martin set
+out upon his homeward way. By this time the storm had gathered to a
+pitchy darkness, the bellowing thunder was heard among the rocks and
+hollows of the Dublin mountains, and the pale, blue lightning shone upon
+the staring fronts of the houses.
+
+By this time, too, every door was closed; but as Bob trudged homeward,
+his eye mechanically sought the public-house which had once belonged to
+Phil Slaney. A faint light was making its way through the shutters and
+the glass panes over the doorway, which made a sort of dull, foggy halo
+about the front of the house.
+
+As Bob's eyes had become accustomed to the obscurity by this time, the
+light in question was quite sufficient to enable him to see a man in a
+sort of loose riding-coat seated upon a bench which, at that time, was
+fixed under the window of the house. He wore his hat very much over his
+eyes, and was smoking a long pipe. The outline of a glass and a quart
+bottle were also dimly traceable beside him; and a large horse saddled,
+but faintly discernible, was patiently awaiting his master's leisure.
+
+There was something odd, no doubt, in the appearance of a traveller
+refreshing himself at such an hour in the open street; but the sexton
+accounted for it easily by supposing that, on the closing of the house
+for the night, he had taken what remained of his refection to the place
+where he was now discussing it al fresco.
+
+At another time Bob might have saluted the stranger as he passed with a
+friendly "good night"; but, somehow, he was out of humour and in no
+genial mood, and was about passing without any courtesy of the sort,
+when the stranger, without taking the pipe from his mouth, raised the
+bottle, and with it beckoned him familiarly, while, with a sort of lurch
+of the head and shoulders, and at the same time shifting his seat to the
+end of the bench, he pantomimically invited him to share his seat and
+his cheer. There was a divine fragrance of whiskey about the spot, and
+Bob half relented; but he remembered his promise just as he began to
+waver, and said:
+
+"No, I thank you, sir, I can't stop to-night."
+
+The stranger beckoned with vehement welcome, and pointed to the vacant
+space on the seat beside him.
+
+"I thank you for your polite offer," said Bob, "but it's what I'm too
+late as it is, and haven't time to spare, so I wish you a good night."
+
+The traveller jingled the glass against the neck of the bottle, as if to
+intimate that he might at least swallow a dram without losing time. Bob
+was mentally quite of the same opinion; but, though his mouth watered, he
+remembered his promise, and shaking his head with incorruptible
+resolution, walked on.
+
+The stranger, pipe in mouth, rose from his bench, the bottle in one hand,
+and the glass in the other, and followed at the sexton's heels, his dusky
+horse keeping close in his wake.
+
+There was something suspicious and unaccountable in this importunity.
+
+Bob quickened his pace, but the stranger followed close. The sexton began
+to feel queer, and turned about. His pursuer was behind, and still
+inviting him with impatient gestures to taste his liquor.
+
+"I told you before," said Bob, who was both angry and frightened, "that I
+would not taste it, and that's enough. I don't want to have anything to
+say to you or your bottle; and in God's name," he added, more vehemently,
+observing that he was approaching still closer, "fall back and don't be
+tormenting me this way."
+
+These words, as it seemed, incensed the stranger, for he shook the bottle
+with violent menace at Bob Martin; but, notwithstanding this gesture of
+defiance, he suffered the distance between them to increase. Bob,
+however, beheld him dogging him still in the distance, for his pipe shed
+a wonderful red glow, which duskily illuminated his entire figure like
+the lurid atmosphere of a meteor.
+
+"I wish the devil had his own, my boy," muttered the excited sexton, "and
+I know well enough where you'd be."
+
+The next time he looked over his shoulder, to his dismay he observed the
+importunate stranger as close as ever upon his track.
+
+"Confound you," cried the man of skulls and shovels, almost beside
+himself with rage and horror, "what is it you want of me?"
+
+The stranger appeared more confident, and kept wagging his head and
+extending both glass and bottle toward him as he drew near, and Bob
+Martin heard the horse snorting as it followed in the dark.
+
+"Keep it to yourself, whatever it is, for there is neither grace nor
+luck about you," cried Bob Martin, freezing with terror; "leave me
+alone, will you."
+
+And he fumbled in vain among the seething confusion of his ideas for a
+prayer or an exorcism. He quickened his pace almost to a run; he was now
+close to his own door, under the impending bank by the river side.
+
+"Let me in, let me in, for God's sake; Molly, open the door," he cried,
+as he ran to the threshold, and leant his back against the plank. His
+pursuer confronted him upon the road; the pipe was no longer in his
+mouth, but the dusky red glow still lingered round him. He uttered some
+inarticulate cavernous sounds, which were wolfish and indescribable,
+while he seemed employed in pouring out a glass from the bottle.
+
+The sexton kicked with all his force against the door, and cried at the
+same time with a despairing voice.
+
+"In the name of God Almighty, once for all, leave me alone."
+
+His pursuer furiously flung the contents of the bottle at Bob Martin;
+but instead of fluid it issued out in a stream of flame, which expanded
+and whirled round them, and for a moment they were both enveloped in a
+faint blaze; at the same instant a sudden gust whisked off the
+stranger's hat, and the sexton beheld that his skull was roofless. For
+an instant he beheld the gaping aperture, black and shattered, and then
+he fell senseless into his own doorway, which his affrighted wife had
+just unbarred.
+
+I need hardly give my reader the key to this most intelligible and
+authentic narrative. The traveller was acknowledged by all to have been
+the spectre of the suicide, called up by the Evil One to tempt the
+convivial sexton into a violation of his promise, sealed, as it was, by
+an imprecation. Had he succeeded, no doubt the dusky steed, which Bob had
+seen saddled in attendance, was destined to have carried back a double
+burden to the place from whence he came.
+
+As an attestation of the reality of this visitation, the old thorn tree
+which overhung the doorway was found in the morning to have been blasted
+with the infernal fires which had issued from the bottle, just as if a
+thunder-bolt had scorched it.
+
+The moral of the above tale is upon the surface, apparent, and, so to
+speak, _self-acting_--a circumstance which happily obviates the
+necessity of our discussing it together. Taking our leave, therefore, of
+honest Bob Martin, who now sleeps soundly in the same solemn dormitory
+where, in his day, he made so many beds for others, I come to a legend
+of the Royal Irish Artillery, whose headquarters were for so long a time
+in the town of Chapelizod. I don't mean to say that I cannot tell a
+great many more stories, equally authentic and marvellous, touching this
+old town; but as I may possibly have to perform a like office for other
+localities, and as Anthony Poplar is known, like Atropos, to carry a
+shears, wherewith to snip across all "yarns" which exceed reasonable
+bounds, I consider it, on the whole, safer to despatch the traditions of
+Chapelizod with one tale more.
+
+Let me, however, first give it a name; for an author can no more despatch
+a tale without a title, than an apothecary can deliver his physic without
+a label. We shall, therefore, call it--
+
+
+
+
+The Spectre Lovers
+
+
+There lived some fifteen years since in a small and ruinous house, little
+better than a hovel, an old woman who was reported to have considerably
+exceeded her eightieth year, and who rejoiced in the name of Alice, or
+popularly, Ally Moran. Her society was not much courted, for she was
+neither rich, nor, as the reader may suppose, beautiful. In addition to a
+lean cur and a cat she had one human companion, her grandson, Peter
+Brien, whom, with laudable good nature, she had supported from the period
+of his orphanage down to that of my story, which finds him in his
+twentieth year. Peter was a good-natured slob of a fellow, much more
+addicted to wrestling, dancing, and love-making, than to hard work, and
+fonder of whiskey-punch than good advice. His grandmother had a high
+opinion of his accomplishments, which indeed was but natural, and also of
+his genius, for Peter had of late years begun to apply his mind to
+politics; and as it was plain that he had a mortal hatred of honest
+labour, his grandmother predicted, like a true fortuneteller, that he was
+born to marry an heiress, and Peter himself (who had no mind to forego
+his freedom even on such terms) that he was destined to find a pot of
+gold. Upon one point both agreed, that being unfitted by the peculiar
+bias of his genius for work, he was to acquire the immense fortune to
+which his merits entitled him by means of a pure run of good luck. This
+solution of Peter's future had the double effect of reconciling both
+himself and his grandmother to his idle courses, and also of maintaining
+that even flow of hilarious spirits which made him everywhere welcome,
+and which was in truth the natural result of his consciousness of
+approaching affluence.
+
+It happened one night that Peter had enjoyed himself to a very late hour
+with two or three choice spirits near Palmerstown. They had talked
+politics and love, sung songs, and told stories, and, above all, had
+swallowed, in the chastened disguise of punch, at least a pint of good
+whiskey, every man.
+
+It was considerably past one o'clock when Peter bid his companions
+goodbye, with a sigh and a hiccough, and lighting his pipe set forth on
+his solitary homeward way.
+
+The bridge of Chapelizod was pretty nearly the midway point of his night
+march, and from one cause or another his progress was rather slow, and it
+was past two o'clock by the time he found himself leaning over its old
+battlements, and looking up the river, over whose winding current and
+wooded banks the soft moonlight was falling.
+
+The cold breeze that blew lightly down the stream was grateful to him. It
+cooled his throbbing head, and he drank it in at his hot lips. The scene,
+too, had, without his being well sensible of it, a secret fascination.
+The village was sunk in the profoundest slumber, not a mortal stirring,
+not a sound afloat, a soft haze covered it all, and the fairy moonlight
+hovered over the entire landscape.
+
+In a state between rumination and rapture, Peter continued to lean over
+the battlements of the old bridge, and as he did so he saw, or fancied he
+saw, emerging one after another along the river bank in the little
+gardens and enclosures in the rear of the street of Chapelizod, the
+queerest little white-washed huts and cabins he had ever seen there
+before. They had not been there that evening when he passed the bridge on
+the way to his merry tryst. But the most remarkable thing about it was
+the odd way in which these quaint little cabins showed themselves. First
+he saw one or two of them just with the corner of his eye, and when he
+looked full at them, strange to say, they faded away and disappeared.
+Then another and another came in view, but all in the same coy way, just
+appearing and gone again before he could well fix his gaze upon them; in
+a little while, however, they began to bear a fuller gaze, and he found,
+as it seemed to himself, that he was able by an effort of attention to
+fix the vision for a longer and a longer time, and when they waxed faint
+and nearly vanished, he had the power of recalling them into light and
+substance, until at last their vacillating indistinctness became less and
+less, and they assumed a permanent place in the moonlit landscape.
+
+"Be the hokey," said Peter, lost in amazement, and dropping his pipe into
+the river unconsciously, "them is the quarist bits iv mud cabins I ever
+seen, growing up like musharoons in the dew of an evening, and poppin' up
+here and down again there, and up again in another place, like so many
+white rabbits in a warren; and there they stand at last as firm and fast
+as if they were there from the Deluge; bedad it's enough to make a man
+a'most believe in the fairies."
+
+This latter was a large concession from Peter, who was a bit of a
+free-thinker, and spoke contemptuously in his ordinary conversation of
+that class of agencies.
+
+Having treated himself to a long last stare at these mysterious fabrics,
+Peter prepared to pursue his homeward way; having crossed the bridge and
+passed the mill, he arrived at the corner of the main-street of the
+little town, and casting a careless look up the Dublin road, his eye was
+arrested by a most unexpected spectacle.
+
+This was no other than a column of foot soldiers, marching with perfect
+regularity towards the village, and headed by an officer on horseback.
+They were at the far side of the turnpike, which was closed; but much to
+his perplexity he perceived that they marched on through it without
+appearing to sustain the least check from that barrier.
+
+On they came at a slow march; and what was most singular in the matter
+was, that they were drawing several cannons along with them; some held
+ropes, others spoked the wheels, and others again marched in front of the
+guns and behind them, with muskets shouldered, giving a stately character
+of parade and regularity to this, as it seemed to Peter, most unmilitary
+procedure.
+
+It was owing either to some temporary defect in Peter's vision, or to
+some illusion attendant upon mist and moonlight, or perhaps to some other
+cause, that the whole procession had a certain waving and vapoury
+character which perplexed and tasked his eyes not a little. It was like
+the pictured pageant of a phantasmagoria reflected upon smoke. It was as
+if every breath disturbed it; sometimes it was blurred, sometimes
+obliterated; now here, now there. Sometimes, while the upper part was
+quite distinct, the legs of the column would nearly fade away or vanish
+outright, and then again they would come out into clear relief, marching
+on with measured tread, while the cocked hats and shoulders grew, as it
+were, transparent, and all but disappeared.
+
+Notwithstanding these strange optical fluctuations, however, the column
+continued steadily to advance. Peter crossed the street from the corner
+near the old bridge, running on tip-toe, and with his body stooped to
+avoid observation, and took up a position upon the raised footpath in the
+shadow of the houses, where, as the soldiers kept the middle of the road,
+he calculated that he might, himself undetected, see them distinctly
+enough as they passed.
+
+"What the div--, what on airth," he muttered, checking the irreligious
+ejaculation with which he was about to start, for certain queer
+misgivings were hovering about his heart, notwithstanding the factitious
+courage of the whiskey bottle. "What on airth is the manin' of all this?
+is it the French that's landed at last to give us a hand and help us in
+airnest to this blessed repale? If it is not them, I simply ask who the
+div--, I mane who on airth are they, for such sogers as them I never
+seen before in my born days?"
+
+By this time the foremost of them were quite near, and truth to say they
+were the queerest soldiers he had ever seen in the course of his life.
+They wore long gaiters and leather breeches, three-cornered hats, bound
+with silver lace, long blue coats, with scarlet facings and linings,
+which latter were shewn by a fastening which held together the two
+opposite corners of the skirt behind; and in front the breasts were in
+like manner connected at a single point, where and below which they
+sloped back, disclosing a long-flapped waistcoat of snowy whiteness; they
+had very large, long cross-belts, and wore enormous pouches of white
+leather hung extraordinarily low, and on each of which a little silver
+star was glittering. But what struck him as most grotesque and outlandish
+in their costume was their extraordinary display of shirt-frill in front,
+and of ruffle about their wrists, and the strange manner in which their
+hair was frizzled out and powdered under their hats, and clubbed up into
+great rolls behind. But one of the party was mounted. He rode a tall
+white horse, with high action and arching neck; he had a snow-white
+feather in his three-cornered hat, and his coat was shimmering all over
+with a profusion of silver lace. From these circumstances Peter concluded
+that he must be the commander of the detachment, and examined him as he
+passed attentively. He was a slight, tall man, whose legs did not half
+fill his leather breeches, and he appeared to be at the wrong side of
+sixty. He had a shrunken, weather-beaten, mulberry-coloured face, carried
+a large black patch over one eye, and turned neither to the right nor to
+the left, but rode on at the head of his men, with a grim, military
+inflexibility.
+
+The countenances of these soldiers, officers as well as men, seemed all
+full of trouble, and, so to speak, scared and wild. He watched in vain
+for a single contented or comely face. They had, one and all, a
+melancholy and hang-dog look; and as they passed by, Peter fancied that
+the air grew cold and thrilling.
+
+He had seated himself upon a stone bench, from which, staring with all
+his might, he gazed upon the grotesque and noiseless procession as it
+filed by him. Noiseless it was; he could neither hear the jingle of
+accoutrements, the tread of feet, nor the rumble of the wheels; and when
+the old colonel turned his horse a little, and made as though he were
+giving the word of command, and a trumpeter, with a swollen blue nose and
+white feather fringe round his hat, who was walking beside him, turned
+about and put his bugle to his lips, still Peter heard nothing, although
+it was plain the sound had reached the soldiers, for they instantly
+changed their front to three abreast.
+
+"Botheration!" muttered Peter, "is it deaf I'm growing?"
+
+But that could not be, for he heard the sighing of the breeze and the
+rush of the neighbouring Liffey plain enough.
+
+"Well," said he, in the same cautious key, "by the piper, this bangs
+Banagher fairly! It's either the Frinch army that's in it, come to take
+the town iv Chapelizod by surprise, an' makin' no noise for feard iv
+wakenin' the inhabitants; or else it's--it's--what it's--somethin' else.
+But, tundher-an-ouns, what's gone wid Fitzpatrick's shop across the way?"
+
+The brown, dingy stone building at the opposite side of the street looked
+newer and cleaner than he had been used to see it; the front door of it
+stood open, and a sentry, in the same grotesque uniform, with shouldered
+musket, was pacing noiselessly to and fro before it. At the angle of this
+building, in like manner, a wide gate (of which Peter had no recollection
+whatever) stood open, before which, also, a similar sentry was gliding,
+and into this gateway the whole column gradually passed, and Peter
+finally lost sight of it.
+
+"I'm not asleep; I'm not dhramin'," said he, rubbing his eyes, and
+stamping slightly on the pavement, to assure himself that he was wide
+awake. "It is a quare business, whatever it is; an' it's not alone that,
+but everything about town looks strange to me. There's Tresham's house
+new painted, bedad, an' them flowers in the windies! An' Delany's house,
+too, that had not a whole pane of glass in it this morning, and scarce a
+slate on the roof of it! It is not possible it's what it's dhrunk I am.
+Sure there's the big tree, and not a leaf of it changed since I passed,
+and the stars overhead, all right. I don't think it is in my eyes it is."
+
+And so looking about him, and every moment finding or fancying new food
+for wonder, he walked along the pavement, intending, without further
+delay, to make his way home.
+
+But his adventures for the night were not concluded. He had nearly
+reached the angle of the short land that leads up to the church, when for
+the first time he perceived that an officer, in the uniform he had just
+seen, was walking before, only a few yards in advance of him.
+
+The officer was walking along at an easy, swinging gait, and carried
+his sword under his arm, and was looking down on the pavement with an
+air of reverie.
+
+In the very fact that he seemed unconscious of Peter's presence, and
+disposed to keep his reflections to himself, there was something
+reassuring. Besides, the reader must please to remember that our hero had
+a quantum sufficit of good punch before his adventure commenced, and was
+thus fortified against those qualms and terrors under which, in a more
+reasonable state of mind, he might not impossibly have sunk.
+
+The idea of the French invasion revived in full power in Peter's fuddled
+imagination, as he pursued the nonchalant swagger of the officer.
+
+"Be the powers iv Moll Kelly, I'll ax him what it is," said Peter, with a
+sudden accession of rashness. "He may tell me or not, as he plases, but
+he can't be offinded, anyhow."
+
+With this reflection having inspired himself, Peter cleared his voice
+and began--
+
+"Captain!" said he, "I ax your pardon, captain, an' maybe you'd be so
+condescindin' to my ignorance as to tell me, if it's plasin' to yer
+honour, whether your honour is not a Frinchman, if it's plasin' to you."
+
+This he asked, not thinking that, had it been as he suspected, not one
+word of his question in all probability would have been intelligible to
+the person he addressed. He was, however, understood, for the officer
+answered him in English, at the same time slackening his pace and moving
+a little to the side of the pathway, as if to invite his interrogator to
+take his place beside him.
+
+"No; I am an Irishman," he answered.
+
+"I humbly thank your honour," said Peter, drawing nearer--for the
+affability and the nativity of the officer encouraged him--"but maybe
+your honour is in the _sarvice_ of the King of France?"
+
+"I serve the same King as you do," he answered, with a sorrowful
+significance which Peter did not comprehend at the time; and,
+interrogating in turn, he asked, "But what calls you forth at this hour
+of the day?"
+
+"The _day,_ your honour!--the night, you mane."
+
+"It was always our way to turn night into day, and we keep to it still,"
+remarked the soldier. "But, no matter, come up here to my house; I have a
+job for you, if you wish to earn some money easily. I live here."
+
+As he said this, he beckoned authoritatively to Peter, who followed
+almost mechanically at his heels, and they turned up a little lane near
+the old Roman Catholic chapel, at the end of which stood, in Peter's
+time, the ruins of a tall, stone-built house.
+
+Like everything else in the town, it had suffered a metamorphosis. The
+stained and ragged walls were now erect, perfect, and covered with
+pebble-dash; window-panes glittered coldly in every window; the green
+hall-door had a bright brass knocker on it. Peter did not know whether to
+believe his previous or his present impressions; seeing is believing, and
+Peter could not dispute the reality of the scene. All the records of his
+memory seemed but the images of a tipsy dream. In a trance of
+astonishment and perplexity, therefore, he submitted himself to the
+chances of his adventure.
+
+The door opened, the officer beckoned with a melancholy air of authority
+to Peter, and entered. Our hero followed him into a sort of hall, which
+was very dark, but he was guided by the steps of the soldier, and, in
+silence, they ascended the stairs. The moonlight, which shone in at the
+lobbies, showed an old, dark wainscoting, and a heavy, oak banister. They
+passed by closed doors at different landing-places, but all was dark and
+silent as, indeed, became that late hour of the night.
+
+Now they ascended to the topmost floor. The captain paused for a minute
+at the nearest door, and, with a heavy groan, pushing it open, entered
+the room. Peter remained at the threshold. A slight female form in a
+sort of loose, white robe, and with a great deal of dark hair hanging
+loosely about her, was standing in the middle of the floor, with her
+back towards them.
+
+The soldier stopped short before he reached her, and said, in a voice of
+great anguish, "Still the same, sweet bird--sweet bird! still the same."
+Whereupon, she turned suddenly, and threw her arms about the neck of the
+officer, with a gesture of fondness and despair, and her frame was
+agitated as if by a burst of sobs. He held her close to his breast in
+silence; and honest Peter felt a strange terror creep over him, as he
+witnessed these mysterious sorrows and endearments.
+
+"To-night, to-night--and then ten years more--ten long years--another
+ten years."
+
+The officer and the lady seemed to speak these words together; her voice
+mingled with his in a musical and fearful wail, like a distant summer
+wind, in the dead hour of night, wandering through ruins. Then he heard
+the officer say, alone, in a voice of anguish--
+
+"Upon me be it all, for ever, sweet birdie, upon me."
+
+And again they seemed to mourn together in the same soft and desolate
+wail, like sounds of grief heard from a great distance.
+
+Peter was thrilled with horror, but he was also under a strange
+fascination; and an intense and dreadful curiosity held him fast.
+
+The moon was shining obliquely into the room, and through the window
+Peter saw the familiar slopes of the Park, sleeping mistily under its
+shimmer. He could also see the furniture of the room with tolerable
+distinctness--the old balloon-backed chairs, a four-post bed in a sort of
+recess, and a rack against the wall, from which hung some military
+clothes and accoutrements; and the sight of all these homely objects
+reassured him somewhat, and he could not help feeling unspeakably curious
+to see the face of the girl whose long hair was streaming over the
+officer's epaulet.
+
+Peter, accordingly, coughed, at first slightly, and afterward more
+loudly, to recall her from her reverie of grief; and, apparently, he
+succeeded; for she turned round, as did her companion, and both, standing
+hand in hand, gazed upon him fixedly. He thought he had never seen such
+large, strange eyes in all his life; and their gaze seemed to chill the
+very air around him, and arrest the pulses of his heart. An eternity of
+misery and remorse was in the shadowy faces that looked upon him.
+
+If Peter had taken less whisky by a single thimbleful, it is probable
+that he would have lost heart altogether before these figures, which
+seemed every moment to assume a more marked and fearful, though hardly
+definable, contrast to ordinary human shapes.
+
+"What is it you want with me?" he stammered.
+
+"To bring my lost treasure to the churchyard," replied the lady, in a
+silvery voice of more than mortal desolation.
+
+The word "treasure" revived the resolution of Peter, although a cold
+sweat was covering him, and his hair was bristling with horror; he
+believed, however, that he was on the brink of fortune, if he could but
+command nerve to brave the interview to its close.
+
+"And where," he gasped, "is it hid--where will I find it?"
+
+They both pointed to the sill of the window, through which the moon was
+shining at the far end of the room, and the soldier said--
+
+"Under that stone."
+
+Peter drew a long breath, and wiped the cold dew from his face,
+preparatory to passing to the window, where he expected to secure the
+reward of his protracted terrors. But looking steadfastly at the window,
+he saw the faint image of a new-born child sitting upon the sill in the
+moonlight, with its little arms stretched toward him, and a smile so
+heavenly as he never beheld before.
+
+At sight of this, strange to say, his heart entirely failed him, he
+looked on the figures that stood near, and beheld them gazing on the
+infantine form with a smile so guilty and distorted, that he felt as if
+he were entering alive among the scenery of hell, and shuddering, he
+cried in an irrepressible agony of horror--
+
+"I'll have nothing to say with you, and nothing to do with you; I don't
+know what yez are or what yez want iv me, but let me go this minute,
+every one of yez, in the name of God."
+
+With these words there came a strange rumbling and sighing about
+Peter's ears; he lost sight of everything, and felt that peculiar and
+not unpleasant sensation of falling softly, that sometimes supervenes
+in sleep, ending in a dull shock. After that he had neither dream nor
+consciousness till he wakened, chill and stiff, stretched between two
+piles of old rubbish, among the black and roofless walls of the
+ruined house.
+
+We need hardly mention that the village had put on its wonted air of
+neglect and decay, or that Peter looked around him in vain for traces of
+those novelties which had so puzzled and distracted him upon the
+previous night.
+
+"Ay, ay," said his grandmother, removing her pipe, as he ended his
+description of the view from the bridge, "sure enough I remember myself,
+when I was a slip of a girl, these little white cabins among the gardens
+by the river side. The artillery sogers that was married, or had not room
+in the barracks, used to be in them, but they're all gone long ago.
+
+"The Lord be merciful to us!" she resumed, when he had described the
+military procession, "It's often I seen the regiment marchin' into the
+town, jist as you saw it last night, acushla. Oh, voch, but it makes my
+heart sore to think iv them days; they were pleasant times, sure enough;
+but is not it terrible, avick, to think it's what it was the ghost of the
+rigiment you seen? The Lord betune us an' harm, for it was nothing else,
+as sure as I'm sittin' here."
+
+When he mentioned the peculiar physiognomy and figure of the old officer
+who rode at the head of the regiment--
+
+"That," said the old crone, dogmatically, "was ould Colonel Grimshaw, the
+Lord presarve us! he's buried in the churchyard iv Chapelizod, and well I
+remember him, when I was a young thing, an' a cross ould floggin' fellow
+he was wid the men, an' a devil's boy among the girls--rest his soul!"
+
+"Amen!" said Peter; "it's often I read his tombstone myself; but he's a
+long time dead."
+
+"Sure, I tell you he died when I was no more nor a slip iv a girl--the
+Lord betune us and harm!"
+
+"I'm afeard it is what I'm not long for this world myself, afther seeing
+such a sight as that," said Peter, fearfully.
+
+"Nonsinse, avourneen," retorted his grandmother, indignantly, though she
+had herself misgivings on the subject; "sure there was Phil Doolan, the
+ferryman, that seen black Ann Scanlan in his own boat, and what harm ever
+kem of it?"
+
+Peter proceeded with his narrative, but when he came to the description
+of the house, in which his adventure had had so sinister a conclusion,
+the old woman was at fault.
+
+"I know the house and the ould walls well, an' I can remember the time
+there was a roof on it, and the doors an' windows in it, but it had a bad
+name about being haunted, but by who, or for what, I forget intirely."
+
+"Did you ever hear was there goold or silver there?" he inquired.
+
+"No, no, avick, don't be thinking about the likes; take a fool's advice,
+and never go next to near them ugly black walls again the longest day you
+have to live; an' I'd take my davy, it's what it's the same word the
+priest himself id be afther sayin' to you if you wor to ax his raverence
+consarnin' it, for it's plain to be seen it was nothing good you seen
+there, and there's neither luck nor grace about it."
+
+Peter's adventure made no little noise in the neighbourhood, as the
+reader may well suppose; and a few evenings after it, being on an errand
+to old Major Vandeleur, who lived in a snug old-fashioned house, close by
+the river, under a perfect bower of ancient trees, he was called on to
+relate the story in the parlour.
+
+The Major was, as I have said, an old man; he was small, lean, and
+upright, with a mahogany complexion, and a wooden inflexibility of face;
+he was a man, besides, of few words, and if _he_ was old, it follows
+plainly that his mother was older still. Nobody could guess or tell _how_
+old, but it was admitted that her own generation had long passed away,
+and that she had not a competitor left. She had French blood in her
+veins, and although she did not retain her charms quite so well as Ninon
+de l'Enclos, she was in full possession of all her mental activity, and
+talked quite enough for herself and the Major.
+
+"So, Peter," she said, "you have seen the dear, old Royal Irish again in
+the streets of Chapelizod. Make him a tumbler of punch, Frank; and Peter,
+sit down, and while you take it let us have the story."
+
+Peter accordingly, seated, near the door, with a tumbler of the nectarian
+stimulant steaming beside him, proceeded with marvellous courage,
+considering they had no light but the uncertain glare of the fire, to
+relate with minute particularity his awful adventure. The old lady
+listened at first with a smile of good-natured incredulity; her
+cross-examination touching the drinking-bout at Palmerstown had been
+teazing, but as the narrative proceeded she became attentive, and at
+length absorbed, and once or twice she uttered ejaculations of pity or
+awe. When it was over, the old lady looked with a somewhat sad and stern
+abstraction on the table, patting her cat assiduously meanwhile, and then
+suddenly looking upon her son, the Major, she said--
+
+"Frank, as sure as I live he has seen the wicked Captain Devereux."
+
+The Major uttered an inarticulate expression of wonder.
+
+"The house was precisely that he has described. I have told you the story
+often, as I heard it from your dear grandmother, about the poor young
+lady he ruined, and the dreadful suspicion about the little baby. _She_,
+poor thing, died in that house heart-broken, and you know he was shot
+shortly after in a duel."
+
+This was the only light that Peter ever received respecting his
+adventure. It was supposed, however, that he still clung to the hope that
+treasure of some sort was hidden about the old house, for he was often
+seen lurking about its walls, and at last his fate overtook him, poor
+fellow, in the pursuit; for climbing near the summit one day, his holding
+gave way, and he fell upon the hard uneven ground, fracturing a leg and a
+rib, and after a short interval died, and he, like the other heroes of
+these true tales, lies buried in the little churchyard of Chapelizod.
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE DRUNKARD'S DREAM
+
+
+_Being a Fourth Extract from the Legacy of the Late F. Purcell, P. P. of
+Drumcoolagh_
+
+"All this _he_ told with some confusion and
+Dismay, the usual consequence of dreams
+Of the unpleasant kind, with none at hand
+To expound their vain and visionary gleams.
+I've known some odd ones which seemed really planned
+Prophetically, as that which one deems
+'A strange coincidence,' to use a phrase
+By which such things are settled now-a-days."
+
+BYRON.
+
+
+Dreams--What age, or what country of the world has not felt and
+acknowledged the mystery of their origin and end? I have thought not a
+little upon the subject, seeing it is one which has been often forced
+upon my attention, and sometimes strangely enough; and yet I have never
+arrived at any thing which at all appeared a satisfactory conclusion. It
+does appear that a mental phenomenon so extraordinary cannot be wholly
+without its use. We know, indeed, that in the olden times it has been
+made the organ of communication between the Deity and his creatures; and
+when, as I have seen, a dream produces upon a mind, to all appearance
+hopelessly reprobate and depraved, an effect so powerful and so lasting
+as to break down the inveterate habits, and to reform the life of an
+abandoned sinner. We see in the result, in the reformation of morals,
+which appeared incorrigible in the reclamation of a human soul which
+seemed to be irretrievably lost, something more than could be produced by
+a mere chimaera of the slumbering fancy, something more than could arise
+from the capricious images of a terrified imagination; but once
+prevented, we behold in all these things, in the tremendous and
+mysterious results, the operation of the hand of God. And while Reason
+rejects as absurd the superstition which will read a prophecy in every
+dream, she may, without violence to herself, recognize, even in the
+wildest and most incongruous of the wanderings of a slumbering intellect,
+the evidences and the fragments of a language which may be spoken, which
+_has_ been spoken to terrify, to warn, and to command. We have reason to
+believe too, by the promptness of action, which in the age of the
+prophets, followed all intimations of this kind, and by the strength of
+conviction and strange permanence of the effects resulting from certain
+dreams in latter times, which effects ourselves may have witnessed, that
+when this medium of communication has been employed by the Deity, the
+evidences of his presence have been unequivocal. My thoughts were
+directed to this subject, in a manner to leave a lasting impression upon
+my mind, by the events which I shall now relate, the statement of which,
+however extraordinary, is nevertheless _accurately correct_.
+
+About the year l7-- having been appointed to the living of C----h, I
+rented a small house in the town, which bears the same name: one morning,
+in the month of November, I was awakened before my usual time, by my
+servant, who bustled into my bedroom for the purpose of announcing a sick
+call. As the Catholic Church holds her last rites to be totally
+indispensable to the safety of the departing sinner, no conscientious
+clergyman can afford a moment's unnecessary delay, and in little more
+than five minutes I stood ready cloaked and booted for the road in the
+small front parlour, in which the messenger, who was to act as my guide,
+awaited my coming. I found a poor little girl crying piteously near the
+door, and after some slight difficulty I ascertained that her father was
+either dead, or just dying.
+
+"And what may be your father's name, my poor child?" said I. She held
+down her head, as if ashamed. I repeated the question, and the wretched
+little creature burst into floods of tears, still more bitter than she
+had shed before. At length, almost provoked by conduct which appeared to
+me so unreasonable, I began to lose patience, spite of the pity which I
+could not help feeling towards her, and I said rather harshly, "If you
+will not tell me the name of the person to whom you would lead me, your
+silence can arise from no good motive, and I might be justified in
+refusing to go with you at all."
+
+"Oh! don't say that, don't say that," cried she. "Oh! sir, it was that I
+was afeard of when I would not tell you--I was afeard when you heard his
+name you would not come with me; but it is no use hidin' it now--it's Pat
+Connell, the carpenter, your honour."
+
+She looked in my face with the most earnest anxiety, as if her very
+existence depended upon what she should read there; but I relieved her at
+once. The name, indeed, was most unpleasantly familiar to me; but,
+however fruitless my visits and advice might have been at another time,
+the present was too fearful an occasion to suffer my doubts of their
+utility as my reluctance to re-attempting what appeared a hopeless task
+to weigh even against the lightest chance, that a consciousness of his
+imminent danger might produce in him a more docile and tractable
+disposition. Accordingly I told the child to lead the way, and followed
+her in silence. She hurried rapidly through the long narrow street which
+forms the great thoroughfare of the town. The darkness of the hour,
+rendered still deeper by the close approach of the old fashioned houses,
+which lowered in tall obscurity on either side of the way; the damp
+dreary chill which renders the advance of morning peculiarly cheerless,
+combined with the object of my walk, to visit the death-bed of a
+presumptuous sinner, to endeavour, almost against my own conviction, to
+infuse a hope into the heart of a dying reprobate--a drunkard, but too
+probably perishing under the consequences of some mad fit of
+intoxication; all these circumstances united served to enhance the gloom
+and solemnity of my feelings, as I silently followed my little guide, who
+with quick steps traversed the uneven pavement of the main street. After
+a walk of about five minutes she turned off into a narrow lane, of that
+obscure and comfortless class which are to be found in almost all small
+old fashioned towns, chill without ventilation, reeking with all manner
+of offensive effluviae, dingy, smoky, sickly and pent-up buildings,
+frequently not only in a wretched but in a dangerous condition.
+
+"Your father has changed his abode since I last visited him, and, I am
+afraid, much for the worse," said I.
+
+"Indeed he has, sir, but we must not complain," replied she; "we have to
+thank God that we have lodging and food, though it's poor enough, it is,
+your honour."
+
+Poor child! thought I, how many an older head might learn wisdom from
+thee--how many a luxurious philosopher, who is skilled to preach but not
+to suffer, might not thy patient words put to the blush! The manner and
+language of this child were alike above her years and station; and,
+indeed, in all cases in which the cares and sorrows of life have
+anticipated their usual date, and have fallen, as they sometimes do, with
+melancholy prematurity to the lot of childhood, I have observed the
+result to have proved uniformly the same. A young mind, to which joy and
+indulgence have been strangers, and to which suffering and self-denial
+have been familiarised from the first, acquires a solidity and an
+elevation which no other discipline could have bestowed, and which, in
+the present case, communicated a striking but mournful peculiarity to the
+manners, even to the voice of the child. We paused before a narrow, crazy
+door, which she opened by means of a latch, and we forthwith began to
+ascend the steep and broken stairs, which led upwards to the sick man's
+room. As we mounted flight after flight towards the garret floor, I heard
+more and more distinctly the hurried talking of many voices. I could also
+distinguish the low sobbing of a female. On arriving upon the uppermost
+lobby, these sounds became fully audible.
+
+"This way, your honor," said my little conductress, at the same time
+pushing open a door of patched and half rotten plank, she admitted me
+into the squalid chamber of death and misery. But one candle, held in the
+fingers of a scared and haggard-looking child, was burning in the room,
+and that so dim that all was twilight or darkness except within its
+immediate influence. The general obscurity, however, served to throw into
+prominent and startling relief the death-bed and its occupant. The light
+was nearly approximated to, and fell with horrible clearness upon, the
+blue and swollen features of the drunkard. I did not think it possible
+that a human countenance could look so terrific. The lips were black and
+drawn apart--the teeth were firmly set--the eyes a little unclosed, and
+nothing but the whites appearing--every feature was fixed and livid, and
+the whole face wore a ghastly and rigid expression of despairing terror
+such as I never saw equalled; his hands were crossed upon his breast, and
+firmly clenched, while, as if to add to the corpse-like effect of the
+whole, some white cloths, dipped in water, were wound about the forehead
+and temples. As soon as I could remove my eyes from this horrible
+spectacle, I observed my friend Dr. D----, one of the most humane of a
+humane profession, standing by the bedside. He had been attempting, but
+unsuccessfully, to bleed the patient, and had now applied his finger to
+the pulse.
+
+"Is there any hope?" I inquired in a whisper.
+
+A shake of the head was the reply. There was a pause while he continued
+to hold the wrist; but he waited in vain for the throb of life, it was
+not there, and when he let go the hand it fell stiffly back into its
+former position upon the other.
+
+"The man is dead," said the physician, as he turned from the bed where
+the terrible figure lay.
+
+Dead! thought I, scarcely venturing to look upon the tremendous and
+revolting spectacle--dead! without an hour for repentance, even a
+moment for reflection--dead! without the rites which even the best
+should have. Is there a hope for him? The glaring eyeball, the grinning
+mouth, the distorted brow--that unutterable look in which a painter
+would have sought to embody the fixed despair of the nethermost
+hell--these were my answer.
+
+The poor wife sat at a little distance, crying as if her heart would
+break--the younger children clustered round the bed, looking, with
+wondering curiosity, upon the form of death, never seen before. When the
+first tumult of uncontrollable sorrow had passed away, availing myself of
+the solemnity and impressiveness of the scene, I desired the
+heart-stricken family to accompany me in prayer, and all knelt down,
+while I solemnly and fervently repeated some of those prayers which
+appeared most applicable to the occasion. I employed myself thus in a
+manner which, I trusted, was not unprofitable, at least to the living,
+for about ten minutes, and having accomplished my task, I was the first
+to arise. I looked upon the poor, sobbing, helpless creatures who knelt
+so humbly around me, and my heart bled for them. With a natural
+transition, I turned my eyes from them to the bed in which the body lay,
+and, great God! what was the revulsion, the horror which I experienced on
+seeing the corpse-like, terrific thing seated half upright before me--the
+white cloths, which had been wound about the head, had now partly slipped
+from their position, and were hanging in grotesque festoons about the
+face and shoulders, while the distorted eyes leered from amid them--
+
+"A sight to dream of, not to tell."
+
+I stood actually rivetted to the spot. The figure nodded its head and
+lifted its arm, I thought with a menacing gesture. A thousand confused
+and horrible thoughts at once rushed upon my mind. I had often read that
+the body of a presumptuous sinner, who, during life, had been the willing
+creature of every satanic impulse, after the human tenant had deserted
+it, had been known to become the horrible sport of demoniac possession. I
+was roused from the stupefaction of terror in which I stood, by the
+piercing scream of the mother, who now, for the first time, perceived the
+change which had taken place. She rushed towards the bed, but, stunned by
+the shock and overcome by the conflict of violent emotions, before she
+reached it, she fell prostrate upon the floor. I am perfectly convinced
+that had I not been startled from the torpidity of horror in which I was
+bound, by some powerful and arousing stimulant, I should have gazed upon
+this unearthly apparition until I had fairly lost my senses. As it was,
+however, the spell was broken, superstition gave way to reason: the man
+whom all believed to have been actually dead, was living! Dr. D---- was
+instantly standing by the bedside, and, upon examination, he found that a
+sudden and copious flow of blood had taken place from the wound which the
+lancet had left, and this, no doubt, had effected his sudden and almost
+preternatural restoration to an existence from which all thought he had
+been for ever removed. The man was still speechless, but he seemed to
+understand the physician when he forbid his repeating the painful and
+fruitless attempts which he made to articulate, and he at once resigned
+himself quietly into his hands.
+
+I left the patient with leeches upon his temples, and bleeding
+freely--apparently with little of the drowsiness which accompanies
+apoplexy; indeed, Dr. D---- told me that he had never before witnessed a
+seizure which seemed to combine the symptoms of so many kinds, and yet
+which belonged to none of the recognized classes; it certainly was not
+apoplexy, catalepsy, _nor delirium tremens_, and yet it seemed, in some
+degree, to partake of the properties of all--it was strange, but stranger
+things are coming.
+
+During two or three days Dr. D---- would not allow his patient to
+converse in a manner which could excite or exhaust him, with any one; he
+suffered him merely, as briefly as possible, to express his immediate
+wants, and it was not until the fourth day after my early visit, the
+particulars of which I have just detailed, that it was thought expedient
+that I should see him, and then only because it appeared that his extreme
+importunity and impatience were likely to retard his recovery more than
+the mere exhaustion attendant upon a short conversation could possibly
+do; perhaps, too, my friend entertained some hope that if by holy
+confession his patient's bosom were eased of the perilous stuff, which no
+doubt, oppressed it, his recovery would be more assured and rapid. It
+was, then, as I have said, upon the fourth day after my first
+professional call, that I found myself once more in the dreary chamber of
+want and sickness. The man was in bed, and appeared low and restless. On
+my entering the room he raised himself in the bed, and muttered twice or
+thrice--"Thank God! thank God." I signed to those of his family who stood
+by, to leave the room, and took a chair beside the bed. So soon as we
+were alone, he said, rather doggedly--"There's no use now in telling me
+of the sinfulness of bad ways--I know it all--I know where they lead
+to--I seen everything about it with my own eyesight, as plain as I see
+you." He rolled himself in the bed, as if to hide his face in the
+clothes, and then suddenly raising himself, he exclaimed with startling
+vehemence--"Look, sir, there is no use in mincing the matter; I'm blasted
+with the fires of hell; I have been in hell; what do you think of
+that?--in hell--I'm lost for ever--I have not a chance--I am damned
+already--damned--damned--." The end of this sentence he actually
+shouted; his vehemence was perfectly terrific; he threw himself back, and
+laughed, and sobbed hysterically. I poured some water into a tea-cup, and
+gave it to him. After he had swallowed it, I told him if he had anything
+to communicate, to do so as briefly as he could, and in a manner as
+little agitating to himself as possible; threatening at the same time,
+though I had no intention of doing so, to leave him at once, in case he
+again gave way to such passionate excitement. "It's only foolishness," he
+continued, "for me to try to thank you for coming to such a villain as
+myself at all; it's no use for me to wish good to you, or to bless you;
+for such as me has no blessings to give." I told him that I had but done
+my duty, and urged him to proceed to the matter which weighed upon his
+mind; he then spoke nearly as follows:--"I came in drunk on Friday night
+last, and got to my bed here, I don't remember how; sometime in the
+night, it seemed to me, I wakened, and feeling unasy in myself, I got up
+out of the bed. I wanted the fresh air, but I would not make a noise to
+open the window, for fear I'd waken the crathurs. It was very dark, and
+throublesome to find the door; but at last I did get it, and I groped my
+way out, and went down as asy as I could. I felt quite sober, and I
+counted the steps one after another, as I was going down, that I might
+not stumble at the bottom. When I came to the first landing-place, God be
+about us always! the floor of it sunk under me, and I went down, down,
+down, till the senses almost left me. I do not know how long I was
+falling, but it seemed to me a great while. When I came rightly to myself
+at last, I was sitting at a great table, near the top of it; and I could
+not see the end of it, if it had any, it was so far off; and there was
+men beyond reckoning, sitting down, all along by it, at each side, as far
+as I could see at all. I did not know at first was it in the open air;
+but there was a close smothering feel in it, that was not natural, and
+there was a kind of light that my eyesight never saw before, red and
+unsteady, and I did not see for a long time where it was coming from,
+until I looked straight up, and then I seen that it came from great balls
+of blood-coloured fire, that were rolling high over head with a sort of
+rushing, trembling sound, and I perceived that they shone on the ribs of
+a great roof of rock that was arched overhead instead of the sky. When I
+seen this, scarce knowing what I did, I got up, and I said, 'I have no
+right to be here; I must go,' and the man that was sitting at my left
+hand, only smiled, and said, 'sit down again, you can _never_ leave this
+place,' and his voice was weaker than any child's voice I ever heerd, and
+when he was done speaking he smiled again. Then I spoke out very loud and
+bold, and I said--'in the name of God, let me out of this bad place.' And
+there was a great man, that I did not see before, sitting at the end of
+the table that I was near, and he was taller than twelve men, and his
+face was very proud and terrible to look at, and he stood up and
+stretched out his hand before him, and when he stood up, all that was
+there, great and small, bowed down with a sighing sound, and a dread came
+on my heart, and he looked at me, and I could not speak. I felt I was his
+own, to do what he liked with, for I knew at once who he was, and he
+said, 'if you promise to return, you may depart for a season'; and the
+voice he spoke with was terrible and mournful, and the echoes of it went
+rolling and swelling down the endless cave, and mixing with the trembling
+of the fire overhead; so that, when he sate down, there was a sound after
+him, all through the place like the roaring of a furnace, and I said,
+with all the strength I had, 'I promise to come back; in God's name let
+me go,' and with that I lost the sight and the hearing of all that was
+there, and when my senses came to me again, I was sitting in the bed with
+the blood all over me, and you and the rest praying around the room."
+Here he paused and wiped away the chill drops of horror which hung upon
+his forehead.
+
+I remained silent for some moments. The vision which he had just
+described struck my imagination not a little, for this was long before
+Vathek and the "Hall of Iblis" had delighted the world; and the
+description which he gave had, as I received it, all the attractions of
+novelty beside the impressiveness which always belongs to the narration
+of an _eye-witness_, whether in the body or in the spirit, of the scenes
+which he describes. There was something, too, in the stern horror with
+which the man related these things, and in the incongruity of his
+description, with the vulgarly received notions of the great place of
+punishment, and of its presiding spirit, which struck my mind with awe,
+almost with fear. At length he said, with an expression of horrible,
+imploring earnestness, which I shall never forget--"Well, sir, is there
+any hope; is there any chance at all? or, is my soul pledged and promised
+away for ever? is it gone out of my power? must I go back to the place?"
+
+In answering him I had no easy task to perform; for however clear might
+be my internal conviction of the groundlessness of his fears, and however
+strong my scepticism respecting the reality of what he had described, I
+nevertheless felt that his impression to the contrary, and his humility
+and terror resulting from it, might be made available as no mean engines
+in the work of his conversion from profligacy, and of his restoration to
+decent habits, and to religious feeling. I therefore told him that he was
+to regard his dream rather in the light of a warning than in that of a
+prophecy; that our salvation depended not upon the word or deed of a
+moment, but upon the habits of a life; that, in fine, if he at once
+discarded his idle companions and evil habits, and firmly adhered to a
+sober, industrious, and religious course of life, the powers of darkness
+might claim his soul in vain, for that there were higher and firmer
+pledges than human tongue could utter, which promised salvation to him
+who should repent and lead a new life.
+
+I left him much comforted, and with a promise to return upon the next
+day. I did so, and found him much more cheerful, and without any remains
+of the dogged sullenness which I suppose had arisen from his despair.
+His promises of amendment were given in that tone of deliberate
+earnestness, which belongs to deep and solemn determination; and it was
+with no small delight that I observed, after repeated visits, that his
+good resolutions, so far from failing, did but gather strength by time;
+and when I saw that man shake off the idle and debauched companions,
+whose society had for years formed alike his amusement and his ruin, and
+revive his long discarded habits of industry and sobriety, I said within
+myself, there is something more in all this than the operation of an
+idle dream. One day, sometime after his perfect restoration to health, I
+was surprised on ascending the stairs, for the purpose of visiting this
+man, to find him busily employed in nailing down some planks upon the
+landing place, through which, at the commencement of his mysterious
+vision, it seemed to him that he had sunk. I perceived at once that he
+was strengthening the floor with a view to securing himself against such
+a catastrophe, and could scarcely forbear a smile as I bid "God bless
+his work."
+
+He perceived my thoughts, I suppose, for he immediately said,
+
+"I can never pass over that floor without trembling. I'd leave this
+house if I could, but I can't find another lodging in the town so cheap,
+and I'll not take a better till I've paid off all my debts, please God;
+but I could not be asy in my mind till I made it as safe as I could.
+You'll hardly believe me, your honor, that while I'm working, maybe a
+mile away, my heart is in a flutter the whole way back, with the bare
+thoughts of the two little steps I have to walk upon this bit of a
+floor. So it's no wonder, sir, I'd thry to make it sound and firm with
+any idle timber I have."
+
+I applauded his resolution to pay off his debts, and the steadiness with
+which he pursued his plans of conscientious economy, and passed on.
+
+Many months elapsed, and still there appeared no alteration in his
+resolutions of amendment. He was a good workman, and with his better
+habits he recovered his former extensive and profitable employment. Every
+thing seemed to promise comfort and respectability. I have little more to
+add, and that shall be told quickly. I had one evening met Pat Connell,
+as he returned from his work, and as usual, after a mutual, and on his
+side respectful salutation, I spoke a few words of encouragement and
+approval. I left him industrious, active, healthy--when next I saw him,
+not three days after, he was a corpse. The circumstances which marked the
+event of his death were somewhat strange--I might say fearful. The
+unfortunate man had accidentally met an early friend, just returned,
+after a long absence, and in a moment of excitement, forgetting
+everything in the warmth of his joy, he yielded to his urgent invitation
+to accompany him into a public house, which lay close by the spot where
+the encounter had taken place. Connell, however, previously to entering
+the room, had announced his determination to take nothing more than the
+strictest temperance would warrant. But oh! who can describe the
+inveterate tenacity with which a drunkard's habits cling to him through
+life. He may repent--he may reform--he may look with actual abhorrence
+upon his past profligacy; but amid all this reformation and compunction,
+who can tell the moment in which the base and ruinous propensity may not
+recur, triumphing over resolution, remorse, shame, everything, and
+prostrating its victim once more in all that is destructive and revolting
+in that fatal vice.
+
+The wretched man left the place in a state of utter intoxication. He was
+brought home nearly insensible, and placed in his bed, where he lay in
+the deep calm lethargy of drunkenness. The younger part of the family
+retired to rest much after their usual hour; but the poor wife remained
+up sitting by the fire, too much grieved and shocked at the recurrence of
+what she had so little expected, to settle to rest; fatigue, however, at
+length overcame her, and she sunk gradually into an uneasy slumber. She
+could not tell how long she had remained in this state, when she
+awakened, and immediately on opening her eyes, she perceived by the faint
+red light of the smouldering turf embers, two persons, one of whom she
+recognized as her husband noiselessly gliding out of the room.
+
+"Pat, darling, where are you going?" said she. There was no answer--the
+door closed after them; but in a moment she was startled and terrified by
+a loud and heavy crash, as if some ponderous body had been hurled down
+the stair. Much alarmed, she started up, and going to the head of the
+staircase, she called repeatedly upon her husband, but in vain. She
+returned to the room, and with the assistance of her daughter, whom I had
+occasion to mention before, she succeeded in finding and lighting a
+candle, with which she hurried again to the head of the staircase. At the
+bottom lay what seemed to be a bundle of clothes, heaped together,
+motionless, lifeless--it was her husband. In going down the stairs, for
+what purpose can never now be known, he had fallen helplessly and
+violently to the bottom, and coming head foremost, the spine at the neck
+had been dislocated by the shock, and instant death must have ensued. The
+body lay upon that landing-place to which his dream had referred. It is
+scarcely worth endeavouring to clear up a single point in a narrative
+where all is mystery; yet I could not help suspecting that the second
+figure which had been seen in the room by Connell's wife on the night of
+his death, might have been no other than his own shadow. I suggested this
+solution of the difficulty; but she told me that the unknown person had
+been considerably in advance of the other, and on reaching the door, had
+turned back as if to communicate something to his companion--it was then
+a mystery. Was the dream verified?--whither had the disembodied spirit
+sped?--who can say? We know not. But I left the house of death that day
+in a state of horror which I could not describe. It seemed to me that I
+was scarce awake. I heard and saw everything as if under the spell of a
+nightmare. The coincidence was terrible.
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE GHOST AND THE BONE-SETTER
+
+
+In looking over the papers of my late valued and respected friend,
+Francis Purcell, who for nearly fifty years discharged the arduous duties
+of a parish priest in the south of Ireland, I met with the following
+document. It is one of many such, for he was a curious and industrious
+collector of old local traditions--a commodity in which the quarter where
+he resided mightily abounded. The collection and arrangement of such
+legends was, as long as I can remember him, his _hobby_; but I had never
+learned that his love of the marvellous and whimsical had carried him so
+far as to prompt him to commit the results of his enquiries to writing,
+until, in the character of _residuary legatee_, his will put me in
+possession of all his manuscript papers. To such as may think the
+composing of such productions as these inconsistent with the character
+and habits of a country priest, it is necessary to observe, that there
+did exist a race of priests--those of the old school, a race now nearly
+extinct--whose habits were from many causes more refined, and whose
+tastes more literary than are those of the alumni of Maynooth.
+
+It is perhaps necessary to add that the superstition illustrated by the
+following story, namely, that the corpse last buried is obliged, during
+his juniority of interment, to supply his brother tenants of the
+churchyard in which he lies, with fresh water to allay the burning thirst
+of purgatory, is prevalent throughout the south of Ireland. The writer
+can vouch for a case in which a respectable and wealthy farmer, on the
+borders of Tipperary, in tenderness to the corns of his departed
+helpmate, enclosed in her coffin two pair of brogues, a light and a
+heavy, the one for dry, the other for sloppy weather; seeking thus to
+mitigate the fatigues of her inevitable perambulations in procuring
+water, and administering it to the thirsty souls of purgatory. Fierce and
+desperate conflicts have ensued in the case of two funeral parties
+approaching the same churchyard together, each endeavouring to secure to
+his own dead priority of sepulture, and a consequent immunity from the
+tax levied upon the pedestrian powers of the last comer. An instance not
+long since occurred, in which one of two such parties, through fear of
+losing to their deceased friend this inestimable advantage, made their
+way to the churchyard by a _short cut_, and in violation of one of their
+strongest prejudices, actually threw the coffin over the wall, lest time
+should be lost in making their entrance through the gate. Innumerable
+instances of the same kind might be quoted, all tending to show how
+strongly, among the peasantry of the south, this superstition is
+entertained. However, I shall not detain the reader further, by any
+prefatory remarks, but shall proceed to lay before him the following:--
+
+_Extract from the Ms. Papers of the Late Rev. Francis Purcell, of
+Drumcoolagh_
+
+"I tell the following particulars, as nearly as I can recollect them,
+in the words of the narrator. It may be necessary to observe that he
+was what is termed a _well-spoken_ man, having for a considerable time
+instructed the ingenious youth of his native parish in such of the
+liberal arts and sciences as he found it convenient to profess--a
+circumstance which may account for the occurrence of several big
+words, in the course of this narrative, more distinguished for
+euphonious effect, than for correctness of application. I proceed
+then, without further preface, to lay before you the wonderful
+adventures of Terry Neil.
+
+"Why, thin, 'tis a quare story, an' as thrue as you're sittin' there; and
+I'd make bould to say there isn't a boy in the seven parishes could tell
+it better nor crickther than myself, for 'twas my father himself it
+happened to, an' many's the time I heerd it out iv his own mouth; an' I
+can say, an' I'm proud av that same, my father's word was as incredible
+as any squire's oath in the counthry; and so signs an' if a poor man got
+into any unlucky throuble, he was the boy id go into the court an' prove;
+but that dosen't signify--he was as honest and as sober a man, barrin' he
+was a little bit too partial to the glass, as you'd find in a day's walk;
+an' there wasn't the likes of him in the counthry round for nate
+labourin' an' _baan_ diggin'; and he was mighty handy entirely for
+carpenther's work, and mendin' ould spudethrees, an' the likes i' that.
+An' so he tuck up with bone-setting, as was most nathural, for none of
+them could come up to him in mendin' the leg iv a stool or a table; an'
+sure, there never was a bone-setter got so much custom--man an' child,
+young an' ould--there never was such breakin' and mendin' of bones known
+in the memory of man. Well, Terry Neil, for that was my father's name,
+began to feel his heart growin' light and his purse heavy; an' he took a
+bit iv a farm in Squire Phalim's ground, just undher the ould castle, an'
+a pleasant little spot it was; an' day an' mornin', poor crathurs not
+able to put a foot to the ground, with broken arms and broken legs, id be
+comin' ramblin' in from all quarters to have their bones spliced up.
+Well, yer honour, all this was as well as well could be; but it was
+customary when Sir Phelim id go any where out iv the country, for some iv
+the tinants to sit up to watch in the ould castle, just for a kind of a
+compliment to the ould family--an' a mighty unpleasant compliment it was
+for the tinants, for there wasn't a man of them but knew there was some
+thing quare about the ould castle. The neighbours had it, that the
+squire's ould grandfather, as good a gintleman, God be with him, as I
+heer'd as ever stood in shoe leather, used to keep walkin' about in the
+middle iv the night, ever sinst he bursted a blood vessel pullin' out a
+cork out iv a bottle, as you or I might be doin', and will too, plase
+God; but that dosen't signify. So, as I was sayin', the ould squire used
+to come down out of the frame, where his picthur was hung up, and to
+brake the bottles and glasses, God be marciful to us all, an' dhrink all
+he could come at--an' small blame to him for that same; and then if any
+of the family id be comin' in, he id be up again in his place, looking as
+quite an' innocent as if he didn't know any thing about it--the
+mischievous ould chap.
+
+"Well, your honour, as I was sayin', one time the family up at the
+castle was stayin' in Dublin for a week or two; and so as usual, some of
+the tenants had to sit up in the castle, and the third night it kem to
+my father's turn. 'Oh, tare an ouns,' says he unto himself, 'an' must I
+sit up all night, and that ould vagabond of a sperit, glory be to God,'
+says he, 'serenading through the house, an' doin' all sorts iv
+mischief.' However, there was no gettin' aff, and so he put a bould face
+on it, an' he went up at nightfall with a bottle of pottieen, and
+another of holy wather.
+
+"It was rainin' smart enough, an' the evenin' was darksome and gloomy,
+when my father got in, and the holy wather he sprinkled on himself, it
+wasn't long till he had to swallee a cup iv the pottieen, to keep the
+cowld out iv his heart. It was the ould steward, Lawrence Connor, that
+opened the door--and he an' my father wor always very great. So when he
+seen who it was, an' my father tould him how it was his turn to watch in
+the castle, he offered to sit up along with him; and you may be sure my
+father wasn't sorry for that same. So says Larry,
+
+"'We'll have a bit iv fire in the parlour,' says he.
+
+"'An' why not in the hall?' says my father, for he knew that the squire's
+picthur was hung in the parlour.
+
+"'No fire can be lit in the hall,' says Lawrence, 'for there's an ould
+jackdaw's nest in the chimney.'
+
+"'Oh thin,' says my father, 'let us stop in the kitchen, for it's very
+umproper for the likes iv me to be sittin' in the parlour,' says he.
+
+"'Oh, Terry, that can't be,' says Lawrence; 'if we keep up the ould
+custom at all, we may as well keep it up properly,' says he.
+
+"'Divil sweep the ould custom,' says my father--to himself, do ye mind,
+for he didn't like to let Lawrence see that he was more afeard himself.
+
+"'Oh, very well,' says he. 'I'm agreeable, Lawrence,' says he; and so
+down they both went to the kitchen, until the fire id be lit in the
+parlour--an' that same wasn't long doin'.
+
+"Well, your honour, they soon wint up again, an' sat down mighty
+comfortable by the parlour fire, and they beginn'd to talk, an' to smoke,
+an' to dhrink a small taste iv the pottieen; and, moreover, they had a
+good rousing fire of bogwood and turf, to warm their shins over.
+
+"Well, sir, as I was sayin' they kep convarsin' and smokin' together
+most agreeable, until Lawrence beginn'd to get sleepy, as was but
+nathural for him, for he was an ould sarvint man, and was used to a
+great dale iv sleep.
+
+"'Sure it's impossible,' says my father, 'it's gettin' sleepy you are?'
+
+"'Oh, divil a taste,' says Larry, 'I'm only shuttin' my eyes,' says he,
+'to keep out the parfume of the tibacky smoke, that's makin' them
+wather,' says he. 'So don't you mind other people's business,' says he
+stiff enough (for he had a mighty high stomach av his own, rest his
+sowl), 'and go on,' says he, 'with your story, for I'm listenin',' says
+he, shuttin' down his eyes.
+
+"Well, when my father seen spakin' was no use, he went on with his
+story.--By the same token, it was the story of Jim Soolivan and his ould
+goat he was tellin'--an' a pleasant story it is--an' there was so much
+divarsion in it, that it was enough to waken a dormouse, let alone to
+pervint a Christian goin' asleep. But, faix, the way my father tould it,
+I believe there never was the likes heerd sinst nor before for he bawled
+out every word av it, as if the life was fairly leavin' him thrying to
+keep ould Larry awake; but, faix, it was no use, for the hoorsness came
+an him, an' before he kem to the end of his story, Larry O'Connor
+beginned to snore like a bagpipes.
+
+"'Oh, blur an' agres,' says my father, 'isn't this a hard case,' says
+he, 'that ould villain, lettin' on to be my friend, and to go asleep
+this way, an' us both in the very room with a sperit,' says he. 'The
+crass o' Christ about us,' says he; and with that he was goin' to shake
+Lawrence to waken him, but he just remimbered if he roused him, that
+he'd surely go off to his bed, an lave him completely alone, an' that id
+be by far worse.
+
+"'Oh thin,' says my father, 'I'll not disturb the poor boy. It id be
+neither friendly nor good-nathured,' says he, 'to tormint him while he is
+asleep,' says he; 'only I wish I was the same way myself,' says he.
+
+"An' with that he beginned to walk up an' down, an' sayin' his prayers,
+until he worked himself into a sweat, savin' your presence. But it was
+all no good; so he dhrunk about a pint of sperits, to compose his mind.
+
+"'Oh,' says he, 'I wish to the Lord I was as asy in my mind as Larry
+there. Maybe,' says he, 'if I thried I could go asleep'; an' with that he
+pulled a big arm-chair close beside Lawrence, an' settled himself in it
+as well as he could.
+
+"But there was one quare thing I forgot to tell you. He couldn't help, in
+spite av himself, lookin' now an' thin at the picthur, an' he immediately
+observed that the eyes av it was follyin' him about, an' starin' at him,
+an' winkin' at him, wherever he wint. 'Oh,' says he, when he seen that,
+'it's a poor chance I have,' says he; 'an' bad luck was with me the day I
+kem into this unforthunate place,' says he; 'but any way there's no use
+in bein' freckened now,' says he; 'for if I am to die, I may as well
+parspire undaunted,' says he.
+
+"Well, your honour, he thried to keep himself quite an' asy, an' he
+thought two or three times he might have wint asleep, but for the way the
+storm was groanin' and creekin' through the great heavy branches outside,
+an' whistlin' through the ould chimnies iv the castle. Well, afther one
+great roarin' blast iv the wind, you'd think the walls iv the castle was
+just goin' to fall, quite an' clane, with the shakin' iv it. All av a
+suddint the storm stopt, as silent an' as quite as if it was a July
+evenin'. Well, your honour, it wasn't stopped blowin' for three minnites,
+before he thought he hard a sort iv a noise over the chimney-piece; an'
+with that my father just opened his eyes the smallest taste in life, an'
+sure enough he seen the ould squire gettin' out iv the picthur, for all
+the world as if he was throwin' aff his ridin' coat, until he stept out
+clane an' complate, out av the chimly-piece, an' thrun himself down an
+the floor. Well, the slieveen ould chap--an' my father thought it was the
+dirtiest turn iv all--before he beginned to do anything out iv the way,
+he stopped, for a while, to listen wor they both asleep; an' as soon as
+he thought all was quite, he put out his hand, and tuck hould iv the
+whiskey bottle, an' dhrank at laste a pint iv it. Well, your honour, when
+he tuck his turn out iv it, he settled it back mighty cute intirely, in
+the very same spot it was in before. An' he beginn'd to walk up an' down
+the room, lookin' as sober an' as solid as if he never done the likes at
+all. An' whinever he went apast my father, he thought he felt a great
+scent of brimstone, an' it was that that freckened him entirely; for he
+knew it was brimstone that was burned in hell, savin' your presence. At
+any rate, he often heer'd it from Father Murphy, an' he had a right to
+know what belonged to it--he's dead since, God rest him. Well, your
+honour, my father was asy enough until the sperit kem past him; so close,
+God be marciful to us all, that the smell iv the sulphur tuck the breath
+clane out iv him; an' with that he tuck such a fit iv coughin', that it
+al-a-most shuck him out iv the chair he was sittin' in.
+
+"'Ho, ho!' says the squire, stoppin' short about two steps aff, and
+turnin' round facin' my father, 'is it you that's in it?--an' how's all
+with you, Terry Neil?'
+
+"'At your honour's sarvice,' says my father (as well as the fright id let
+him, for he was more dead than alive), 'an' it's proud I am to see your
+honour to-night,' says he.
+
+"'Terence,' says the squire, 'you're a respectable man (an' it was thrue
+for him), an industhrious, sober man, an' an example of inebriety to the
+whole parish,' says he.
+
+"'Thank your honour,' says my father, gettin' courage, 'you were always a
+civil spoken gintleman, God rest your honour.'
+
+"'Rest my honour,' says the sperit (fairly gettin' red in the face with
+the madness), 'Rest my honour?' says he. 'Why, you ignorant spalpeen,'
+says he, 'you mane, niggarly ignoramush,' says he, 'where did you lave
+your manners?' says he. 'If I _am_ dead, it's no fault iv mine,' says he;
+'an' it's not to be thrun in my teeth at every hand's turn, by the likes
+iv you,' says he, stampin' his foot an the flure, that you'd think the
+boords id smash undher him.
+
+"'Oh,' says my father, 'I'm only a foolish, ignorant, poor man,' says he.
+
+"'You're nothing else,' says the squire; 'but any way,' says he, 'it's
+not to be listenin' to your gosther, nor convarsin' with the likes iv
+you, that I came _up_--down I mane,' says he--(an' as little as the
+mistake was, my father tuck notice iv it). 'Listen to me now, Terence
+Neil,' says he, 'I was always a good masther to Pathrick Neil, your
+grandfather,' says he.
+
+"'Tis thrue for your honour,' says my father.
+
+"'And, moreover, I think I was always a sober, riglar gintleman,' says
+the squire.
+
+"'That's your name, sure enough,' says my father (though it was a big lie
+for him, but he could not help it).
+
+"'Well,' says the sperit, 'although I was as sober as most men--at laste
+as most gintlemen'--says he; 'an' though I was at different pariods a
+most extempory Christian, and most charitable and inhuman to the poor,'
+says he; 'for all that I'm not as asy where I am now,' says he, 'as I had
+a right to expect,' says he.
+
+"'An' more's the pity,' says my father; 'maybe your honour id wish to
+have a word with Father Murphy?'
+
+"'Hould your tongue, you misherable bliggard,' says the squire; 'it's
+not iv my sowl I'm thinkin'--an' I wondher you'd have the impitence to
+talk to a gintleman consarnin' his sowl;--and when I want _that_ fixed,'
+says he, slappin' his thigh, 'I'll go to them that knows what belongs to
+the likes,' says he. 'It's not my sowl,' says he, sittin' down opposite
+my father; 'it's not my sowl that's annoyin' me most--I'm unasy on my
+right leg,' says he, 'that I bruck at Glenvarloch cover the day I killed
+black Barney.'
+
+"(My father found out afther, it was a favourite horse that fell undher
+him, afther leapin' the big fince that runs along by the glen.)
+
+"'I hope,' says my father, 'your honour's not unasy about the
+killin' iv him?
+
+"'Hould your tongue, ye fool,' said the squire, 'an' I'll tell you why
+I'm anasy an my leg,' says he. 'In the place, where I spend most iv my
+time,' says he, 'except the little leisure I have for lookin' about me
+here,' says he, 'I have to walk a great dale more than I was ever used
+to,' says he, 'and by far more than is good for me either,' says he; 'for
+I must tell you,' says he, 'the people where I am is ancommonly fond iv
+could wather, for there is nothin' betther to be had; an', moreover, the
+weather is hotter than is altogether plisint,' says he; 'and I'm
+appinted,' says he, 'to assist in carryin' the wather, an' gets a mighty
+poor share iv it myself,' says he, 'an' a mighty throublesome, warin' job
+it is, I can tell you,' says he; 'for they're all iv them surprisingly
+dhry, an' dhrinks it as fast as my legs can carry it,' says he; 'but what
+kills me intirely,' says he, 'is the wakeness in my leg,' says he, 'an' I
+want you to give it a pull or two to bring it to shape,' says he, 'and
+that's the long an' the short iv it,' says he.
+
+"'Oh, plase your honour,' says my father (for he didn't like to handle
+the sperit at all), 'I wouldn't have the impitence to do the likes to
+your honour,' says he; 'it's only to poor crathurs like myself I'd do it
+to,' says he.
+
+"'None iv your blarney,' says the squire, 'here's my leg,' says he,
+cockin' it up to him, 'pull it for the bare life,' says he; 'an' if you
+don't, by the immortial powers I'll not lave a bone in your carcish I'll
+not powdher,' says he.
+
+"'When my father heerd that, he seen there was no use in purtendin', so
+he tuck hould iv the leg, an' he kept pullin' an' pullin', till the
+sweat, God bless us, beginned to pour down his face.
+
+"'Pull, you divil', says the squire.
+
+"'At your sarvice, your honour,' says my father.
+
+"'Pull harder,' says the squire.
+
+"My father pulled like the divil.
+
+"'I'll take a little sup,' says the squire, rachin' over his hand to the
+bottle, 'to keep up my courage,' says he, lettin' an to be very wake in
+himself intirely. But, as cute as he was, he was out here, for he tuck
+the wrong one. 'Here's to your good health, Terence,' says he, 'an' now
+pull like the very divil,' 'an' with that he lifted the bottle of holy
+wather, but it was hardly to his mouth, whin he let a screech out, you'd
+think the room id fairly split with it, an' made one chuck that sent the
+leg clane aff his body in my father's hands; down wint the squire over
+the table, an' bang wint my father half way across the room on his back,
+upon the flure. Whin he kem to himself the cheerful mornin' sun was
+shinin' through the windy shutthers, an' he was lying flat an his back,
+with the leg iv one of the great ould chairs pulled clane out iv the
+socket an' tight in his hand, pintin' up to the ceilin', an' ould Larry
+fast asleep, an' snorin' as loud as ever. My father wint that mornin' to
+Father Murphy, an' from that to the day of his death, he never neglected
+confission nor mass, an' what he tould was betther believed that he spake
+av it but seldom. An', as for the squire, that is the sperit, whether it
+was that he did not like his liquor, or by rason iv the loss iv his leg,
+he was never known to walk again."
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE MYSTERIOUS LODGER
+
+
+
+
+PART I
+
+
+About the year 1822 I resided in a comfortable and roomy old house, the
+exact locality of which I need not particularise, further than to say
+that it was not very far from Old Brompton, in the immediate
+neighbourhood, or rather continuity (as even my Connemara readers
+perfectly well know), of the renowned city of London.
+
+Though this house was roomy and comfortable, as I have said, it was not,
+by any means, a handsome one. It was composed of dark red brick, with
+small windows, and thick white sashes; a porch, too--none of your flimsy
+trellis-work, but a solid projection of the same vermillion
+masonry--surmounted by a leaded balcony, with heavy, half-rotten
+balustrades, darkened the hall-door with a perennial gloom. The mansion
+itself stood in a walled enclosure, which had, perhaps, from the date of
+the erection itself, been devoted to shrubs and flowers. Some of the
+former had grown there almost to the dignity of trees; and two dark
+little yews stood at each side of the porch, like swart and inauspicious
+dwarfs, guarding the entrance of an enchanted castle. Not that my
+domicile in any respect deserved the comparison: it had no reputation as
+a haunted house; if it ever had any ghosts, nobody remembered them. Its
+history was not known to me: it may have witnessed plots, cabals, and
+forgeries, bloody suicides and cruel murders. It was certainly old enough
+to have become acquainted with iniquity; a small stone slab, under the
+balustrade, and over the arch of the porch I mentioned, had the date
+1672, and a half-effaced coat of arms, which I might have deciphered any
+day, had I taken the trouble to get a ladder, but always put it off. All
+I can say for the house is, that it was well stricken in years, with a
+certain air of sombre comfort about it; contained a vast number of rooms
+and closets; and, what was of far greater importance, was got by me a
+dead bargain.
+
+Its individuality attracted me. I grew fond of it for itself, and for its
+associations, until other associations of a hateful kind first disturbed,
+and then destroyed, their charm. I forgave its dull red brick, and
+pinched white windows, for the sake of the beloved and cheerful faces
+within: its ugliness was softened by its age; and its sombre evergreens,
+and moss-grown stone flower-pots, were relieved by the brilliant hues of
+a thousand gay and graceful flowers that peeped among them, or nodded
+over the grass.
+
+Within that old house lay my life's treasure! I had a darling little
+girl of nine, and another little darling--a boy--just four years of age;
+and dearer, unspeakably, than either--a wife--the prettiest, gayest,
+best little wife in all London. When I tell you that our income was
+scarcely £380 a-year, you will perceive that our establishment cannot
+have been a magnificent one; yet, I do assure you, we were more
+comfortable than a great many lords, and happier, I dare say, than the
+whole peerage put together.
+
+This happiness was not, however, what it ought to have been. The reader
+will understand at once, and save me a world of moralising
+circumlocution, when he learns, bluntly and nakedly, that, among all my
+comforts and blessings, I was an infidel.
+
+I had not been without religious training; on the contrary, more than
+average pains had been bestowed upon my religious instruction from my
+earliest childhood. My father, a good, plain, country clergyman, had
+worked hard to make me as good as himself; and had succeeded, at least,
+in training me in godly habits. He died, however, when I was but twelve
+years of age; and fate had long before deprived me of the gentle care of
+a mother. A boarding-school, followed by a college life, where nobody
+having any very direct interest in realising in my behalf the ancient
+blessing, that in fulness of time I should "die a good old man," I was
+left very much to my own devices, which, in truth, were none of the best.
+
+Among these were the study of Voltaire, Tom Paine, Hume, Shelley, and the
+whole school of infidels, poetical as well as prose. This pursuit, and
+the all but blasphemous vehemence with which I gave myself up to it, was,
+perhaps, partly reactionary. A somewhat injudicious austerity and
+precision had indissolubly associated in my childish days the ideas of
+restraint and gloom with religion. I bore it a grudge; and so, when I
+became thus early my own master, I set about paying off, after my own
+fashion, the old score I owed it. I was besides, like every other young
+infidel whom it has been my fate to meet, a conceited coxcomb. A
+smattering of literature, without any real knowledge, and a great
+assortment of all the cut-and-dry flippancies of the school I had
+embraced, constituted my intellectual stock in trade. I was, like most of
+my school of philosophy, very proud of being an unbeliever; and fancied
+myself, in the complacency of my wretched ignorance, at an immeasurable
+elevation above the church-going, Bible-reading herd, whom I treated with
+a good-humoured superciliousness which I thought vastly indulgent.
+
+My wife was an excellent little creature and truly pious. She had married
+me in the full confidence that my levity was merely put on, and would at
+once give way before the influence she hoped to exert upon my mind. Poor
+little thing! she deceived herself. I allowed her, indeed, to do entirely
+as she pleased; but for myself, I carried my infidelity to the length of
+an absolute superstition. I made an ostentation of it. I would rather
+have been in a "hell" than in a church on Sunday; and though I did not
+prevent my wife's instilling her own principles into the minds of our
+children, I, in turn, took especial care to deliver mine upon all
+occasions in their hearing, by which means I trusted to sow the seeds of
+that unprejudiced scepticism in which I prided myself, at least as early
+as my good little partner dropped those of her own gentle "superstition"
+into their infant minds. Had I had my own absurd and impious will in this
+matter, my children should have had absolutely no religious education
+whatsoever, and been left wholly unshackled to choose for themselves
+among all existing systems, infidelity included, precisely as chance,
+fancy, or interest might hereafter determine.
+
+It is not to be supposed that such a state of things did not afford her
+great uneasiness. Nevertheless, we were so very fond of one another,
+and in our humble way enjoyed so many blessings, that we were as
+entirely happy as any pair can be without the holy influence of
+religious sympathy.
+
+But the even flow of prosperity which had for so long gladdened my little
+household was not destined to last for ever. It was ordained that I
+should experience the bitter truth of more than one of the wise man's
+proverbs, and first, especially, of that which declares that "he that
+hateth suretyship is sure." I found myself involved (as how many have
+been before) by a "d--d good-natured friend," for more than two hundred
+pounds. This agreeable intelligence was conveyed to me in an attorney's
+letter, which, to obviate unpleasant measures, considerately advised my
+paying the entire amount within just one week of the date of his pleasant
+epistle. Had I been called upon within that time to produce the Pitt
+diamond, or to make title to the Buckingham estates, the demand would
+have been just as easily complied with.
+
+I have no wish to bore my reader further with this little worry--a very
+serious one to me, however--and it will be enough to mention, that the
+kindness of a friend extricated me from the clutches of the law by a
+timely advance, which, however, I was bound to replace within two years.
+To enable me to fulfill this engagement, my wife and I, after repeated
+consultations, resolved upon the course which resulted in the odd and
+unpleasant consequences which form the subject of this narrative.
+
+We resolved to advertise for a lodger, with or without board, &c.; and by
+resolutely submitting, for a single year, to the economy we had
+prescribed for ourselves, as well as to the annoyance of a stranger's
+intrusion, we calculated that at the end of that term we should have
+liquidated our debt.
+
+Accordingly, without losing time, we composed an advertisement in the
+most tempting phraseology we could devise, consistently with that
+economic laconism which the cost per line in the columns of the _Times_
+newspaper imposes upon the rhetoric of the advertising public.
+
+Somehow we were unlucky; for although we repeated our public notification
+three times in the course of a fortnight, we had but two applications.
+The one was from a clergyman in ill health--a man of great ability and
+zealous piety, whom we both knew by reputation, and who has since been
+called to his rest. My good little wife was very anxious that we should
+close with his offer, which was very considerably under what we had fixed
+upon; and I have no doubt that she was influenced by the hope that his
+talents and zeal might exert a happy influence upon my stubborn and
+unbelieving heart. For my part, his religious character displeased me. I
+did not wish my children's heads to be filled with mythic dogmas--for so
+I judged the doctrines of our holy faith--and instinctively wished him
+away. I therefore declined his offer; and I have often since thought not
+quite so graciously as I ought to have done. The other offer--if so it
+can be called--was so very inadequate that we could not entertain it.
+
+I was now beginning to grow seriously uneasy--our little project, so far
+from bringing in the gains on which we had calculated, had put me
+considerably out of pocket; for, independently of the cost of the
+advertisement I have mentioned, there were sundry little expenses
+involved in preparing for the meet reception of our expected inmate,
+which, under ordinary circumstances, we should not have dreamed of.
+Matters were in this posture, when an occurrence took place which
+immediately revived my flagging hopes.
+
+As we had no superfluity of servants, our children were early obliged to
+acquire habits of independence; and my little girl, then just nine years
+of age, was frequently consigned with no other care than that of her own
+good sense, to the companionship of a little band of playmates, pretty
+similarly circumstanced, with whom it was her wont to play. Having one
+fine summer afternoon gone out as usual with these little companions, she
+did not return quite so soon as we had expected her; when she did so, she
+was out of breath, and excited.
+
+"Oh, papa," she said, "I have seen such a nice old, kind gentleman, and
+he told me to tell you that he has a particular friend who wants a
+lodging in a quiet place, and that he thinks your house would suit him
+exactly, and ever so much more; and, look here, he gave me this."
+
+She opened her hand, and shewed me a sovereign.
+
+"Well, this does look promisingly," I said, my wife and I having first
+exchanged a smiling glance.
+
+"And what kind of gentleman was he, dear?" inquired she. "Was he well
+dressed--whom was he like?"
+
+"He was not like any one that I know," she answered; "but he had very
+nice new clothes on, and he was one of the fattest men I ever saw; and
+I am sure he is sick, for he looks very pale, and he had a crutch
+beside him."
+
+"Dear me, how strange!" exclaimed my wife; though, in truth there was
+nothing very wonderful in the matter. "Go on, child," I said; "let us
+hear it all out."
+
+"Well, papa, he had such an immense yellow waistcoat!--I never did see
+such a waistcoat," she resumed; "and he was sitting or leaning, I can't
+say which, against the bank of the green lane; I suppose to rest himself,
+for he seems very weak, poor gentleman!"
+
+"And how did you happen to speak to him?" asked my wife.
+
+"When we were passing by, none of us saw him at all but I suppose he
+heard them talking to me, and saying my name; for he said,
+'Fanny--little Fanny--so, that's your name--come here child, I have a
+question to ask you.'"
+
+"And so you went to him?" I said.
+
+"Yes," she continued, "he beckoned to me, and I did go over to him, but
+not very near, for I was greatly afraid of him at first."
+
+"Afraid! dear, and why afraid?" asked I.
+
+"I was afraid, because he looked very old, very frightful, and as if he
+would hurt me."
+
+"What was there so old and frightful about him?" I asked.
+
+She paused and reflected a little, and then said--
+
+"His face was very large and pale, and it was looking upwards: it seemed
+very angry, I thought, but maybe it was angry from pain; and sometimes
+one side of it used to twitch and tremble for a minute, and then to grow
+quite still again; and all the time he was speaking to me, he never
+looked at me once, but always kept his face and eyes turned upwards; but
+his voice was very soft, and he called me little Fanny, and gave me this
+pound to buy toys with; so I was not so frightened in a little time, and
+then he sent a long message to you, papa, and told me if I forgot it he
+would beat me; but I knew he was only joking, so that did not frighten
+me either."
+
+"And what was the message, my girl?" I asked, patting her pretty head
+with my hand.
+
+"Now, let me remember it all," she said, reflectively; "for he told it to
+me twice. He asked me if there was a good bedroom at the top of the
+house, standing by itself--and you know there is, so I told him so; it
+was exactly the kind of room that he described. And then he said that his
+friend would pay two hundred pounds a-year for that bedroom, his board
+and attendance; and he told me to ask you, and have your answer when he
+should next meet me."
+
+"Two hundred pounds!" ejaculated my poor little wife; "why that is nearly
+twice as much as we expected."
+
+"But did he say that his friend was sick, or very old; or that he had any
+servant to be supported also?" I asked.
+
+"Oh! no; he told me that he was quite able to take care of himself, and
+that he had, I think he called it, an asthma, but nothing else the
+matter; and that he would give no trouble at all, and that any friend who
+came to see him, he would see, not in the house, but only in the garden."
+
+"In the garden!" I echoed, laughing in spite of myself.
+
+"Yes, indeed he said so; and he told me to say that he would pay one
+hundred pounds when he came here, and the next hundred in six months, and
+so on," continued she.
+
+"Oh, ho! half-yearly in advance--better and better," said I.
+
+"And he bid me say, too, if you should ask about his character, that he
+is just as good as the master of the house himself," she added; "and when
+he said that, he laughed a little."
+
+"Why, if he gives us a hundred pounds in advance," I answered, turning to
+my wife, "we are safe enough; for he will not find half that value in
+plate and jewels in the entire household, if he is disposed to rob us. So
+I see no reason against closing with the offer, should it be seriously
+meant--do you, dear?"
+
+"Quite the contrary, love," said she. "I think it most desirable--indeed,
+most _providential_."
+
+"Providential! my dear little bigot!" I repeated, with a smile. "Well, be
+it so. I call it _lucky_ merely; but, perhaps, you are happier in your
+faith, than I in my philosophy. Yes, you are _grateful_ for the chance
+that I only rejoice at. You receive it as a proof of a divine and tender
+love--I as an accident. Delusions are often more elevating than truth."
+
+And so saying, I kissed away the saddened cloud that for a moment
+overcast her face.
+
+"Papa, he bid me be sure to have an answer for him when we meet again,"
+resumed the child. "What shall I say to him when he asks me?"
+
+"Say that we agree to his proposal, my dear--or stay," I said, addressing
+my wife, "may it not be prudent to reduce what the child says to writing,
+and accept the offer so? This will prevent misunderstanding, as she may
+possibly have made some mistake."
+
+My wife agreed, and I wrote a brief note, stating that I was willing to
+receive an inmate upon the terms recounted by little Fanny, and which I
+distinctly specified, so that no mistake could possibly arise owing to
+the vagueness of what lawyers term a parole agreement. This important
+memorandum I placed in the hands of my little girl, who was to deliver
+it whenever the old gentleman in the yellow waistcoat should chance to
+meet her. And all these arrangements completed, I awaited the issue of
+the affair with as much patience as I could affect. Meanwhile, my wife
+and I talked it over incessantly; and she, good little soul, almost wore
+herself to death in settling and unsettling the furniture and
+decorations of our expected inmate's apartments. Days passed away--days
+of hopes deferred, tedious and anxious. We were beginning to despond
+again, when one morning our little girl ran into the breakfast-parlour,
+more excited even than she had been before, and fresh from a new
+interview with the gentleman in the yellow waistcoat. She had
+encountered him suddenly, pretty nearly where she had met him before,
+and the result was, that he had read the little note I have mentioned,
+and desired the child to inform me that his friend, _Mr. Smith_, would
+take possession of the apartments I proposed setting, on the terms
+agreed between us, that very evening.
+
+"This evening!" exclaimed my wife and I simultaneously--_I_ full of the
+idea of making a first instalment on the day following; _she_, of the
+hundred-and-one preparations which still remained to be completed.
+
+"And so Smith is his name! Well, that does not tell us much," said I;
+"but where did you meet your friend on this occasion, and how long is
+it since?"
+
+"Near the corner of the wall-flower lane (so we indicated one which
+abounded in these fragrant plants); he was leaning with his back against
+the old tree you cut my name on, and his crutch was under his arm."
+
+"But how long ago?" I urged.
+
+"Only this moment; I ran home as fast as I could," she replied.
+
+"Why, you little blockhead, you should have told me that at first," I
+cried, snatching up my hat, and darting away in pursuit of the yellow
+waistcoat, whose acquaintance I not unnaturally coveted, inasmuch as a
+man who, for the first time, admits a stranger into his house, on the
+footing of permanent residence, desires generally to know a little more
+about him than that his name is Smith.
+
+The place indicated was only, as we say, a step away; and as yellow
+waistcoat was fat, and used a crutch, I calculated on easily overtaking
+him. I was, however, disappointed; crutch, waistcoat, and all had
+disappeared. I climbed to the top of the wall, and from this commanding
+point of view made a sweeping observation--but in vain. I returned
+home, cursing my ill-luck, the child's dulness, and the fat old
+fellow's activity.
+
+I need hardly say that Mr. Smith, in all his aspects, moral, social,
+physical, and monetary, formed a fruitful and interesting topic of
+speculation during dinner. How many phantom Smiths, short and long, stout
+and lean, ill-tempered and well-tempered--rich, respectable, or highly
+dangerous merchants, spies, forgers, nabobs, swindlers, danced before us,
+in the endless mazes of fanciful conjecture, during that anxious
+_tête-à-tête_, which was probably to be interrupted by the arrival of the
+gentleman himself.
+
+My wife and I puzzled over the problem as people would over the possible
+_dénouement_ of a French novel; and at last, by mutual consent, we came
+to the conclusion that Smith could, and would turn out to be no other
+than the good-natured valetudinarian in the yellow waistcoat himself, a
+humorist, as was evident enough, and a millionaire, as we unhesitatingly
+pronounced, who had no immediate relatives, and as I hoped, and my wife
+"was certain," taken a decided fancy to our little Fanny; I patted the
+child's head with something akin to pride, as I thought of the
+magnificent, though remote possibilities, in store for her.
+
+Meanwhile, hour after hour stole away. It was a beautiful autumn evening,
+and the amber lustre of the declining sun fell softly upon the yews and
+flowers, and gave an air, half melancholy, half cheerful, to the dark-red
+brick piers surmounted with their cracked and grass-grown stone urns, and
+furnished with the light foliage of untended creeping plants. Down the
+short broad walk leading to this sombre entrance, my eye constantly
+wandered; but no impatient rattle on the latch, no battering at the gate,
+indicated the presence of a visited, and the lazy bell hung dumbly among
+the honey-suckles.
+
+"When will he come? Yellow waistcoat promised _this evening_! It has
+been evening a good hour and a half, and yet he is not here. When will
+he come? It will soon be dark--the evening will have passed--will he
+come at all?"
+
+Such were the uneasy speculations which began to trouble us. Redder and
+duskier grew the light of the setting sun, till it saddened into the
+mists of night. Twilight came, and then darkness, and still no arrival,
+no summons at the gate. I would not admit even to my wife the excess of
+my own impatience. I could, however, stand it no longer; so I took my hat
+and walked to the gate, where I stood by the side of the public road,
+watching every vehicle and person that approached, in a fever of
+expectation. Even these, however, began to fail me, and the road grew
+comparatively quiet and deserted. Having kept guard like a sentinel for
+more than half an hour, I returned in no very good humour, with the
+punctuality of an expected inmate--ordered the servant to draw the
+curtains and secure the hall-door; and so my wife and I sate down to our
+disconsolate cup of tea. It must have been about ten o'clock, and we were
+both sitting silently--she working, I looking moodily into a paper--and
+neither of us any longer entertaining a hope that anything but
+disappointment would come of the matter, when a sudden tapping, very loud
+and sustained, upon the window pane, startled us both in an instant from
+our reveries.
+
+I am not sure whether I mentioned before that the sitting-room we
+occupied was upon the ground-floor, and the sward came close under the
+window. I drew the curtains, and opened the shutters with a revived hope;
+and looking out, saw a very tall thin figure, a good deal wrapped up,
+standing about a yard before me, and motioning with head and hand
+impatiently towards the hall-door. Though the night was clear, there was
+no moon, and therefore I could see no more than the black outline, like
+that of an _ombre chinoise_ figure, signing to me with mop and moe. In a
+moment I was at the hall-door, candle in hand; the stranger stept in--his
+long fingers clutched in the handle of a valise, and a bag which trailed
+upon the ground behind him.
+
+The light fell full upon him. He wore a long, ill-made, black surtout,
+buttoned across, and which wrinkled and bagged about his lank figure; his
+hat was none of the best, and rather broad in the brim; a sort of white
+woollen muffler enveloped the lower part of his face; a pair of prominent
+green goggles, fenced round with leather, completely concealed his eyes;
+and nothing of the genuine man, but a little bit of yellow forehead, and
+a small transverse segment of equally yellow cheek and nose, encountered
+the curious gaze of your humble servant.
+
+"You are--I suppose"--I began; for I really was a little doubtful
+about my man.
+
+"Mr. Smith--the same; be good enough to show me to my bedchamber,"
+interrupted the stranger, brusquely, and in a tone which, spite of the
+muffler that enveloped his mouth, was sharp and grating enough.
+
+"Ha!--Mr. Smith--so I supposed. I hope you may find everything as
+comfortable as we desire to make it--"
+
+I was about making a speech, but was cut short by a slight bow, and a
+decisive gesture of the hand in the direction of the staircase. It was
+plain that the stranger hated ceremony.
+
+Together, accordingly, we mounted the staircase; he still pulling his
+luggage after him, and striding lightly up without articulating a word;
+and on reaching his bedroom, he immediately removed his hat, showing a
+sinister, black scratch-wig underneath, and then began unrolling the
+mighty woolen wrapping of his mouth and chin.
+
+"Come," thought I, "we _shall_ see something of your face after all."
+
+This something, however, proved to be very little; for under his muffler
+was a loose cravat, which stood up in front of his chin and upon his
+mouth, he wore a respirator--an instrument which I had never seen before,
+and of the use of which I was wholly ignorant.
+
+There was something so excessively odd in the effect of this piece of
+unknown mechanism upon his mouth, surmounted by the huge goggles which
+encased his eyes, that I believe I should have laughed outright, were
+it not for a certain unpleasant and peculiar impressiveness in the
+_tout ensemble_ of the narrow-chested, long-limbed, and cadaverous
+figure in black. As it was, we stood looking at one another in silence
+for several seconds.
+
+"Thank you, sir," at last he said, abruptly. "I shan't want anything
+whatever to-night; if you can only spare me this candle."
+
+I assented; and, becoming more communicative, he added--
+
+"I am, though an invalid, an independent sort of fellow enough. I am a
+bit of a philosopher; I am my own servant, and, I hope, my own master,
+too. I rely upon myself in matters of the body and of the mind. I place
+valets and priests in the same category--fellows who live by our
+laziness, intellectual or corporeal. I am a Voltaire, without his
+luxuries--a Robinson Crusoe, without his Bible--an anchorite, without a
+superstition--in short, my indulgence is asceticism, and my faith
+infidelity. Therefore, I shan't disturb your servants much with my bell,
+nor yourselves with my psalmody. You have got a rational lodger, who
+knows how to attend upon himself."
+
+During this singular address he was drawing off his ill-fitting black
+gloves, and when he had done so, a bank-note, which had been slipped
+underneath for safety, remained in his hand.
+
+"Punctuality, sir, is one of my poor pleasures," he said; "will you allow
+me to enjoy it now? To-morrow you may acknowledge this; I should not rest
+were you to decline it."
+
+He extended his bony and discoloured fingers, and placed the note in my
+hand. Oh, Fortune and Plutus! It was a £100 bank-note.
+
+"Pray, not one word, my dear sir," he continued, unbending still further;
+"it is simply done pursuant to agreement. We shall know one another
+better, I hope, in a little time; you will find me always equally
+punctual. At present pray give yourself no further trouble; I require
+nothing more. Good night."
+
+I returned the valediction, closed his door, and groped my way down the
+stairs. It was not until I had nearly reached the hall, that I
+recollected that I had omitted to ask our new inmate at what hour he
+would desire to be called in the morning, and so I groped my way back
+again. As I reached the lobby on which his chamber opened, I perceived a
+long line of light issuing from the partially-opened door, within which
+stood Mr. Smith, the same odd figure I had just left; while along the
+boards was creeping towards him across the lobby, a great, big-headed,
+buff-coloured cat. I had never seen this ugly animal before; and it had
+reached the threshold of his door, arching its back, and rubbing itself
+on the post, before either appeared conscious of my approach, when, with
+an angry growl, it sprang into the stranger's room.
+
+"What do you want?" he demanded, sharply, standing in the doorway.
+
+I explained my errand.
+
+"I shall call myself," was his sole reply; and he shut the door with a
+crash that indicated no very pleasurable emotions.
+
+I cared very little about my lodger's temper. The stealthy rustle of his
+bank-note in my waistcoat pocket was music enough to sweeten the harshest
+tones of his voice, and to keep alive a cheerful good humour in my heart;
+and although there was, indisputably, something queer about him, I was,
+on the whole, very well pleased with my bargain.
+
+The next day our new inmate did not ring his bell until noon. As soon
+as he had had some breakfast, of which he very sparingly partook, he
+told the servant that, for the future, he desired that a certain
+quantity of milk and bread might be left outside his door; and this
+being done, he would dispense with regular meals. He desired, too,
+that, on my return, I should be acquainted that he wished to see me in
+his own room at about nine o'clock; and, meanwhile, he directed that he
+should be left undisturbed. I found my little wife full of astonishment
+at Mr. Smith's strange frugality and seclusion, and very curious to
+learn the object of the interview he had desired with me. At nine
+o'clock I repaired to his room.
+
+I found him in precisely the costume in which I had left him--the same
+green goggles--the same muffling of the mouth, except that being now no
+more than a broadly-folded black silk handkerchief, very loose, and
+covering even the lower part of the nose, it was obviously intended for
+the sole purpose of concealment. It was plain I was not to see more of
+his features than he had chosen to disclose at our first interview. The
+effect was as if the lower part of his face had some hideous wound or
+sore. He closed the door with his own hand on my entrance, nodded
+slightly, and took his seat. I expected him to begin, but he was so long
+silent that I was at last constrained to address him.
+
+I said, for want of something more to the purpose, that I hoped he had
+not been tormented by the strange cat the night before.
+
+"What cat?" he asked, abruptly; "what the plague do you mean?"
+
+"Why, I certainly did see a cat go into your room last night," I resumed.
+
+"Hey, and what if you did--though I fancy you dreamed it--I'm not afraid
+of a cat; are you?" he interrupted, tartly.
+
+At this moment there came a low growling mew from the closet which opened
+from the room in which we sat.
+
+"Talk of the devil," said I, pointing towards the closet. My companion,
+without any exact change of expression, looked, I thought, somehow
+still more sinister and lowering; and I felt for a moment a sort of
+superstitious misgiving, which made the rest of the sentence die away
+on my lips.
+
+Perhaps Mr. Smith perceived this, for he said, in a tone calculated to
+reassure me--
+
+"Well, sir, I think I am bound to tell you that I like my apartments very
+well; they suit me, and I shall probably be your tenant for much longer
+than at first you anticipated."
+
+I expressed my gratification.
+
+He then began to talk, something in the strain in which he had spoken of
+his own peculiarities of habit and thinking upon the previous evening. He
+disposed of all classes and denominations of superstition with an easy
+sarcastic slang, which for me was so captivating, that I soon lost all
+reserve, and found myself listening and suggesting by turns--acquiescent
+and pleased--sometimes hazarding dissent; but whenever I did, foiled and
+floored by a few pointed satirical sentences, whose sophistry, for such I
+must now believe it, confounded me with a rapidity which, were it not for
+the admiration with which he had insensibly inspired me, would have
+piqued and irritated my vanity not a little.
+
+While this was going on, from time to time the mewing and growling of a
+cat within the closet became more and more audible. At last these sounds
+became so loud, accompanied by scratching at the door, that I paused in
+the midst of a sentence, and observed--
+
+"There certainly is a cat shut up in the closet?"
+
+"Is there?" he ejaculated, in a surprised tone; "nay, I do not hear it."
+
+He rose abruptly and approached the door; his back was towards me, but I
+observed he raised the goggles which usually covered his eyes, and looked
+steadfastly at the closet door. The angry sounds all died away into a
+low, protracted growl, which again subsided into silence. He continued in
+the same attitude for some moments, and then returned.
+
+"I do not hear it," he said, as he resumed his place, and taking a book
+from his capacious pocket, asked me if I had seen it before? I never had,
+and this surprised me, for I had flattered myself that I knew, at least
+by name, every work published in England during the last fifty years in
+favour of that philosophy in which we both delighted. The book, moreover,
+was an odd one, as both its title and table of contents demonstrated.
+
+While we were discoursing upon these subjects, I became more and more
+distinctly conscious of a new class of sounds proceeding from the same
+closet. I plainly heard a measured and heavy tread, accompanied by the
+tapping of some hard and heavy substance like the end of a staff, pass up
+and down the floor--first, as it seemed, stealthily, and then more and
+more unconcealedly. I began to feel very uncomfortable and suspicious. As
+the noise proceeded, and became more and more unequivocal, Mr. Smith
+abruptly rose, opened the closet door, just enough to admit his own
+lath-like person, and steal within the threshold for some seconds. What
+he did I could not see--I felt conscious he had an associate concealed
+there; and though my eyes remained fixed on the book, I could not avoid
+listening for some audible words, or signal of caution. I heard, however,
+nothing of the kind. Mr. Smith turned back--walked a step or two towards
+me, and said--
+
+"I fancied I heard a sound from that closet, but there is
+nothing--nothing--nothing whatever; bring the candle, let us both look."
+
+I obeyed with some little trepidation, for I fully anticipated that I
+should detect the intruder, of whose presence my own ears had given me,
+for nearly half an hour, the most unequivocal proofs. We entered the
+closet together; it contained but a few chairs and a small spider table.
+At the far end of the room there was a sort of grey woollen cloth upon
+the floor, and a bundle of something underneath it. I looked jealously at
+it, and half thought I could trace the outline of a human figure; but, if
+so, it was perfectly motionless.
+
+"Some of my poor wardrobe," he muttered, as he pointed his lean finger in
+the direction. "It did not sound like a cat, did it--hey--did it?" he
+muttered; and without attending to my answer, he went about the
+apartment, clapping his hands, and crying, "Hish--hish--hish!"
+
+The game, however, whatever it was, did not start. As I entered I had
+seen, however, a large crutch reposing against the wall in the corner
+opposite to the door. This was the only article in the room, except that
+I have mentioned, with which I was not familiar. With the exception of
+our two selves, there was not a living creature to be seen there; no
+shadow but ours upon the bare walls; no feet but our own upon the
+comfortless floor.
+
+I had never before felt so strange and unpleasant a sensation.
+
+"There is nothing unusual in the room but that crutch," I said.
+
+"What crutch, you dolt? I see no crutch," he ejaculated, in a tone of
+sudden but suppressed fury.
+
+"Why, _that_ crutch," I answered (for somehow I neither felt nor resented
+his rudeness), turning and pointing to the spot where I had seen it. It
+was gone!--it was neither there nor anywhere else. It must have been an
+illusion--rather an odd one, to be sure. And yet I could at this moment,
+with a safe conscience, _swear_ that I never saw an object more
+distinctly than I had seen it but a second before.
+
+My companion was muttering fast to himself as we withdrew; his presence
+rather scared than reassured me; and I felt something almost amounting to
+horror, as, holding the candle above his cadaverous and sable figure, he
+stood at his threshold, while I descended the stairs, and said, in a sort
+of whisper--
+
+"Why, but that I am, like yourself, a philosopher, I should say that your
+house is--is--a--ha! ha! ha!--HAUNTED!"
+
+"You look very pale, my love," said my wife, as I entered the
+drawing-room, where she had been long awaiting my return. "Nothing
+unpleasant has happened?"
+
+"Nothing, nothing, I assure you. Pale!--_do_ I look pale?" I answered.
+"We are excellent friends, I assure you. So far from having had the
+smallest disagreement, there is every prospect of our agreeing but too
+well, as you will say; for I find that he holds all my opinions upon
+speculative subjects. We have had a great deal of conversation this
+evening, I assure you; and I never met, I think, so scholarlike and
+able a man."
+
+"I am sorry for it, dearest," she said, sadly. "The greater his talents,
+if such be his opinions, the more dangerous a companion is he."
+
+We turned, however, to more cheerful topics, and it was late before we
+retired to rest. I believe it was pride--perhaps only vanity--but, at all
+events, some obstructive and stubborn instinct of my nature, which I
+could not overcome--that prevented my telling my wife the odd occurrences
+which had disturbed my visit to our guest. I was unable or ashamed to
+confess that so slight a matter had disturbed me; and, above all, that
+any accident could possibly have clouded, even for a moment, the frosty
+clearness of my pure and lofty scepticism with the shadows of
+superstition.
+
+Almost every day seemed to develop some new eccentricity of our strange
+guest. His dietary consisted, without any variety or relief, of the
+monotonous bread and milk with which he started; his bed had not been
+made for nearly a week; nobody had been admitted into his room since my
+visit, just described; and he never ventured down stairs, or out of
+doors, until after nightfall, when he used sometimes to glide swiftly
+round our little enclosed shrubbery, and at others stand quite
+motionless, composed, as if in an attitude of deep attention. After
+employing about an hour in this way, he would return, and steal up stairs
+to his room, when he would shut himself up, and not be seen again until
+the next night--or, it might be, the night after that--when, perhaps, he
+would repeat his odd excursion.
+
+Strange as his habits were, their eccentricity was all upon the side
+least troublesome to us. He required literally no attendance; and as to
+his occasional night ramble, even _it_ caused not the slightest
+disturbance of our routine hour for securing the house and locking up the
+hall-door for the night, inasmuch as he had invariably retired before
+that hour arrived.
+
+All this stimulated curiosity, and, in no small degree, that of my wife,
+who, notwithstanding her vigilance and her anxiety to see our strange
+inmate, had been hitherto foiled by a series of cross accidents. We were
+sitting together somewhere about ten o'clock at night, when there came a
+tap at the room-door. We had just been discussing the unaccountable
+Smith; and I felt a sheepish consciousness that he might be himself at
+the door, and have possibly even overheard our speculation--some of them
+anything but complimentary, respecting himself.
+
+"Come in," cried, I, with an effort; and the tall form of our lodger
+glided into the room. My wife was positively frightened, and stood
+looking at him, as he advanced, with a stare of manifest apprehension,
+and even recoiled mechanically, and caught my hand.
+
+Sensitiveness, however, was not his fault: he made a kind of stiff nod as
+I mumbled an introduction; and seating himself unasked, began at once to
+chat in that odd, off-hand, and sneering style, in which he excelled, and
+which had, as he wielded it, a sort of fascination of which I can pretend
+to convey no idea.
+
+My wife's alarm subsided, and although she still manifestly felt some
+sort of misgiving about our visitor, she yet listened to his
+conversation, and, spite of herself, soon began to enjoy it. He stayed
+for nearly half an hour. But although he glanced at a great variety of
+topics, he did not approach the subject of religion. As soon as he was
+gone, my wife delivered judgment upon him in form. She admitted he was
+agreeable; but then he was such an unnatural, awful-looking object: there
+was, besides, something indescribably frightful, she thought, in his
+manner--the very tone of his voice was strange and hateful; and, on the
+whole, she felt unutterably relieved at his departure.
+
+A few days after, on my return, I found my poor little wife agitated and
+dispirited. Mr. Smith had paid her a visit, and brought with him a book,
+which he stated he had been reading, and which contained some references
+to the Bible which he begged of her to explain in that profounder and
+less obvious sense in which they had been cited. This she had endeavoured
+to do; and affecting to be much gratified by her satisfactory exposition,
+he had requested her to reconcile some discrepancies which he said had
+often troubled him when reading the Scriptures. Some of them were quite
+new to my good little wife; they startled and even horrified her. He
+pursued this theme, still pretending only to seek for information to
+quiet his own doubts, while in reality he was sowing in her mind the
+seeds of the first perturbations that had ever troubled the sources of
+her peace. He had been with her, she thought, no more than a quarter of
+an hour; but he had contrived to leave her abundant topics on which to
+ruminate for days. I found her shocked and horrified at the doubts which
+this potent Magus had summoned from the pit--doubts which she knew not
+how to combat, and from the torment of which she could not escape.
+
+"He has made me very miserable with his deceitful questions. I never
+thought of them before; and, merciful Heaven! I cannot answer them! What
+am I to do? My serenity is gone; I shall never be happy again."
+
+In truth, she was so very miserable, and, as it seemed to me, so
+disproportionately excited, that, inconsistent in me as the task would
+have been, I would gladly have explained away her difficulties, and
+restored to her mind its wonted confidence and serenity, had I possessed
+sufficient knowledge for the purpose. I really pitied her, and heartily
+wished Mr. Smith, for the nonce, at the devil.
+
+I observed after this that my wife's spirits appeared permanently
+affected. There was a constantly-recurring anxiety, and I thought
+something was lying still more heavily at her heart than the
+uncertainties inspired by our lodger.
+
+One evening, as we two were sitting together, after a long silence, she
+suddenly laid her hand upon my arm, and said--
+
+"Oh, Richard, my darling! would to God you could pray for me!"
+
+There was something so agitated, and even terrified, in her manner,
+that I was absolutely startled. I urged her to disclose whatever preyed
+upon her mind.
+
+"You can't sympathise with me--you can't help me--you can scarcely
+compassionate me in my misery! Oh, dearest Richard! Some evil influence
+has been gaining upon my heart, dulling and destroying my convictions,
+killing all my holy affections, and--and absolutely transforming me. I
+look inward upon myself with amazement, with terror--with--oh, God!--with
+actual despair!"
+
+Saying this, she threw herself on her knees, and wept an agonised flood
+of tears, with her head reposing in my lap.
+
+Poor little thing, my heart bled for her! But what could I do or say?
+
+All I could suggest was what I really thought, that she was
+unwell--hysterical--and needed to take better care of her precious self;
+that her change of feeling was fancied, not real; and that a few days
+would restore her to her old health and former spirits and serenity.
+
+"And sometimes," she resumed, after I had ended a consolatory discussion,
+which it was but too manifest had fallen unprofitably upon her ear, "such
+dreadful, impious thoughts come into my mind, whether I choose it or not;
+they come, and stay, and return, strive as I may; and I can't pray
+against them. They are forced upon me with the strength of an independent
+will; and oh!--horrible--frightful--they blaspheme the character of God
+himself. They upbraid the Almighty upon his throne, and I can't pray
+against them; there is something in me now that resists prayer."
+
+There was such a real and fearful anguish in the agitation of my gentle
+companion, that it shook my very soul within me, even while I was
+affecting to make light of her confessions. I had never before witnessed
+a struggle at all like this, and I was awe-struck at the spectacle.
+
+At length she became comparatively calm. I did gradually succeed, though
+very imperfectly, in reassuring her. She strove hard against her
+depression, and recovered a little of her wonted cheerfulness.
+
+After a while, however, the cloud returned. She grew sad and earnest,
+though no longer excited; and entreated, or rather implored, of me to
+grant her one special favour, and this was, to avoid the society of
+our lodger.
+
+"I never," she said, "could understand till now the instinctive dread
+with which poor Margaret, in _Faust_, shrinks from the hateful presence
+of Mephistopheles. I now feel it in myself. The dislike and suspicion I
+first felt for that man--Smith, or whatever else he may call himself--has
+grown into literal detestation and terror. I hate him--I am afraid of
+him--I never knew what anguish of mind was until he entered our doors;
+and would to God--would to God he were gone."
+
+I reasoned with her--kissed her--laughed at her; but could not dissipate,
+in the least degree, the intense and preternatural horror with which she
+had grown to regard the poor philosophic invalid, who was probably, at
+that moment, poring over some metaphysical book in his solitary
+bedchamber.
+
+The circumstance I am about to mention will give you some notion of the
+extreme to which these excited feelings had worked upon her nerves. I was
+that night suddenly awakened by a piercing scream--I started upright in
+the bed, and saw my wife standing at the bedside, white as ashes with
+terror. It was some seconds, so startled was I, before I could find words
+to ask her the cause of her affright. She caught my wrist in her icy
+grasp, and climbed, trembling violently, into bed. Notwithstanding my
+repeated entreaties, she continued for a long time stupified and dumb. At
+length, however, she told me, that having lain awake for a long time, she
+felt, on a sudden, that she could pray, and lighting the candle, she had
+stolen from beside me, and kneeled down for the purpose. She had,
+however, scarcely assumed the attitude of prayer, when somebody, she
+said, clutched her arm violently near the wrist, and she heard, at the
+same instant, some blasphemous menace, the import of which escaped her
+the moment it was spoken, muttered close in her ear. This terrifying
+interruption was the cause of the scream which had awakened me; and the
+condition in which she continued during the remainder of the night
+confirmed me more than ever in the conviction, that she was suffering
+under some morbid action of the nervous system.
+
+After this event, which _I_ had no hesitation in attributing to fancy,
+she became literally afraid to pray, and her misery and despondency
+increased proportionately.
+
+It was shortly after this that an unusual pressure of business called me
+into town one evening after office hours. I had left my dear little wife
+tolerably well, and little Fanny was to be her companion until I
+returned. She and her little companion occupied the same room in which we
+sat on the memorable evening which witnessed the arrival of our eccentric
+guest. Though usually a lively child, it most provokingly happened upon
+this night that Fanny was heavy and drowsy to excess. Her mamma would
+have sent her to bed, but that she now literally feared to be left alone;
+although, however, she could not so far overcome her horror of solitude
+as to do this, she yet would not persist in combating the poor child's
+sleepiness.
+
+Accordingly, little Fanny was soon locked in a sound sleep, while her
+mamma quietly pursued her work beside her. They had been perhaps some
+ten minutes thus circumstanced, when my wife heard the window softly
+raised from without--a bony hand parted the curtains, and Mr. Smith
+leaned into the room.
+
+She was so utterly overpowered at sight of this apparition, that even had
+it, as she expected, climbed into the room, she told me she could not
+have uttered a sound, or stirred from the spot where she sate transfixed
+and petrified.
+
+"Ha, ha!" he said gently, "I hope you'll excuse this, I must admit, very
+odd intrusion; but I knew I should find you here, and could not resist
+the opportunity of raising the window just for a moment, to look in upon
+a little family picture, and say a word to yourself. I understand that
+you are troubled, because for some cause you cannot say your
+prayers--because what you call your 'faith' is, so to speak, dead and
+gone, and also because what _you_ consider bad thoughts are constantly
+recurring to your mind. Now, all that is very silly. If it is really
+impossible for you to believe and to pray, what are you to infer from
+that? It is perfectly plain your Christian system can't be a true
+one--faith and _prayer_ it everywhere represents as the conditions of
+grace, acceptance, and salvation; and yet your Creator will not _permit_
+you either to believe or pray. The Christian system is, forsooth, a
+_free_ gift, and yet he who formed _you_ and _it_, makes it absolutely
+impossible for you to accept it. _Is_ it, I ask you, from your own
+experience--is it a free gift? And if your own experience, in which you
+can't be mistaken, gives its pretensions the lie, why, in the name of
+common sense, will you persist in believing it? I say it is downright
+blasphemy to think it has emanated from the Good Spirit--assuming that
+there is one. It tells you that you must be tormented hereafter in a way
+only to be made intelligible by the image of eternal fires--pretty
+strong, we must all allow--unless you comply with certain conditions,
+which it pretends are so easy that it is a positive pleasure to embrace
+and perform them; and yet, for the life of you, you can't--physically
+_can't_--do either. Is this truth and mercy?--or is it swindling and
+cruelty? Is it the part of the Redeemer, or that of the tyrant, deceiver,
+and tormentor?"
+
+Up to that moment, my wife had sate breathless and motionless, listening,
+in the catalepsy of nightmare, to a sort of echo of the vile and impious
+reasoning which had haunted her for so long. At the last words of the
+sentence his voice became harsh and thrilling; and his whole manner
+bespoke a sort of crouching and terrific hatred, the like of which she
+could not have conceived.
+
+Whatever may have been the cause, she was on a sudden disenchanted. She
+started to her feet; and, freezing with horror though she was, in a
+shrill cry of agony commanded him, in the name of God, to depart from
+her. His whole frame seemed to darken; he drew back silently; the
+curtains dropped into their places, the window was let down again as
+stealthily as it had just been raised; and my wife found herself alone in
+the chamber with our little child, who had been startled from her sleep
+by her mother's cry of anguish, and with the fearful words, "tempter,"
+"destroyer," "devil," still ringing in her ears, was weeping bitterly,
+and holding her terrified mother's hand.
+
+There is nothing, I believe, more infectious than that species of
+nervousness which shows itself in superstitious fears. I began--although
+I could not bring myself to admit anything the least like it--to partake
+insensibly, but strongly of the peculiar feelings with which my wife, and
+indeed my whole household, already regarded the lodger up stairs. The
+fact was, beside, that the state of my poor wife's mind began to make me
+seriously uneasy; and, although I was fully sensible of the pecuniary and
+other advantages attendant upon his stay, they were yet far from
+outweighing the constant gloom and frequent misery in which the
+protracted sojourn was involving my once cheerful house. I resolved,
+therefore, at whatever monetary sacrifice, to put an end to these
+commotions; and, after several debates with my wife, in which the subject
+was, as usual, turned in all its possible and impossible bearings, we
+agreed that, deducting a fair proportion for his five weeks' sojourn, I
+should return the remainder of his £100, and request immediate possession
+of his apartments. Like a man suddenly relieved of an insufferable load,
+and breathing freely once more, I instantly prepared to carry into effect
+the result of our deliberations.
+
+In pursuance of this resolution, I waited upon Mr. Smith. This time my
+call was made in the morning, somewhere about nine o'clock. He
+received me at his door, standing as usual in the stealthy opening
+which barely admitted his lank person. There he stood, fully equipped
+with goggles and respirator, and swathed, rather than dressed, in his
+puckered black garments.
+
+As he did not seem disposed to invite me into his apartment, although
+I had announced my visit as one of business, I was obliged to open my
+errand where I stood; and after a great deal of fumbling and
+muttering, I contrived to place before him distinctly the resolution
+to which I had come.
+
+"But I can't think of taking back any portion of the sum I have paid
+you," said he, with a cool, dry emphasis.
+
+"Your reluctance to do so, Mr. Smith, is most handsome, and I assure you,
+appreciated," I replied. "It is very generous; but, at the same time, it
+is quite impossible for me to accept what I have no right to take, and I
+must beg of you not to mention that part of the subject again."
+
+"And why should _I_ take it?" demanded Mr. Smith.
+
+"Because you have paid this hundred pounds for six months, and you are
+leaving me with nearly five months of the term still unexpired," I
+replied. "I expect to receive fair play myself, and always give it."
+
+"But who on earth said that I was going away so soon?" pursued Mr. Smith,
+in the same dry, sarcastic key. "_I_ have not said so--because I really
+don't intend it; I mean to stay here to the last day of the six months
+for which I have paid you. I have no notion of vacating my hired
+lodgings, simply because you say, _go_. I shan't quarrel with you--I
+never quarrel with anybody. I'm as much your friend as ever; but, without
+the least wish to disoblige, I can't do this, positively I cannot. Is
+there anything else?"
+
+I had not anticipated in the least the difficulty which thus
+encountered and upset our plans. I had so set my heart upon effecting
+the immediate retirement of our inauspicious inmate, that the
+disappointment literally stunned me for a moment. I, however, returned
+to the charge: I urged, and prayed, and almost besought him to give up
+his apartments, and to leave us. I offered to repay every farthing of
+the sum he had paid me--reserving nothing on account of the time he had
+already been with us. I suggested all the disadvantages of the house. I
+shifted my ground, and told him that my wife wanted the rooms; I
+pressed his gallantry--his good nature--his economy; in short, I
+assailed him upon every point--but in vain, he did not even take the
+trouble of repeating what he had said before--he neither relented, nor
+showed the least irritation, but simply said--
+
+"I can't do this; here I am, and here I stay until the half-year has
+expired. You wanted a lodger, and you have got one--the quietest, least
+troublesome, least expensive person you could have; and though your
+house, servants, and furniture are none of the best, I don't care for
+that. I pursue my own poor business and enjoyments here entirely to my
+satisfaction."
+
+Having thus spoken, he gave me a sort of nod, and closed the door.
+
+So, instead of getting rid of him the next day, as we had hoped, we had
+nearly five months more of his company in expectancy; I hated, and my
+wife dreaded the prospect. She was literally miserable and panic-struck
+at her disappointment--and grew so nervous and wretched that I made up my
+mind to look out for lodgings for her and the children (subversive of all
+our schemes of retrenchment as such a step would be), and surrendering
+the house absolutely to Mr. Smith and the servants during the remainder
+of his term.
+
+Circumstances, however, occurred to prevent our putting this plan in
+execution. My wife, meanwhile, was, if possible, more depressed and
+nervous every day. The servants seemed to sympathise in the dread and
+gloom which involved ourselves; the very children grew timid and
+spiritless, without knowing why--and the entire house was pervaded with
+an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear. A poorhouse or a dungeon would
+have been cheerful, compared with a dwelling haunted unceasingly with
+unearthly suspicions and alarms. I would have made any sacrifice short of
+ruin, to emancipate our household from the odious mental and moral
+thraldom which was invisibly established over us--overcasting us with
+strange anxieties and an undefined terror.
+
+About this time my wife had a dream which troubled her much, although
+she could not explain its supposed significance satisfactorily by any
+of the ordinary rules of interpretation in such matters. The vision was
+as follows.
+
+She dreamed that we were busily employed in carrying out our scheme of
+removal, and that I came into the parlour where she was making some
+arrangements, and, with rather an agitated manner, told her that the
+carriage had come for the children. She thought she went out to the hall,
+in consequence, holding little Fanny by one hand, and the boy--or, as we
+still called him, "baby,"--by the other, and feeling, as she did so, an
+unaccountable gloom, almost amounting to terror, steal over her. The
+children, too, seemed, she thought, frightened, and disposed to cry.
+
+So close to the hall-door as to exclude the light, stood some kind of
+vehicle, of which she could see nothing but that its door was wide open,
+and the interior involved in total darkness. The children, she thought,
+shrunk back in great trepidation, and she addressed herself to induce
+them, by persuasion, to enter, telling them that they were only "going to
+their new home." So, in a while, little Fanny approached it; but, at the
+same instant, some person came swiftly up from behind, and, raising the
+little boy in his hands, said fiercely, "No, the baby first"; and placed
+him in the carriage. This person was our lodger, Mr. Smith, and was gone
+as soon as seen. My wife, even in her dream, could not act or speak; but
+as the child was lifted into the carriage-door, a man, whose face was
+full of beautiful tenderness and compassion, leaned forward from the
+carriage and received the little child, which, stretching his arms to the
+stranger, looked back with a strange smile upon his mother.
+
+"He is safe with me, and I will deliver him to you when you come."
+
+These words the man spoke, looking upon her, as he received him, and
+immediately the carriage-door shut, and the noise of its closing wakened
+my wife from her nightmare.
+
+This dream troubled her very much, and even haunted my mind unpleasantly
+too. We agreed, however, not to speak of it to anybody, not to divulge
+any of our misgivings respecting the stranger. We were anxious that
+neither the children nor the servants should catch the contagion of those
+fears which had seized upon my poor little wife, and, if truth were
+spoken, upon myself in some degree also. But this precaution was, I
+believe, needless, for, as I said before, everybody under the same roof
+with Mr. Smith was, to a certain extent, affected with the same nervous
+gloom and apprehension.
+
+And now commences a melancholy chapter in my life. My poor little Fanny
+was attacked with a cough which soon grew very violent, and after a time
+degenerated into a sharp attack of inflammation. We were seriously
+alarmed for her life, and nothing that care and medicine could effect
+was spared to save it. Her mother was indefatigable, and scarcely left
+her night or day; and, indeed, for some time, we all but despaired of
+her recovery.
+
+One night, when she was at the worst, her poor mother, who had sat for
+many a melancholy hour listening, by her bedside, to those plaintive
+incoherences of delirium and moanings of fever, which have harrowed so
+many a fond heart, gained gradually from her very despair the courage
+which she had so long wanted, and knelt down at the side of her sick
+darling's bed to pray for her deliverance.
+
+With clasped hands, in an agony of supplication, she prayed that God
+would, in his mercy, spare her little child--that, justly as she herself
+deserved the sorest chastisement his hand could inflict, he would yet
+deal patiently and tenderly with her in this one thing. She poured out
+her sorrows before the mercy-seat--she opened her heart, and declared her
+only hope to be in his pity; without which, she felt that her darling
+would only leave the bed where she was lying for her grave.
+
+Exactly as she came to this part of her supplication, the child, who had
+grown, as it seemed, more and more restless, and moaned and muttered with
+increasing pain and irritation, on a sudden started upright in her bed,
+and, in a thrilling voice, cried--
+
+"No! no!--the baby first."
+
+The mysterious sentence which had secretly tormented her for so long,
+thus piercingly uttered by this delirious, and, perhaps, dying child,
+with what seemed a preternatural earnestness and strength, arrested her
+devotions, and froze her with a feeling akin to terror.
+
+"Hush, hush, my darling!" said the poor mother, almost wildly, as she
+clasped the attenuated frame of the sick child in her arms; "hush, my
+darling; don't cry out so loudly--there--there--my own love."
+
+The child did not appear to see or hear her, but sate up still with
+feverish cheeks, and bright unsteady eyes, while her dry lips were
+muttering inaudible words.
+
+"Lie down, my sweet child--lie down, for your own mother," she said;
+"if you tire yourself, you can't grow well, and your poor mother will
+lose you."
+
+At these words, the child suddenly cried out again, in precisely the same
+loud, strong voice--"No! no! the baby first, the baby first"--and
+immediately afterwards lay down, and fell, for the first time since her
+illness into a tranquil sleep.
+
+My good little wife sate, crying bitterly by her bedside. The child was
+better--_that_ was, indeed, delightful. But then there was an omen in the
+words, thus echoed from her dream, which she dared not trust herself to
+interpret, and which yet had seized, with a grasp of iron, upon every
+fibre of her brain.
+
+"Oh, Richard," she cried, as she threw her arms about my neck, "I am
+terrified at this horrible menace from the unseen world. Oh! poor,
+darling little baby, I shall lose you--I am sure I shall lose you.
+Comfort me, darling, and say he is not to die."
+
+And so I did; and tasked all my powers of argument and persuasion to
+convince her how unsubstantial was the ground of her anxiety. The little
+boy was perfectly well, and, even were he to die before his sister that
+event might not occur for seventy years to come. I could not, however,
+conceal from myself that there was something odd and unpleasant in the
+coincidence; and my poor wife had grown so nervous and excitable, that a
+much less ominous conjecture would have sufficed to alarm her.
+
+Meanwhile, the unaccountable terror which our lodger's presence inspired
+continued to increase. One of our maids gave us warning, solely from her
+dread of our queer inmate, and the strange accessories which haunted him.
+She said--and this was corroborated by her fellow-servant--that Mr. Smith
+seemed to have constantly a companion in his room; that although they
+never heard them speak, they continually and distinctly heard the tread
+of two persons walking up and down the room together, and described
+accurately the peculiar sound of a stick or crutch tapping upon the
+floor, which my own ears had heard. They also had seen the large,
+ill-conditioned cat I have mentioned, frequently steal in and out of the
+stranger's room; and observed that when our little girl was in greatest
+danger, the hateful animal was constantly writhing, fawning, and crawling
+about the door of the sick room after nightfall. They were thoroughly
+persuaded that this ill-omened beast was the foul fiend himself, and I
+confess I could not--sceptic as I was--bring myself absolutely to the
+belief that he was nothing more than a "harmless, necessary cat." These
+and similar reports--implicitly believed as they palpably were by those
+who made them--were certainly little calculated to allay the perturbation
+and alarm with which our household was filled.
+
+The evenings had by this time shortened very much, and darkness often
+overtook us before we sate down to our early tea. It happened just at
+this period of which I have been speaking, after my little girl had begun
+decidedly to mend, that I was sitting in our dining-parlour, with my
+little boy fast asleep upon my knees, and thinking of I know not what, my
+wife having gone up stairs, as usual, to sit in the room with little
+Fanny. As I thus sate in what was to me, in effect, total solitude,
+darkness unperceived stole on us.
+
+On a sudden, as I sate, with my elbow leaning upon the table, and my
+other arm round the sleeping child, I felt, as I thought, a cold
+current of air faintly blowing upon my forehead. I raised my head, and
+saw, as nearly as I could calculate, at the far end of the table on
+which my arm rested, two large green eyes confronting me. I could see
+no more, but instantly concluded they were those of the abominable cat.
+Yielding to an impulse of horror and abhorrence, I caught a water-croft
+that was close to my hand, and threw it full at it with all my force. I
+must have missed my object, for the shining eyes continued fixed for a
+second, and then glided still nearer to me, and then a little nearer
+still. The noise of the glass smashed with so much force upon the table
+called in the servant, who happened to be passing. She had a candle in
+her hand, and, perhaps, the light alarmed the odious beast, for as she
+came in it was gone.
+
+I had had an undefined idea that its approach was somehow connected with
+a designed injury of some sort to the sleeping child. I could not be
+mistaken as to the fact that I had plainly seen the two broad, glaring,
+green eyes. Where the cursed animal had gone I had not observed: it
+might, indeed, easily have run out at the door as the servant opened it,
+but neither of us had seen it do so; and we were every one of us in such
+a state of nervous excitement, that even this incident was something in
+the catalogue of our ambiguous experiences.
+
+It was a great happiness to see our darling little Fanny every day
+mending, and now quite out of danger: this was cheering and delightful.
+It was also something to know that more than two months of our lodger's
+term of occupation had already expired; and to realise, as we now could
+do, by anticipation, the unspeakable relief of his departure.
+
+My wife strove hard to turn our dear child's recovery to good account for
+me; but the impressions of fear soon depart, and those of religious
+gratitude must be preceded by religious faith. All as yet was but as seed
+strewn upon the rock.
+
+Little Fanny, though recovering rapidly, was still very weak, and her
+mother usually passed a considerable part of every evening in her
+bedroom--for the child was sometimes uneasy and restless at night. It
+happened at this period that, sitting as usual at Fanny's bedside, she
+witnessed an occurrence which agitated her not a little.
+
+The child had been, as it seems, growing sleepy, and was lying
+listlessly, with eyes half open, apparently taking no note of what was
+passing. Suddenly, however, with an expression of the wildest terror, she
+drew up her limbs, and cowered in the bed's head, gazing at some object;
+which, judging from the motion of her eyes, must have been slowly
+advancing from the end of the room next the door.
+
+The child made a low shuddering cry, as she grasped her mother's hand,
+and, with features white and tense with terror, slowly following with her
+eyes the noiseless course of some unseen spectre, shrinking more and more
+fearfully backward every moment.
+
+"What is it? Where? What is it that frightens you, my darling?" asked the
+poor mother, who, thrilled with horror, looked in vain for the apparition
+which seemed to have all but bereft the child of reason.
+
+"Stay with me--save me--keep it away--look, look at it--making signs to
+me--don't let it hurt me--it is angry--Oh! mamma, save me, save me!"
+
+The child said this, all the time clinging to her with both her hands, in
+an ecstasy of panic.
+
+"There--there, my darling," said my poor wife, "don't be afraid; there's
+nothing but me--your own mamma--and little baby in the room; nothing, my
+darling; nothing indeed."
+
+"Mamma, mamma, don't move; don't go near him"; the child continued
+wildly. "It's only his back now; don't make him turn again; he's untying
+his handkerchief. Oh! baby, baby; he'll _kill_ baby! and he's lifting up
+those green things from his eyes; don't you see him doing it? Mamma,
+mamma, why does he come here? Oh, mamma, poor baby--poor little baby!"
+
+She was looking with a terrified gaze at the little boy's bed, which lay
+directly opposite to her own, and in which he was sleeping calmly.
+
+"Hush, hush, my darling child," said my wife, with difficulty
+restraining an hysterical burst of tears; "for God's sake don't speak so
+wildly, my own precious love--there, there--don't be frightened--there,
+darling, there."
+
+"Oh! poor baby--poor little darling baby," the child continued as before;
+"will no one save him--tell that wicked man to go away--oh--there--why,
+mamma--don't--oh, sure you won't let him--don't--don't--he'll take the
+child's life--will you let him lie down that way on the bed--save poor
+little baby--oh, baby, baby, waken--his head is on your face."
+
+As she said this she raised her voice to a cry of despairing terror which
+made the whole room ring again.
+
+This cry, or rather yell, reached my ears as I sate reading in the
+parlour by myself, and fearing I knew not what, I rushed to the
+apartment; before I reached it, the sound had subsided into low but
+violent sobbing; and, just as I arrived at the threshold I heard, close
+at my feet, a fierce protracted growl, and something rubbing along the
+surbase. I was in the dark, but, with a feeling of mingled terror and
+fury, I stamped and struck at the abhorred brute with my feet, but in
+vain. The next moment I was in the room, and heard little Fanny, through
+her sobs, cry--
+
+"Oh, poor baby is killed--that wicked man has killed him--he uncovered
+his face, and put it on him, and lay upon the bed and killed poor baby. I
+knew he came to kill him. Ah, papa, papa, why did you not come up before
+he went?--he is gone, he went away as soon as he killed our poor little
+darling baby."
+
+I could not conceal my agitation, quite, and I said to my wife--
+
+"Has he, Smith, been here?"
+
+"No."
+
+"What is it, then?"
+
+"The child has seen _some_ one."
+
+"Seen whom? Who? Who has been here?"
+
+"I did not see it; but--but I am sure the child saw--that is, _thought_
+she saw _him_;--the person you have named. Oh, God, in mercy deliver us!
+What shall I do--what shall I do!"
+
+Thus saying, the dear little woman burst into tears, and crying, as if
+her heart would break, sobbed out an entreaty that I would look at baby;
+adding, that she herself had not courage to see whether her darling was
+sleeping or dead.
+
+"Dead!" I exclaimed. "Tut, tut, my darling; you must not give way to such
+morbid fancies--he is very well, I see him breathing;" and so saying, I
+went over to the bed where our little boy was lying. He was slumbering;
+though it seemed to me very heavily, and his cheeks were flushed.
+
+"Sleeping tranquilly, my darling--tranquilly, and deeply; and with a
+warm colour in his cheeks," I said, rearranging the coverlet, and
+retiring to my wife, who sate almost breathless whilst I was looking at
+our little boy.
+
+"Thank God--thank God," she said quietly; and she wept again; and rising,
+came to his bedside.
+
+"Yes, yes--alive; thank God; but it seems to me he is breathing very
+short, and with difficulty, and he looks--_does_ he not look hot and
+feverish? Yes, he _is_ very hot; feel his little hand--feel his neck;
+merciful heaven! he is burning."
+
+It was, indeed, very true, that his skin was unnaturally dry and hot; his
+little pulse, too, was going at a fearful rate.
+
+"I do think," said I--resolved to conceal the extent of my own
+apprehensions--"I do think that he is just a _little_ feverish; but he
+has often been much more so; and will, I dare say, in the morning, be
+perfectly well again. I dare say, but for little Fanny's _dream_, we
+should not have observed it at all."
+
+"Oh, my darling, my darling, my darling!" sobbed the poor little woman,
+leaning over the bed, with her hands locked together, and looking the
+very picture of despair. "Oh, my darling, what has happened to you? I put
+you into your bed, looking so well and beautiful, this evening, and here
+you are, stricken with sickness, my own little love. Oh, you will
+not--you cannot, leave your poor mother!"
+
+It was quite plain that she despaired of the child from the moment we had
+ascertained that it was unwell. As it happened, her presentiment was but
+too truly prophetic. The apothecary said the child's ailment was
+"suppressed small-pox"; the physician pronounced it "typhus." The only
+certainty about it was the issue--the child died.
+
+To me few things appear so beautiful as a very young child in its
+shroud. The little innocent face looks so sublimely simple and confiding
+amongst the cold terrors of death--crimeless, and fearless, that little
+mortal has passed alone under the shadow, and explored the mystery of
+dissolution. There is death in its sublimest and purest image--no
+hatred, no hypocrisy, no suspicion, no care for the morrow ever darkened
+that little face; death has come lovingly upon it; there is nothing
+cruel, or harsh, in his victory. The yearnings of love, indeed, cannot
+be stifled; for the prattle, and smiles, and all the little world of
+thoughts that were so delightful, are gone for ever. Awe, too, will
+overcast us in its presence--for we are looking on death; but we do not
+fear for the little, lonely voyager--for the child has gone, simple and
+trusting, into the presence of its all-wise Father; and of such, we
+know, is the kingdom of heaven.
+
+And so we parted from poor little baby. I and his poor old nurse
+drove in a mourning carriage, in which lay the little coffin, early
+in the morning, to the churchyard of ----. Sore, indeed, was my
+heart, as I followed that little coffin to the grave! Another burial
+had just concluded as we entered the churchyard, and the mourners
+stood in clusters round the grave, into which the sexton was now
+shovelling the mould.
+
+As I stood, with head uncovered, listening to the sublime and touching
+service which our ritual prescribes, I found that a gentleman had drawn
+near also, and was standing at my elbow. I did not turn to look at him
+until the earth had closed over my darling boy; I then walked a little
+way apart, that I might be alone, and drying my eyes, sat down upon a
+tombstone, to let the confusion of my mind subside.
+
+While I was thus lost in a sorrowful reverie, the gentleman who had stood
+near me at the grave was once more at my side. The face of the stranger,
+though I could not call it handsome, was very remarkable; its expression
+was the purest and noblest I could conceive, and it was made very
+beautiful by a look of such compassion as I never saw before.
+
+"Why do you sorrow as one without hope?" he said, gently.
+
+"I _have_ no hope," I answered.
+
+"Nay, I think you have," he answered again; "and I am sure you will soon
+have more. That little child for which you grieve, has escaped the
+dangers and miseries of life; its body has perished; but he will receive
+in the end the crown of life. God has given him an early victory."
+
+I know not what it was in him that rebuked my sullen pride, and humbled
+and saddened me, as I listened to this man. He was dressed in deep
+mourning, and looked more serene, noble, and sweet than any I had ever
+seen. He was young, too, as I have said, and his voice very clear and
+harmonious. He talked to me for a long time, and I listened to him with
+involuntary reverence. At last, however, he left me, saying he had often
+seen me walking into town, about the same hour that he used to go that
+way, and that if he saw me again he would walk with me, and so we might
+reason of these things together.
+
+It was late when I returned to my home, now a house of mourning.
+
+
+
+
+PART II
+
+
+Our home was one of sorrow and of fear. The child's death had stricken us
+with terror no less than grief. Referring it, as we both tacitly did, to
+the mysterious and fiendish agency of the abhorred being whom, in an evil
+hour, we had admitted into our house, we both viewed him with a degree
+and species of fear for which I can find no name.
+
+I felt that some further calamity was impending. I could not hope that we
+were to be delivered from the presence of the malignant agent who
+haunted, rather than inhabited our home, without some additional proofs
+alike of his malice and his power.
+
+My poor wife's presentiments were still more terrible and overpowering,
+though not more defined, than my own. She was never tranquil while our
+little girl was out of her sight; always dreading and expecting some new
+revelation of the evil influence which, as we were indeed both persuaded,
+had bereft our darling little boy of life. Against an hostility so
+unearthly and intangible there was no guarding, and the sense of
+helplessness intensified the misery of our situation. Tormented with
+doubts of the very basis of her religion, and recoiling from the ordeal
+of prayer with the strange horror with which the victim of hydrophobia
+repels the pure water, she no longer found the consolation which, had
+sorrow reached her in any other shape, she would have drawn from the
+healing influence of religion. We were both of us unhappy, dismayed,
+DEMON-STRICKEN.
+
+Meanwhile, our lodger's habits continued precisely the same. If, indeed,
+the sounds which came from his apartments were to be trusted, he and his
+agents were more on the alert than ever. I can convey to you, good
+reader, no notion, even the faintest, of the dreadful sensation always
+more or less present to my mind, and sometimes with a reality which
+thrilled me almost to frenzy--the apprehension that I had admitted into
+my house the incarnate spirit of the dead or damned, to torment me and
+my family.
+
+It was some nights after the burial of our dear little baby; we had not
+gone to bed until late, and I had slept, I suppose, some hours, when I
+was awakened by my wife, who clung to me with the energy of terror. She
+said nothing, but grasped and shook me with more than her natural
+strength. She had crept close to me, and was cowering with her head under
+the bedclothes.
+
+The room was perfectly dark, as usual, for we burned no night-light; but
+from the side of the bed next her proceeded a voice as of one sitting
+there with his head within a foot of the curtains--and, merciful heavens!
+it was the voice of our lodger.
+
+He was discoursing of the death of our baby, and inveighing, in the old
+mocking tone of hate and suppressed fury, against the justice, mercy, and
+goodness of God. He did this with a terrible plausibility of sophistry,
+and with a resolute emphasis and precision, which seemed to imply, "I
+have got something to tell you, and, whether you like it or like it not,
+I _will_ say out my say."
+
+To pretend that I felt anger at his intrusion, or emotion of any sort,
+save the one sense of palsied terror, would be to depart from the truth.
+I lay, cold and breathless, as if frozen to death--unable to move, unable
+to utter a cry--with the voice of that demon pouring, in the dark, his
+undisguised blasphemies and temptations close into my ears. At last the
+dreadful voice ceased--whether the speaker went or stayed I could not
+tell--the silence, which he might be improving for the purpose of some
+hellish strategem, was to me more tremendous even than his speech.
+
+We both lay awake, not daring to move or speak, scarcely even breathing,
+but clasping one another fast, until at length the welcome light of day
+streamed into the room through the opening door, as the servant came in
+to call us. I need not say that our nocturnal visitant had left us.
+
+The magnanimous reader will, perhaps, pronounce that I ought to have
+pulled on my boots and inexpressibles with all available despatch, run to
+my lodger's bedroom, and kicked him forthwith downstairs, and the entire
+way moreover out to the public road, as some compensation for the
+scandalous affront put upon me and my wife by his impertinent visit. Now,
+at that time, I had no scruples against what are termed the laws of
+honour, was by no means deficient in "pluck," and gifted, moreover, with
+a somewhat excitable temper. Yet, I will honestly avow that, so far from
+courting a collision with the dreaded stranger, I would have recoiled at
+his very sight, and given my eyes to avoid him, such was the ascendancy
+which he had acquired over me, as well as everybody else in my household,
+in his own quiet, irresistible, hellish way.
+
+The shuddering antipathy which our guest inspired did not rob his
+infernal homily of its effect. It was not a new or strange thing which
+he presented to our minds. There was an awful subtlety in the train of
+his suggestions. All that he had said had floated through my own mind
+before, without order, indeed, or shew of logic. From my own rebellious
+heart the same evil thoughts had risen, like pale apparitions hovering
+and lost in the fumes of a necromancer's cauldron. His was like the
+summing up of all this--a reflection of my own feelings and fancies--but
+reduced to an awful order and definiteness, and clothed with a
+sophistical form of argument. The effect of it was powerful. It revived
+and exaggerated these bad emotions--it methodised and justified
+them--and gave to impulses and impressions, vague and desultory before,
+something of the compactness of a system.
+
+My misfortune, therefore, did not soften, it exasperated me. I regarded
+the Great Disposer of events as a persecutor of the human race, who took
+delight in their miseries. I asked why my innocent child had been smitten
+down into the grave?--and why my darling wife, whose first object, I
+knew, had ever been to serve and glorify her Maker, should have been thus
+tortured and desolated by the cruelest calamity which the malignity of a
+demon could have devised? I railed and blasphemed, and even in my agony
+defied God with the impotent rage and desperation of a devil, in his
+everlasting torment.
+
+In my bitterness, I could not forbear speaking these impenitent
+repetitions of the language of our nightly visitant, even in the presence
+of my wife. She heard me with agony, almost with terror. I pitied and
+loved her too much not to respect even her weaknesses--for so I
+characterised her humble submission to the chastisements of heaven. But
+even while I spared her reverential sensitiveness, the spectacle of her
+patience but enhanced my own gloomy and impenitent rage.
+
+I was walking into town in this evil mood, when I was overtaken by the
+gentleman whom I had spoken with in the churchyard on the morning when my
+little boy was buried. I call him _gentleman_, but I could not say _what_
+was his rank--I never thought about it; there was a grace, a purity, a
+compassion, and a grandeur of intellect in his countenance, in his
+language, in his mien, that was beautiful and kinglike. I felt, in his
+company, a delightful awe, and an humbleness more gratifying than any
+elation of earthly pride.
+
+He divined my state of feeling, but he said nothing harsh. He did not
+rebuke, but he reasoned with me--and oh! how mighty was that
+reasoning--without formality--without effort--as the flower grows and
+blossoms. Its process was in harmony with the successions of
+nature--gentle, spontaneous, irresistible.
+
+At last he left me. I was grieved at his departure--I was
+wonder-stricken. His discourse had made me cry tears at once sweet and
+bitter; it had sounded depths I knew not of, and my heart was disquieted
+within me. Yet my trouble was happier than the resentful and defiant calm
+that had reigned within me before.
+
+When I came home, I told my wife of my having met the same good, wise man
+I had first seen by the grave of my child. I recounted to her his
+discourse, and, as I brought it again to mind, my tears flowed afresh,
+and I was happy while I wept.
+
+I now see that the calamity which bore at first such evil fruit, was good
+for me. It fixed my mind, however rebelliously, upon God, and it stirred
+up all the passions of my heart. Levity, inattention, and
+self-complacency are obstacles harder to be overcome than the violence of
+evil passions--the transition from hate is easier than from indifference,
+to love. A mighty change was making on my mind.
+
+I need not particularise the occasions upon which I again met my
+friend, for so I knew him to be, nor detail the train of reasoning and
+feeling which in such interviews he followed out; it is enough to say,
+that he assiduously cultivated the good seed he had sown, and that his
+benignant teachings took deep root, and flourished in my soul,
+heretofore so barren.
+
+One evening, having enjoyed on the morning of the same day another of
+those delightful and convincing conversations, I was returning on foot
+homeward; and as darkness had nearly closed, and the night threatened
+cold and fog, the footpaths were nearly deserted.
+
+As I walked on, deeply absorbed in the discourse I had heard on the same
+morning, a person overtook me, and continued to walk, without much
+increasing the interval between us, a little in advance of me. There came
+upon me, at the same moment, an indefinable sinking of the heart, a
+strange and unaccountable fear. The pleasing topics of my meditations
+melted away, and gave place to a sense of danger, all the more unpleasant
+that it was vague and objectless. I looked up. What was that which moved
+before me? I stared--I faltered; my heart fluttered as if it would choke
+me, and then stood still. It was the peculiar and unmistakeable form of
+our lodger.
+
+Exactly as I looked at him, he turned his head, and looked at me over his
+shoulder. His face was muffled as usual. I cannot have seen its features
+with any completeness, yet I felt that his look was one of fury. The next
+instant he was at my side; and my heart quailed within me--my limbs all
+but refused their office; yet the very emotions of terror, which might
+have overcome me, acted as a stimulus, and I quickened my pace.
+
+"Hey! what a pious person! So I suppose you have learned at last that
+'evil communications corrupt good manners'; and you are absolutely afraid
+of the old infidel, the old blasphemer, hey?"
+
+I made him no answer; I was indeed too much agitated to speak.
+
+"You'll make a good Christian, no doubt," he continued; "the independent
+man, who thinks for himself, reasons his way to his principles, and
+sticks fast to them, is sure to be true to whatever system he embraces.
+You have been so consistent a philosopher, that I am sure you will make a
+steady Christian. You're not the man to be led by the nose by a
+sophistical mumbler. _You_ could never be made the prey of a grasping
+proselytism; _you_ are not the sport of every whiff of doctrine, nor the
+facile slave of whatever superstition is last buzzed in your ear. No, no:
+you've got a masculine intellect, and think for yourself, hey?"
+
+I was incapable of answering him. I quickened my pace to escape from his
+detested persecution; but he was close beside me still.
+
+We walked on together thus for a time, during which I heard him muttering
+fast to himself, like a man under fierce and malignant excitement. We
+reached, at length, the gateway of my dwelling; and I turned the
+latch-key in the wicket, and entered the enclosure. As we stood together
+within, he turned full upon me, and confronting me with an aspect whose
+character I felt rather than saw, he said--
+
+"And so you mean to be a Christian, after all! Now just reflect how very
+absurdly you are choosing. Leave the Bible to that class of fanatics who
+may hope to be saved under its system, and, in the name of common sense,
+study the Koran, or some less ascetic tome. Don't be gulled by a
+plausible slave, who wants nothing more than to multiply _professors_ of
+his theory. Why don't you _read_ the Bible, you miserable, puling
+poltroon, before you hug it as a treasure? Why don't you read it, and
+learn out of the mouth of the founder of Christianity, that there is one
+sin for which there is _no_ forgiveness--blasphemy against the Holy
+Ghost, hey?--and that sin I myself have heard you commit by the hour--in
+my presence--in my room. I have heard you commit it in our free
+discussions a dozen times. The Bible seals against you the lips of mercy.
+If _it_ be true, you are this moment as irrevocably damned as if you had
+died with those blasphemies on your lips."
+
+Having thus spoken, he glided into the house. I followed slowly.
+
+His words rang in my ears--I was stunned. What he had said I feared might
+be true. Giant despair felled me to the earth. He had recalled, and
+lighted up with a glare from the pit, remembrances with which I knew not
+how to cope. It was true I had spoken with daring impiety of subjects
+whose sacredness I now began to appreciate. With trembling hands I opened
+the Bible. I read and re-read the mysterious doom recorded by the
+Redeemer himself against blasphemers of the Holy Ghost--monsters set
+apart from the human race, and damned and dead, even while they live and
+walk upon the earth. I groaned--I wept. Henceforward the Bible, I
+thought, must be to me a dreadful record of despair. I dared not read it.
+
+I will not weary you with all my mental agonies. My dear little wife did
+something toward relieving my mind, but it was reserved for the friend,
+to whose heavenly society I owed so much, to tranquillise it once more.
+He talked this time to me longer, and even more earnestly than before. I
+soon encountered him again. He expounded to me the ways of Providence,
+and showed me how needful sorrow was for every servant of God. How mercy
+was disguised in tribulation, and our best happiness came to us, like our
+children, in tears and wailing. He showed me that trials were sent to
+call us up, with a voice of preternatural power, from the mortal apathy
+of sin and the world. And then, again, in our new and better state, to
+prove our patience and our faith--
+
+"The more trouble befalls you, the nearer is God to you. He visits you in
+sorrow--and sorrow, as well as joy, is a sign of his presence. If, then,
+other griefs overtake you, remember this--be patient, be faithful; and
+bless the name of God."
+
+I returned home comforted and happy, although I felt assured that some
+further and sadder trial was before me.
+
+Still our household was overcast by the same insurmountable dread of our
+tenant. The same strange habits characterised him, and the same
+unaccountable sounds disquieted us--an atmosphere of death and malice
+hovered about his door, and we all hated and feared to pass it.
+
+Let me now tell, as well and briefly as I may, the dreadful circumstances
+of my last great trial. One morning, my wife being about her household
+affairs, and I on the point of starting for town, I went into the parlour
+for some letters which I was to take with me. I cannot easily describe my
+consternation when, on entering the room, I saw our lodger seated near
+the window, with our darling little girl upon his knee.
+
+His back was toward the door, but I could plainly perceive that the
+respirator had been removed from his mouth, and that the odious green
+goggles were raised. He was sitting, as it seemed, absolutely without
+motion, and his face was advanced close to that of the child.
+
+I stood looking at this group in a state of stupor for some seconds. He
+was, I suppose, conscious of my presence, for although he did not turn
+his head, or otherwise take any note of my arrival, he readjusted the
+muffler which usually covered his mouth, and lowered the clumsy
+spectacles to their proper place.
+
+The child was sitting upon his knee as motionless as he himself, with a
+countenance white and rigid as that of a corpse, and from which every
+trace of meaning, except some vague character of terror, had fled, and
+staring with a fixed and dilated gaze into his face.
+
+As it seemed, she did not perceive my presence. Her eyes were transfixed
+and fascinated. She did not even seem to me to breathe. Horror and
+anguish at last overcame my stupefaction.
+
+"What--what is it?" I cried; "what ails my child, my darling child?"
+
+"I'd be glad to know, myself," he replied, coolly; "it is certainly
+something very queer."
+
+"What is it, darling?" I repeated, frantically, addressing the child.
+
+"What is it?" he reiterated. "Why it's pretty plain, I should suppose,
+that the child is ill."
+
+"Oh merciful God!" I cried, half furious, half terrified--"You have
+injured her--you have terrified her. Give me my child--give her to me."
+
+These words I absolutely shouted, and stamped upon the floor in my horrid
+excitement.
+
+"Pooh, pooh!" he said, with a sort of ugly sneer; "the child is
+nervous--you'll make her more so--be quiet and she'll probably find her
+tongue presently. I have had her on my knee some minutes, but the sweet
+bird could not tell what ails her."
+
+"Let the child go," I shouted in a voice of thunder; "let her go, I
+say--let her go."
+
+He took the passive, death-like child, and placed her standing by the
+window, and rising, he simply said--
+
+"As soon as you grow cool, you are welcome to ask me what questions you
+like. The child is plainly ill. I should not wonder if she had seen
+something that frightened her."
+
+Having thus spoken, he passed from the room. I felt as if I spoke, saw,
+and walked in a horrid dream. I seized the darling child in my arms, and
+bore her away to her mother.
+
+"What is it--for mercy's sake what is the matter?" she cried, growing in
+an instant as pale as the poor child herself.
+
+"I found that--that _demon_--in the parlour with the child on his lap,
+staring in her face. She is manifestly terrified."
+
+"Oh! gracious God! she is lost--she is killed," cried the poor
+mother, frantically looking into the white, apathetic, meaningless
+face of the child.
+
+"Fanny, darling Fanny, tell us if you are ill," I cried, pressing the
+little girl in terror to my heart.
+
+"Tell your own mother, my darling," echoed my poor little wife. "Oh!
+darling, darling child, speak to your poor mother."
+
+It was all in vain. Still the same dilated, imploring gaze--the same pale
+face--wild and dumb. We brought her to the open window--we gave her cold
+water to drink--we sprinkled it in her face. We sent for the apothecary,
+who lived hard by, and he arrived in a few moments, with a parcel of
+tranquillising medicines. These, however, were equally unavailing.
+
+Hour after hour passed away. The darling child looked upon us as if she
+would have given the world to speak to us, or to weep, but she uttered no
+sound. Now and then she drew a long breath as though preparing to say
+something, but still she was mute. She often put her hand to her throat,
+as if there was some pain or obstruction there.
+
+I never can, while I live, lose one line of that mournful and terrible
+portrait--the face of my stricken child. As hour after hour passed away,
+without bringing the smallest change or amendment, we grew both alarmed,
+and at length absolutely terrified for her safety.
+
+We called in a physician toward night, and told him that we had reason to
+suspect that the child had somehow been frightened, and that in no other
+way could we at all account for the extraordinary condition in which he
+found her.
+
+This was a man, I may as well observe, though I do not name him, of the
+highest eminence in his profession, and one in whose skill, from past
+personal experience, I had the best possible reasons for implicitly
+confiding.
+
+He asked a multiplicity of questions, the answers to which seemed to
+baffle his attempts to arrive at a satisfactory diagnosis. There was
+something undoubtedly anomalous in the case, and I saw plainly that there
+were features in it which puzzled and perplexed him not a little.
+
+At length, however, he wrote his prescription, and promised to return at
+nine o'clock. I remember there was something to be rubbed along her
+spine, and some medicines beside.
+
+But these remedies were as entirely unavailing as the others. In a state
+of dismay and distraction we watched by the bed in which, in accordance
+with the physician's direction, we had placed her. The absolute
+changelessness of her condition filled us with despair. The day which had
+elapsed had not witnessed even a transitory variation in the dreadful
+character of her seizure. Any change, even a change for the worse, would
+have been better than this sluggish, hopeless monotony of suffering.
+
+At the appointed hour the physician returned. He appeared disappointed,
+almost shocked, at the failure of his prescriptions. On feeling her pulse
+he declared that she must have a little wine. There had been a wonderful
+prostration of all the vital powers since he had seen her before. He
+evidently thought the case a strange and precarious one.
+
+She was made to swallow the wine, and her pulse rallied for a time, but
+soon subsided again. I and the physician were standing by the fire,
+talking in whispers of the darling child's symptoms, and likelihood of
+recovery, when we were arrested in our conversation by a cry of anguish
+from the poor mother, who had never left the bedside of her little child,
+and this cry broke into bitter and convulsive weeping.
+
+The poor little child had, on a sudden, stretched down her little hands
+and feet, and died. There is no mistaking the features of death: the
+filmy eye and dropt jaw once seen, are recognised whenever we meet them
+again. Yet, spite of our belief, we cling to hope; and the distracted
+mother called on the physician, in accents which might have moved a
+statue, to say that her darling was not dead, not quite dead--that
+something might still be done--that it could not be all over. Silently
+he satisfied himself that no throb of life still fluttered in that
+little frame.
+
+"It is, indeed, all over," he said, in tones scarce above a whisper; and
+pressing my hand kindly, he said, "comfort your poor wife"; and so, after
+a momentary pause, he left the room.
+
+This blow had smitten me with stunning suddenness. I looked at the dead
+child, and from her to her poor mother. Grief and pity were both
+swallowed up in transports of fury and detestation with which the
+presence in my house of the wretch who had wrought all this destruction
+and misery filled my soul. My heart swelled with ungovernable rage; for a
+moment my habitual fear of him was neutralised by the vehemence of these
+passions. I seized a candle in silence, and mounted the stairs. The sight
+of the accursed cat, flitting across the lobby, and the loneliness of the
+hour, made me hesitate for an instant. I had, however, gone so far, that
+shame sustained me. Overcoming a momentary thrill of dismay, and
+determined to repel and defy the influence that had so long awed me, I
+knocked sharply at the door, and, almost at the same instant, pushed it
+open, and entered our lodger's chamber.
+
+He had had no candle in the room, and it was lighted only by the
+"darkness visible" that entered through the window. The candle which I
+held very imperfectly illuminated the large apartment; but I saw his
+spectral form floating, rather than walking, back and forward in front of
+the windows.
+
+At sight of him, though I hated him more than ever, my instinctive fear
+returned. He confronted me, and drew nearer and nearer, without speaking.
+There was something indefinably fearful in the silent attraction which
+seemed to be drawing him to me. I could not help recoiling, little by
+little, as he came toward me, and with an effort I said--
+
+"You know why I have come: the child--she's dead!"
+
+"Dead--ha!--_dead_--is she?" he said, in his odious, mocking tone.
+
+"Yes--dead!" I cried, with an excitement which chilled my very marrow
+with horror; "and _you_ have killed her, as you killed my other."
+
+"How?--I killed her!--eh?--ha, ha!" he said, still edging nearer
+and nearer.
+
+"Yes; I say you!" I shouted, trembling in every joint, but
+possessed by that unaccountable infatuation which has made men
+invoke, spite of themselves, their own destruction, and which I was
+powerless to resist--"deny it as you may, it is you who killed
+her--wretch!--FIEND!--no wonder she could not stand the breath and
+glare of HELL!"
+
+"And you are one of those who believe that not a sparrow falls to the
+ground without your Creator's consent," he said, with icy sarcasm; "and
+this is a specimen of Christian resignation--hey? You charge his act upon
+a poor fellow like me, simply that you may cheat the devil, and rave and
+rebel against the decrees of heaven, under pretence of abusing me. The
+breath and flare of hell!--eh? You mean that I removed this and these
+(touching the covering of his mouth and eyes successively) as I _shall_
+do now again, and show you there's no great harm in that."
+
+There was a tone of menace in his concluding words not to be mistaken.
+
+"Murderer and liar from the beginning, as you are, I defy you!" I
+shouted, in a frenzy of hate and horror, stamping furiously on the floor.
+
+As I said this, it seemed to me that he darkened and dilated before my
+eyes. My senses, thoughts, consciousness, grew horribly confused, as if
+some powerful, extraneous will, were seizing upon the functions of my
+brain. Whether I were to be mastered by death, or madness, or possession,
+I knew not; but hideous destruction of some sort was impending: all hung
+upon the moment, and I cried aloud, in my agony, an adjuration in the
+name of the three persons of the Trinity, that he should not torment me.
+
+Stunned, bewildered, like a man recovered from a drunken fall, I stood,
+freezing and breathless, in the same spot, looking into the room, which
+wore, in my eyes, a strange, unearthly character. Mr. Smith was cowering
+darkly in the window, and, after a silence, spoke to me in a croaking,
+sulky tone, which was, however, unusually submissive.
+
+"Don't it strike you as an odd procedure to break into a gentleman's
+apartment at such an hour, for the purpose of railing at him in the
+coarsest language? If you have any charge to make against me, do so; I
+invite inquiry and defy your worst. If you think you can bring home to me
+the smallest share of blame in this unlucky matter, call the coroner, and
+let his inquest examine and cross-examine me, and sift the matter--if,
+indeed, there is anything to _be_ sifted--to the bottom. Meanwhile, go
+you about your business, and leave me to mine. But I see how the wind
+sits; you want to get rid of me, and so you make the place odious to me.
+But it won't do; and if you take to making criminal charges against me,
+you had better look to yourself; for two can play at that game."
+
+There was a suppressed whine in all this, which strangely contrasted with
+the cool and threatening tone of his previous conversation.
+
+Without answering a word I hurried from the room, and scarcely felt
+secure, even when once more in the melancholy chamber, where my poor wife
+was weeping.
+
+Miserable, horrible was the night that followed. The loss of our child
+was a calamity which we had not dared to think of. It had come, and with
+a suddenness enough to bereave me of reason. It seemed all unreal, all
+fantastic. It needed an effort to convince me, minute after minute, that
+the dreadful truth was so; and the old accustomed feeling that she was
+still alive, still running from room to room, and the expectation that I
+should hear her step and her voice, and see her entering at the door,
+would return. But still the sense of dismay, of having received some
+stunning, irreparable blow, remained behind; and then came the horrible
+effort, like that with which one rouses himself from a haunted sleep, the
+question, "What disaster is this that has befallen?"--answered, alas! but
+too easily, too terribly! Amidst all this was perpetually rising before
+my fancy the obscure, dilated figure of our lodger, as he had confronted
+me in his malign power that night. I dismissed the image with a shudder
+as often as it recurred; and even now, at this distance of time, I have
+felt more than I could well describe in the mere effort to fix my
+recollection upon its hated traits, while writing the passages I have
+just concluded.
+
+This hateful scene I did not recount to my poor wife. Its horrors were
+too fresh upon me. I had not courage to trust myself with the agitating
+narrative; and so I sate beside her, with her hand locked in mine: I had
+no comfort to offer but the dear love I bore her.
+
+At last, like a child, she cried herself to sleep--the dull, heavy
+slumber of worn-out grief. As for me, the agitation of my soul was too
+fearful and profound for repose. My eye accidentally rested on the holy
+volume, which lay upon the table open, as I had left it in the morning;
+and the first words which met my eye were these--"For our light
+affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more
+exceeding and eternal weight of glory." This blessed sentence riveted my
+attention, and shed a stream of solemn joy upon my heart; and so the
+greater part of that mournful night, I continued to draw comfort and
+heavenly wisdom from the same inspired source.
+
+Next day brought the odious incident, the visit of the undertaker--the
+carpentery, upholstery, and millinery of death. Why has not civilisation
+abolished these repulsive and shocking formalities? What has the poor
+corpse to do with frills, and pillows, and napkins, and all the equipage
+in which it rides on its last journey? There is no intrusion so jarring
+to the decent grief of surviving affection, no conceivable mummery more
+derisive of mortality.
+
+In the room which we had been so long used to call "the nursery," now
+desolate and mute, the unclosed coffin lay, with our darling shrouded in
+it. Before we went to our rest at night we visited it. In the morning the
+lid was to close over that sweet face, and I was to see the child laid by
+her little brother. We looked upon the well-known and loved features,
+purified in the sublime serenity of death, for a long time, whispering to
+one another, among our sobs, how sweet and beautiful we thought she
+looked; and at length, weeping bitterly, we tore ourselves away.
+
+We talked and wept for many hours, and at last, in sheer exhaustion,
+dropt asleep. My little wife awaked me, and said--
+
+"I think they have come--the--the undertakers."
+
+It was still dark, so I could not consult my watch; but they were to have
+arrived early, and as it was winter, and the nights long, the hour of
+their visit might well have arrived.
+
+"What, darling, is your reason for thinking so?" I asked.
+
+"I am sure I have heard them for some time in the nursery," she answered.
+"Oh! dear, dear little Fanny! Don't allow them to close the coffin until
+I have seen my darling once more."
+
+I got up, and threw some clothes hastily about me. I opened the door and
+listened. A sound like a muffled knocking reached me from the nursery.
+
+"Yes, my darling!" I said, "I think they have come. I will go and desire
+them to wait until you have seen her again."
+
+And, so saying, I hastened from the room.
+
+Our bedchamber lay at the end of a short corridor, opening from the
+lobby, at the head of the stairs, and the nursery was situated nearly at
+the end of a corresponding passage, which opened from the same lobby at
+the opposite side As I hurried along I distinctly heard the same sounds.
+The light of dawn had not yet appeared, but there was a strong moonlight
+shining through the windows. I thought the morning could hardly be so far
+advanced as we had at first supposed; but still, strangely as it now
+seems to me, suspecting nothing amiss, I walked on in noiseless,
+slippered feet, to the nursery-door. It stood half open; some one had
+unquestionably visited it since we had been there. I stepped forward, and
+entered. At the threshold horror arrested my advance.
+
+The coffin was placed upon tressles at the further extremity of the
+chamber, with the foot of it nearly towards the door, and a large window
+at the side of it admitted the cold lustre of the moon full upon the
+apparatus of mortality, and the objects immediately about it.
+
+At the foot of the coffin stood the ungainly form of our lodger. He
+seemed to be intently watching the face of the corpse, and was stooped a
+little, while with his hands he tapped sharply, from time to time at the
+sides of the coffin, like one who designs to awaken a slumberer. Perched
+upon the body of the child, and nuzzling among the grave-clothes, with a
+strange kind of ecstasy, was the detested brute, the cat I have so often
+mentioned.
+
+The group thus revealed, I looked upon but for one instant; in the next I
+shouted, in absolute terror--
+
+"In God's name! what are you doing?"
+
+Our lodger shuffled away abruptly, as if disconcerted; but the
+ill-favoured cat, whisking round, stood like a demon sentinel upon the
+corpse, growling and hissing, with arched back and glaring eyes.
+
+The lodger, turning abruptly toward me, motioned me to one side.
+Mechanically I obeyed his gesture, and he hurried hastily from the room.
+
+Sick and dizzy, I returned to my own chamber. I confess I had not nerve
+to combat the infernal brute, which still held possession of the room,
+and so I left it undisturbed.
+
+This incident I did not tell to my wife until some time afterwards; and I
+mention it here because it was, and is, in my mind associated with a
+painful circumstance which very soon afterwards came to light.
+
+That morning I witnessed the burial of my darling child. Sore and
+desolate was my heart; but with infinite gratitude to the great
+controller of all events, I recognised in it a change which nothing but
+the spirit of all good can effect. The love and fear of God had grown
+strong within me--in humbleness I bowed to his awful will--with a sincere
+trust I relied upon the goodness, the wisdom, and the mercy of him who
+had sent this great affliction. But a further incident connected with
+this very calamity was to test this trust and patience to the uttermost.
+
+It was still early when I returned, having completed the last sad office.
+My wife, as I afterwards learned, still lay weeping upon her bed. But
+somebody awaited my return in the hall, and opened the door, anticipating
+my knock. This person was our lodger.
+
+I was too much appalled by the sudden presentation of this abhorred
+spectre even to retreat, as my instinct would have directed, through the
+open door.
+
+"I have been expecting your return," he said, "with the design of saying
+something which it might have profited you to learn, but now I apprehend
+it is too late. What a pity you are so violent and impatient; you would
+not have heard me, in all probability, this morning. You cannot think
+how cross-grained and intemperate you have grown since you became a
+saint--but that is your affair, not mine. You have buried your little
+daughter this morning. It requires a good deal of that new attribute of
+yours, _faith_, which judges all things by a rule of contraries, and can
+never see anything but kindness in the worst afflictions which malignity
+could devise, to discover benignity and mercy in the torturing calamity
+which has just punished you and your wife for _nothing_! But I fancy
+that it will be harder still when I tell you what I more than
+suspect--ha, ha. It would be really ridiculous, if it were not
+heart-rending; that your little girl has been actually buried _alive_;
+do you comprehend me?--alive. For, upon my life, I fancy she was not
+dead as she lay in her coffin."
+
+I knew the wretch was exulting in the fresh anguish he had just
+inflicted. I know not how it was, but any announcement of _disaster_ from
+his lips, seemed to me to be necessarily true. Half-stifled with the
+dreadful emotions he had raised, palpitating between hope and terror, I
+rushed frantically back again, the way I had just come, running as fast
+as my speed could carry me, toward the, alas! distant burial-ground where
+my darling lay.
+
+I stopped a cab slowly returning to town, at the corner of the lane,
+sprang into it, directed the man to drive to the church of ----, and
+promised him anything and everything for despatch. The man seemed amazed;
+doubtful, perhaps, whether he carried a maniac or a malefactor. Still he
+took his chance for the promised reward, and galloped his horse, while I,
+tortured with suspense, yelled my frantic incentives to further speed.
+
+At last, in a space immeasurably short, but which to me was protracted
+almost beyond endurance, we reached the spot. I halloed to the sexton,
+who was now employed upon another grave, to follow me. I myself seized a
+mattock, and in obedience to my incoherent and agonised commands, he
+worked as he had never worked before. The crumbling mould flew swiftly to
+the upper soil--deeper and deeper, every moment, grew the narrow
+grave--at last I sobbed, "Thank God--thank God," as I saw the face of the
+coffin emerge; a few seconds more and it lay upon the sward beside me,
+and we both, with the edges of our spades, ripped up the lid.
+
+_There_ was the corpse--but not the tranquil statue I had seen it last.
+Its knees were both raised, and one of its little hands drawn up and
+clenched near its throat, as if in a feeble but agonised struggle to
+force up the superincumbent mass. The eyes, that I had last seen closed,
+were now open, and the face no longer serenely pale, but livid and
+distorted.
+
+I had time to see all in an instant; the whole scene reeled and darkened
+before me, and I swooned away.
+
+When I came to myself, I found that I had been removed to the
+vestry-room. The open coffin was in the aisle of the church, surrounded
+by a curious crowd. A medical gentleman had examined the body carefully,
+and had pronounced life totally extinct. The trepidation and horror I
+experienced were indescribable. I felt like the murderer of my own child.
+Desperate as I was of any chance of its life, I dispatched messengers for
+no less than three of the most eminent physicians then practising in
+London. All concurred--the child was now as dead as any other, the oldest
+tenant of the churchyard.
+
+Notwithstanding which, I would not permit the body to be reinterred for
+several days, until the symptoms of decay became unequivocal, and the
+most fantastic imagination could no longer cherish a doubt. This,
+however, I mention only parenthetically, as I hasten to the conclusion of
+my narrative. The circumstance which I have last described found its way
+to the public, and caused no small sensation at the time.
+
+I drove part of the way home, and then discharged the cab, and walked the
+remainder. On my way, with an emotion of ecstasy I cannot describe, I met
+the good being to whom I owed so much. I ran to meet him, and felt as if
+I could throw myself at his feet, and kiss the very ground before him. I
+knew by his heavenly countenance he was come to speak comfort and healing
+to my heart.
+
+With humbleness and gratitude, I drank in his sage and holy discourse. I
+need not follow the gracious and delightful exposition of God's revealed
+will and character with which he cheered and confirmed my faltering
+spirit. A solemn joy, a peace and trust, streamed on my heart. The wreck
+and desolation there, lost their bleak and ghastly character, like ruins
+illuminated by the mellow beams of a solemn summer sunset.
+
+In this conversation, I told him what I had never revealed to any one
+before--the absolute terror, in all its stupendous and maddening
+amplitude, with which I regarded our ill-omened lodger, and my agonised
+anxiety to rid my house of him. My companion answered me--
+
+"I know the person of whom you speak--he designs no good for you or any
+other. He, too, knows me, and I have intimated to him that he must now
+leave you, and visit you no more. Be firm and bold, trusting in God,
+through his Son, like a good soldier, and you will win the victory from a
+greater and even worse than he--the _unseen_ enemy of mankind. You need
+not see or speak with your evil tenant any more. Call to him from your
+hall, in the name of the Most Holy, to leave you bodily, with all that
+appertains to him, this evening. He knows that he must go, and will obey
+you. But leave the house as soon as may be yourself; you will scarce have
+peace in it. Your own remembrances will trouble you and _other minds have
+established associations within its walls and chambers too_."
+
+These words sounded mysteriously in my ears.
+
+Let me say here, before I bring my reminiscences to a close, a word or
+two about the house in which these detested scenes occurred, and which I
+did not long continue to inhabit. What I afterwards learned of it, seemed
+to supply in part a dim explanation of these words.
+
+In a country village there is no difficulty in accounting for the
+tenacity with which the sinister character of a haunted tenement cleaves
+to it. Thin neighbourhoods are favourable to scandal; and in such
+localities the reputation of a house, like that of a woman, once blown
+upon, never quite recovers. In huge London, however, it is quite another
+matter; and, therefore, it was with some surprise that, five years after
+I had vacated the house in which the occurrences I have described took
+place, I learned that a respectable family who had taken it were obliged
+to give it up, on account of annoyances, for which they could not
+account, and all proceeding from the apartments formerly occupied by our
+"lodger." Among the sounds described were footsteps restlessly
+traversing the floor of that room, accompanied by the peculiar tapping
+of the crutch.
+
+I was so anxious about this occurrence, that I contrived to have strict
+inquiries made into the matter. The result, however, added little to what
+I had at first learned--except, indeed, that our old friend, the cat,
+bore a part in the transaction as I suspected; for the servant, who had
+been placed to sleep in the room, complained that something bounded on
+and off, and ran to-and-fro along the foot of the bed, in the dark. The
+same servant, while in the room, in the broad daylight, had heard the
+sound of walking, and even the rustling of clothes near him, as of people
+passing and repassing; and, although he had never seen anything, he yet
+became so terrified that he would not remain in the house, and
+ultimately, in a short time, left his situation.
+
+These sounds, attention having been called to them, were now incessantly
+observed--the measured walking up and down the room, the opening and
+closing of the door, and the teazing tap of the crutch--all these sounds
+were continually repeated, until at last, worn out, frightened, and
+worried, its occupants resolved on abandoning the house.
+
+About four years since, having had occasion to visit the capital, I
+resolved on a ramble by Old Brompton, just to see if the house were still
+inhabited. I searched for it, however, in vain, and at length, with
+difficulty, ascertained its site, upon which now stood two small,
+staring, bran-new brick houses, with each a gay enclosure of flowers.
+Every trace of our old mansion, and, let us hope, of our "mysterious
+lodger," had entirely vanished.
+
+Let me, however, return to my narrative where I left it.
+
+Discoursing upon heavenly matters, my good and gracious friend
+accompanied me even within the outer gate of my own house. I asked him to
+come in and rest himself, but he would not; and before he turned to
+depart, he lifted up his hand, and blessed me and my household.
+
+Having done this, he went away. My eyes followed him till he disappeared,
+and I turned to the house. My darling wife was standing at the window of
+the parlour. There was a seraphic smile on her face--pale, pure, and
+beautiful as death. She was gazing with an humble, heavenly earnestness
+on us. The parting blessing of the stranger shed a sweet and hallowed
+influence on my heart. I went into the parlour, to my darling: childless
+she was now; I had now need to be a tender companion to her.
+
+She raised her arms in a sort of transport, with the same smile of
+gratitude and purity, and, throwing them round my neck, she said--
+
+"I have seen him--it is he--the man that came with you to the door, and
+blessed us as he went away--is the same I saw in my dream--the same who
+took little baby in his arms, and said he would take care of him, and
+give him safely to me again."
+
+More than a quarter of a century has glided away since then; other
+children have been given us by the good God--children who have been, from
+infancy to maturity, a pride and blessing to us. Sorrows and reverses,
+too, have occasionally visited us; yet, on the whole, we have been
+greatly blessed; prosperity has long since ended all the cares of the
+_res angusta domi_, and expanded our power of doing good to our
+fellow-creatures. God has given it; and God, we trust, directs its
+dispensation. In our children, and--would you think it?--our
+_grand_-children, too, the same beneficent God has given us objects that
+elicit and return all the delightful affections, and exchange the sweet
+converse that makes home and family dearer than aught else, save that
+blessed home where the Christian family shall meet at last.
+
+The dear companion of my early love and sorrows still lives, blessed be
+Heaven! The evening tints of life have fallen upon her; but the dear
+remembrance of a first love, that never grew cold, makes her beauty
+changeless for me. As for your humble servant, he is considerably her
+senior, and looks it: time has stolen away his raven locks, and given
+him a _chevelure_ of snow instead. But, as I said before, I and my wife
+love, and, I believe, _admire_ one another more than ever; and I have
+often seen our elder children smile archly at one another, when they
+thought we did not observe them, thinking, no doubt, how like a pair of
+lovers we two were.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12647 ***
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #12647 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12647)
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 4, by
+Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 4
+
+Author: Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
+
+Release Date: June 18, 2004  [eBook #12647]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK J. S. LE FANU'S GHOSTLY TALES,
+VOLUME 4***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Project Gutenberg Beginners Projects,
+Mary Meehan, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+J. S. LE FANU'S GHOSTLY TALES, VOLUME 4
+
+Ghost Stories of Chapelizod (1851)
+The Drunkard's Dream (1838)
+The Ghost and the Bone-setter (1838)
+The Mysterious Lodger (1850)
+
+by
+
+Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
+
+
+
+
+
+
+GHOST STORIES OF CHAPELIZOD
+
+
+
+
+Take my word for it, there is no such thing as an ancient village,
+especially if it has seen better days, unillustrated by its legends of
+terror. You might as well expect to find a decayed cheese without mites,
+or an old house without rats, as an antique and dilapidated town without
+an authentic population of goblins. Now, although this class of
+inhabitants are in nowise amenable to the police authorities, yet, as
+their demeanor directly affects the comforts of her Majesty's subjects, I
+cannot but regard it as a grave omission that the public have hitherto
+been left without any statistical returns of their numbers, activity,
+etc., etc. And I am persuaded that a Commission to inquire into and
+report upon the numerical strength, habits, haunts, etc., etc., of
+supernatural agents resident in Ireland, would be a great deal more
+innocent and entertaining than half the Commissions for which the country
+pays, and at least as instructive. This I say, more from a sense of duty,
+and to deliver my mind of a grave truth, than with any hope of seeing the
+suggestion adopted. But, I am sure, my readers will deplore with me that
+the comprehensive powers of belief, and apparently illimitable leisure,
+possessed by parliamentary commissions of inquiry, should never have been
+applied to the subject I have named, and that the collection of that
+species of information should be confided to the gratuitous and desultory
+labours of individuals, who, like myself, have other occupations to
+attend to. This, however, by the way.
+
+Among the village outposts of Dublin, Chapelizod once held a
+considerable, if not a foremost rank. Without mentioning its connexion
+with the history of the great Kilmainham Preceptory of the Knights of St.
+John, it will be enough to remind the reader of its ancient and
+celebrated Castle, not one vestige of which now remains, and of the fact
+that it was for, we believe, some centuries, the summer residence of the
+Viceroys of Ireland. The circumstance of its being up, we believe, to the
+period at which that corps was disbanded, the headquarters of the Royal
+Irish Artillery, gave it also a consequence of an humbler, but not less
+substantial kind. With these advantages in its favour, it is not
+wonderful that the town exhibited at one time an air of substantial and
+semi-aristocratic prosperity unknown to Irish villages in modern times.
+
+A broad street, with a well-paved footpath, and houses as lofty as were
+at that time to be found in the fashionable streets of Dublin; a goodly
+stone-fronted barrack; an ancient church, vaulted beneath, and with a
+tower clothed from its summit to its base with the richest ivy; an humble
+Roman Catholic chapel; a steep bridge spanning the Liffey, and a great
+old mill at the near end of it, were the principal features of the town.
+These, or at least most of them, remain still, but the greater part in a
+very changed and forlorn condition. Some of them indeed are superseded,
+though not obliterated by modern erections, such as the bridge, the
+chapel, and the church in part; the rest forsaken by the order who
+originally raised them, and delivered up to poverty, and in some cases to
+absolute decay.
+
+The village lies in the lap of the rich and wooded valley of the Liffey,
+and is overlooked by the high grounds of the beautiful Phoenix Park on
+the one side, and by the ridge of the Palmerstown hills on the other. Its
+situation, therefore, is eminently picturesque; and factory-fronts and
+chimneys notwithstanding, it has, I think, even in its decay, a sort of
+melancholy picturesqueness of its own. Be that as it may, I mean to
+relate two or three stories of that sort which may be read with very good
+effect by a blazing fire on a shrewd winter's night, and are all directly
+connected with the altered and somewhat melancholy little town I have
+named. The first I shall relate concerns
+
+
+
+
+The Village Bully
+
+
+About thirty years ago there lived in the town of Chapelizod an
+ill-conditioned fellow of herculean strength, well known throughout the
+neighbourhood by the title of Bully Larkin. In addition to his remarkable
+physical superiority, this fellow had acquired a degree of skill as a
+pugilist which alone would have made him formidable. As it was, he was
+the autocrat of the village, and carried not the sceptre in vain.
+Conscious of his superiority, and perfectly secure of impunity, he lorded
+it over his fellows in a spirit of cowardly and brutal insolence, which
+made him hated even more profoundly than he was feared.
+
+Upon more than one occasion he had deliberately forced quarrels upon men
+whom he had singled out for the exhibition of his savage prowess; and in
+every encounter his over-matched antagonist had received an amount of
+"punishment" which edified and appalled the spectators, and in some
+instances left ineffaceable scars and lasting injuries after it.
+
+Bully Larkin's pluck had never been fairly tried. For, owing to his
+prodigious superiority in weight, strength, and skill, his victories had
+always been certain and easy; and in proportion to the facility with
+which he uniformly smashed an antagonist, his pugnacity and insolence
+were inflamed. He thus became an odious nuisance in the neighbourhood,
+and the terror of every mother who had a son, and of every wife who had a
+husband who possessed a spirit to resent insult, or the smallest
+confidence in his own pugilistic capabilities.
+
+Now it happened that there was a young fellow named Ned Moran--better
+known by the soubriquet of "Long Ned," from his slender, lathy
+proportions--at that time living in the town. He was, in truth, a mere
+lad, nineteen years of age, and fully twelve years younger than the
+stalwart bully. This, however, as the reader will see, secured for him no
+exemption from the dastardly provocations of the ill-conditioned
+pugilist. Long Ned, in an evil hour, had thrown eyes of affection upon a
+certain buxom damsel, who, notwithstanding Bully Larkin's amorous
+rivalry, inclined to reciprocate them.
+
+I need not say how easily the spark of jealousy, once kindled, is blown
+into a flame, and how naturally, in a coarse and ungoverned nature, it
+explodes in acts of violence and outrage.
+
+"The bully" watched his opportunity, and contrived to provoke Ned Moran,
+while drinking in a public-house with a party of friends, into an
+altercation, in the course of which he failed not to put such insults
+upon his rival as manhood could not tolerate. Long Ned, though a simple,
+good-natured sort of fellow, was by no means deficient in spirit, and
+retorted in a tone of defiance which edified the more timid, and gave his
+opponent the opportunity he secretly coveted.
+
+Bully Larkin challenged the heroic youth, whose pretty face he had
+privately consigned to the mangling and bloody discipline he was himself
+so capable of administering. The quarrel, which he had himself contrived
+to get up, to a certain degree covered the ill blood and malignant
+premeditation which inspired his proceedings, and Long Ned, being full of
+generous ire and whiskey punch, accepted the gauge of battle on the
+instant. The whole party, accompanied by a mob of idle men and boys, and
+in short by all who could snatch a moment from the calls of business,
+proceeded in slow procession through the old gate into the Phoenix Park,
+and mounting the hill overlooking the town, selected near its summit a
+level spot on which to decide the quarrel.
+
+The combatants stripped, and a child might have seen in the contrast
+presented by the slight, lank form and limbs of the lad, and the muscular
+and massive build of his veteran antagonist, how desperate was the chance
+of poor Ned Moran.
+
+"Seconds" and "bottle-holders"--selected of course for their love of the
+game--were appointed, and "the fight" commenced.
+
+I will not shock my readers with a description of the cool-blooded
+butchery that followed. The result of the combat was what anybody might
+have predicted. At the eleventh round, poor Ned refused to "give in"; the
+brawny pugilist, unhurt, in good wind, and pale with concentrated and as
+yet unslaked revenge, had the gratification of seeing his opponent seated
+upon his second's knee, unable to hold up his head, his left arm
+disabled; his face a bloody, swollen, and shapeless mass; his breast
+scarred and bloody, and his whole body panting and quivering with rage
+and exhaustion.
+
+"Give in, Ned, my boy," cried more than one of the bystanders.
+
+"Never, never," shrieked he, with a voice hoarse and choking.
+
+Time being "up," his second placed him on his feet again. Blinded with
+his own blood, panting and staggering, he presented but a helpless mark
+for the blows of his stalwart opponent. It was plain that a touch would
+have been sufficient to throw him to the earth. But Larkin had no notion
+of letting him off so easily. He closed with him without striking a blow
+(the effect of which, prematurely dealt, would have been to bring him at
+once to the ground, and so put an end to the combat), and getting his
+battered and almost senseless head under his arm, fast in that peculiar
+"fix" known to the fancy pleasantly by the name of "chancery," he held
+him firmly, while with monotonous and brutal strokes he beat his fist, as
+it seemed, almost into his face. A cry of "shame" broke from the crowd,
+for it was plain that the beaten man was now insensible, and supported
+only by the herculean arm of the bully. The round and the fight ended by
+his hurling him upon the ground, falling upon him at the same time with
+his knee upon his chest.
+
+The bully rose, wiping the perspiration from his white face with his
+blood-stained hands, but Ned lay stretched and motionless upon the grass.
+It was impossible to get him upon his legs for another round. So he was
+carried down, just as he was, to the pond which then lay close to the old
+Park gate, and his head and body were washed beside it. Contrary to the
+belief of all he was not dead. He was carried home, and after some months
+to a certain extent recovered. But he never held up his head again, and
+before the year was over he had died of consumption. Nobody could doubt
+how the disease had been induced, but there was no actual proof to
+connect the cause and effect, and the ruffian Larkin escaped the
+vengeance of the law. A strange retribution, however, awaited him.
+
+After the death of Long Ned, he became less quarrelsome than before, but
+more sullen and reserved. Some said "he took it to heart," and others,
+that his conscience was not at ease about it. Be this as it may, however,
+his health did not suffer by reason of his presumed agitations, nor was
+his worldly prosperity marred by the blasting curses with which poor
+Moran's enraged mother pursued him; on the contrary he had rather risen
+in the world, and obtained regular and well-remunerated employment from
+the Chief Secretary's gardener, at the other side of the Park. He still
+lived in Chapelizod, whither, on the close of his day's work, he used to
+return across the Fifteen Acres.
+
+It was about three years after the catastrophe we have mentioned, and
+late in the autumn, when, one night, contrary to his habit, he did not
+appear at the house where he lodged, neither had he been seen anywhere,
+during the evening, in the village. His hours of return had been so very
+regular, that his absence excited considerable surprise, though, of
+course, no actual alarm; and, at the usual hour, the house was closed for
+the night, and the absent lodger consigned to the mercy of the elements,
+and the care of his presiding star. Early in the morning, however, he was
+found lying in a state of utter helplessness upon the slope immediately
+overlooking the Chapelizod gate. He had been smitten with a paralytic
+stroke: his right side was dead; and it was many weeks before he had
+recovered his speech sufficiently to make himself at all understood.
+
+He then made the following relation:--He had been detained, it appeared,
+later than usual, and darkness had closed before he commenced his
+homeward walk across the Park. It was a moonlit night, but masses of
+ragged clouds were slowly drifting across the heavens. He had not
+encountered a human figure, and no sounds but the softened rush of the
+wind sweeping through bushes and hollows met his ear. These wild and
+monotonous sounds, and the utter solitude which surrounded him, did not,
+however, excite any of those uneasy sensations which are ascribed to
+superstition, although he said he did feel depressed, or, in his own
+phraseology, "lonesome." Just as he crossed the brow of the hill which
+shelters the town of Chapelizod, the moon shone out for some moments
+with unclouded lustre, and his eye, which happened to wander by the
+shadowy enclosures which lay at the foot of the slope, was arrested by
+the sight of a human figure climbing, with all the haste of one pursued,
+over the churchyard wall, and running up the steep ascent directly
+towards him. Stories of "resurrectionists" crossed his recollection, as
+he observed this suspicious-looking figure. But he began, momentarily,
+to be aware with a sort of fearful instinct which he could not explain,
+that the running figure was directing his steps, with a sinister
+purpose, towards himself.
+
+The form was that of a man with a loose coat about him, which, as he ran,
+he disengaged, and as well as Larkin could see, for the moon was again
+wading in clouds, threw from him. The figure thus advanced until within
+some two score yards of him, it arrested its speed, and approached with a
+loose, swaggering gait. The moon again shone out bright and clear, and,
+gracious God! what was the spectacle before him? He saw as distinctly as
+if he had been presented there in the flesh, Ned Moran, himself, stripped
+naked from the waist upward, as if for pugilistic combat, and drawing
+towards him in silence. Larkin would have shouted, prayed, cursed, fled
+across the Park, but he was absolutely powerless; the apparition stopped
+within a few steps, and leered on him with a ghastly mimicry of the
+defiant stare with which pugilists strive to cow one another before
+combat. For a time, which he could not so much as conjecture, he was held
+in the fascination of that unearthly gaze, and at last the thing,
+whatever it was, on a sudden swaggered close up to him with extended
+palms. With an impulse of horror, Larkin put out his hand to keep the
+figure off, and their palms touched--at least, so he believed--for a
+thrill of unspeakable agony, running through his arm, pervaded his entire
+frame, and he fell senseless to the earth.
+
+Though Larkin lived for many years after, his punishment was terrible. He
+was incurably maimed; and being unable to work, he was forced, for
+existence, to beg alms of those who had once feared and flattered him. He
+suffered, too, increasingly, under his own horrible interpretation of the
+preternatural encounter which was the beginning of all his miseries. It
+was vain to endeavour to shake his faith in the reality of the
+apparition, and equally vain, as some compassionately did, to try to
+persuade him that the greeting with which his vision closed was intended,
+while inflicting a temporary trial, to signify a compensating
+reconciliation.
+
+"No, no," he used to say, "all won't do. I know the meaning of it well
+enough; it is a challenge to meet him in the other world--in Hell, where
+I am going--that's what it means, and nothing else."
+
+And so, miserable and refusing comfort, he lived on for some years, and
+then died, and was buried in the same narrow churchyard which contains
+the remains of his victim.
+
+I need hardly say, how absolute was the faith of the honest inhabitants,
+at the time when I heard the story, in the reality of the preternatural
+summons which, through the portals of terror, sickness, and misery, had
+summoned Bully Larkin to his long, last home, and that, too, upon the
+very ground on which he had signalised the guiltiest triumph of his
+violent and vindictive career.
+
+I recollect another story of the preternatural sort, which made no small
+sensation, some five-and-thirty years ago, among the good gossips of the
+town; and, with your leave, courteous reader, I shall relate it.
+
+
+
+
+The Sexton's Adventure
+
+
+Those who remember Chapelizod a quarter of a century ago, or more, may
+possibly recollect the parish sexton. Bob Martin was held much in awe by
+truant boys who sauntered into the churchyard on Sundays, to read the
+tombstones, or play leap frog over them, or climb the ivy in search of
+bats or sparrows' nests, or peep into the mysterious aperture under the
+eastern window, which opened a dim perspective of descending steps
+losing themselves among profounder darkness, where lidless coffins gaped
+horribly among tattered velvet, bones, and dust, which time and
+mortality had strewn there. Of such horribly curious, and otherwise
+enterprising juveniles, Bob was, of course, the special scourge and
+terror. But terrible as was the official aspect of the sexton, and
+repugnant as his lank form, clothed in rusty, sable vesture, his small,
+frosty visage, suspicious grey eyes, and rusty, brown scratch-wig, might
+appear to all notions of genial frailty; it was yet true, that Bob
+Martin's severe morality sometimes nodded, and that Bacchus did not
+always solicit him in vain.
+
+Bob had a curious mind, a memory well stored with "merry tales," and
+tales of terror. His profession familiarized him with graves and goblins,
+and his tastes with weddings, wassail, and sly frolics of all sorts. And
+as his personal recollections ran back nearly three score years into the
+perspective of the village history, his fund of local anecdote was
+copious, accurate, and edifying.
+
+As his ecclesiastical revenues were by no means considerable, he was not
+unfrequently obliged, for the indulgence of his tastes, to arts which
+were, at the best, undignified.
+
+He frequently invited himself when his entertainers had forgotten to do
+so; he dropped in accidentally upon small drinking parties of his
+acquaintance in public houses, and entertained them with stories, queer
+or terrible, from his inexhaustible reservoir, never scrupling to accept
+an acknowledgment in the shape of hot whiskey-punch, or whatever else
+was going.
+
+There was at that time a certain atrabilious publican, called Philip
+Slaney, established in a shop nearly opposite the old turnpike. This man
+was not, when left to himself, immoderately given to drinking; but being
+naturally of a saturnine complexion, and his spirits constantly requiring
+a fillip, he acquired a prodigious liking for Bob Martin's company. The
+sexton's society, in fact, gradually became the solace of his existence,
+and he seemed to lose his constitutional melancholy in the fascination of
+his sly jokes and marvellous stories.
+
+This intimacy did not redound to the prosperity or reputation of the
+convivial allies. Bob Martin drank a good deal more punch than was good
+for his health, or consistent with the character of an ecclesiastical
+functionary. Philip Slaney, too, was drawn into similar indulgences, for
+it was hard to resist the genial seductions of his gifted companion; and
+as he was obliged to pay for both, his purse was believed to have
+suffered even more than his head and liver.
+
+Be this as it may, Bob Martin had the credit of having made a drunkard of
+"black Phil Slaney"--for by this cognomen was he distinguished; and Phil
+Slaney had also the reputation of having made the sexton, if possible, a
+"bigger bliggard" than ever. Under these circumstances, the accounts of
+the concern opposite the turnpike became somewhat entangled; and it came
+to pass one drowsy summer morning, the weather being at once sultry and
+cloudy, that Phil Slaney went into a small back parlour, where he kept
+his books, and which commanded, through its dirty window-panes, a full
+view of a dead wall, and having bolted the door, he took a loaded pistol,
+and clapping the muzzle in his mouth, blew the upper part of his skull
+through the ceiling.
+
+This horrid catastrophe shocked Bob Martin extremely; and partly on this
+account, and partly because having been, on several late occasions, found
+at night in a state of abstraction, bordering on insensibility, upon the
+high road, he had been threatened with dismissal; and, as some said,
+partly also because of the difficulty of finding anybody to "treat" him
+as poor Phil Slaney used to do, he for a time forswore alcohol in all its
+combinations, and became an eminent example of temperance and sobriety.
+
+Bob observed his good resolutions, greatly to the comfort of his wife,
+and the edification of the neighbourhood, with tolerable punctuality. He
+was seldom tipsy, and never drunk, and was greeted by the better part of
+society with all the honours of the prodigal son.
+
+Now it happened, about a year after the grisly event we have mentioned,
+that the curate having received, by the post, due notice of a funeral to
+be consummated in the churchyard of Chapelizod, with certain instructions
+respecting the site of the grave, despatched a summons for Bob Martin,
+with a view to communicate to that functionary these official details.
+
+It was a lowering autumn night: piles of lurid thunder-clouds, slowly
+rising from the earth, had loaded the sky with a solemn and boding canopy
+of storm. The growl of the distant thunder was heard afar off upon the
+dull, still air, and all nature seemed, as it were, hushed and cowering
+under the oppressive influence of the approaching tempest.
+
+It was past nine o'clock when Bob, putting on his official coat of seedy
+black, prepared to attend his professional superior.
+
+"Bobby, darlin'," said his wife, before she delivered the hat she held in
+her hand to his keeping, "sure you won't, Bobby, darlin'--you won't--you
+know what."
+
+"I _don't_ know what," he retorted, smartly, grasping at his hat.
+
+"You won't be throwing up the little finger, Bobby, acushla?" she said,
+evading his grasp.
+
+"Arrah, why would I, woman? there, give me my hat, will you?"
+
+"But won't you promise me, Bobby darlin'--won't you, alanna?"
+
+"Ay, ay, to be sure I will--why not?--there, give me my hat, and
+let me go."
+
+"Ay, but you're not promisin', Bobby, mavourneen; you're not promisin'
+all the time."
+
+"Well, divil carry me if I drink a drop till I come back again," said the
+sexton, angrily; "will that do you? And _now_ will you give me my hat?"
+
+"Here it is, darlin'," she said, "and God send you safe back."
+
+And with this parting blessing she closed the door upon his retreating
+figure, for it was now quite dark, and resumed her knitting till his
+return, very much relieved; for she thought he had of late been oftener
+tipsy than was consistent with his thorough reformation, and feared the
+allurements of the half dozen "publics" which he had at that time to pass
+on his way to the other end of the town.
+
+They were still open, and exhaled a delicious reek of whiskey, as Bob
+glided wistfully by them; but he stuck his hands in his pockets and
+looked the other way, whistling resolutely, and filling his mind with the
+image of the curate and anticipations of his coming fee. Thus he steered
+his morality safely through these rocks of offence, and reached the
+curate's lodging in safety.
+
+He had, however, an unexpected sick call to attend, and was not at home,
+so that Bob Martin had to sit in the hall and amuse himself with the
+devil's tattoo until his return. This, unfortunately, was very long
+delayed, and it must have been fully twelve o'clock when Bob Martin set
+out upon his homeward way. By this time the storm had gathered to a
+pitchy darkness, the bellowing thunder was heard among the rocks and
+hollows of the Dublin mountains, and the pale, blue lightning shone upon
+the staring fronts of the houses.
+
+By this time, too, every door was closed; but as Bob trudged homeward,
+his eye mechanically sought the public-house which had once belonged to
+Phil Slaney. A faint light was making its way through the shutters and
+the glass panes over the doorway, which made a sort of dull, foggy halo
+about the front of the house.
+
+As Bob's eyes had become accustomed to the obscurity by this time, the
+light in question was quite sufficient to enable him to see a man in a
+sort of loose riding-coat seated upon a bench which, at that time, was
+fixed under the window of the house. He wore his hat very much over his
+eyes, and was smoking a long pipe. The outline of a glass and a quart
+bottle were also dimly traceable beside him; and a large horse saddled,
+but faintly discernible, was patiently awaiting his master's leisure.
+
+There was something odd, no doubt, in the appearance of a traveller
+refreshing himself at such an hour in the open street; but the sexton
+accounted for it easily by supposing that, on the closing of the house
+for the night, he had taken what remained of his refection to the place
+where he was now discussing it al fresco.
+
+At another time Bob might have saluted the stranger as he passed with a
+friendly "good night"; but, somehow, he was out of humour and in no
+genial mood, and was about passing without any courtesy of the sort,
+when the stranger, without taking the pipe from his mouth, raised the
+bottle, and with it beckoned him familiarly, while, with a sort of lurch
+of the head and shoulders, and at the same time shifting his seat to the
+end of the bench, he pantomimically invited him to share his seat and
+his cheer. There was a divine fragrance of whiskey about the spot, and
+Bob half relented; but he remembered his promise just as he began to
+waver, and said:
+
+"No, I thank you, sir, I can't stop to-night."
+
+The stranger beckoned with vehement welcome, and pointed to the vacant
+space on the seat beside him.
+
+"I thank you for your polite offer," said Bob, "but it's what I'm too
+late as it is, and haven't time to spare, so I wish you a good night."
+
+The traveller jingled the glass against the neck of the bottle, as if to
+intimate that he might at least swallow a dram without losing time. Bob
+was mentally quite of the same opinion; but, though his mouth watered, he
+remembered his promise, and shaking his head with incorruptible
+resolution, walked on.
+
+The stranger, pipe in mouth, rose from his bench, the bottle in one hand,
+and the glass in the other, and followed at the sexton's heels, his dusky
+horse keeping close in his wake.
+
+There was something suspicious and unaccountable in this importunity.
+
+Bob quickened his pace, but the stranger followed close. The sexton began
+to feel queer, and turned about. His pursuer was behind, and still
+inviting him with impatient gestures to taste his liquor.
+
+"I told you before," said Bob, who was both angry and frightened, "that I
+would not taste it, and that's enough. I don't want to have anything to
+say to you or your bottle; and in God's name," he added, more vehemently,
+observing that he was approaching still closer, "fall back and don't be
+tormenting me this way."
+
+These words, as it seemed, incensed the stranger, for he shook the bottle
+with violent menace at Bob Martin; but, notwithstanding this gesture of
+defiance, he suffered the distance between them to increase. Bob,
+however, beheld him dogging him still in the distance, for his pipe shed
+a wonderful red glow, which duskily illuminated his entire figure like
+the lurid atmosphere of a meteor.
+
+"I wish the devil had his own, my boy," muttered the excited sexton, "and
+I know well enough where you'd be."
+
+The next time he looked over his shoulder, to his dismay he observed the
+importunate stranger as close as ever upon his track.
+
+"Confound you," cried the man of skulls and shovels, almost beside
+himself with rage and horror, "what is it you want of me?"
+
+The stranger appeared more confident, and kept wagging his head and
+extending both glass and bottle toward him as he drew near, and Bob
+Martin heard the horse snorting as it followed in the dark.
+
+"Keep it to yourself, whatever it is, for there is neither grace nor
+luck about you," cried Bob Martin, freezing with terror; "leave me
+alone, will you."
+
+And he fumbled in vain among the seething confusion of his ideas for a
+prayer or an exorcism. He quickened his pace almost to a run; he was now
+close to his own door, under the impending bank by the river side.
+
+"Let me in, let me in, for God's sake; Molly, open the door," he cried,
+as he ran to the threshold, and leant his back against the plank. His
+pursuer confronted him upon the road; the pipe was no longer in his
+mouth, but the dusky red glow still lingered round him. He uttered some
+inarticulate cavernous sounds, which were wolfish and indescribable,
+while he seemed employed in pouring out a glass from the bottle.
+
+The sexton kicked with all his force against the door, and cried at the
+same time with a despairing voice.
+
+"In the name of God Almighty, once for all, leave me alone."
+
+His pursuer furiously flung the contents of the bottle at Bob Martin;
+but instead of fluid it issued out in a stream of flame, which expanded
+and whirled round them, and for a moment they were both enveloped in a
+faint blaze; at the same instant a sudden gust whisked off the
+stranger's hat, and the sexton beheld that his skull was roofless. For
+an instant he beheld the gaping aperture, black and shattered, and then
+he fell senseless into his own doorway, which his affrighted wife had
+just unbarred.
+
+I need hardly give my reader the key to this most intelligible and
+authentic narrative. The traveller was acknowledged by all to have been
+the spectre of the suicide, called up by the Evil One to tempt the
+convivial sexton into a violation of his promise, sealed, as it was, by
+an imprecation. Had he succeeded, no doubt the dusky steed, which Bob had
+seen saddled in attendance, was destined to have carried back a double
+burden to the place from whence he came.
+
+As an attestation of the reality of this visitation, the old thorn tree
+which overhung the doorway was found in the morning to have been blasted
+with the infernal fires which had issued from the bottle, just as if a
+thunder-bolt had scorched it.
+
+The moral of the above tale is upon the surface, apparent, and, so to
+speak, _self-acting_--a circumstance which happily obviates the
+necessity of our discussing it together. Taking our leave, therefore, of
+honest Bob Martin, who now sleeps soundly in the same solemn dormitory
+where, in his day, he made so many beds for others, I come to a legend
+of the Royal Irish Artillery, whose headquarters were for so long a time
+in the town of Chapelizod. I don't mean to say that I cannot tell a
+great many more stories, equally authentic and marvellous, touching this
+old town; but as I may possibly have to perform a like office for other
+localities, and as Anthony Poplar is known, like Atropos, to carry a
+shears, wherewith to snip across all "yarns" which exceed reasonable
+bounds, I consider it, on the whole, safer to despatch the traditions of
+Chapelizod with one tale more.
+
+Let me, however, first give it a name; for an author can no more despatch
+a tale without a title, than an apothecary can deliver his physic without
+a label. We shall, therefore, call it--
+
+
+
+
+The Spectre Lovers
+
+
+There lived some fifteen years since in a small and ruinous house, little
+better than a hovel, an old woman who was reported to have considerably
+exceeded her eightieth year, and who rejoiced in the name of Alice, or
+popularly, Ally Moran. Her society was not much courted, for she was
+neither rich, nor, as the reader may suppose, beautiful. In addition to a
+lean cur and a cat she had one human companion, her grandson, Peter
+Brien, whom, with laudable good nature, she had supported from the period
+of his orphanage down to that of my story, which finds him in his
+twentieth year. Peter was a good-natured slob of a fellow, much more
+addicted to wrestling, dancing, and love-making, than to hard work, and
+fonder of whiskey-punch than good advice. His grandmother had a high
+opinion of his accomplishments, which indeed was but natural, and also of
+his genius, for Peter had of late years begun to apply his mind to
+politics; and as it was plain that he had a mortal hatred of honest
+labour, his grandmother predicted, like a true fortuneteller, that he was
+born to marry an heiress, and Peter himself (who had no mind to forego
+his freedom even on such terms) that he was destined to find a pot of
+gold. Upon one point both agreed, that being unfitted by the peculiar
+bias of his genius for work, he was to acquire the immense fortune to
+which his merits entitled him by means of a pure run of good luck. This
+solution of Peter's future had the double effect of reconciling both
+himself and his grandmother to his idle courses, and also of maintaining
+that even flow of hilarious spirits which made him everywhere welcome,
+and which was in truth the natural result of his consciousness of
+approaching affluence.
+
+It happened one night that Peter had enjoyed himself to a very late hour
+with two or three choice spirits near Palmerstown. They had talked
+politics and love, sung songs, and told stories, and, above all, had
+swallowed, in the chastened disguise of punch, at least a pint of good
+whiskey, every man.
+
+It was considerably past one o'clock when Peter bid his companions
+goodbye, with a sigh and a hiccough, and lighting his pipe set forth on
+his solitary homeward way.
+
+The bridge of Chapelizod was pretty nearly the midway point of his night
+march, and from one cause or another his progress was rather slow, and it
+was past two o'clock by the time he found himself leaning over its old
+battlements, and looking up the river, over whose winding current and
+wooded banks the soft moonlight was falling.
+
+The cold breeze that blew lightly down the stream was grateful to him. It
+cooled his throbbing head, and he drank it in at his hot lips. The scene,
+too, had, without his being well sensible of it, a secret fascination.
+The village was sunk in the profoundest slumber, not a mortal stirring,
+not a sound afloat, a soft haze covered it all, and the fairy moonlight
+hovered over the entire landscape.
+
+In a state between rumination and rapture, Peter continued to lean over
+the battlements of the old bridge, and as he did so he saw, or fancied he
+saw, emerging one after another along the river bank in the little
+gardens and enclosures in the rear of the street of Chapelizod, the
+queerest little white-washed huts and cabins he had ever seen there
+before. They had not been there that evening when he passed the bridge on
+the way to his merry tryst. But the most remarkable thing about it was
+the odd way in which these quaint little cabins showed themselves. First
+he saw one or two of them just with the corner of his eye, and when he
+looked full at them, strange to say, they faded away and disappeared.
+Then another and another came in view, but all in the same coy way, just
+appearing and gone again before he could well fix his gaze upon them; in
+a little while, however, they began to bear a fuller gaze, and he found,
+as it seemed to himself, that he was able by an effort of attention to
+fix the vision for a longer and a longer time, and when they waxed faint
+and nearly vanished, he had the power of recalling them into light and
+substance, until at last their vacillating indistinctness became less and
+less, and they assumed a permanent place in the moonlit landscape.
+
+"Be the hokey," said Peter, lost in amazement, and dropping his pipe into
+the river unconsciously, "them is the quarist bits iv mud cabins I ever
+seen, growing up like musharoons in the dew of an evening, and poppin' up
+here and down again there, and up again in another place, like so many
+white rabbits in a warren; and there they stand at last as firm and fast
+as if they were there from the Deluge; bedad it's enough to make a man
+a'most believe in the fairies."
+
+This latter was a large concession from Peter, who was a bit of a
+free-thinker, and spoke contemptuously in his ordinary conversation of
+that class of agencies.
+
+Having treated himself to a long last stare at these mysterious fabrics,
+Peter prepared to pursue his homeward way; having crossed the bridge and
+passed the mill, he arrived at the corner of the main-street of the
+little town, and casting a careless look up the Dublin road, his eye was
+arrested by a most unexpected spectacle.
+
+This was no other than a column of foot soldiers, marching with perfect
+regularity towards the village, and headed by an officer on horseback.
+They were at the far side of the turnpike, which was closed; but much to
+his perplexity he perceived that they marched on through it without
+appearing to sustain the least check from that barrier.
+
+On they came at a slow march; and what was most singular in the matter
+was, that they were drawing several cannons along with them; some held
+ropes, others spoked the wheels, and others again marched in front of the
+guns and behind them, with muskets shouldered, giving a stately character
+of parade and regularity to this, as it seemed to Peter, most unmilitary
+procedure.
+
+It was owing either to some temporary defect in Peter's vision, or to
+some illusion attendant upon mist and moonlight, or perhaps to some other
+cause, that the whole procession had a certain waving and vapoury
+character which perplexed and tasked his eyes not a little. It was like
+the pictured pageant of a phantasmagoria reflected upon smoke. It was as
+if every breath disturbed it; sometimes it was blurred, sometimes
+obliterated; now here, now there. Sometimes, while the upper part was
+quite distinct, the legs of the column would nearly fade away or vanish
+outright, and then again they would come out into clear relief, marching
+on with measured tread, while the cocked hats and shoulders grew, as it
+were, transparent, and all but disappeared.
+
+Notwithstanding these strange optical fluctuations, however, the column
+continued steadily to advance. Peter crossed the street from the corner
+near the old bridge, running on tip-toe, and with his body stooped to
+avoid observation, and took up a position upon the raised footpath in the
+shadow of the houses, where, as the soldiers kept the middle of the road,
+he calculated that he might, himself undetected, see them distinctly
+enough as they passed.
+
+"What the div--, what on airth," he muttered, checking the irreligious
+ejaculation with which he was about to start, for certain queer
+misgivings were hovering about his heart, notwithstanding the factitious
+courage of the whiskey bottle. "What on airth is the manin' of all this?
+is it the French that's landed at last to give us a hand and help us in
+airnest to this blessed repale? If it is not them, I simply ask who the
+div--, I mane who on airth are they, for such sogers as them I never
+seen before in my born days?"
+
+By this time the foremost of them were quite near, and truth to say they
+were the queerest soldiers he had ever seen in the course of his life.
+They wore long gaiters and leather breeches, three-cornered hats, bound
+with silver lace, long blue coats, with scarlet facings and linings,
+which latter were shewn by a fastening which held together the two
+opposite corners of the skirt behind; and in front the breasts were in
+like manner connected at a single point, where and below which they
+sloped back, disclosing a long-flapped waistcoat of snowy whiteness; they
+had very large, long cross-belts, and wore enormous pouches of white
+leather hung extraordinarily low, and on each of which a little silver
+star was glittering. But what struck him as most grotesque and outlandish
+in their costume was their extraordinary display of shirt-frill in front,
+and of ruffle about their wrists, and the strange manner in which their
+hair was frizzled out and powdered under their hats, and clubbed up into
+great rolls behind. But one of the party was mounted. He rode a tall
+white horse, with high action and arching neck; he had a snow-white
+feather in his three-cornered hat, and his coat was shimmering all over
+with a profusion of silver lace. From these circumstances Peter concluded
+that he must be the commander of the detachment, and examined him as he
+passed attentively. He was a slight, tall man, whose legs did not half
+fill his leather breeches, and he appeared to be at the wrong side of
+sixty. He had a shrunken, weather-beaten, mulberry-coloured face, carried
+a large black patch over one eye, and turned neither to the right nor to
+the left, but rode on at the head of his men, with a grim, military
+inflexibility.
+
+The countenances of these soldiers, officers as well as men, seemed all
+full of trouble, and, so to speak, scared and wild. He watched in vain
+for a single contented or comely face. They had, one and all, a
+melancholy and hang-dog look; and as they passed by, Peter fancied that
+the air grew cold and thrilling.
+
+He had seated himself upon a stone bench, from which, staring with all
+his might, he gazed upon the grotesque and noiseless procession as it
+filed by him. Noiseless it was; he could neither hear the jingle of
+accoutrements, the tread of feet, nor the rumble of the wheels; and when
+the old colonel turned his horse a little, and made as though he were
+giving the word of command, and a trumpeter, with a swollen blue nose and
+white feather fringe round his hat, who was walking beside him, turned
+about and put his bugle to his lips, still Peter heard nothing, although
+it was plain the sound had reached the soldiers, for they instantly
+changed their front to three abreast.
+
+"Botheration!" muttered Peter, "is it deaf I'm growing?"
+
+But that could not be, for he heard the sighing of the breeze and the
+rush of the neighbouring Liffey plain enough.
+
+"Well," said he, in the same cautious key, "by the piper, this bangs
+Banagher fairly! It's either the Frinch army that's in it, come to take
+the town iv Chapelizod by surprise, an' makin' no noise for feard iv
+wakenin' the inhabitants; or else it's--it's--what it's--somethin' else.
+But, tundher-an-ouns, what's gone wid Fitzpatrick's shop across the way?"
+
+The brown, dingy stone building at the opposite side of the street looked
+newer and cleaner than he had been used to see it; the front door of it
+stood open, and a sentry, in the same grotesque uniform, with shouldered
+musket, was pacing noiselessly to and fro before it. At the angle of this
+building, in like manner, a wide gate (of which Peter had no recollection
+whatever) stood open, before which, also, a similar sentry was gliding,
+and into this gateway the whole column gradually passed, and Peter
+finally lost sight of it.
+
+"I'm not asleep; I'm not dhramin'," said he, rubbing his eyes, and
+stamping slightly on the pavement, to assure himself that he was wide
+awake. "It is a quare business, whatever it is; an' it's not alone that,
+but everything about town looks strange to me. There's Tresham's house
+new painted, bedad, an' them flowers in the windies! An' Delany's house,
+too, that had not a whole pane of glass in it this morning, and scarce a
+slate on the roof of it! It is not possible it's what it's dhrunk I am.
+Sure there's the big tree, and not a leaf of it changed since I passed,
+and the stars overhead, all right. I don't think it is in my eyes it is."
+
+And so looking about him, and every moment finding or fancying new food
+for wonder, he walked along the pavement, intending, without further
+delay, to make his way home.
+
+But his adventures for the night were not concluded. He had nearly
+reached the angle of the short land that leads up to the church, when for
+the first time he perceived that an officer, in the uniform he had just
+seen, was walking before, only a few yards in advance of him.
+
+The officer was walking along at an easy, swinging gait, and carried
+his sword under his arm, and was looking down on the pavement with an
+air of reverie.
+
+In the very fact that he seemed unconscious of Peter's presence, and
+disposed to keep his reflections to himself, there was something
+reassuring. Besides, the reader must please to remember that our hero had
+a quantum sufficit of good punch before his adventure commenced, and was
+thus fortified against those qualms and terrors under which, in a more
+reasonable state of mind, he might not impossibly have sunk.
+
+The idea of the French invasion revived in full power in Peter's fuddled
+imagination, as he pursued the nonchalant swagger of the officer.
+
+"Be the powers iv Moll Kelly, I'll ax him what it is," said Peter, with a
+sudden accession of rashness. "He may tell me or not, as he plases, but
+he can't be offinded, anyhow."
+
+With this reflection having inspired himself, Peter cleared his voice
+and began--
+
+"Captain!" said he, "I ax your pardon, captain, an' maybe you'd be so
+condescindin' to my ignorance as to tell me, if it's plasin' to yer
+honour, whether your honour is not a Frinchman, if it's plasin' to you."
+
+This he asked, not thinking that, had it been as he suspected, not one
+word of his question in all probability would have been intelligible to
+the person he addressed. He was, however, understood, for the officer
+answered him in English, at the same time slackening his pace and moving
+a little to the side of the pathway, as if to invite his interrogator to
+take his place beside him.
+
+"No; I am an Irishman," he answered.
+
+"I humbly thank your honour," said Peter, drawing nearer--for the
+affability and the nativity of the officer encouraged him--"but maybe
+your honour is in the _sarvice_ of the King of France?"
+
+"I serve the same King as you do," he answered, with a sorrowful
+significance which Peter did not comprehend at the time; and,
+interrogating in turn, he asked, "But what calls you forth at this hour
+of the day?"
+
+"The _day,_ your honour!--the night, you mane."
+
+"It was always our way to turn night into day, and we keep to it still,"
+remarked the soldier. "But, no matter, come up here to my house; I have a
+job for you, if you wish to earn some money easily. I live here."
+
+As he said this, he beckoned authoritatively to Peter, who followed
+almost mechanically at his heels, and they turned up a little lane near
+the old Roman Catholic chapel, at the end of which stood, in Peter's
+time, the ruins of a tall, stone-built house.
+
+Like everything else in the town, it had suffered a metamorphosis. The
+stained and ragged walls were now erect, perfect, and covered with
+pebble-dash; window-panes glittered coldly in every window; the green
+hall-door had a bright brass knocker on it. Peter did not know whether to
+believe his previous or his present impressions; seeing is believing, and
+Peter could not dispute the reality of the scene. All the records of his
+memory seemed but the images of a tipsy dream. In a trance of
+astonishment and perplexity, therefore, he submitted himself to the
+chances of his adventure.
+
+The door opened, the officer beckoned with a melancholy air of authority
+to Peter, and entered. Our hero followed him into a sort of hall, which
+was very dark, but he was guided by the steps of the soldier, and, in
+silence, they ascended the stairs. The moonlight, which shone in at the
+lobbies, showed an old, dark wainscoting, and a heavy, oak banister. They
+passed by closed doors at different landing-places, but all was dark and
+silent as, indeed, became that late hour of the night.
+
+Now they ascended to the topmost floor. The captain paused for a minute
+at the nearest door, and, with a heavy groan, pushing it open, entered
+the room. Peter remained at the threshold. A slight female form in a
+sort of loose, white robe, and with a great deal of dark hair hanging
+loosely about her, was standing in the middle of the floor, with her
+back towards them.
+
+The soldier stopped short before he reached her, and said, in a voice of
+great anguish, "Still the same, sweet bird--sweet bird! still the same."
+Whereupon, she turned suddenly, and threw her arms about the neck of the
+officer, with a gesture of fondness and despair, and her frame was
+agitated as if by a burst of sobs. He held her close to his breast in
+silence; and honest Peter felt a strange terror creep over him, as he
+witnessed these mysterious sorrows and endearments.
+
+"To-night, to-night--and then ten years more--ten long years--another
+ten years."
+
+The officer and the lady seemed to speak these words together; her voice
+mingled with his in a musical and fearful wail, like a distant summer
+wind, in the dead hour of night, wandering through ruins. Then he heard
+the officer say, alone, in a voice of anguish--
+
+"Upon me be it all, for ever, sweet birdie, upon me."
+
+And again they seemed to mourn together in the same soft and desolate
+wail, like sounds of grief heard from a great distance.
+
+Peter was thrilled with horror, but he was also under a strange
+fascination; and an intense and dreadful curiosity held him fast.
+
+The moon was shining obliquely into the room, and through the window
+Peter saw the familiar slopes of the Park, sleeping mistily under its
+shimmer. He could also see the furniture of the room with tolerable
+distinctness--the old balloon-backed chairs, a four-post bed in a sort of
+recess, and a rack against the wall, from which hung some military
+clothes and accoutrements; and the sight of all these homely objects
+reassured him somewhat, and he could not help feeling unspeakably curious
+to see the face of the girl whose long hair was streaming over the
+officer's epaulet.
+
+Peter, accordingly, coughed, at first slightly, and afterward more
+loudly, to recall her from her reverie of grief; and, apparently, he
+succeeded; for she turned round, as did her companion, and both, standing
+hand in hand, gazed upon him fixedly. He thought he had never seen such
+large, strange eyes in all his life; and their gaze seemed to chill the
+very air around him, and arrest the pulses of his heart. An eternity of
+misery and remorse was in the shadowy faces that looked upon him.
+
+If Peter had taken less whisky by a single thimbleful, it is probable
+that he would have lost heart altogether before these figures, which
+seemed every moment to assume a more marked and fearful, though hardly
+definable, contrast to ordinary human shapes.
+
+"What is it you want with me?" he stammered.
+
+"To bring my lost treasure to the churchyard," replied the lady, in a
+silvery voice of more than mortal desolation.
+
+The word "treasure" revived the resolution of Peter, although a cold
+sweat was covering him, and his hair was bristling with horror; he
+believed, however, that he was on the brink of fortune, if he could but
+command nerve to brave the interview to its close.
+
+"And where," he gasped, "is it hid--where will I find it?"
+
+They both pointed to the sill of the window, through which the moon was
+shining at the far end of the room, and the soldier said--
+
+"Under that stone."
+
+Peter drew a long breath, and wiped the cold dew from his face,
+preparatory to passing to the window, where he expected to secure the
+reward of his protracted terrors. But looking steadfastly at the window,
+he saw the faint image of a new-born child sitting upon the sill in the
+moonlight, with its little arms stretched toward him, and a smile so
+heavenly as he never beheld before.
+
+At sight of this, strange to say, his heart entirely failed him, he
+looked on the figures that stood near, and beheld them gazing on the
+infantine form with a smile so guilty and distorted, that he felt as if
+he were entering alive among the scenery of hell, and shuddering, he
+cried in an irrepressible agony of horror--
+
+"I'll have nothing to say with you, and nothing to do with you; I don't
+know what yez are or what yez want iv me, but let me go this minute,
+every one of yez, in the name of God."
+
+With these words there came a strange rumbling and sighing about
+Peter's ears; he lost sight of everything, and felt that peculiar and
+not unpleasant sensation of falling softly, that sometimes supervenes
+in sleep, ending in a dull shock. After that he had neither dream nor
+consciousness till he wakened, chill and stiff, stretched between two
+piles of old rubbish, among the black and roofless walls of the
+ruined house.
+
+We need hardly mention that the village had put on its wonted air of
+neglect and decay, or that Peter looked around him in vain for traces of
+those novelties which had so puzzled and distracted him upon the
+previous night.
+
+"Ay, ay," said his grandmother, removing her pipe, as he ended his
+description of the view from the bridge, "sure enough I remember myself,
+when I was a slip of a girl, these little white cabins among the gardens
+by the river side. The artillery sogers that was married, or had not room
+in the barracks, used to be in them, but they're all gone long ago.
+
+"The Lord be merciful to us!" she resumed, when he had described the
+military procession, "It's often I seen the regiment marchin' into the
+town, jist as you saw it last night, acushla. Oh, voch, but it makes my
+heart sore to think iv them days; they were pleasant times, sure enough;
+but is not it terrible, avick, to think it's what it was the ghost of the
+rigiment you seen? The Lord betune us an' harm, for it was nothing else,
+as sure as I'm sittin' here."
+
+When he mentioned the peculiar physiognomy and figure of the old officer
+who rode at the head of the regiment--
+
+"That," said the old crone, dogmatically, "was ould Colonel Grimshaw, the
+Lord presarve us! he's buried in the churchyard iv Chapelizod, and well I
+remember him, when I was a young thing, an' a cross ould floggin' fellow
+he was wid the men, an' a devil's boy among the girls--rest his soul!"
+
+"Amen!" said Peter; "it's often I read his tombstone myself; but he's a
+long time dead."
+
+"Sure, I tell you he died when I was no more nor a slip iv a girl--the
+Lord betune us and harm!"
+
+"I'm afeard it is what I'm not long for this world myself, afther seeing
+such a sight as that," said Peter, fearfully.
+
+"Nonsinse, avourneen," retorted his grandmother, indignantly, though she
+had herself misgivings on the subject; "sure there was Phil Doolan, the
+ferryman, that seen black Ann Scanlan in his own boat, and what harm ever
+kem of it?"
+
+Peter proceeded with his narrative, but when he came to the description
+of the house, in which his adventure had had so sinister a conclusion,
+the old woman was at fault.
+
+"I know the house and the ould walls well, an' I can remember the time
+there was a roof on it, and the doors an' windows in it, but it had a bad
+name about being haunted, but by who, or for what, I forget intirely."
+
+"Did you ever hear was there goold or silver there?" he inquired.
+
+"No, no, avick, don't be thinking about the likes; take a fool's advice,
+and never go next to near them ugly black walls again the longest day you
+have to live; an' I'd take my davy, it's what it's the same word the
+priest himself id be afther sayin' to you if you wor to ax his raverence
+consarnin' it, for it's plain to be seen it was nothing good you seen
+there, and there's neither luck nor grace about it."
+
+Peter's adventure made no little noise in the neighbourhood, as the
+reader may well suppose; and a few evenings after it, being on an errand
+to old Major Vandeleur, who lived in a snug old-fashioned house, close by
+the river, under a perfect bower of ancient trees, he was called on to
+relate the story in the parlour.
+
+The Major was, as I have said, an old man; he was small, lean, and
+upright, with a mahogany complexion, and a wooden inflexibility of face;
+he was a man, besides, of few words, and if _he_ was old, it follows
+plainly that his mother was older still. Nobody could guess or tell _how_
+old, but it was admitted that her own generation had long passed away,
+and that she had not a competitor left. She had French blood in her
+veins, and although she did not retain her charms quite so well as Ninon
+de l'Enclos, she was in full possession of all her mental activity, and
+talked quite enough for herself and the Major.
+
+"So, Peter," she said, "you have seen the dear, old Royal Irish again in
+the streets of Chapelizod. Make him a tumbler of punch, Frank; and Peter,
+sit down, and while you take it let us have the story."
+
+Peter accordingly, seated, near the door, with a tumbler of the nectarian
+stimulant steaming beside him, proceeded with marvellous courage,
+considering they had no light but the uncertain glare of the fire, to
+relate with minute particularity his awful adventure. The old lady
+listened at first with a smile of good-natured incredulity; her
+cross-examination touching the drinking-bout at Palmerstown had been
+teazing, but as the narrative proceeded she became attentive, and at
+length absorbed, and once or twice she uttered ejaculations of pity or
+awe. When it was over, the old lady looked with a somewhat sad and stern
+abstraction on the table, patting her cat assiduously meanwhile, and then
+suddenly looking upon her son, the Major, she said--
+
+"Frank, as sure as I live he has seen the wicked Captain Devereux."
+
+The Major uttered an inarticulate expression of wonder.
+
+"The house was precisely that he has described. I have told you the story
+often, as I heard it from your dear grandmother, about the poor young
+lady he ruined, and the dreadful suspicion about the little baby. _She_,
+poor thing, died in that house heart-broken, and you know he was shot
+shortly after in a duel."
+
+This was the only light that Peter ever received respecting his
+adventure. It was supposed, however, that he still clung to the hope that
+treasure of some sort was hidden about the old house, for he was often
+seen lurking about its walls, and at last his fate overtook him, poor
+fellow, in the pursuit; for climbing near the summit one day, his holding
+gave way, and he fell upon the hard uneven ground, fracturing a leg and a
+rib, and after a short interval died, and he, like the other heroes of
+these true tales, lies buried in the little churchyard of Chapelizod.
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE DRUNKARD'S DREAM
+
+
+_Being a Fourth Extract from the Legacy of the Late F. Purcell, P. P. of
+Drumcoolagh_
+
+"All this _he_ told with some confusion and
+Dismay, the usual consequence of dreams
+Of the unpleasant kind, with none at hand
+To expound their vain and visionary gleams.
+I've known some odd ones which seemed really planned
+Prophetically, as that which one deems
+'A strange coincidence,' to use a phrase
+By which such things are settled now-a-days."
+
+BYRON.
+
+
+Dreams--What age, or what country of the world has not felt and
+acknowledged the mystery of their origin and end? I have thought not a
+little upon the subject, seeing it is one which has been often forced
+upon my attention, and sometimes strangely enough; and yet I have never
+arrived at any thing which at all appeared a satisfactory conclusion. It
+does appear that a mental phenomenon so extraordinary cannot be wholly
+without its use. We know, indeed, that in the olden times it has been
+made the organ of communication between the Deity and his creatures; and
+when, as I have seen, a dream produces upon a mind, to all appearance
+hopelessly reprobate and depraved, an effect so powerful and so lasting
+as to break down the inveterate habits, and to reform the life of an
+abandoned sinner. We see in the result, in the reformation of morals,
+which appeared incorrigible in the reclamation of a human soul which
+seemed to be irretrievably lost, something more than could be produced by
+a mere chimaera of the slumbering fancy, something more than could arise
+from the capricious images of a terrified imagination; but once
+prevented, we behold in all these things, in the tremendous and
+mysterious results, the operation of the hand of God. And while Reason
+rejects as absurd the superstition which will read a prophecy in every
+dream, she may, without violence to herself, recognize, even in the
+wildest and most incongruous of the wanderings of a slumbering intellect,
+the evidences and the fragments of a language which may be spoken, which
+_has_ been spoken to terrify, to warn, and to command. We have reason to
+believe too, by the promptness of action, which in the age of the
+prophets, followed all intimations of this kind, and by the strength of
+conviction and strange permanence of the effects resulting from certain
+dreams in latter times, which effects ourselves may have witnessed, that
+when this medium of communication has been employed by the Deity, the
+evidences of his presence have been unequivocal. My thoughts were
+directed to this subject, in a manner to leave a lasting impression upon
+my mind, by the events which I shall now relate, the statement of which,
+however extraordinary, is nevertheless _accurately correct_.
+
+About the year l7-- having been appointed to the living of C----h, I
+rented a small house in the town, which bears the same name: one morning,
+in the month of November, I was awakened before my usual time, by my
+servant, who bustled into my bedroom for the purpose of announcing a sick
+call. As the Catholic Church holds her last rites to be totally
+indispensable to the safety of the departing sinner, no conscientious
+clergyman can afford a moment's unnecessary delay, and in little more
+than five minutes I stood ready cloaked and booted for the road in the
+small front parlour, in which the messenger, who was to act as my guide,
+awaited my coming. I found a poor little girl crying piteously near the
+door, and after some slight difficulty I ascertained that her father was
+either dead, or just dying.
+
+"And what may be your father's name, my poor child?" said I. She held
+down her head, as if ashamed. I repeated the question, and the wretched
+little creature burst into floods of tears, still more bitter than she
+had shed before. At length, almost provoked by conduct which appeared to
+me so unreasonable, I began to lose patience, spite of the pity which I
+could not help feeling towards her, and I said rather harshly, "If you
+will not tell me the name of the person to whom you would lead me, your
+silence can arise from no good motive, and I might be justified in
+refusing to go with you at all."
+
+"Oh! don't say that, don't say that," cried she. "Oh! sir, it was that I
+was afeard of when I would not tell you--I was afeard when you heard his
+name you would not come with me; but it is no use hidin' it now--it's Pat
+Connell, the carpenter, your honour."
+
+She looked in my face with the most earnest anxiety, as if her very
+existence depended upon what she should read there; but I relieved her at
+once. The name, indeed, was most unpleasantly familiar to me; but,
+however fruitless my visits and advice might have been at another time,
+the present was too fearful an occasion to suffer my doubts of their
+utility as my reluctance to re-attempting what appeared a hopeless task
+to weigh even against the lightest chance, that a consciousness of his
+imminent danger might produce in him a more docile and tractable
+disposition. Accordingly I told the child to lead the way, and followed
+her in silence. She hurried rapidly through the long narrow street which
+forms the great thoroughfare of the town. The darkness of the hour,
+rendered still deeper by the close approach of the old fashioned houses,
+which lowered in tall obscurity on either side of the way; the damp
+dreary chill which renders the advance of morning peculiarly cheerless,
+combined with the object of my walk, to visit the death-bed of a
+presumptuous sinner, to endeavour, almost against my own conviction, to
+infuse a hope into the heart of a dying reprobate--a drunkard, but too
+probably perishing under the consequences of some mad fit of
+intoxication; all these circumstances united served to enhance the gloom
+and solemnity of my feelings, as I silently followed my little guide, who
+with quick steps traversed the uneven pavement of the main street. After
+a walk of about five minutes she turned off into a narrow lane, of that
+obscure and comfortless class which are to be found in almost all small
+old fashioned towns, chill without ventilation, reeking with all manner
+of offensive effluviae, dingy, smoky, sickly and pent-up buildings,
+frequently not only in a wretched but in a dangerous condition.
+
+"Your father has changed his abode since I last visited him, and, I am
+afraid, much for the worse," said I.
+
+"Indeed he has, sir, but we must not complain," replied she; "we have to
+thank God that we have lodging and food, though it's poor enough, it is,
+your honour."
+
+Poor child! thought I, how many an older head might learn wisdom from
+thee--how many a luxurious philosopher, who is skilled to preach but not
+to suffer, might not thy patient words put to the blush! The manner and
+language of this child were alike above her years and station; and,
+indeed, in all cases in which the cares and sorrows of life have
+anticipated their usual date, and have fallen, as they sometimes do, with
+melancholy prematurity to the lot of childhood, I have observed the
+result to have proved uniformly the same. A young mind, to which joy and
+indulgence have been strangers, and to which suffering and self-denial
+have been familiarised from the first, acquires a solidity and an
+elevation which no other discipline could have bestowed, and which, in
+the present case, communicated a striking but mournful peculiarity to the
+manners, even to the voice of the child. We paused before a narrow, crazy
+door, which she opened by means of a latch, and we forthwith began to
+ascend the steep and broken stairs, which led upwards to the sick man's
+room. As we mounted flight after flight towards the garret floor, I heard
+more and more distinctly the hurried talking of many voices. I could also
+distinguish the low sobbing of a female. On arriving upon the uppermost
+lobby, these sounds became fully audible.
+
+"This way, your honor," said my little conductress, at the same time
+pushing open a door of patched and half rotten plank, she admitted me
+into the squalid chamber of death and misery. But one candle, held in the
+fingers of a scared and haggard-looking child, was burning in the room,
+and that so dim that all was twilight or darkness except within its
+immediate influence. The general obscurity, however, served to throw into
+prominent and startling relief the death-bed and its occupant. The light
+was nearly approximated to, and fell with horrible clearness upon, the
+blue and swollen features of the drunkard. I did not think it possible
+that a human countenance could look so terrific. The lips were black and
+drawn apart--the teeth were firmly set--the eyes a little unclosed, and
+nothing but the whites appearing--every feature was fixed and livid, and
+the whole face wore a ghastly and rigid expression of despairing terror
+such as I never saw equalled; his hands were crossed upon his breast, and
+firmly clenched, while, as if to add to the corpse-like effect of the
+whole, some white cloths, dipped in water, were wound about the forehead
+and temples. As soon as I could remove my eyes from this horrible
+spectacle, I observed my friend Dr. D----, one of the most humane of a
+humane profession, standing by the bedside. He had been attempting, but
+unsuccessfully, to bleed the patient, and had now applied his finger to
+the pulse.
+
+"Is there any hope?" I inquired in a whisper.
+
+A shake of the head was the reply. There was a pause while he continued
+to hold the wrist; but he waited in vain for the throb of life, it was
+not there, and when he let go the hand it fell stiffly back into its
+former position upon the other.
+
+"The man is dead," said the physician, as he turned from the bed where
+the terrible figure lay.
+
+Dead! thought I, scarcely venturing to look upon the tremendous and
+revolting spectacle--dead! without an hour for repentance, even a
+moment for reflection--dead! without the rites which even the best
+should have. Is there a hope for him? The glaring eyeball, the grinning
+mouth, the distorted brow--that unutterable look in which a painter
+would have sought to embody the fixed despair of the nethermost
+hell--these were my answer.
+
+The poor wife sat at a little distance, crying as if her heart would
+break--the younger children clustered round the bed, looking, with
+wondering curiosity, upon the form of death, never seen before. When the
+first tumult of uncontrollable sorrow had passed away, availing myself of
+the solemnity and impressiveness of the scene, I desired the
+heart-stricken family to accompany me in prayer, and all knelt down,
+while I solemnly and fervently repeated some of those prayers which
+appeared most applicable to the occasion. I employed myself thus in a
+manner which, I trusted, was not unprofitable, at least to the living,
+for about ten minutes, and having accomplished my task, I was the first
+to arise. I looked upon the poor, sobbing, helpless creatures who knelt
+so humbly around me, and my heart bled for them. With a natural
+transition, I turned my eyes from them to the bed in which the body lay,
+and, great God! what was the revulsion, the horror which I experienced on
+seeing the corpse-like, terrific thing seated half upright before me--the
+white cloths, which had been wound about the head, had now partly slipped
+from their position, and were hanging in grotesque festoons about the
+face and shoulders, while the distorted eyes leered from amid them--
+
+"A sight to dream of, not to tell."
+
+I stood actually rivetted to the spot. The figure nodded its head and
+lifted its arm, I thought with a menacing gesture. A thousand confused
+and horrible thoughts at once rushed upon my mind. I had often read that
+the body of a presumptuous sinner, who, during life, had been the willing
+creature of every satanic impulse, after the human tenant had deserted
+it, had been known to become the horrible sport of demoniac possession. I
+was roused from the stupefaction of terror in which I stood, by the
+piercing scream of the mother, who now, for the first time, perceived the
+change which had taken place. She rushed towards the bed, but, stunned by
+the shock and overcome by the conflict of violent emotions, before she
+reached it, she fell prostrate upon the floor. I am perfectly convinced
+that had I not been startled from the torpidity of horror in which I was
+bound, by some powerful and arousing stimulant, I should have gazed upon
+this unearthly apparition until I had fairly lost my senses. As it was,
+however, the spell was broken, superstition gave way to reason: the man
+whom all believed to have been actually dead, was living! Dr. D---- was
+instantly standing by the bedside, and, upon examination, he found that a
+sudden and copious flow of blood had taken place from the wound which the
+lancet had left, and this, no doubt, had effected his sudden and almost
+preternatural restoration to an existence from which all thought he had
+been for ever removed. The man was still speechless, but he seemed to
+understand the physician when he forbid his repeating the painful and
+fruitless attempts which he made to articulate, and he at once resigned
+himself quietly into his hands.
+
+I left the patient with leeches upon his temples, and bleeding
+freely--apparently with little of the drowsiness which accompanies
+apoplexy; indeed, Dr. D---- told me that he had never before witnessed a
+seizure which seemed to combine the symptoms of so many kinds, and yet
+which belonged to none of the recognized classes; it certainly was not
+apoplexy, catalepsy, _nor delirium tremens_, and yet it seemed, in some
+degree, to partake of the properties of all--it was strange, but stranger
+things are coming.
+
+During two or three days Dr. D---- would not allow his patient to
+converse in a manner which could excite or exhaust him, with any one; he
+suffered him merely, as briefly as possible, to express his immediate
+wants, and it was not until the fourth day after my early visit, the
+particulars of which I have just detailed, that it was thought expedient
+that I should see him, and then only because it appeared that his extreme
+importunity and impatience were likely to retard his recovery more than
+the mere exhaustion attendant upon a short conversation could possibly
+do; perhaps, too, my friend entertained some hope that if by holy
+confession his patient's bosom were eased of the perilous stuff, which no
+doubt, oppressed it, his recovery would be more assured and rapid. It
+was, then, as I have said, upon the fourth day after my first
+professional call, that I found myself once more in the dreary chamber of
+want and sickness. The man was in bed, and appeared low and restless. On
+my entering the room he raised himself in the bed, and muttered twice or
+thrice--"Thank God! thank God." I signed to those of his family who stood
+by, to leave the room, and took a chair beside the bed. So soon as we
+were alone, he said, rather doggedly--"There's no use now in telling me
+of the sinfulness of bad ways--I know it all--I know where they lead
+to--I seen everything about it with my own eyesight, as plain as I see
+you." He rolled himself in the bed, as if to hide his face in the
+clothes, and then suddenly raising himself, he exclaimed with startling
+vehemence--"Look, sir, there is no use in mincing the matter; I'm blasted
+with the fires of hell; I have been in hell; what do you think of
+that?--in hell--I'm lost for ever--I have not a chance--I am damned
+already--damned--damned--." The end of this sentence he actually
+shouted; his vehemence was perfectly terrific; he threw himself back, and
+laughed, and sobbed hysterically. I poured some water into a tea-cup, and
+gave it to him. After he had swallowed it, I told him if he had anything
+to communicate, to do so as briefly as he could, and in a manner as
+little agitating to himself as possible; threatening at the same time,
+though I had no intention of doing so, to leave him at once, in case he
+again gave way to such passionate excitement. "It's only foolishness," he
+continued, "for me to try to thank you for coming to such a villain as
+myself at all; it's no use for me to wish good to you, or to bless you;
+for such as me has no blessings to give." I told him that I had but done
+my duty, and urged him to proceed to the matter which weighed upon his
+mind; he then spoke nearly as follows:--"I came in drunk on Friday night
+last, and got to my bed here, I don't remember how; sometime in the
+night, it seemed to me, I wakened, and feeling unasy in myself, I got up
+out of the bed. I wanted the fresh air, but I would not make a noise to
+open the window, for fear I'd waken the crathurs. It was very dark, and
+throublesome to find the door; but at last I did get it, and I groped my
+way out, and went down as asy as I could. I felt quite sober, and I
+counted the steps one after another, as I was going down, that I might
+not stumble at the bottom. When I came to the first landing-place, God be
+about us always! the floor of it sunk under me, and I went down, down,
+down, till the senses almost left me. I do not know how long I was
+falling, but it seemed to me a great while. When I came rightly to myself
+at last, I was sitting at a great table, near the top of it; and I could
+not see the end of it, if it had any, it was so far off; and there was
+men beyond reckoning, sitting down, all along by it, at each side, as far
+as I could see at all. I did not know at first was it in the open air;
+but there was a close smothering feel in it, that was not natural, and
+there was a kind of light that my eyesight never saw before, red and
+unsteady, and I did not see for a long time where it was coming from,
+until I looked straight up, and then I seen that it came from great balls
+of blood-coloured fire, that were rolling high over head with a sort of
+rushing, trembling sound, and I perceived that they shone on the ribs of
+a great roof of rock that was arched overhead instead of the sky. When I
+seen this, scarce knowing what I did, I got up, and I said, 'I have no
+right to be here; I must go,' and the man that was sitting at my left
+hand, only smiled, and said, 'sit down again, you can _never_ leave this
+place,' and his voice was weaker than any child's voice I ever heerd, and
+when he was done speaking he smiled again. Then I spoke out very loud and
+bold, and I said--'in the name of God, let me out of this bad place.' And
+there was a great man, that I did not see before, sitting at the end of
+the table that I was near, and he was taller than twelve men, and his
+face was very proud and terrible to look at, and he stood up and
+stretched out his hand before him, and when he stood up, all that was
+there, great and small, bowed down with a sighing sound, and a dread came
+on my heart, and he looked at me, and I could not speak. I felt I was his
+own, to do what he liked with, for I knew at once who he was, and he
+said, 'if you promise to return, you may depart for a season'; and the
+voice he spoke with was terrible and mournful, and the echoes of it went
+rolling and swelling down the endless cave, and mixing with the trembling
+of the fire overhead; so that, when he sate down, there was a sound after
+him, all through the place like the roaring of a furnace, and I said,
+with all the strength I had, 'I promise to come back; in God's name let
+me go,' and with that I lost the sight and the hearing of all that was
+there, and when my senses came to me again, I was sitting in the bed with
+the blood all over me, and you and the rest praying around the room."
+Here he paused and wiped away the chill drops of horror which hung upon
+his forehead.
+
+I remained silent for some moments. The vision which he had just
+described struck my imagination not a little, for this was long before
+Vathek and the "Hall of Iblis" had delighted the world; and the
+description which he gave had, as I received it, all the attractions of
+novelty beside the impressiveness which always belongs to the narration
+of an _eye-witness_, whether in the body or in the spirit, of the scenes
+which he describes. There was something, too, in the stern horror with
+which the man related these things, and in the incongruity of his
+description, with the vulgarly received notions of the great place of
+punishment, and of its presiding spirit, which struck my mind with awe,
+almost with fear. At length he said, with an expression of horrible,
+imploring earnestness, which I shall never forget--"Well, sir, is there
+any hope; is there any chance at all? or, is my soul pledged and promised
+away for ever? is it gone out of my power? must I go back to the place?"
+
+In answering him I had no easy task to perform; for however clear might
+be my internal conviction of the groundlessness of his fears, and however
+strong my scepticism respecting the reality of what he had described, I
+nevertheless felt that his impression to the contrary, and his humility
+and terror resulting from it, might be made available as no mean engines
+in the work of his conversion from profligacy, and of his restoration to
+decent habits, and to religious feeling. I therefore told him that he was
+to regard his dream rather in the light of a warning than in that of a
+prophecy; that our salvation depended not upon the word or deed of a
+moment, but upon the habits of a life; that, in fine, if he at once
+discarded his idle companions and evil habits, and firmly adhered to a
+sober, industrious, and religious course of life, the powers of darkness
+might claim his soul in vain, for that there were higher and firmer
+pledges than human tongue could utter, which promised salvation to him
+who should repent and lead a new life.
+
+I left him much comforted, and with a promise to return upon the next
+day. I did so, and found him much more cheerful, and without any remains
+of the dogged sullenness which I suppose had arisen from his despair.
+His promises of amendment were given in that tone of deliberate
+earnestness, which belongs to deep and solemn determination; and it was
+with no small delight that I observed, after repeated visits, that his
+good resolutions, so far from failing, did but gather strength by time;
+and when I saw that man shake off the idle and debauched companions,
+whose society had for years formed alike his amusement and his ruin, and
+revive his long discarded habits of industry and sobriety, I said within
+myself, there is something more in all this than the operation of an
+idle dream. One day, sometime after his perfect restoration to health, I
+was surprised on ascending the stairs, for the purpose of visiting this
+man, to find him busily employed in nailing down some planks upon the
+landing place, through which, at the commencement of his mysterious
+vision, it seemed to him that he had sunk. I perceived at once that he
+was strengthening the floor with a view to securing himself against such
+a catastrophe, and could scarcely forbear a smile as I bid "God bless
+his work."
+
+He perceived my thoughts, I suppose, for he immediately said,
+
+"I can never pass over that floor without trembling. I'd leave this
+house if I could, but I can't find another lodging in the town so cheap,
+and I'll not take a better till I've paid off all my debts, please God;
+but I could not be asy in my mind till I made it as safe as I could.
+You'll hardly believe me, your honor, that while I'm working, maybe a
+mile away, my heart is in a flutter the whole way back, with the bare
+thoughts of the two little steps I have to walk upon this bit of a
+floor. So it's no wonder, sir, I'd thry to make it sound and firm with
+any idle timber I have."
+
+I applauded his resolution to pay off his debts, and the steadiness with
+which he pursued his plans of conscientious economy, and passed on.
+
+Many months elapsed, and still there appeared no alteration in his
+resolutions of amendment. He was a good workman, and with his better
+habits he recovered his former extensive and profitable employment. Every
+thing seemed to promise comfort and respectability. I have little more to
+add, and that shall be told quickly. I had one evening met Pat Connell,
+as he returned from his work, and as usual, after a mutual, and on his
+side respectful salutation, I spoke a few words of encouragement and
+approval. I left him industrious, active, healthy--when next I saw him,
+not three days after, he was a corpse. The circumstances which marked the
+event of his death were somewhat strange--I might say fearful. The
+unfortunate man had accidentally met an early friend, just returned,
+after a long absence, and in a moment of excitement, forgetting
+everything in the warmth of his joy, he yielded to his urgent invitation
+to accompany him into a public house, which lay close by the spot where
+the encounter had taken place. Connell, however, previously to entering
+the room, had announced his determination to take nothing more than the
+strictest temperance would warrant. But oh! who can describe the
+inveterate tenacity with which a drunkard's habits cling to him through
+life. He may repent--he may reform--he may look with actual abhorrence
+upon his past profligacy; but amid all this reformation and compunction,
+who can tell the moment in which the base and ruinous propensity may not
+recur, triumphing over resolution, remorse, shame, everything, and
+prostrating its victim once more in all that is destructive and revolting
+in that fatal vice.
+
+The wretched man left the place in a state of utter intoxication. He was
+brought home nearly insensible, and placed in his bed, where he lay in
+the deep calm lethargy of drunkenness. The younger part of the family
+retired to rest much after their usual hour; but the poor wife remained
+up sitting by the fire, too much grieved and shocked at the recurrence of
+what she had so little expected, to settle to rest; fatigue, however, at
+length overcame her, and she sunk gradually into an uneasy slumber. She
+could not tell how long she had remained in this state, when she
+awakened, and immediately on opening her eyes, she perceived by the faint
+red light of the smouldering turf embers, two persons, one of whom she
+recognized as her husband noiselessly gliding out of the room.
+
+"Pat, darling, where are you going?" said she. There was no answer--the
+door closed after them; but in a moment she was startled and terrified by
+a loud and heavy crash, as if some ponderous body had been hurled down
+the stair. Much alarmed, she started up, and going to the head of the
+staircase, she called repeatedly upon her husband, but in vain. She
+returned to the room, and with the assistance of her daughter, whom I had
+occasion to mention before, she succeeded in finding and lighting a
+candle, with which she hurried again to the head of the staircase. At the
+bottom lay what seemed to be a bundle of clothes, heaped together,
+motionless, lifeless--it was her husband. In going down the stairs, for
+what purpose can never now be known, he had fallen helplessly and
+violently to the bottom, and coming head foremost, the spine at the neck
+had been dislocated by the shock, and instant death must have ensued. The
+body lay upon that landing-place to which his dream had referred. It is
+scarcely worth endeavouring to clear up a single point in a narrative
+where all is mystery; yet I could not help suspecting that the second
+figure which had been seen in the room by Connell's wife on the night of
+his death, might have been no other than his own shadow. I suggested this
+solution of the difficulty; but she told me that the unknown person had
+been considerably in advance of the other, and on reaching the door, had
+turned back as if to communicate something to his companion--it was then
+a mystery. Was the dream verified?--whither had the disembodied spirit
+sped?--who can say? We know not. But I left the house of death that day
+in a state of horror which I could not describe. It seemed to me that I
+was scarce awake. I heard and saw everything as if under the spell of a
+nightmare. The coincidence was terrible.
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE GHOST AND THE BONE-SETTER
+
+
+In looking over the papers of my late valued and respected friend,
+Francis Purcell, who for nearly fifty years discharged the arduous duties
+of a parish priest in the south of Ireland, I met with the following
+document. It is one of many such, for he was a curious and industrious
+collector of old local traditions--a commodity in which the quarter where
+he resided mightily abounded. The collection and arrangement of such
+legends was, as long as I can remember him, his _hobby_; but I had never
+learned that his love of the marvellous and whimsical had carried him so
+far as to prompt him to commit the results of his enquiries to writing,
+until, in the character of _residuary legatee_, his will put me in
+possession of all his manuscript papers. To such as may think the
+composing of such productions as these inconsistent with the character
+and habits of a country priest, it is necessary to observe, that there
+did exist a race of priests--those of the old school, a race now nearly
+extinct--whose habits were from many causes more refined, and whose
+tastes more literary than are those of the alumni of Maynooth.
+
+It is perhaps necessary to add that the superstition illustrated by the
+following story, namely, that the corpse last buried is obliged, during
+his juniority of interment, to supply his brother tenants of the
+churchyard in which he lies, with fresh water to allay the burning thirst
+of purgatory, is prevalent throughout the south of Ireland. The writer
+can vouch for a case in which a respectable and wealthy farmer, on the
+borders of Tipperary, in tenderness to the corns of his departed
+helpmate, enclosed in her coffin two pair of brogues, a light and a
+heavy, the one for dry, the other for sloppy weather; seeking thus to
+mitigate the fatigues of her inevitable perambulations in procuring
+water, and administering it to the thirsty souls of purgatory. Fierce and
+desperate conflicts have ensued in the case of two funeral parties
+approaching the same churchyard together, each endeavouring to secure to
+his own dead priority of sepulture, and a consequent immunity from the
+tax levied upon the pedestrian powers of the last comer. An instance not
+long since occurred, in which one of two such parties, through fear of
+losing to their deceased friend this inestimable advantage, made their
+way to the churchyard by a _short cut_, and in violation of one of their
+strongest prejudices, actually threw the coffin over the wall, lest time
+should be lost in making their entrance through the gate. Innumerable
+instances of the same kind might be quoted, all tending to show how
+strongly, among the peasantry of the south, this superstition is
+entertained. However, I shall not detain the reader further, by any
+prefatory remarks, but shall proceed to lay before him the following:--
+
+_Extract from the Ms. Papers of the Late Rev. Francis Purcell, of
+Drumcoolagh_
+
+"I tell the following particulars, as nearly as I can recollect them,
+in the words of the narrator. It may be necessary to observe that he
+was what is termed a _well-spoken_ man, having for a considerable time
+instructed the ingenious youth of his native parish in such of the
+liberal arts and sciences as he found it convenient to profess--a
+circumstance which may account for the occurrence of several big
+words, in the course of this narrative, more distinguished for
+euphonious effect, than for correctness of application. I proceed
+then, without further preface, to lay before you the wonderful
+adventures of Terry Neil.
+
+"Why, thin, 'tis a quare story, an' as thrue as you're sittin' there; and
+I'd make bould to say there isn't a boy in the seven parishes could tell
+it better nor crickther than myself, for 'twas my father himself it
+happened to, an' many's the time I heerd it out iv his own mouth; an' I
+can say, an' I'm proud av that same, my father's word was as incredible
+as any squire's oath in the counthry; and so signs an' if a poor man got
+into any unlucky throuble, he was the boy id go into the court an' prove;
+but that dosen't signify--he was as honest and as sober a man, barrin' he
+was a little bit too partial to the glass, as you'd find in a day's walk;
+an' there wasn't the likes of him in the counthry round for nate
+labourin' an' _baan_ diggin'; and he was mighty handy entirely for
+carpenther's work, and mendin' ould spudethrees, an' the likes i' that.
+An' so he tuck up with bone-setting, as was most nathural, for none of
+them could come up to him in mendin' the leg iv a stool or a table; an'
+sure, there never was a bone-setter got so much custom--man an' child,
+young an' ould--there never was such breakin' and mendin' of bones known
+in the memory of man. Well, Terry Neil, for that was my father's name,
+began to feel his heart growin' light and his purse heavy; an' he took a
+bit iv a farm in Squire Phalim's ground, just undher the ould castle, an'
+a pleasant little spot it was; an' day an' mornin', poor crathurs not
+able to put a foot to the ground, with broken arms and broken legs, id be
+comin' ramblin' in from all quarters to have their bones spliced up.
+Well, yer honour, all this was as well as well could be; but it was
+customary when Sir Phelim id go any where out iv the country, for some iv
+the tinants to sit up to watch in the ould castle, just for a kind of a
+compliment to the ould family--an' a mighty unpleasant compliment it was
+for the tinants, for there wasn't a man of them but knew there was some
+thing quare about the ould castle. The neighbours had it, that the
+squire's ould grandfather, as good a gintleman, God be with him, as I
+heer'd as ever stood in shoe leather, used to keep walkin' about in the
+middle iv the night, ever sinst he bursted a blood vessel pullin' out a
+cork out iv a bottle, as you or I might be doin', and will too, plase
+God; but that dosen't signify. So, as I was sayin', the ould squire used
+to come down out of the frame, where his picthur was hung up, and to
+brake the bottles and glasses, God be marciful to us all, an' dhrink all
+he could come at--an' small blame to him for that same; and then if any
+of the family id be comin' in, he id be up again in his place, looking as
+quite an' innocent as if he didn't know any thing about it--the
+mischievous ould chap.
+
+"Well, your honour, as I was sayin', one time the family up at the
+castle was stayin' in Dublin for a week or two; and so as usual, some of
+the tenants had to sit up in the castle, and the third night it kem to
+my father's turn. 'Oh, tare an ouns,' says he unto himself, 'an' must I
+sit up all night, and that ould vagabond of a sperit, glory be to God,'
+says he, 'serenading through the house, an' doin' all sorts iv
+mischief.' However, there was no gettin' aff, and so he put a bould face
+on it, an' he went up at nightfall with a bottle of pottieen, and
+another of holy wather.
+
+"It was rainin' smart enough, an' the evenin' was darksome and gloomy,
+when my father got in, and the holy wather he sprinkled on himself, it
+wasn't long till he had to swallee a cup iv the pottieen, to keep the
+cowld out iv his heart. It was the ould steward, Lawrence Connor, that
+opened the door--and he an' my father wor always very great. So when he
+seen who it was, an' my father tould him how it was his turn to watch in
+the castle, he offered to sit up along with him; and you may be sure my
+father wasn't sorry for that same. So says Larry,
+
+"'We'll have a bit iv fire in the parlour,' says he.
+
+"'An' why not in the hall?' says my father, for he knew that the squire's
+picthur was hung in the parlour.
+
+"'No fire can be lit in the hall,' says Lawrence, 'for there's an ould
+jackdaw's nest in the chimney.'
+
+"'Oh thin,' says my father, 'let us stop in the kitchen, for it's very
+umproper for the likes iv me to be sittin' in the parlour,' says he.
+
+"'Oh, Terry, that can't be,' says Lawrence; 'if we keep up the ould
+custom at all, we may as well keep it up properly,' says he.
+
+"'Divil sweep the ould custom,' says my father--to himself, do ye mind,
+for he didn't like to let Lawrence see that he was more afeard himself.
+
+"'Oh, very well,' says he. 'I'm agreeable, Lawrence,' says he; and so
+down they both went to the kitchen, until the fire id be lit in the
+parlour--an' that same wasn't long doin'.
+
+"Well, your honour, they soon wint up again, an' sat down mighty
+comfortable by the parlour fire, and they beginn'd to talk, an' to smoke,
+an' to dhrink a small taste iv the pottieen; and, moreover, they had a
+good rousing fire of bogwood and turf, to warm their shins over.
+
+"Well, sir, as I was sayin' they kep convarsin' and smokin' together
+most agreeable, until Lawrence beginn'd to get sleepy, as was but
+nathural for him, for he was an ould sarvint man, and was used to a
+great dale iv sleep.
+
+"'Sure it's impossible,' says my father, 'it's gettin' sleepy you are?'
+
+"'Oh, divil a taste,' says Larry, 'I'm only shuttin' my eyes,' says he,
+'to keep out the parfume of the tibacky smoke, that's makin' them
+wather,' says he. 'So don't you mind other people's business,' says he
+stiff enough (for he had a mighty high stomach av his own, rest his
+sowl), 'and go on,' says he, 'with your story, for I'm listenin',' says
+he, shuttin' down his eyes.
+
+"Well, when my father seen spakin' was no use, he went on with his
+story.--By the same token, it was the story of Jim Soolivan and his ould
+goat he was tellin'--an' a pleasant story it is--an' there was so much
+divarsion in it, that it was enough to waken a dormouse, let alone to
+pervint a Christian goin' asleep. But, faix, the way my father tould it,
+I believe there never was the likes heerd sinst nor before for he bawled
+out every word av it, as if the life was fairly leavin' him thrying to
+keep ould Larry awake; but, faix, it was no use, for the hoorsness came
+an him, an' before he kem to the end of his story, Larry O'Connor
+beginned to snore like a bagpipes.
+
+"'Oh, blur an' agres,' says my father, 'isn't this a hard case,' says
+he, 'that ould villain, lettin' on to be my friend, and to go asleep
+this way, an' us both in the very room with a sperit,' says he. 'The
+crass o' Christ about us,' says he; and with that he was goin' to shake
+Lawrence to waken him, but he just remimbered if he roused him, that
+he'd surely go off to his bed, an lave him completely alone, an' that id
+be by far worse.
+
+"'Oh thin,' says my father, 'I'll not disturb the poor boy. It id be
+neither friendly nor good-nathured,' says he, 'to tormint him while he is
+asleep,' says he; 'only I wish I was the same way myself,' says he.
+
+"An' with that he beginned to walk up an' down, an' sayin' his prayers,
+until he worked himself into a sweat, savin' your presence. But it was
+all no good; so he dhrunk about a pint of sperits, to compose his mind.
+
+"'Oh,' says he, 'I wish to the Lord I was as asy in my mind as Larry
+there. Maybe,' says he, 'if I thried I could go asleep'; an' with that he
+pulled a big arm-chair close beside Lawrence, an' settled himself in it
+as well as he could.
+
+"But there was one quare thing I forgot to tell you. He couldn't help, in
+spite av himself, lookin' now an' thin at the picthur, an' he immediately
+observed that the eyes av it was follyin' him about, an' starin' at him,
+an' winkin' at him, wherever he wint. 'Oh,' says he, when he seen that,
+'it's a poor chance I have,' says he; 'an' bad luck was with me the day I
+kem into this unforthunate place,' says he; 'but any way there's no use
+in bein' freckened now,' says he; 'for if I am to die, I may as well
+parspire undaunted,' says he.
+
+"Well, your honour, he thried to keep himself quite an' asy, an' he
+thought two or three times he might have wint asleep, but for the way the
+storm was groanin' and creekin' through the great heavy branches outside,
+an' whistlin' through the ould chimnies iv the castle. Well, afther one
+great roarin' blast iv the wind, you'd think the walls iv the castle was
+just goin' to fall, quite an' clane, with the shakin' iv it. All av a
+suddint the storm stopt, as silent an' as quite as if it was a July
+evenin'. Well, your honour, it wasn't stopped blowin' for three minnites,
+before he thought he hard a sort iv a noise over the chimney-piece; an'
+with that my father just opened his eyes the smallest taste in life, an'
+sure enough he seen the ould squire gettin' out iv the picthur, for all
+the world as if he was throwin' aff his ridin' coat, until he stept out
+clane an' complate, out av the chimly-piece, an' thrun himself down an
+the floor. Well, the slieveen ould chap--an' my father thought it was the
+dirtiest turn iv all--before he beginned to do anything out iv the way,
+he stopped, for a while, to listen wor they both asleep; an' as soon as
+he thought all was quite, he put out his hand, and tuck hould iv the
+whiskey bottle, an' dhrank at laste a pint iv it. Well, your honour, when
+he tuck his turn out iv it, he settled it back mighty cute intirely, in
+the very same spot it was in before. An' he beginn'd to walk up an' down
+the room, lookin' as sober an' as solid as if he never done the likes at
+all. An' whinever he went apast my father, he thought he felt a great
+scent of brimstone, an' it was that that freckened him entirely; for he
+knew it was brimstone that was burned in hell, savin' your presence. At
+any rate, he often heer'd it from Father Murphy, an' he had a right to
+know what belonged to it--he's dead since, God rest him. Well, your
+honour, my father was asy enough until the sperit kem past him; so close,
+God be marciful to us all, that the smell iv the sulphur tuck the breath
+clane out iv him; an' with that he tuck such a fit iv coughin', that it
+al-a-most shuck him out iv the chair he was sittin' in.
+
+"'Ho, ho!' says the squire, stoppin' short about two steps aff, and
+turnin' round facin' my father, 'is it you that's in it?--an' how's all
+with you, Terry Neil?'
+
+"'At your honour's sarvice,' says my father (as well as the fright id let
+him, for he was more dead than alive), 'an' it's proud I am to see your
+honour to-night,' says he.
+
+"'Terence,' says the squire, 'you're a respectable man (an' it was thrue
+for him), an industhrious, sober man, an' an example of inebriety to the
+whole parish,' says he.
+
+"'Thank your honour,' says my father, gettin' courage, 'you were always a
+civil spoken gintleman, God rest your honour.'
+
+"'Rest my honour,' says the sperit (fairly gettin' red in the face with
+the madness), 'Rest my honour?' says he. 'Why, you ignorant spalpeen,'
+says he, 'you mane, niggarly ignoramush,' says he, 'where did you lave
+your manners?' says he. 'If I _am_ dead, it's no fault iv mine,' says he;
+'an' it's not to be thrun in my teeth at every hand's turn, by the likes
+iv you,' says he, stampin' his foot an the flure, that you'd think the
+boords id smash undher him.
+
+"'Oh,' says my father, 'I'm only a foolish, ignorant, poor man,' says he.
+
+"'You're nothing else,' says the squire; 'but any way,' says he, 'it's
+not to be listenin' to your gosther, nor convarsin' with the likes iv
+you, that I came _up_--down I mane,' says he--(an' as little as the
+mistake was, my father tuck notice iv it). 'Listen to me now, Terence
+Neil,' says he, 'I was always a good masther to Pathrick Neil, your
+grandfather,' says he.
+
+"'Tis thrue for your honour,' says my father.
+
+"'And, moreover, I think I was always a sober, riglar gintleman,' says
+the squire.
+
+"'That's your name, sure enough,' says my father (though it was a big lie
+for him, but he could not help it).
+
+"'Well,' says the sperit, 'although I was as sober as most men--at laste
+as most gintlemen'--says he; 'an' though I was at different pariods a
+most extempory Christian, and most charitable and inhuman to the poor,'
+says he; 'for all that I'm not as asy where I am now,' says he, 'as I had
+a right to expect,' says he.
+
+"'An' more's the pity,' says my father; 'maybe your honour id wish to
+have a word with Father Murphy?'
+
+"'Hould your tongue, you misherable bliggard,' says the squire; 'it's
+not iv my sowl I'm thinkin'--an' I wondher you'd have the impitence to
+talk to a gintleman consarnin' his sowl;--and when I want _that_ fixed,'
+says he, slappin' his thigh, 'I'll go to them that knows what belongs to
+the likes,' says he. 'It's not my sowl,' says he, sittin' down opposite
+my father; 'it's not my sowl that's annoyin' me most--I'm unasy on my
+right leg,' says he, 'that I bruck at Glenvarloch cover the day I killed
+black Barney.'
+
+"(My father found out afther, it was a favourite horse that fell undher
+him, afther leapin' the big fince that runs along by the glen.)
+
+"'I hope,' says my father, 'your honour's not unasy about the
+killin' iv him?
+
+"'Hould your tongue, ye fool,' said the squire, 'an' I'll tell you why
+I'm anasy an my leg,' says he. 'In the place, where I spend most iv my
+time,' says he, 'except the little leisure I have for lookin' about me
+here,' says he, 'I have to walk a great dale more than I was ever used
+to,' says he, 'and by far more than is good for me either,' says he; 'for
+I must tell you,' says he, 'the people where I am is ancommonly fond iv
+could wather, for there is nothin' betther to be had; an', moreover, the
+weather is hotter than is altogether plisint,' says he; 'and I'm
+appinted,' says he, 'to assist in carryin' the wather, an' gets a mighty
+poor share iv it myself,' says he, 'an' a mighty throublesome, warin' job
+it is, I can tell you,' says he; 'for they're all iv them surprisingly
+dhry, an' dhrinks it as fast as my legs can carry it,' says he; 'but what
+kills me intirely,' says he, 'is the wakeness in my leg,' says he, 'an' I
+want you to give it a pull or two to bring it to shape,' says he, 'and
+that's the long an' the short iv it,' says he.
+
+"'Oh, plase your honour,' says my father (for he didn't like to handle
+the sperit at all), 'I wouldn't have the impitence to do the likes to
+your honour,' says he; 'it's only to poor crathurs like myself I'd do it
+to,' says he.
+
+"'None iv your blarney,' says the squire, 'here's my leg,' says he,
+cockin' it up to him, 'pull it for the bare life,' says he; 'an' if you
+don't, by the immortial powers I'll not lave a bone in your carcish I'll
+not powdher,' says he.
+
+"'When my father heerd that, he seen there was no use in purtendin', so
+he tuck hould iv the leg, an' he kept pullin' an' pullin', till the
+sweat, God bless us, beginned to pour down his face.
+
+"'Pull, you divil', says the squire.
+
+"'At your sarvice, your honour,' says my father.
+
+"'Pull harder,' says the squire.
+
+"My father pulled like the divil.
+
+"'I'll take a little sup,' says the squire, rachin' over his hand to the
+bottle, 'to keep up my courage,' says he, lettin' an to be very wake in
+himself intirely. But, as cute as he was, he was out here, for he tuck
+the wrong one. 'Here's to your good health, Terence,' says he, 'an' now
+pull like the very divil,' 'an' with that he lifted the bottle of holy
+wather, but it was hardly to his mouth, whin he let a screech out, you'd
+think the room id fairly split with it, an' made one chuck that sent the
+leg clane aff his body in my father's hands; down wint the squire over
+the table, an' bang wint my father half way across the room on his back,
+upon the flure. Whin he kem to himself the cheerful mornin' sun was
+shinin' through the windy shutthers, an' he was lying flat an his back,
+with the leg iv one of the great ould chairs pulled clane out iv the
+socket an' tight in his hand, pintin' up to the ceilin', an' ould Larry
+fast asleep, an' snorin' as loud as ever. My father wint that mornin' to
+Father Murphy, an' from that to the day of his death, he never neglected
+confission nor mass, an' what he tould was betther believed that he spake
+av it but seldom. An', as for the squire, that is the sperit, whether it
+was that he did not like his liquor, or by rason iv the loss iv his leg,
+he was never known to walk again."
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE MYSTERIOUS LODGER
+
+
+
+
+PART I
+
+
+About the year 1822 I resided in a comfortable and roomy old house, the
+exact locality of which I need not particularise, further than to say
+that it was not very far from Old Brompton, in the immediate
+neighbourhood, or rather continuity (as even my Connemara readers
+perfectly well know), of the renowned city of London.
+
+Though this house was roomy and comfortable, as I have said, it was not,
+by any means, a handsome one. It was composed of dark red brick, with
+small windows, and thick white sashes; a porch, too--none of your flimsy
+trellis-work, but a solid projection of the same vermillion
+masonry--surmounted by a leaded balcony, with heavy, half-rotten
+balustrades, darkened the hall-door with a perennial gloom. The mansion
+itself stood in a walled enclosure, which had, perhaps, from the date of
+the erection itself, been devoted to shrubs and flowers. Some of the
+former had grown there almost to the dignity of trees; and two dark
+little yews stood at each side of the porch, like swart and inauspicious
+dwarfs, guarding the entrance of an enchanted castle. Not that my
+domicile in any respect deserved the comparison: it had no reputation as
+a haunted house; if it ever had any ghosts, nobody remembered them. Its
+history was not known to me: it may have witnessed plots, cabals, and
+forgeries, bloody suicides and cruel murders. It was certainly old enough
+to have become acquainted with iniquity; a small stone slab, under the
+balustrade, and over the arch of the porch I mentioned, had the date
+1672, and a half-effaced coat of arms, which I might have deciphered any
+day, had I taken the trouble to get a ladder, but always put it off. All
+I can say for the house is, that it was well stricken in years, with a
+certain air of sombre comfort about it; contained a vast number of rooms
+and closets; and, what was of far greater importance, was got by me a
+dead bargain.
+
+Its individuality attracted me. I grew fond of it for itself, and for its
+associations, until other associations of a hateful kind first disturbed,
+and then destroyed, their charm. I forgave its dull red brick, and
+pinched white windows, for the sake of the beloved and cheerful faces
+within: its ugliness was softened by its age; and its sombre evergreens,
+and moss-grown stone flower-pots, were relieved by the brilliant hues of
+a thousand gay and graceful flowers that peeped among them, or nodded
+over the grass.
+
+Within that old house lay my life's treasure! I had a darling little
+girl of nine, and another little darling--a boy--just four years of age;
+and dearer, unspeakably, than either--a wife--the prettiest, gayest,
+best little wife in all London. When I tell you that our income was
+scarcely £380 a-year, you will perceive that our establishment cannot
+have been a magnificent one; yet, I do assure you, we were more
+comfortable than a great many lords, and happier, I dare say, than the
+whole peerage put together.
+
+This happiness was not, however, what it ought to have been. The reader
+will understand at once, and save me a world of moralising
+circumlocution, when he learns, bluntly and nakedly, that, among all my
+comforts and blessings, I was an infidel.
+
+I had not been without religious training; on the contrary, more than
+average pains had been bestowed upon my religious instruction from my
+earliest childhood. My father, a good, plain, country clergyman, had
+worked hard to make me as good as himself; and had succeeded, at least,
+in training me in godly habits. He died, however, when I was but twelve
+years of age; and fate had long before deprived me of the gentle care of
+a mother. A boarding-school, followed by a college life, where nobody
+having any very direct interest in realising in my behalf the ancient
+blessing, that in fulness of time I should "die a good old man," I was
+left very much to my own devices, which, in truth, were none of the best.
+
+Among these were the study of Voltaire, Tom Paine, Hume, Shelley, and the
+whole school of infidels, poetical as well as prose. This pursuit, and
+the all but blasphemous vehemence with which I gave myself up to it, was,
+perhaps, partly reactionary. A somewhat injudicious austerity and
+precision had indissolubly associated in my childish days the ideas of
+restraint and gloom with religion. I bore it a grudge; and so, when I
+became thus early my own master, I set about paying off, after my own
+fashion, the old score I owed it. I was besides, like every other young
+infidel whom it has been my fate to meet, a conceited coxcomb. A
+smattering of literature, without any real knowledge, and a great
+assortment of all the cut-and-dry flippancies of the school I had
+embraced, constituted my intellectual stock in trade. I was, like most of
+my school of philosophy, very proud of being an unbeliever; and fancied
+myself, in the complacency of my wretched ignorance, at an immeasurable
+elevation above the church-going, Bible-reading herd, whom I treated with
+a good-humoured superciliousness which I thought vastly indulgent.
+
+My wife was an excellent little creature and truly pious. She had married
+me in the full confidence that my levity was merely put on, and would at
+once give way before the influence she hoped to exert upon my mind. Poor
+little thing! she deceived herself. I allowed her, indeed, to do entirely
+as she pleased; but for myself, I carried my infidelity to the length of
+an absolute superstition. I made an ostentation of it. I would rather
+have been in a "hell" than in a church on Sunday; and though I did not
+prevent my wife's instilling her own principles into the minds of our
+children, I, in turn, took especial care to deliver mine upon all
+occasions in their hearing, by which means I trusted to sow the seeds of
+that unprejudiced scepticism in which I prided myself, at least as early
+as my good little partner dropped those of her own gentle "superstition"
+into their infant minds. Had I had my own absurd and impious will in this
+matter, my children should have had absolutely no religious education
+whatsoever, and been left wholly unshackled to choose for themselves
+among all existing systems, infidelity included, precisely as chance,
+fancy, or interest might hereafter determine.
+
+It is not to be supposed that such a state of things did not afford her
+great uneasiness. Nevertheless, we were so very fond of one another,
+and in our humble way enjoyed so many blessings, that we were as
+entirely happy as any pair can be without the holy influence of
+religious sympathy.
+
+But the even flow of prosperity which had for so long gladdened my little
+household was not destined to last for ever. It was ordained that I
+should experience the bitter truth of more than one of the wise man's
+proverbs, and first, especially, of that which declares that "he that
+hateth suretyship is sure." I found myself involved (as how many have
+been before) by a "d--d good-natured friend," for more than two hundred
+pounds. This agreeable intelligence was conveyed to me in an attorney's
+letter, which, to obviate unpleasant measures, considerately advised my
+paying the entire amount within just one week of the date of his pleasant
+epistle. Had I been called upon within that time to produce the Pitt
+diamond, or to make title to the Buckingham estates, the demand would
+have been just as easily complied with.
+
+I have no wish to bore my reader further with this little worry--a very
+serious one to me, however--and it will be enough to mention, that the
+kindness of a friend extricated me from the clutches of the law by a
+timely advance, which, however, I was bound to replace within two years.
+To enable me to fulfill this engagement, my wife and I, after repeated
+consultations, resolved upon the course which resulted in the odd and
+unpleasant consequences which form the subject of this narrative.
+
+We resolved to advertise for a lodger, with or without board, &c.; and by
+resolutely submitting, for a single year, to the economy we had
+prescribed for ourselves, as well as to the annoyance of a stranger's
+intrusion, we calculated that at the end of that term we should have
+liquidated our debt.
+
+Accordingly, without losing time, we composed an advertisement in the
+most tempting phraseology we could devise, consistently with that
+economic laconism which the cost per line in the columns of the _Times_
+newspaper imposes upon the rhetoric of the advertising public.
+
+Somehow we were unlucky; for although we repeated our public notification
+three times in the course of a fortnight, we had but two applications.
+The one was from a clergyman in ill health--a man of great ability and
+zealous piety, whom we both knew by reputation, and who has since been
+called to his rest. My good little wife was very anxious that we should
+close with his offer, which was very considerably under what we had fixed
+upon; and I have no doubt that she was influenced by the hope that his
+talents and zeal might exert a happy influence upon my stubborn and
+unbelieving heart. For my part, his religious character displeased me. I
+did not wish my children's heads to be filled with mythic dogmas--for so
+I judged the doctrines of our holy faith--and instinctively wished him
+away. I therefore declined his offer; and I have often since thought not
+quite so graciously as I ought to have done. The other offer--if so it
+can be called--was so very inadequate that we could not entertain it.
+
+I was now beginning to grow seriously uneasy--our little project, so far
+from bringing in the gains on which we had calculated, had put me
+considerably out of pocket; for, independently of the cost of the
+advertisement I have mentioned, there were sundry little expenses
+involved in preparing for the meet reception of our expected inmate,
+which, under ordinary circumstances, we should not have dreamed of.
+Matters were in this posture, when an occurrence took place which
+immediately revived my flagging hopes.
+
+As we had no superfluity of servants, our children were early obliged to
+acquire habits of independence; and my little girl, then just nine years
+of age, was frequently consigned with no other care than that of her own
+good sense, to the companionship of a little band of playmates, pretty
+similarly circumstanced, with whom it was her wont to play. Having one
+fine summer afternoon gone out as usual with these little companions, she
+did not return quite so soon as we had expected her; when she did so, she
+was out of breath, and excited.
+
+"Oh, papa," she said, "I have seen such a nice old, kind gentleman, and
+he told me to tell you that he has a particular friend who wants a
+lodging in a quiet place, and that he thinks your house would suit him
+exactly, and ever so much more; and, look here, he gave me this."
+
+She opened her hand, and shewed me a sovereign.
+
+"Well, this does look promisingly," I said, my wife and I having first
+exchanged a smiling glance.
+
+"And what kind of gentleman was he, dear?" inquired she. "Was he well
+dressed--whom was he like?"
+
+"He was not like any one that I know," she answered; "but he had very
+nice new clothes on, and he was one of the fattest men I ever saw; and
+I am sure he is sick, for he looks very pale, and he had a crutch
+beside him."
+
+"Dear me, how strange!" exclaimed my wife; though, in truth there was
+nothing very wonderful in the matter. "Go on, child," I said; "let us
+hear it all out."
+
+"Well, papa, he had such an immense yellow waistcoat!--I never did see
+such a waistcoat," she resumed; "and he was sitting or leaning, I can't
+say which, against the bank of the green lane; I suppose to rest himself,
+for he seems very weak, poor gentleman!"
+
+"And how did you happen to speak to him?" asked my wife.
+
+"When we were passing by, none of us saw him at all but I suppose he
+heard them talking to me, and saying my name; for he said,
+'Fanny--little Fanny--so, that's your name--come here child, I have a
+question to ask you.'"
+
+"And so you went to him?" I said.
+
+"Yes," she continued, "he beckoned to me, and I did go over to him, but
+not very near, for I was greatly afraid of him at first."
+
+"Afraid! dear, and why afraid?" asked I.
+
+"I was afraid, because he looked very old, very frightful, and as if he
+would hurt me."
+
+"What was there so old and frightful about him?" I asked.
+
+She paused and reflected a little, and then said--
+
+"His face was very large and pale, and it was looking upwards: it seemed
+very angry, I thought, but maybe it was angry from pain; and sometimes
+one side of it used to twitch and tremble for a minute, and then to grow
+quite still again; and all the time he was speaking to me, he never
+looked at me once, but always kept his face and eyes turned upwards; but
+his voice was very soft, and he called me little Fanny, and gave me this
+pound to buy toys with; so I was not so frightened in a little time, and
+then he sent a long message to you, papa, and told me if I forgot it he
+would beat me; but I knew he was only joking, so that did not frighten
+me either."
+
+"And what was the message, my girl?" I asked, patting her pretty head
+with my hand.
+
+"Now, let me remember it all," she said, reflectively; "for he told it to
+me twice. He asked me if there was a good bedroom at the top of the
+house, standing by itself--and you know there is, so I told him so; it
+was exactly the kind of room that he described. And then he said that his
+friend would pay two hundred pounds a-year for that bedroom, his board
+and attendance; and he told me to ask you, and have your answer when he
+should next meet me."
+
+"Two hundred pounds!" ejaculated my poor little wife; "why that is nearly
+twice as much as we expected."
+
+"But did he say that his friend was sick, or very old; or that he had any
+servant to be supported also?" I asked.
+
+"Oh! no; he told me that he was quite able to take care of himself, and
+that he had, I think he called it, an asthma, but nothing else the
+matter; and that he would give no trouble at all, and that any friend who
+came to see him, he would see, not in the house, but only in the garden."
+
+"In the garden!" I echoed, laughing in spite of myself.
+
+"Yes, indeed he said so; and he told me to say that he would pay one
+hundred pounds when he came here, and the next hundred in six months, and
+so on," continued she.
+
+"Oh, ho! half-yearly in advance--better and better," said I.
+
+"And he bid me say, too, if you should ask about his character, that he
+is just as good as the master of the house himself," she added; "and when
+he said that, he laughed a little."
+
+"Why, if he gives us a hundred pounds in advance," I answered, turning to
+my wife, "we are safe enough; for he will not find half that value in
+plate and jewels in the entire household, if he is disposed to rob us. So
+I see no reason against closing with the offer, should it be seriously
+meant--do you, dear?"
+
+"Quite the contrary, love," said she. "I think it most desirable--indeed,
+most _providential_."
+
+"Providential! my dear little bigot!" I repeated, with a smile. "Well, be
+it so. I call it _lucky_ merely; but, perhaps, you are happier in your
+faith, than I in my philosophy. Yes, you are _grateful_ for the chance
+that I only rejoice at. You receive it as a proof of a divine and tender
+love--I as an accident. Delusions are often more elevating than truth."
+
+And so saying, I kissed away the saddened cloud that for a moment
+overcast her face.
+
+"Papa, he bid me be sure to have an answer for him when we meet again,"
+resumed the child. "What shall I say to him when he asks me?"
+
+"Say that we agree to his proposal, my dear--or stay," I said, addressing
+my wife, "may it not be prudent to reduce what the child says to writing,
+and accept the offer so? This will prevent misunderstanding, as she may
+possibly have made some mistake."
+
+My wife agreed, and I wrote a brief note, stating that I was willing to
+receive an inmate upon the terms recounted by little Fanny, and which I
+distinctly specified, so that no mistake could possibly arise owing to
+the vagueness of what lawyers term a parole agreement. This important
+memorandum I placed in the hands of my little girl, who was to deliver
+it whenever the old gentleman in the yellow waistcoat should chance to
+meet her. And all these arrangements completed, I awaited the issue of
+the affair with as much patience as I could affect. Meanwhile, my wife
+and I talked it over incessantly; and she, good little soul, almost wore
+herself to death in settling and unsettling the furniture and
+decorations of our expected inmate's apartments. Days passed away--days
+of hopes deferred, tedious and anxious. We were beginning to despond
+again, when one morning our little girl ran into the breakfast-parlour,
+more excited even than she had been before, and fresh from a new
+interview with the gentleman in the yellow waistcoat. She had
+encountered him suddenly, pretty nearly where she had met him before,
+and the result was, that he had read the little note I have mentioned,
+and desired the child to inform me that his friend, _Mr. Smith_, would
+take possession of the apartments I proposed setting, on the terms
+agreed between us, that very evening.
+
+"This evening!" exclaimed my wife and I simultaneously--_I_ full of the
+idea of making a first instalment on the day following; _she_, of the
+hundred-and-one preparations which still remained to be completed.
+
+"And so Smith is his name! Well, that does not tell us much," said I;
+"but where did you meet your friend on this occasion, and how long is
+it since?"
+
+"Near the corner of the wall-flower lane (so we indicated one which
+abounded in these fragrant plants); he was leaning with his back against
+the old tree you cut my name on, and his crutch was under his arm."
+
+"But how long ago?" I urged.
+
+"Only this moment; I ran home as fast as I could," she replied.
+
+"Why, you little blockhead, you should have told me that at first," I
+cried, snatching up my hat, and darting away in pursuit of the yellow
+waistcoat, whose acquaintance I not unnaturally coveted, inasmuch as a
+man who, for the first time, admits a stranger into his house, on the
+footing of permanent residence, desires generally to know a little more
+about him than that his name is Smith.
+
+The place indicated was only, as we say, a step away; and as yellow
+waistcoat was fat, and used a crutch, I calculated on easily overtaking
+him. I was, however, disappointed; crutch, waistcoat, and all had
+disappeared. I climbed to the top of the wall, and from this commanding
+point of view made a sweeping observation--but in vain. I returned
+home, cursing my ill-luck, the child's dulness, and the fat old
+fellow's activity.
+
+I need hardly say that Mr. Smith, in all his aspects, moral, social,
+physical, and monetary, formed a fruitful and interesting topic of
+speculation during dinner. How many phantom Smiths, short and long, stout
+and lean, ill-tempered and well-tempered--rich, respectable, or highly
+dangerous merchants, spies, forgers, nabobs, swindlers, danced before us,
+in the endless mazes of fanciful conjecture, during that anxious
+_tête-à-tête_, which was probably to be interrupted by the arrival of the
+gentleman himself.
+
+My wife and I puzzled over the problem as people would over the possible
+_dénouement_ of a French novel; and at last, by mutual consent, we came
+to the conclusion that Smith could, and would turn out to be no other
+than the good-natured valetudinarian in the yellow waistcoat himself, a
+humorist, as was evident enough, and a millionaire, as we unhesitatingly
+pronounced, who had no immediate relatives, and as I hoped, and my wife
+"was certain," taken a decided fancy to our little Fanny; I patted the
+child's head with something akin to pride, as I thought of the
+magnificent, though remote possibilities, in store for her.
+
+Meanwhile, hour after hour stole away. It was a beautiful autumn evening,
+and the amber lustre of the declining sun fell softly upon the yews and
+flowers, and gave an air, half melancholy, half cheerful, to the dark-red
+brick piers surmounted with their cracked and grass-grown stone urns, and
+furnished with the light foliage of untended creeping plants. Down the
+short broad walk leading to this sombre entrance, my eye constantly
+wandered; but no impatient rattle on the latch, no battering at the gate,
+indicated the presence of a visited, and the lazy bell hung dumbly among
+the honey-suckles.
+
+"When will he come? Yellow waistcoat promised _this evening_! It has
+been evening a good hour and a half, and yet he is not here. When will
+he come? It will soon be dark--the evening will have passed--will he
+come at all?"
+
+Such were the uneasy speculations which began to trouble us. Redder and
+duskier grew the light of the setting sun, till it saddened into the
+mists of night. Twilight came, and then darkness, and still no arrival,
+no summons at the gate. I would not admit even to my wife the excess of
+my own impatience. I could, however, stand it no longer; so I took my hat
+and walked to the gate, where I stood by the side of the public road,
+watching every vehicle and person that approached, in a fever of
+expectation. Even these, however, began to fail me, and the road grew
+comparatively quiet and deserted. Having kept guard like a sentinel for
+more than half an hour, I returned in no very good humour, with the
+punctuality of an expected inmate--ordered the servant to draw the
+curtains and secure the hall-door; and so my wife and I sate down to our
+disconsolate cup of tea. It must have been about ten o'clock, and we were
+both sitting silently--she working, I looking moodily into a paper--and
+neither of us any longer entertaining a hope that anything but
+disappointment would come of the matter, when a sudden tapping, very loud
+and sustained, upon the window pane, startled us both in an instant from
+our reveries.
+
+I am not sure whether I mentioned before that the sitting-room we
+occupied was upon the ground-floor, and the sward came close under the
+window. I drew the curtains, and opened the shutters with a revived hope;
+and looking out, saw a very tall thin figure, a good deal wrapped up,
+standing about a yard before me, and motioning with head and hand
+impatiently towards the hall-door. Though the night was clear, there was
+no moon, and therefore I could see no more than the black outline, like
+that of an _ombre chinoise_ figure, signing to me with mop and moe. In a
+moment I was at the hall-door, candle in hand; the stranger stept in--his
+long fingers clutched in the handle of a valise, and a bag which trailed
+upon the ground behind him.
+
+The light fell full upon him. He wore a long, ill-made, black surtout,
+buttoned across, and which wrinkled and bagged about his lank figure; his
+hat was none of the best, and rather broad in the brim; a sort of white
+woollen muffler enveloped the lower part of his face; a pair of prominent
+green goggles, fenced round with leather, completely concealed his eyes;
+and nothing of the genuine man, but a little bit of yellow forehead, and
+a small transverse segment of equally yellow cheek and nose, encountered
+the curious gaze of your humble servant.
+
+"You are--I suppose"--I began; for I really was a little doubtful
+about my man.
+
+"Mr. Smith--the same; be good enough to show me to my bedchamber,"
+interrupted the stranger, brusquely, and in a tone which, spite of the
+muffler that enveloped his mouth, was sharp and grating enough.
+
+"Ha!--Mr. Smith--so I supposed. I hope you may find everything as
+comfortable as we desire to make it--"
+
+I was about making a speech, but was cut short by a slight bow, and a
+decisive gesture of the hand in the direction of the staircase. It was
+plain that the stranger hated ceremony.
+
+Together, accordingly, we mounted the staircase; he still pulling his
+luggage after him, and striding lightly up without articulating a word;
+and on reaching his bedroom, he immediately removed his hat, showing a
+sinister, black scratch-wig underneath, and then began unrolling the
+mighty woolen wrapping of his mouth and chin.
+
+"Come," thought I, "we _shall_ see something of your face after all."
+
+This something, however, proved to be very little; for under his muffler
+was a loose cravat, which stood up in front of his chin and upon his
+mouth, he wore a respirator--an instrument which I had never seen before,
+and of the use of which I was wholly ignorant.
+
+There was something so excessively odd in the effect of this piece of
+unknown mechanism upon his mouth, surmounted by the huge goggles which
+encased his eyes, that I believe I should have laughed outright, were
+it not for a certain unpleasant and peculiar impressiveness in the
+_tout ensemble_ of the narrow-chested, long-limbed, and cadaverous
+figure in black. As it was, we stood looking at one another in silence
+for several seconds.
+
+"Thank you, sir," at last he said, abruptly. "I shan't want anything
+whatever to-night; if you can only spare me this candle."
+
+I assented; and, becoming more communicative, he added--
+
+"I am, though an invalid, an independent sort of fellow enough. I am a
+bit of a philosopher; I am my own servant, and, I hope, my own master,
+too. I rely upon myself in matters of the body and of the mind. I place
+valets and priests in the same category--fellows who live by our
+laziness, intellectual or corporeal. I am a Voltaire, without his
+luxuries--a Robinson Crusoe, without his Bible--an anchorite, without a
+superstition--in short, my indulgence is asceticism, and my faith
+infidelity. Therefore, I shan't disturb your servants much with my bell,
+nor yourselves with my psalmody. You have got a rational lodger, who
+knows how to attend upon himself."
+
+During this singular address he was drawing off his ill-fitting black
+gloves, and when he had done so, a bank-note, which had been slipped
+underneath for safety, remained in his hand.
+
+"Punctuality, sir, is one of my poor pleasures," he said; "will you allow
+me to enjoy it now? To-morrow you may acknowledge this; I should not rest
+were you to decline it."
+
+He extended his bony and discoloured fingers, and placed the note in my
+hand. Oh, Fortune and Plutus! It was a £100 bank-note.
+
+"Pray, not one word, my dear sir," he continued, unbending still further;
+"it is simply done pursuant to agreement. We shall know one another
+better, I hope, in a little time; you will find me always equally
+punctual. At present pray give yourself no further trouble; I require
+nothing more. Good night."
+
+I returned the valediction, closed his door, and groped my way down the
+stairs. It was not until I had nearly reached the hall, that I
+recollected that I had omitted to ask our new inmate at what hour he
+would desire to be called in the morning, and so I groped my way back
+again. As I reached the lobby on which his chamber opened, I perceived a
+long line of light issuing from the partially-opened door, within which
+stood Mr. Smith, the same odd figure I had just left; while along the
+boards was creeping towards him across the lobby, a great, big-headed,
+buff-coloured cat. I had never seen this ugly animal before; and it had
+reached the threshold of his door, arching its back, and rubbing itself
+on the post, before either appeared conscious of my approach, when, with
+an angry growl, it sprang into the stranger's room.
+
+"What do you want?" he demanded, sharply, standing in the doorway.
+
+I explained my errand.
+
+"I shall call myself," was his sole reply; and he shut the door with a
+crash that indicated no very pleasurable emotions.
+
+I cared very little about my lodger's temper. The stealthy rustle of his
+bank-note in my waistcoat pocket was music enough to sweeten the harshest
+tones of his voice, and to keep alive a cheerful good humour in my heart;
+and although there was, indisputably, something queer about him, I was,
+on the whole, very well pleased with my bargain.
+
+The next day our new inmate did not ring his bell until noon. As soon
+as he had had some breakfast, of which he very sparingly partook, he
+told the servant that, for the future, he desired that a certain
+quantity of milk and bread might be left outside his door; and this
+being done, he would dispense with regular meals. He desired, too,
+that, on my return, I should be acquainted that he wished to see me in
+his own room at about nine o'clock; and, meanwhile, he directed that he
+should be left undisturbed. I found my little wife full of astonishment
+at Mr. Smith's strange frugality and seclusion, and very curious to
+learn the object of the interview he had desired with me. At nine
+o'clock I repaired to his room.
+
+I found him in precisely the costume in which I had left him--the same
+green goggles--the same muffling of the mouth, except that being now no
+more than a broadly-folded black silk handkerchief, very loose, and
+covering even the lower part of the nose, it was obviously intended for
+the sole purpose of concealment. It was plain I was not to see more of
+his features than he had chosen to disclose at our first interview. The
+effect was as if the lower part of his face had some hideous wound or
+sore. He closed the door with his own hand on my entrance, nodded
+slightly, and took his seat. I expected him to begin, but he was so long
+silent that I was at last constrained to address him.
+
+I said, for want of something more to the purpose, that I hoped he had
+not been tormented by the strange cat the night before.
+
+"What cat?" he asked, abruptly; "what the plague do you mean?"
+
+"Why, I certainly did see a cat go into your room last night," I resumed.
+
+"Hey, and what if you did--though I fancy you dreamed it--I'm not afraid
+of a cat; are you?" he interrupted, tartly.
+
+At this moment there came a low growling mew from the closet which opened
+from the room in which we sat.
+
+"Talk of the devil," said I, pointing towards the closet. My companion,
+without any exact change of expression, looked, I thought, somehow
+still more sinister and lowering; and I felt for a moment a sort of
+superstitious misgiving, which made the rest of the sentence die away
+on my lips.
+
+Perhaps Mr. Smith perceived this, for he said, in a tone calculated to
+reassure me--
+
+"Well, sir, I think I am bound to tell you that I like my apartments very
+well; they suit me, and I shall probably be your tenant for much longer
+than at first you anticipated."
+
+I expressed my gratification.
+
+He then began to talk, something in the strain in which he had spoken of
+his own peculiarities of habit and thinking upon the previous evening. He
+disposed of all classes and denominations of superstition with an easy
+sarcastic slang, which for me was so captivating, that I soon lost all
+reserve, and found myself listening and suggesting by turns--acquiescent
+and pleased--sometimes hazarding dissent; but whenever I did, foiled and
+floored by a few pointed satirical sentences, whose sophistry, for such I
+must now believe it, confounded me with a rapidity which, were it not for
+the admiration with which he had insensibly inspired me, would have
+piqued and irritated my vanity not a little.
+
+While this was going on, from time to time the mewing and growling of a
+cat within the closet became more and more audible. At last these sounds
+became so loud, accompanied by scratching at the door, that I paused in
+the midst of a sentence, and observed--
+
+"There certainly is a cat shut up in the closet?"
+
+"Is there?" he ejaculated, in a surprised tone; "nay, I do not hear it."
+
+He rose abruptly and approached the door; his back was towards me, but I
+observed he raised the goggles which usually covered his eyes, and looked
+steadfastly at the closet door. The angry sounds all died away into a
+low, protracted growl, which again subsided into silence. He continued in
+the same attitude for some moments, and then returned.
+
+"I do not hear it," he said, as he resumed his place, and taking a book
+from his capacious pocket, asked me if I had seen it before? I never had,
+and this surprised me, for I had flattered myself that I knew, at least
+by name, every work published in England during the last fifty years in
+favour of that philosophy in which we both delighted. The book, moreover,
+was an odd one, as both its title and table of contents demonstrated.
+
+While we were discoursing upon these subjects, I became more and more
+distinctly conscious of a new class of sounds proceeding from the same
+closet. I plainly heard a measured and heavy tread, accompanied by the
+tapping of some hard and heavy substance like the end of a staff, pass up
+and down the floor--first, as it seemed, stealthily, and then more and
+more unconcealedly. I began to feel very uncomfortable and suspicious. As
+the noise proceeded, and became more and more unequivocal, Mr. Smith
+abruptly rose, opened the closet door, just enough to admit his own
+lath-like person, and steal within the threshold for some seconds. What
+he did I could not see--I felt conscious he had an associate concealed
+there; and though my eyes remained fixed on the book, I could not avoid
+listening for some audible words, or signal of caution. I heard, however,
+nothing of the kind. Mr. Smith turned back--walked a step or two towards
+me, and said--
+
+"I fancied I heard a sound from that closet, but there is
+nothing--nothing--nothing whatever; bring the candle, let us both look."
+
+I obeyed with some little trepidation, for I fully anticipated that I
+should detect the intruder, of whose presence my own ears had given me,
+for nearly half an hour, the most unequivocal proofs. We entered the
+closet together; it contained but a few chairs and a small spider table.
+At the far end of the room there was a sort of grey woollen cloth upon
+the floor, and a bundle of something underneath it. I looked jealously at
+it, and half thought I could trace the outline of a human figure; but, if
+so, it was perfectly motionless.
+
+"Some of my poor wardrobe," he muttered, as he pointed his lean finger in
+the direction. "It did not sound like a cat, did it--hey--did it?" he
+muttered; and without attending to my answer, he went about the
+apartment, clapping his hands, and crying, "Hish--hish--hish!"
+
+The game, however, whatever it was, did not start. As I entered I had
+seen, however, a large crutch reposing against the wall in the corner
+opposite to the door. This was the only article in the room, except that
+I have mentioned, with which I was not familiar. With the exception of
+our two selves, there was not a living creature to be seen there; no
+shadow but ours upon the bare walls; no feet but our own upon the
+comfortless floor.
+
+I had never before felt so strange and unpleasant a sensation.
+
+"There is nothing unusual in the room but that crutch," I said.
+
+"What crutch, you dolt? I see no crutch," he ejaculated, in a tone of
+sudden but suppressed fury.
+
+"Why, _that_ crutch," I answered (for somehow I neither felt nor resented
+his rudeness), turning and pointing to the spot where I had seen it. It
+was gone!--it was neither there nor anywhere else. It must have been an
+illusion--rather an odd one, to be sure. And yet I could at this moment,
+with a safe conscience, _swear_ that I never saw an object more
+distinctly than I had seen it but a second before.
+
+My companion was muttering fast to himself as we withdrew; his presence
+rather scared than reassured me; and I felt something almost amounting to
+horror, as, holding the candle above his cadaverous and sable figure, he
+stood at his threshold, while I descended the stairs, and said, in a sort
+of whisper--
+
+"Why, but that I am, like yourself, a philosopher, I should say that your
+house is--is--a--ha! ha! ha!--HAUNTED!"
+
+"You look very pale, my love," said my wife, as I entered the
+drawing-room, where she had been long awaiting my return. "Nothing
+unpleasant has happened?"
+
+"Nothing, nothing, I assure you. Pale!--_do_ I look pale?" I answered.
+"We are excellent friends, I assure you. So far from having had the
+smallest disagreement, there is every prospect of our agreeing but too
+well, as you will say; for I find that he holds all my opinions upon
+speculative subjects. We have had a great deal of conversation this
+evening, I assure you; and I never met, I think, so scholarlike and
+able a man."
+
+"I am sorry for it, dearest," she said, sadly. "The greater his talents,
+if such be his opinions, the more dangerous a companion is he."
+
+We turned, however, to more cheerful topics, and it was late before we
+retired to rest. I believe it was pride--perhaps only vanity--but, at all
+events, some obstructive and stubborn instinct of my nature, which I
+could not overcome--that prevented my telling my wife the odd occurrences
+which had disturbed my visit to our guest. I was unable or ashamed to
+confess that so slight a matter had disturbed me; and, above all, that
+any accident could possibly have clouded, even for a moment, the frosty
+clearness of my pure and lofty scepticism with the shadows of
+superstition.
+
+Almost every day seemed to develop some new eccentricity of our strange
+guest. His dietary consisted, without any variety or relief, of the
+monotonous bread and milk with which he started; his bed had not been
+made for nearly a week; nobody had been admitted into his room since my
+visit, just described; and he never ventured down stairs, or out of
+doors, until after nightfall, when he used sometimes to glide swiftly
+round our little enclosed shrubbery, and at others stand quite
+motionless, composed, as if in an attitude of deep attention. After
+employing about an hour in this way, he would return, and steal up stairs
+to his room, when he would shut himself up, and not be seen again until
+the next night--or, it might be, the night after that--when, perhaps, he
+would repeat his odd excursion.
+
+Strange as his habits were, their eccentricity was all upon the side
+least troublesome to us. He required literally no attendance; and as to
+his occasional night ramble, even _it_ caused not the slightest
+disturbance of our routine hour for securing the house and locking up the
+hall-door for the night, inasmuch as he had invariably retired before
+that hour arrived.
+
+All this stimulated curiosity, and, in no small degree, that of my wife,
+who, notwithstanding her vigilance and her anxiety to see our strange
+inmate, had been hitherto foiled by a series of cross accidents. We were
+sitting together somewhere about ten o'clock at night, when there came a
+tap at the room-door. We had just been discussing the unaccountable
+Smith; and I felt a sheepish consciousness that he might be himself at
+the door, and have possibly even overheard our speculation--some of them
+anything but complimentary, respecting himself.
+
+"Come in," cried, I, with an effort; and the tall form of our lodger
+glided into the room. My wife was positively frightened, and stood
+looking at him, as he advanced, with a stare of manifest apprehension,
+and even recoiled mechanically, and caught my hand.
+
+Sensitiveness, however, was not his fault: he made a kind of stiff nod as
+I mumbled an introduction; and seating himself unasked, began at once to
+chat in that odd, off-hand, and sneering style, in which he excelled, and
+which had, as he wielded it, a sort of fascination of which I can pretend
+to convey no idea.
+
+My wife's alarm subsided, and although she still manifestly felt some
+sort of misgiving about our visitor, she yet listened to his
+conversation, and, spite of herself, soon began to enjoy it. He stayed
+for nearly half an hour. But although he glanced at a great variety of
+topics, he did not approach the subject of religion. As soon as he was
+gone, my wife delivered judgment upon him in form. She admitted he was
+agreeable; but then he was such an unnatural, awful-looking object: there
+was, besides, something indescribably frightful, she thought, in his
+manner--the very tone of his voice was strange and hateful; and, on the
+whole, she felt unutterably relieved at his departure.
+
+A few days after, on my return, I found my poor little wife agitated and
+dispirited. Mr. Smith had paid her a visit, and brought with him a book,
+which he stated he had been reading, and which contained some references
+to the Bible which he begged of her to explain in that profounder and
+less obvious sense in which they had been cited. This she had endeavoured
+to do; and affecting to be much gratified by her satisfactory exposition,
+he had requested her to reconcile some discrepancies which he said had
+often troubled him when reading the Scriptures. Some of them were quite
+new to my good little wife; they startled and even horrified her. He
+pursued this theme, still pretending only to seek for information to
+quiet his own doubts, while in reality he was sowing in her mind the
+seeds of the first perturbations that had ever troubled the sources of
+her peace. He had been with her, she thought, no more than a quarter of
+an hour; but he had contrived to leave her abundant topics on which to
+ruminate for days. I found her shocked and horrified at the doubts which
+this potent Magus had summoned from the pit--doubts which she knew not
+how to combat, and from the torment of which she could not escape.
+
+"He has made me very miserable with his deceitful questions. I never
+thought of them before; and, merciful Heaven! I cannot answer them! What
+am I to do? My serenity is gone; I shall never be happy again."
+
+In truth, she was so very miserable, and, as it seemed to me, so
+disproportionately excited, that, inconsistent in me as the task would
+have been, I would gladly have explained away her difficulties, and
+restored to her mind its wonted confidence and serenity, had I possessed
+sufficient knowledge for the purpose. I really pitied her, and heartily
+wished Mr. Smith, for the nonce, at the devil.
+
+I observed after this that my wife's spirits appeared permanently
+affected. There was a constantly-recurring anxiety, and I thought
+something was lying still more heavily at her heart than the
+uncertainties inspired by our lodger.
+
+One evening, as we two were sitting together, after a long silence, she
+suddenly laid her hand upon my arm, and said--
+
+"Oh, Richard, my darling! would to God you could pray for me!"
+
+There was something so agitated, and even terrified, in her manner,
+that I was absolutely startled. I urged her to disclose whatever preyed
+upon her mind.
+
+"You can't sympathise with me--you can't help me--you can scarcely
+compassionate me in my misery! Oh, dearest Richard! Some evil influence
+has been gaining upon my heart, dulling and destroying my convictions,
+killing all my holy affections, and--and absolutely transforming me. I
+look inward upon myself with amazement, with terror--with--oh, God!--with
+actual despair!"
+
+Saying this, she threw herself on her knees, and wept an agonised flood
+of tears, with her head reposing in my lap.
+
+Poor little thing, my heart bled for her! But what could I do or say?
+
+All I could suggest was what I really thought, that she was
+unwell--hysterical--and needed to take better care of her precious self;
+that her change of feeling was fancied, not real; and that a few days
+would restore her to her old health and former spirits and serenity.
+
+"And sometimes," she resumed, after I had ended a consolatory discussion,
+which it was but too manifest had fallen unprofitably upon her ear, "such
+dreadful, impious thoughts come into my mind, whether I choose it or not;
+they come, and stay, and return, strive as I may; and I can't pray
+against them. They are forced upon me with the strength of an independent
+will; and oh!--horrible--frightful--they blaspheme the character of God
+himself. They upbraid the Almighty upon his throne, and I can't pray
+against them; there is something in me now that resists prayer."
+
+There was such a real and fearful anguish in the agitation of my gentle
+companion, that it shook my very soul within me, even while I was
+affecting to make light of her confessions. I had never before witnessed
+a struggle at all like this, and I was awe-struck at the spectacle.
+
+At length she became comparatively calm. I did gradually succeed, though
+very imperfectly, in reassuring her. She strove hard against her
+depression, and recovered a little of her wonted cheerfulness.
+
+After a while, however, the cloud returned. She grew sad and earnest,
+though no longer excited; and entreated, or rather implored, of me to
+grant her one special favour, and this was, to avoid the society of
+our lodger.
+
+"I never," she said, "could understand till now the instinctive dread
+with which poor Margaret, in _Faust_, shrinks from the hateful presence
+of Mephistopheles. I now feel it in myself. The dislike and suspicion I
+first felt for that man--Smith, or whatever else he may call himself--has
+grown into literal detestation and terror. I hate him--I am afraid of
+him--I never knew what anguish of mind was until he entered our doors;
+and would to God--would to God he were gone."
+
+I reasoned with her--kissed her--laughed at her; but could not dissipate,
+in the least degree, the intense and preternatural horror with which she
+had grown to regard the poor philosophic invalid, who was probably, at
+that moment, poring over some metaphysical book in his solitary
+bedchamber.
+
+The circumstance I am about to mention will give you some notion of the
+extreme to which these excited feelings had worked upon her nerves. I was
+that night suddenly awakened by a piercing scream--I started upright in
+the bed, and saw my wife standing at the bedside, white as ashes with
+terror. It was some seconds, so startled was I, before I could find words
+to ask her the cause of her affright. She caught my wrist in her icy
+grasp, and climbed, trembling violently, into bed. Notwithstanding my
+repeated entreaties, she continued for a long time stupified and dumb. At
+length, however, she told me, that having lain awake for a long time, she
+felt, on a sudden, that she could pray, and lighting the candle, she had
+stolen from beside me, and kneeled down for the purpose. She had,
+however, scarcely assumed the attitude of prayer, when somebody, she
+said, clutched her arm violently near the wrist, and she heard, at the
+same instant, some blasphemous menace, the import of which escaped her
+the moment it was spoken, muttered close in her ear. This terrifying
+interruption was the cause of the scream which had awakened me; and the
+condition in which she continued during the remainder of the night
+confirmed me more than ever in the conviction, that she was suffering
+under some morbid action of the nervous system.
+
+After this event, which _I_ had no hesitation in attributing to fancy,
+she became literally afraid to pray, and her misery and despondency
+increased proportionately.
+
+It was shortly after this that an unusual pressure of business called me
+into town one evening after office hours. I had left my dear little wife
+tolerably well, and little Fanny was to be her companion until I
+returned. She and her little companion occupied the same room in which we
+sat on the memorable evening which witnessed the arrival of our eccentric
+guest. Though usually a lively child, it most provokingly happened upon
+this night that Fanny was heavy and drowsy to excess. Her mamma would
+have sent her to bed, but that she now literally feared to be left alone;
+although, however, she could not so far overcome her horror of solitude
+as to do this, she yet would not persist in combating the poor child's
+sleepiness.
+
+Accordingly, little Fanny was soon locked in a sound sleep, while her
+mamma quietly pursued her work beside her. They had been perhaps some
+ten minutes thus circumstanced, when my wife heard the window softly
+raised from without--a bony hand parted the curtains, and Mr. Smith
+leaned into the room.
+
+She was so utterly overpowered at sight of this apparition, that even had
+it, as she expected, climbed into the room, she told me she could not
+have uttered a sound, or stirred from the spot where she sate transfixed
+and petrified.
+
+"Ha, ha!" he said gently, "I hope you'll excuse this, I must admit, very
+odd intrusion; but I knew I should find you here, and could not resist
+the opportunity of raising the window just for a moment, to look in upon
+a little family picture, and say a word to yourself. I understand that
+you are troubled, because for some cause you cannot say your
+prayers--because what you call your 'faith' is, so to speak, dead and
+gone, and also because what _you_ consider bad thoughts are constantly
+recurring to your mind. Now, all that is very silly. If it is really
+impossible for you to believe and to pray, what are you to infer from
+that? It is perfectly plain your Christian system can't be a true
+one--faith and _prayer_ it everywhere represents as the conditions of
+grace, acceptance, and salvation; and yet your Creator will not _permit_
+you either to believe or pray. The Christian system is, forsooth, a
+_free_ gift, and yet he who formed _you_ and _it_, makes it absolutely
+impossible for you to accept it. _Is_ it, I ask you, from your own
+experience--is it a free gift? And if your own experience, in which you
+can't be mistaken, gives its pretensions the lie, why, in the name of
+common sense, will you persist in believing it? I say it is downright
+blasphemy to think it has emanated from the Good Spirit--assuming that
+there is one. It tells you that you must be tormented hereafter in a way
+only to be made intelligible by the image of eternal fires--pretty
+strong, we must all allow--unless you comply with certain conditions,
+which it pretends are so easy that it is a positive pleasure to embrace
+and perform them; and yet, for the life of you, you can't--physically
+_can't_--do either. Is this truth and mercy?--or is it swindling and
+cruelty? Is it the part of the Redeemer, or that of the tyrant, deceiver,
+and tormentor?"
+
+Up to that moment, my wife had sate breathless and motionless, listening,
+in the catalepsy of nightmare, to a sort of echo of the vile and impious
+reasoning which had haunted her for so long. At the last words of the
+sentence his voice became harsh and thrilling; and his whole manner
+bespoke a sort of crouching and terrific hatred, the like of which she
+could not have conceived.
+
+Whatever may have been the cause, she was on a sudden disenchanted. She
+started to her feet; and, freezing with horror though she was, in a
+shrill cry of agony commanded him, in the name of God, to depart from
+her. His whole frame seemed to darken; he drew back silently; the
+curtains dropped into their places, the window was let down again as
+stealthily as it had just been raised; and my wife found herself alone in
+the chamber with our little child, who had been startled from her sleep
+by her mother's cry of anguish, and with the fearful words, "tempter,"
+"destroyer," "devil," still ringing in her ears, was weeping bitterly,
+and holding her terrified mother's hand.
+
+There is nothing, I believe, more infectious than that species of
+nervousness which shows itself in superstitious fears. I began--although
+I could not bring myself to admit anything the least like it--to partake
+insensibly, but strongly of the peculiar feelings with which my wife, and
+indeed my whole household, already regarded the lodger up stairs. The
+fact was, beside, that the state of my poor wife's mind began to make me
+seriously uneasy; and, although I was fully sensible of the pecuniary and
+other advantages attendant upon his stay, they were yet far from
+outweighing the constant gloom and frequent misery in which the
+protracted sojourn was involving my once cheerful house. I resolved,
+therefore, at whatever monetary sacrifice, to put an end to these
+commotions; and, after several debates with my wife, in which the subject
+was, as usual, turned in all its possible and impossible bearings, we
+agreed that, deducting a fair proportion for his five weeks' sojourn, I
+should return the remainder of his £100, and request immediate possession
+of his apartments. Like a man suddenly relieved of an insufferable load,
+and breathing freely once more, I instantly prepared to carry into effect
+the result of our deliberations.
+
+In pursuance of this resolution, I waited upon Mr. Smith. This time my
+call was made in the morning, somewhere about nine o'clock. He
+received me at his door, standing as usual in the stealthy opening
+which barely admitted his lank person. There he stood, fully equipped
+with goggles and respirator, and swathed, rather than dressed, in his
+puckered black garments.
+
+As he did not seem disposed to invite me into his apartment, although
+I had announced my visit as one of business, I was obliged to open my
+errand where I stood; and after a great deal of fumbling and
+muttering, I contrived to place before him distinctly the resolution
+to which I had come.
+
+"But I can't think of taking back any portion of the sum I have paid
+you," said he, with a cool, dry emphasis.
+
+"Your reluctance to do so, Mr. Smith, is most handsome, and I assure you,
+appreciated," I replied. "It is very generous; but, at the same time, it
+is quite impossible for me to accept what I have no right to take, and I
+must beg of you not to mention that part of the subject again."
+
+"And why should _I_ take it?" demanded Mr. Smith.
+
+"Because you have paid this hundred pounds for six months, and you are
+leaving me with nearly five months of the term still unexpired," I
+replied. "I expect to receive fair play myself, and always give it."
+
+"But who on earth said that I was going away so soon?" pursued Mr. Smith,
+in the same dry, sarcastic key. "_I_ have not said so--because I really
+don't intend it; I mean to stay here to the last day of the six months
+for which I have paid you. I have no notion of vacating my hired
+lodgings, simply because you say, _go_. I shan't quarrel with you--I
+never quarrel with anybody. I'm as much your friend as ever; but, without
+the least wish to disoblige, I can't do this, positively I cannot. Is
+there anything else?"
+
+I had not anticipated in the least the difficulty which thus
+encountered and upset our plans. I had so set my heart upon effecting
+the immediate retirement of our inauspicious inmate, that the
+disappointment literally stunned me for a moment. I, however, returned
+to the charge: I urged, and prayed, and almost besought him to give up
+his apartments, and to leave us. I offered to repay every farthing of
+the sum he had paid me--reserving nothing on account of the time he had
+already been with us. I suggested all the disadvantages of the house. I
+shifted my ground, and told him that my wife wanted the rooms; I
+pressed his gallantry--his good nature--his economy; in short, I
+assailed him upon every point--but in vain, he did not even take the
+trouble of repeating what he had said before--he neither relented, nor
+showed the least irritation, but simply said--
+
+"I can't do this; here I am, and here I stay until the half-year has
+expired. You wanted a lodger, and you have got one--the quietest, least
+troublesome, least expensive person you could have; and though your
+house, servants, and furniture are none of the best, I don't care for
+that. I pursue my own poor business and enjoyments here entirely to my
+satisfaction."
+
+Having thus spoken, he gave me a sort of nod, and closed the door.
+
+So, instead of getting rid of him the next day, as we had hoped, we had
+nearly five months more of his company in expectancy; I hated, and my
+wife dreaded the prospect. She was literally miserable and panic-struck
+at her disappointment--and grew so nervous and wretched that I made up my
+mind to look out for lodgings for her and the children (subversive of all
+our schemes of retrenchment as such a step would be), and surrendering
+the house absolutely to Mr. Smith and the servants during the remainder
+of his term.
+
+Circumstances, however, occurred to prevent our putting this plan in
+execution. My wife, meanwhile, was, if possible, more depressed and
+nervous every day. The servants seemed to sympathise in the dread and
+gloom which involved ourselves; the very children grew timid and
+spiritless, without knowing why--and the entire house was pervaded with
+an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear. A poorhouse or a dungeon would
+have been cheerful, compared with a dwelling haunted unceasingly with
+unearthly suspicions and alarms. I would have made any sacrifice short of
+ruin, to emancipate our household from the odious mental and moral
+thraldom which was invisibly established over us--overcasting us with
+strange anxieties and an undefined terror.
+
+About this time my wife had a dream which troubled her much, although
+she could not explain its supposed significance satisfactorily by any
+of the ordinary rules of interpretation in such matters. The vision was
+as follows.
+
+She dreamed that we were busily employed in carrying out our scheme of
+removal, and that I came into the parlour where she was making some
+arrangements, and, with rather an agitated manner, told her that the
+carriage had come for the children. She thought she went out to the hall,
+in consequence, holding little Fanny by one hand, and the boy--or, as we
+still called him, "baby,"--by the other, and feeling, as she did so, an
+unaccountable gloom, almost amounting to terror, steal over her. The
+children, too, seemed, she thought, frightened, and disposed to cry.
+
+So close to the hall-door as to exclude the light, stood some kind of
+vehicle, of which she could see nothing but that its door was wide open,
+and the interior involved in total darkness. The children, she thought,
+shrunk back in great trepidation, and she addressed herself to induce
+them, by persuasion, to enter, telling them that they were only "going to
+their new home." So, in a while, little Fanny approached it; but, at the
+same instant, some person came swiftly up from behind, and, raising the
+little boy in his hands, said fiercely, "No, the baby first"; and placed
+him in the carriage. This person was our lodger, Mr. Smith, and was gone
+as soon as seen. My wife, even in her dream, could not act or speak; but
+as the child was lifted into the carriage-door, a man, whose face was
+full of beautiful tenderness and compassion, leaned forward from the
+carriage and received the little child, which, stretching his arms to the
+stranger, looked back with a strange smile upon his mother.
+
+"He is safe with me, and I will deliver him to you when you come."
+
+These words the man spoke, looking upon her, as he received him, and
+immediately the carriage-door shut, and the noise of its closing wakened
+my wife from her nightmare.
+
+This dream troubled her very much, and even haunted my mind unpleasantly
+too. We agreed, however, not to speak of it to anybody, not to divulge
+any of our misgivings respecting the stranger. We were anxious that
+neither the children nor the servants should catch the contagion of those
+fears which had seized upon my poor little wife, and, if truth were
+spoken, upon myself in some degree also. But this precaution was, I
+believe, needless, for, as I said before, everybody under the same roof
+with Mr. Smith was, to a certain extent, affected with the same nervous
+gloom and apprehension.
+
+And now commences a melancholy chapter in my life. My poor little Fanny
+was attacked with a cough which soon grew very violent, and after a time
+degenerated into a sharp attack of inflammation. We were seriously
+alarmed for her life, and nothing that care and medicine could effect
+was spared to save it. Her mother was indefatigable, and scarcely left
+her night or day; and, indeed, for some time, we all but despaired of
+her recovery.
+
+One night, when she was at the worst, her poor mother, who had sat for
+many a melancholy hour listening, by her bedside, to those plaintive
+incoherences of delirium and moanings of fever, which have harrowed so
+many a fond heart, gained gradually from her very despair the courage
+which she had so long wanted, and knelt down at the side of her sick
+darling's bed to pray for her deliverance.
+
+With clasped hands, in an agony of supplication, she prayed that God
+would, in his mercy, spare her little child--that, justly as she herself
+deserved the sorest chastisement his hand could inflict, he would yet
+deal patiently and tenderly with her in this one thing. She poured out
+her sorrows before the mercy-seat--she opened her heart, and declared her
+only hope to be in his pity; without which, she felt that her darling
+would only leave the bed where she was lying for her grave.
+
+Exactly as she came to this part of her supplication, the child, who had
+grown, as it seemed, more and more restless, and moaned and muttered with
+increasing pain and irritation, on a sudden started upright in her bed,
+and, in a thrilling voice, cried--
+
+"No! no!--the baby first."
+
+The mysterious sentence which had secretly tormented her for so long,
+thus piercingly uttered by this delirious, and, perhaps, dying child,
+with what seemed a preternatural earnestness and strength, arrested her
+devotions, and froze her with a feeling akin to terror.
+
+"Hush, hush, my darling!" said the poor mother, almost wildly, as she
+clasped the attenuated frame of the sick child in her arms; "hush, my
+darling; don't cry out so loudly--there--there--my own love."
+
+The child did not appear to see or hear her, but sate up still with
+feverish cheeks, and bright unsteady eyes, while her dry lips were
+muttering inaudible words.
+
+"Lie down, my sweet child--lie down, for your own mother," she said;
+"if you tire yourself, you can't grow well, and your poor mother will
+lose you."
+
+At these words, the child suddenly cried out again, in precisely the same
+loud, strong voice--"No! no! the baby first, the baby first"--and
+immediately afterwards lay down, and fell, for the first time since her
+illness into a tranquil sleep.
+
+My good little wife sate, crying bitterly by her bedside. The child was
+better--_that_ was, indeed, delightful. But then there was an omen in the
+words, thus echoed from her dream, which she dared not trust herself to
+interpret, and which yet had seized, with a grasp of iron, upon every
+fibre of her brain.
+
+"Oh, Richard," she cried, as she threw her arms about my neck, "I am
+terrified at this horrible menace from the unseen world. Oh! poor,
+darling little baby, I shall lose you--I am sure I shall lose you.
+Comfort me, darling, and say he is not to die."
+
+And so I did; and tasked all my powers of argument and persuasion to
+convince her how unsubstantial was the ground of her anxiety. The little
+boy was perfectly well, and, even were he to die before his sister that
+event might not occur for seventy years to come. I could not, however,
+conceal from myself that there was something odd and unpleasant in the
+coincidence; and my poor wife had grown so nervous and excitable, that a
+much less ominous conjecture would have sufficed to alarm her.
+
+Meanwhile, the unaccountable terror which our lodger's presence inspired
+continued to increase. One of our maids gave us warning, solely from her
+dread of our queer inmate, and the strange accessories which haunted him.
+She said--and this was corroborated by her fellow-servant--that Mr. Smith
+seemed to have constantly a companion in his room; that although they
+never heard them speak, they continually and distinctly heard the tread
+of two persons walking up and down the room together, and described
+accurately the peculiar sound of a stick or crutch tapping upon the
+floor, which my own ears had heard. They also had seen the large,
+ill-conditioned cat I have mentioned, frequently steal in and out of the
+stranger's room; and observed that when our little girl was in greatest
+danger, the hateful animal was constantly writhing, fawning, and crawling
+about the door of the sick room after nightfall. They were thoroughly
+persuaded that this ill-omened beast was the foul fiend himself, and I
+confess I could not--sceptic as I was--bring myself absolutely to the
+belief that he was nothing more than a "harmless, necessary cat." These
+and similar reports--implicitly believed as they palpably were by those
+who made them--were certainly little calculated to allay the perturbation
+and alarm with which our household was filled.
+
+The evenings had by this time shortened very much, and darkness often
+overtook us before we sate down to our early tea. It happened just at
+this period of which I have been speaking, after my little girl had begun
+decidedly to mend, that I was sitting in our dining-parlour, with my
+little boy fast asleep upon my knees, and thinking of I know not what, my
+wife having gone up stairs, as usual, to sit in the room with little
+Fanny. As I thus sate in what was to me, in effect, total solitude,
+darkness unperceived stole on us.
+
+On a sudden, as I sate, with my elbow leaning upon the table, and my
+other arm round the sleeping child, I felt, as I thought, a cold
+current of air faintly blowing upon my forehead. I raised my head, and
+saw, as nearly as I could calculate, at the far end of the table on
+which my arm rested, two large green eyes confronting me. I could see
+no more, but instantly concluded they were those of the abominable cat.
+Yielding to an impulse of horror and abhorrence, I caught a water-croft
+that was close to my hand, and threw it full at it with all my force. I
+must have missed my object, for the shining eyes continued fixed for a
+second, and then glided still nearer to me, and then a little nearer
+still. The noise of the glass smashed with so much force upon the table
+called in the servant, who happened to be passing. She had a candle in
+her hand, and, perhaps, the light alarmed the odious beast, for as she
+came in it was gone.
+
+I had had an undefined idea that its approach was somehow connected with
+a designed injury of some sort to the sleeping child. I could not be
+mistaken as to the fact that I had plainly seen the two broad, glaring,
+green eyes. Where the cursed animal had gone I had not observed: it
+might, indeed, easily have run out at the door as the servant opened it,
+but neither of us had seen it do so; and we were every one of us in such
+a state of nervous excitement, that even this incident was something in
+the catalogue of our ambiguous experiences.
+
+It was a great happiness to see our darling little Fanny every day
+mending, and now quite out of danger: this was cheering and delightful.
+It was also something to know that more than two months of our lodger's
+term of occupation had already expired; and to realise, as we now could
+do, by anticipation, the unspeakable relief of his departure.
+
+My wife strove hard to turn our dear child's recovery to good account for
+me; but the impressions of fear soon depart, and those of religious
+gratitude must be preceded by religious faith. All as yet was but as seed
+strewn upon the rock.
+
+Little Fanny, though recovering rapidly, was still very weak, and her
+mother usually passed a considerable part of every evening in her
+bedroom--for the child was sometimes uneasy and restless at night. It
+happened at this period that, sitting as usual at Fanny's bedside, she
+witnessed an occurrence which agitated her not a little.
+
+The child had been, as it seems, growing sleepy, and was lying
+listlessly, with eyes half open, apparently taking no note of what was
+passing. Suddenly, however, with an expression of the wildest terror, she
+drew up her limbs, and cowered in the bed's head, gazing at some object;
+which, judging from the motion of her eyes, must have been slowly
+advancing from the end of the room next the door.
+
+The child made a low shuddering cry, as she grasped her mother's hand,
+and, with features white and tense with terror, slowly following with her
+eyes the noiseless course of some unseen spectre, shrinking more and more
+fearfully backward every moment.
+
+"What is it? Where? What is it that frightens you, my darling?" asked the
+poor mother, who, thrilled with horror, looked in vain for the apparition
+which seemed to have all but bereft the child of reason.
+
+"Stay with me--save me--keep it away--look, look at it--making signs to
+me--don't let it hurt me--it is angry--Oh! mamma, save me, save me!"
+
+The child said this, all the time clinging to her with both her hands, in
+an ecstasy of panic.
+
+"There--there, my darling," said my poor wife, "don't be afraid; there's
+nothing but me--your own mamma--and little baby in the room; nothing, my
+darling; nothing indeed."
+
+"Mamma, mamma, don't move; don't go near him"; the child continued
+wildly. "It's only his back now; don't make him turn again; he's untying
+his handkerchief. Oh! baby, baby; he'll _kill_ baby! and he's lifting up
+those green things from his eyes; don't you see him doing it? Mamma,
+mamma, why does he come here? Oh, mamma, poor baby--poor little baby!"
+
+She was looking with a terrified gaze at the little boy's bed, which lay
+directly opposite to her own, and in which he was sleeping calmly.
+
+"Hush, hush, my darling child," said my wife, with difficulty
+restraining an hysterical burst of tears; "for God's sake don't speak so
+wildly, my own precious love--there, there--don't be frightened--there,
+darling, there."
+
+"Oh! poor baby--poor little darling baby," the child continued as before;
+"will no one save him--tell that wicked man to go away--oh--there--why,
+mamma--don't--oh, sure you won't let him--don't--don't--he'll take the
+child's life--will you let him lie down that way on the bed--save poor
+little baby--oh, baby, baby, waken--his head is on your face."
+
+As she said this she raised her voice to a cry of despairing terror which
+made the whole room ring again.
+
+This cry, or rather yell, reached my ears as I sate reading in the
+parlour by myself, and fearing I knew not what, I rushed to the
+apartment; before I reached it, the sound had subsided into low but
+violent sobbing; and, just as I arrived at the threshold I heard, close
+at my feet, a fierce protracted growl, and something rubbing along the
+surbase. I was in the dark, but, with a feeling of mingled terror and
+fury, I stamped and struck at the abhorred brute with my feet, but in
+vain. The next moment I was in the room, and heard little Fanny, through
+her sobs, cry--
+
+"Oh, poor baby is killed--that wicked man has killed him--he uncovered
+his face, and put it on him, and lay upon the bed and killed poor baby. I
+knew he came to kill him. Ah, papa, papa, why did you not come up before
+he went?--he is gone, he went away as soon as he killed our poor little
+darling baby."
+
+I could not conceal my agitation, quite, and I said to my wife--
+
+"Has he, Smith, been here?"
+
+"No."
+
+"What is it, then?"
+
+"The child has seen _some_ one."
+
+"Seen whom? Who? Who has been here?"
+
+"I did not see it; but--but I am sure the child saw--that is, _thought_
+she saw _him_;--the person you have named. Oh, God, in mercy deliver us!
+What shall I do--what shall I do!"
+
+Thus saying, the dear little woman burst into tears, and crying, as if
+her heart would break, sobbed out an entreaty that I would look at baby;
+adding, that she herself had not courage to see whether her darling was
+sleeping or dead.
+
+"Dead!" I exclaimed. "Tut, tut, my darling; you must not give way to such
+morbid fancies--he is very well, I see him breathing;" and so saying, I
+went over to the bed where our little boy was lying. He was slumbering;
+though it seemed to me very heavily, and his cheeks were flushed.
+
+"Sleeping tranquilly, my darling--tranquilly, and deeply; and with a
+warm colour in his cheeks," I said, rearranging the coverlet, and
+retiring to my wife, who sate almost breathless whilst I was looking at
+our little boy.
+
+"Thank God--thank God," she said quietly; and she wept again; and rising,
+came to his bedside.
+
+"Yes, yes--alive; thank God; but it seems to me he is breathing very
+short, and with difficulty, and he looks--_does_ he not look hot and
+feverish? Yes, he _is_ very hot; feel his little hand--feel his neck;
+merciful heaven! he is burning."
+
+It was, indeed, very true, that his skin was unnaturally dry and hot; his
+little pulse, too, was going at a fearful rate.
+
+"I do think," said I--resolved to conceal the extent of my own
+apprehensions--"I do think that he is just a _little_ feverish; but he
+has often been much more so; and will, I dare say, in the morning, be
+perfectly well again. I dare say, but for little Fanny's _dream_, we
+should not have observed it at all."
+
+"Oh, my darling, my darling, my darling!" sobbed the poor little woman,
+leaning over the bed, with her hands locked together, and looking the
+very picture of despair. "Oh, my darling, what has happened to you? I put
+you into your bed, looking so well and beautiful, this evening, and here
+you are, stricken with sickness, my own little love. Oh, you will
+not--you cannot, leave your poor mother!"
+
+It was quite plain that she despaired of the child from the moment we had
+ascertained that it was unwell. As it happened, her presentiment was but
+too truly prophetic. The apothecary said the child's ailment was
+"suppressed small-pox"; the physician pronounced it "typhus." The only
+certainty about it was the issue--the child died.
+
+To me few things appear so beautiful as a very young child in its
+shroud. The little innocent face looks so sublimely simple and confiding
+amongst the cold terrors of death--crimeless, and fearless, that little
+mortal has passed alone under the shadow, and explored the mystery of
+dissolution. There is death in its sublimest and purest image--no
+hatred, no hypocrisy, no suspicion, no care for the morrow ever darkened
+that little face; death has come lovingly upon it; there is nothing
+cruel, or harsh, in his victory. The yearnings of love, indeed, cannot
+be stifled; for the prattle, and smiles, and all the little world of
+thoughts that were so delightful, are gone for ever. Awe, too, will
+overcast us in its presence--for we are looking on death; but we do not
+fear for the little, lonely voyager--for the child has gone, simple and
+trusting, into the presence of its all-wise Father; and of such, we
+know, is the kingdom of heaven.
+
+And so we parted from poor little baby. I and his poor old nurse
+drove in a mourning carriage, in which lay the little coffin, early
+in the morning, to the churchyard of ----. Sore, indeed, was my
+heart, as I followed that little coffin to the grave! Another burial
+had just concluded as we entered the churchyard, and the mourners
+stood in clusters round the grave, into which the sexton was now
+shovelling the mould.
+
+As I stood, with head uncovered, listening to the sublime and touching
+service which our ritual prescribes, I found that a gentleman had drawn
+near also, and was standing at my elbow. I did not turn to look at him
+until the earth had closed over my darling boy; I then walked a little
+way apart, that I might be alone, and drying my eyes, sat down upon a
+tombstone, to let the confusion of my mind subside.
+
+While I was thus lost in a sorrowful reverie, the gentleman who had stood
+near me at the grave was once more at my side. The face of the stranger,
+though I could not call it handsome, was very remarkable; its expression
+was the purest and noblest I could conceive, and it was made very
+beautiful by a look of such compassion as I never saw before.
+
+"Why do you sorrow as one without hope?" he said, gently.
+
+"I _have_ no hope," I answered.
+
+"Nay, I think you have," he answered again; "and I am sure you will soon
+have more. That little child for which you grieve, has escaped the
+dangers and miseries of life; its body has perished; but he will receive
+in the end the crown of life. God has given him an early victory."
+
+I know not what it was in him that rebuked my sullen pride, and humbled
+and saddened me, as I listened to this man. He was dressed in deep
+mourning, and looked more serene, noble, and sweet than any I had ever
+seen. He was young, too, as I have said, and his voice very clear and
+harmonious. He talked to me for a long time, and I listened to him with
+involuntary reverence. At last, however, he left me, saying he had often
+seen me walking into town, about the same hour that he used to go that
+way, and that if he saw me again he would walk with me, and so we might
+reason of these things together.
+
+It was late when I returned to my home, now a house of mourning.
+
+
+
+
+PART II
+
+
+Our home was one of sorrow and of fear. The child's death had stricken us
+with terror no less than grief. Referring it, as we both tacitly did, to
+the mysterious and fiendish agency of the abhorred being whom, in an evil
+hour, we had admitted into our house, we both viewed him with a degree
+and species of fear for which I can find no name.
+
+I felt that some further calamity was impending. I could not hope that we
+were to be delivered from the presence of the malignant agent who
+haunted, rather than inhabited our home, without some additional proofs
+alike of his malice and his power.
+
+My poor wife's presentiments were still more terrible and overpowering,
+though not more defined, than my own. She was never tranquil while our
+little girl was out of her sight; always dreading and expecting some new
+revelation of the evil influence which, as we were indeed both persuaded,
+had bereft our darling little boy of life. Against an hostility so
+unearthly and intangible there was no guarding, and the sense of
+helplessness intensified the misery of our situation. Tormented with
+doubts of the very basis of her religion, and recoiling from the ordeal
+of prayer with the strange horror with which the victim of hydrophobia
+repels the pure water, she no longer found the consolation which, had
+sorrow reached her in any other shape, she would have drawn from the
+healing influence of religion. We were both of us unhappy, dismayed,
+DEMON-STRICKEN.
+
+Meanwhile, our lodger's habits continued precisely the same. If, indeed,
+the sounds which came from his apartments were to be trusted, he and his
+agents were more on the alert than ever. I can convey to you, good
+reader, no notion, even the faintest, of the dreadful sensation always
+more or less present to my mind, and sometimes with a reality which
+thrilled me almost to frenzy--the apprehension that I had admitted into
+my house the incarnate spirit of the dead or damned, to torment me and
+my family.
+
+It was some nights after the burial of our dear little baby; we had not
+gone to bed until late, and I had slept, I suppose, some hours, when I
+was awakened by my wife, who clung to me with the energy of terror. She
+said nothing, but grasped and shook me with more than her natural
+strength. She had crept close to me, and was cowering with her head under
+the bedclothes.
+
+The room was perfectly dark, as usual, for we burned no night-light; but
+from the side of the bed next her proceeded a voice as of one sitting
+there with his head within a foot of the curtains--and, merciful heavens!
+it was the voice of our lodger.
+
+He was discoursing of the death of our baby, and inveighing, in the old
+mocking tone of hate and suppressed fury, against the justice, mercy, and
+goodness of God. He did this with a terrible plausibility of sophistry,
+and with a resolute emphasis and precision, which seemed to imply, "I
+have got something to tell you, and, whether you like it or like it not,
+I _will_ say out my say."
+
+To pretend that I felt anger at his intrusion, or emotion of any sort,
+save the one sense of palsied terror, would be to depart from the truth.
+I lay, cold and breathless, as if frozen to death--unable to move, unable
+to utter a cry--with the voice of that demon pouring, in the dark, his
+undisguised blasphemies and temptations close into my ears. At last the
+dreadful voice ceased--whether the speaker went or stayed I could not
+tell--the silence, which he might be improving for the purpose of some
+hellish strategem, was to me more tremendous even than his speech.
+
+We both lay awake, not daring to move or speak, scarcely even breathing,
+but clasping one another fast, until at length the welcome light of day
+streamed into the room through the opening door, as the servant came in
+to call us. I need not say that our nocturnal visitant had left us.
+
+The magnanimous reader will, perhaps, pronounce that I ought to have
+pulled on my boots and inexpressibles with all available despatch, run to
+my lodger's bedroom, and kicked him forthwith downstairs, and the entire
+way moreover out to the public road, as some compensation for the
+scandalous affront put upon me and my wife by his impertinent visit. Now,
+at that time, I had no scruples against what are termed the laws of
+honour, was by no means deficient in "pluck," and gifted, moreover, with
+a somewhat excitable temper. Yet, I will honestly avow that, so far from
+courting a collision with the dreaded stranger, I would have recoiled at
+his very sight, and given my eyes to avoid him, such was the ascendancy
+which he had acquired over me, as well as everybody else in my household,
+in his own quiet, irresistible, hellish way.
+
+The shuddering antipathy which our guest inspired did not rob his
+infernal homily of its effect. It was not a new or strange thing which
+he presented to our minds. There was an awful subtlety in the train of
+his suggestions. All that he had said had floated through my own mind
+before, without order, indeed, or shew of logic. From my own rebellious
+heart the same evil thoughts had risen, like pale apparitions hovering
+and lost in the fumes of a necromancer's cauldron. His was like the
+summing up of all this--a reflection of my own feelings and fancies--but
+reduced to an awful order and definiteness, and clothed with a
+sophistical form of argument. The effect of it was powerful. It revived
+and exaggerated these bad emotions--it methodised and justified
+them--and gave to impulses and impressions, vague and desultory before,
+something of the compactness of a system.
+
+My misfortune, therefore, did not soften, it exasperated me. I regarded
+the Great Disposer of events as a persecutor of the human race, who took
+delight in their miseries. I asked why my innocent child had been smitten
+down into the grave?--and why my darling wife, whose first object, I
+knew, had ever been to serve and glorify her Maker, should have been thus
+tortured and desolated by the cruelest calamity which the malignity of a
+demon could have devised? I railed and blasphemed, and even in my agony
+defied God with the impotent rage and desperation of a devil, in his
+everlasting torment.
+
+In my bitterness, I could not forbear speaking these impenitent
+repetitions of the language of our nightly visitant, even in the presence
+of my wife. She heard me with agony, almost with terror. I pitied and
+loved her too much not to respect even her weaknesses--for so I
+characterised her humble submission to the chastisements of heaven. But
+even while I spared her reverential sensitiveness, the spectacle of her
+patience but enhanced my own gloomy and impenitent rage.
+
+I was walking into town in this evil mood, when I was overtaken by the
+gentleman whom I had spoken with in the churchyard on the morning when my
+little boy was buried. I call him _gentleman_, but I could not say _what_
+was his rank--I never thought about it; there was a grace, a purity, a
+compassion, and a grandeur of intellect in his countenance, in his
+language, in his mien, that was beautiful and kinglike. I felt, in his
+company, a delightful awe, and an humbleness more gratifying than any
+elation of earthly pride.
+
+He divined my state of feeling, but he said nothing harsh. He did not
+rebuke, but he reasoned with me--and oh! how mighty was that
+reasoning--without formality--without effort--as the flower grows and
+blossoms. Its process was in harmony with the successions of
+nature--gentle, spontaneous, irresistible.
+
+At last he left me. I was grieved at his departure--I was
+wonder-stricken. His discourse had made me cry tears at once sweet and
+bitter; it had sounded depths I knew not of, and my heart was disquieted
+within me. Yet my trouble was happier than the resentful and defiant calm
+that had reigned within me before.
+
+When I came home, I told my wife of my having met the same good, wise man
+I had first seen by the grave of my child. I recounted to her his
+discourse, and, as I brought it again to mind, my tears flowed afresh,
+and I was happy while I wept.
+
+I now see that the calamity which bore at first such evil fruit, was good
+for me. It fixed my mind, however rebelliously, upon God, and it stirred
+up all the passions of my heart. Levity, inattention, and
+self-complacency are obstacles harder to be overcome than the violence of
+evil passions--the transition from hate is easier than from indifference,
+to love. A mighty change was making on my mind.
+
+I need not particularise the occasions upon which I again met my
+friend, for so I knew him to be, nor detail the train of reasoning and
+feeling which in such interviews he followed out; it is enough to say,
+that he assiduously cultivated the good seed he had sown, and that his
+benignant teachings took deep root, and flourished in my soul,
+heretofore so barren.
+
+One evening, having enjoyed on the morning of the same day another of
+those delightful and convincing conversations, I was returning on foot
+homeward; and as darkness had nearly closed, and the night threatened
+cold and fog, the footpaths were nearly deserted.
+
+As I walked on, deeply absorbed in the discourse I had heard on the same
+morning, a person overtook me, and continued to walk, without much
+increasing the interval between us, a little in advance of me. There came
+upon me, at the same moment, an indefinable sinking of the heart, a
+strange and unaccountable fear. The pleasing topics of my meditations
+melted away, and gave place to a sense of danger, all the more unpleasant
+that it was vague and objectless. I looked up. What was that which moved
+before me? I stared--I faltered; my heart fluttered as if it would choke
+me, and then stood still. It was the peculiar and unmistakeable form of
+our lodger.
+
+Exactly as I looked at him, he turned his head, and looked at me over his
+shoulder. His face was muffled as usual. I cannot have seen its features
+with any completeness, yet I felt that his look was one of fury. The next
+instant he was at my side; and my heart quailed within me--my limbs all
+but refused their office; yet the very emotions of terror, which might
+have overcome me, acted as a stimulus, and I quickened my pace.
+
+"Hey! what a pious person! So I suppose you have learned at last that
+'evil communications corrupt good manners'; and you are absolutely afraid
+of the old infidel, the old blasphemer, hey?"
+
+I made him no answer; I was indeed too much agitated to speak.
+
+"You'll make a good Christian, no doubt," he continued; "the independent
+man, who thinks for himself, reasons his way to his principles, and
+sticks fast to them, is sure to be true to whatever system he embraces.
+You have been so consistent a philosopher, that I am sure you will make a
+steady Christian. You're not the man to be led by the nose by a
+sophistical mumbler. _You_ could never be made the prey of a grasping
+proselytism; _you_ are not the sport of every whiff of doctrine, nor the
+facile slave of whatever superstition is last buzzed in your ear. No, no:
+you've got a masculine intellect, and think for yourself, hey?"
+
+I was incapable of answering him. I quickened my pace to escape from his
+detested persecution; but he was close beside me still.
+
+We walked on together thus for a time, during which I heard him muttering
+fast to himself, like a man under fierce and malignant excitement. We
+reached, at length, the gateway of my dwelling; and I turned the
+latch-key in the wicket, and entered the enclosure. As we stood together
+within, he turned full upon me, and confronting me with an aspect whose
+character I felt rather than saw, he said--
+
+"And so you mean to be a Christian, after all! Now just reflect how very
+absurdly you are choosing. Leave the Bible to that class of fanatics who
+may hope to be saved under its system, and, in the name of common sense,
+study the Koran, or some less ascetic tome. Don't be gulled by a
+plausible slave, who wants nothing more than to multiply _professors_ of
+his theory. Why don't you _read_ the Bible, you miserable, puling
+poltroon, before you hug it as a treasure? Why don't you read it, and
+learn out of the mouth of the founder of Christianity, that there is one
+sin for which there is _no_ forgiveness--blasphemy against the Holy
+Ghost, hey?--and that sin I myself have heard you commit by the hour--in
+my presence--in my room. I have heard you commit it in our free
+discussions a dozen times. The Bible seals against you the lips of mercy.
+If _it_ be true, you are this moment as irrevocably damned as if you had
+died with those blasphemies on your lips."
+
+Having thus spoken, he glided into the house. I followed slowly.
+
+His words rang in my ears--I was stunned. What he had said I feared might
+be true. Giant despair felled me to the earth. He had recalled, and
+lighted up with a glare from the pit, remembrances with which I knew not
+how to cope. It was true I had spoken with daring impiety of subjects
+whose sacredness I now began to appreciate. With trembling hands I opened
+the Bible. I read and re-read the mysterious doom recorded by the
+Redeemer himself against blasphemers of the Holy Ghost--monsters set
+apart from the human race, and damned and dead, even while they live and
+walk upon the earth. I groaned--I wept. Henceforward the Bible, I
+thought, must be to me a dreadful record of despair. I dared not read it.
+
+I will not weary you with all my mental agonies. My dear little wife did
+something toward relieving my mind, but it was reserved for the friend,
+to whose heavenly society I owed so much, to tranquillise it once more.
+He talked this time to me longer, and even more earnestly than before. I
+soon encountered him again. He expounded to me the ways of Providence,
+and showed me how needful sorrow was for every servant of God. How mercy
+was disguised in tribulation, and our best happiness came to us, like our
+children, in tears and wailing. He showed me that trials were sent to
+call us up, with a voice of preternatural power, from the mortal apathy
+of sin and the world. And then, again, in our new and better state, to
+prove our patience and our faith--
+
+"The more trouble befalls you, the nearer is God to you. He visits you in
+sorrow--and sorrow, as well as joy, is a sign of his presence. If, then,
+other griefs overtake you, remember this--be patient, be faithful; and
+bless the name of God."
+
+I returned home comforted and happy, although I felt assured that some
+further and sadder trial was before me.
+
+Still our household was overcast by the same insurmountable dread of our
+tenant. The same strange habits characterised him, and the same
+unaccountable sounds disquieted us--an atmosphere of death and malice
+hovered about his door, and we all hated and feared to pass it.
+
+Let me now tell, as well and briefly as I may, the dreadful circumstances
+of my last great trial. One morning, my wife being about her household
+affairs, and I on the point of starting for town, I went into the parlour
+for some letters which I was to take with me. I cannot easily describe my
+consternation when, on entering the room, I saw our lodger seated near
+the window, with our darling little girl upon his knee.
+
+His back was toward the door, but I could plainly perceive that the
+respirator had been removed from his mouth, and that the odious green
+goggles were raised. He was sitting, as it seemed, absolutely without
+motion, and his face was advanced close to that of the child.
+
+I stood looking at this group in a state of stupor for some seconds. He
+was, I suppose, conscious of my presence, for although he did not turn
+his head, or otherwise take any note of my arrival, he readjusted the
+muffler which usually covered his mouth, and lowered the clumsy
+spectacles to their proper place.
+
+The child was sitting upon his knee as motionless as he himself, with a
+countenance white and rigid as that of a corpse, and from which every
+trace of meaning, except some vague character of terror, had fled, and
+staring with a fixed and dilated gaze into his face.
+
+As it seemed, she did not perceive my presence. Her eyes were transfixed
+and fascinated. She did not even seem to me to breathe. Horror and
+anguish at last overcame my stupefaction.
+
+"What--what is it?" I cried; "what ails my child, my darling child?"
+
+"I'd be glad to know, myself," he replied, coolly; "it is certainly
+something very queer."
+
+"What is it, darling?" I repeated, frantically, addressing the child.
+
+"What is it?" he reiterated. "Why it's pretty plain, I should suppose,
+that the child is ill."
+
+"Oh merciful God!" I cried, half furious, half terrified--"You have
+injured her--you have terrified her. Give me my child--give her to me."
+
+These words I absolutely shouted, and stamped upon the floor in my horrid
+excitement.
+
+"Pooh, pooh!" he said, with a sort of ugly sneer; "the child is
+nervous--you'll make her more so--be quiet and she'll probably find her
+tongue presently. I have had her on my knee some minutes, but the sweet
+bird could not tell what ails her."
+
+"Let the child go," I shouted in a voice of thunder; "let her go, I
+say--let her go."
+
+He took the passive, death-like child, and placed her standing by the
+window, and rising, he simply said--
+
+"As soon as you grow cool, you are welcome to ask me what questions you
+like. The child is plainly ill. I should not wonder if she had seen
+something that frightened her."
+
+Having thus spoken, he passed from the room. I felt as if I spoke, saw,
+and walked in a horrid dream. I seized the darling child in my arms, and
+bore her away to her mother.
+
+"What is it--for mercy's sake what is the matter?" she cried, growing in
+an instant as pale as the poor child herself.
+
+"I found that--that _demon_--in the parlour with the child on his lap,
+staring in her face. She is manifestly terrified."
+
+"Oh! gracious God! she is lost--she is killed," cried the poor
+mother, frantically looking into the white, apathetic, meaningless
+face of the child.
+
+"Fanny, darling Fanny, tell us if you are ill," I cried, pressing the
+little girl in terror to my heart.
+
+"Tell your own mother, my darling," echoed my poor little wife. "Oh!
+darling, darling child, speak to your poor mother."
+
+It was all in vain. Still the same dilated, imploring gaze--the same pale
+face--wild and dumb. We brought her to the open window--we gave her cold
+water to drink--we sprinkled it in her face. We sent for the apothecary,
+who lived hard by, and he arrived in a few moments, with a parcel of
+tranquillising medicines. These, however, were equally unavailing.
+
+Hour after hour passed away. The darling child looked upon us as if she
+would have given the world to speak to us, or to weep, but she uttered no
+sound. Now and then she drew a long breath as though preparing to say
+something, but still she was mute. She often put her hand to her throat,
+as if there was some pain or obstruction there.
+
+I never can, while I live, lose one line of that mournful and terrible
+portrait--the face of my stricken child. As hour after hour passed away,
+without bringing the smallest change or amendment, we grew both alarmed,
+and at length absolutely terrified for her safety.
+
+We called in a physician toward night, and told him that we had reason to
+suspect that the child had somehow been frightened, and that in no other
+way could we at all account for the extraordinary condition in which he
+found her.
+
+This was a man, I may as well observe, though I do not name him, of the
+highest eminence in his profession, and one in whose skill, from past
+personal experience, I had the best possible reasons for implicitly
+confiding.
+
+He asked a multiplicity of questions, the answers to which seemed to
+baffle his attempts to arrive at a satisfactory diagnosis. There was
+something undoubtedly anomalous in the case, and I saw plainly that there
+were features in it which puzzled and perplexed him not a little.
+
+At length, however, he wrote his prescription, and promised to return at
+nine o'clock. I remember there was something to be rubbed along her
+spine, and some medicines beside.
+
+But these remedies were as entirely unavailing as the others. In a state
+of dismay and distraction we watched by the bed in which, in accordance
+with the physician's direction, we had placed her. The absolute
+changelessness of her condition filled us with despair. The day which had
+elapsed had not witnessed even a transitory variation in the dreadful
+character of her seizure. Any change, even a change for the worse, would
+have been better than this sluggish, hopeless monotony of suffering.
+
+At the appointed hour the physician returned. He appeared disappointed,
+almost shocked, at the failure of his prescriptions. On feeling her pulse
+he declared that she must have a little wine. There had been a wonderful
+prostration of all the vital powers since he had seen her before. He
+evidently thought the case a strange and precarious one.
+
+She was made to swallow the wine, and her pulse rallied for a time, but
+soon subsided again. I and the physician were standing by the fire,
+talking in whispers of the darling child's symptoms, and likelihood of
+recovery, when we were arrested in our conversation by a cry of anguish
+from the poor mother, who had never left the bedside of her little child,
+and this cry broke into bitter and convulsive weeping.
+
+The poor little child had, on a sudden, stretched down her little hands
+and feet, and died. There is no mistaking the features of death: the
+filmy eye and dropt jaw once seen, are recognised whenever we meet them
+again. Yet, spite of our belief, we cling to hope; and the distracted
+mother called on the physician, in accents which might have moved a
+statue, to say that her darling was not dead, not quite dead--that
+something might still be done--that it could not be all over. Silently
+he satisfied himself that no throb of life still fluttered in that
+little frame.
+
+"It is, indeed, all over," he said, in tones scarce above a whisper; and
+pressing my hand kindly, he said, "comfort your poor wife"; and so, after
+a momentary pause, he left the room.
+
+This blow had smitten me with stunning suddenness. I looked at the dead
+child, and from her to her poor mother. Grief and pity were both
+swallowed up in transports of fury and detestation with which the
+presence in my house of the wretch who had wrought all this destruction
+and misery filled my soul. My heart swelled with ungovernable rage; for a
+moment my habitual fear of him was neutralised by the vehemence of these
+passions. I seized a candle in silence, and mounted the stairs. The sight
+of the accursed cat, flitting across the lobby, and the loneliness of the
+hour, made me hesitate for an instant. I had, however, gone so far, that
+shame sustained me. Overcoming a momentary thrill of dismay, and
+determined to repel and defy the influence that had so long awed me, I
+knocked sharply at the door, and, almost at the same instant, pushed it
+open, and entered our lodger's chamber.
+
+He had had no candle in the room, and it was lighted only by the
+"darkness visible" that entered through the window. The candle which I
+held very imperfectly illuminated the large apartment; but I saw his
+spectral form floating, rather than walking, back and forward in front of
+the windows.
+
+At sight of him, though I hated him more than ever, my instinctive fear
+returned. He confronted me, and drew nearer and nearer, without speaking.
+There was something indefinably fearful in the silent attraction which
+seemed to be drawing him to me. I could not help recoiling, little by
+little, as he came toward me, and with an effort I said--
+
+"You know why I have come: the child--she's dead!"
+
+"Dead--ha!--_dead_--is she?" he said, in his odious, mocking tone.
+
+"Yes--dead!" I cried, with an excitement which chilled my very marrow
+with horror; "and _you_ have killed her, as you killed my other."
+
+"How?--I killed her!--eh?--ha, ha!" he said, still edging nearer
+and nearer.
+
+"Yes; I say you!" I shouted, trembling in every joint, but
+possessed by that unaccountable infatuation which has made men
+invoke, spite of themselves, their own destruction, and which I was
+powerless to resist--"deny it as you may, it is you who killed
+her--wretch!--FIEND!--no wonder she could not stand the breath and
+glare of HELL!"
+
+"And you are one of those who believe that not a sparrow falls to the
+ground without your Creator's consent," he said, with icy sarcasm; "and
+this is a specimen of Christian resignation--hey? You charge his act upon
+a poor fellow like me, simply that you may cheat the devil, and rave and
+rebel against the decrees of heaven, under pretence of abusing me. The
+breath and flare of hell!--eh? You mean that I removed this and these
+(touching the covering of his mouth and eyes successively) as I _shall_
+do now again, and show you there's no great harm in that."
+
+There was a tone of menace in his concluding words not to be mistaken.
+
+"Murderer and liar from the beginning, as you are, I defy you!" I
+shouted, in a frenzy of hate and horror, stamping furiously on the floor.
+
+As I said this, it seemed to me that he darkened and dilated before my
+eyes. My senses, thoughts, consciousness, grew horribly confused, as if
+some powerful, extraneous will, were seizing upon the functions of my
+brain. Whether I were to be mastered by death, or madness, or possession,
+I knew not; but hideous destruction of some sort was impending: all hung
+upon the moment, and I cried aloud, in my agony, an adjuration in the
+name of the three persons of the Trinity, that he should not torment me.
+
+Stunned, bewildered, like a man recovered from a drunken fall, I stood,
+freezing and breathless, in the same spot, looking into the room, which
+wore, in my eyes, a strange, unearthly character. Mr. Smith was cowering
+darkly in the window, and, after a silence, spoke to me in a croaking,
+sulky tone, which was, however, unusually submissive.
+
+"Don't it strike you as an odd procedure to break into a gentleman's
+apartment at such an hour, for the purpose of railing at him in the
+coarsest language? If you have any charge to make against me, do so; I
+invite inquiry and defy your worst. If you think you can bring home to me
+the smallest share of blame in this unlucky matter, call the coroner, and
+let his inquest examine and cross-examine me, and sift the matter--if,
+indeed, there is anything to _be_ sifted--to the bottom. Meanwhile, go
+you about your business, and leave me to mine. But I see how the wind
+sits; you want to get rid of me, and so you make the place odious to me.
+But it won't do; and if you take to making criminal charges against me,
+you had better look to yourself; for two can play at that game."
+
+There was a suppressed whine in all this, which strangely contrasted with
+the cool and threatening tone of his previous conversation.
+
+Without answering a word I hurried from the room, and scarcely felt
+secure, even when once more in the melancholy chamber, where my poor wife
+was weeping.
+
+Miserable, horrible was the night that followed. The loss of our child
+was a calamity which we had not dared to think of. It had come, and with
+a suddenness enough to bereave me of reason. It seemed all unreal, all
+fantastic. It needed an effort to convince me, minute after minute, that
+the dreadful truth was so; and the old accustomed feeling that she was
+still alive, still running from room to room, and the expectation that I
+should hear her step and her voice, and see her entering at the door,
+would return. But still the sense of dismay, of having received some
+stunning, irreparable blow, remained behind; and then came the horrible
+effort, like that with which one rouses himself from a haunted sleep, the
+question, "What disaster is this that has befallen?"--answered, alas! but
+too easily, too terribly! Amidst all this was perpetually rising before
+my fancy the obscure, dilated figure of our lodger, as he had confronted
+me in his malign power that night. I dismissed the image with a shudder
+as often as it recurred; and even now, at this distance of time, I have
+felt more than I could well describe in the mere effort to fix my
+recollection upon its hated traits, while writing the passages I have
+just concluded.
+
+This hateful scene I did not recount to my poor wife. Its horrors were
+too fresh upon me. I had not courage to trust myself with the agitating
+narrative; and so I sate beside her, with her hand locked in mine: I had
+no comfort to offer but the dear love I bore her.
+
+At last, like a child, she cried herself to sleep--the dull, heavy
+slumber of worn-out grief. As for me, the agitation of my soul was too
+fearful and profound for repose. My eye accidentally rested on the holy
+volume, which lay upon the table open, as I had left it in the morning;
+and the first words which met my eye were these--"For our light
+affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more
+exceeding and eternal weight of glory." This blessed sentence riveted my
+attention, and shed a stream of solemn joy upon my heart; and so the
+greater part of that mournful night, I continued to draw comfort and
+heavenly wisdom from the same inspired source.
+
+Next day brought the odious incident, the visit of the undertaker--the
+carpentery, upholstery, and millinery of death. Why has not civilisation
+abolished these repulsive and shocking formalities? What has the poor
+corpse to do with frills, and pillows, and napkins, and all the equipage
+in which it rides on its last journey? There is no intrusion so jarring
+to the decent grief of surviving affection, no conceivable mummery more
+derisive of mortality.
+
+In the room which we had been so long used to call "the nursery," now
+desolate and mute, the unclosed coffin lay, with our darling shrouded in
+it. Before we went to our rest at night we visited it. In the morning the
+lid was to close over that sweet face, and I was to see the child laid by
+her little brother. We looked upon the well-known and loved features,
+purified in the sublime serenity of death, for a long time, whispering to
+one another, among our sobs, how sweet and beautiful we thought she
+looked; and at length, weeping bitterly, we tore ourselves away.
+
+We talked and wept for many hours, and at last, in sheer exhaustion,
+dropt asleep. My little wife awaked me, and said--
+
+"I think they have come--the--the undertakers."
+
+It was still dark, so I could not consult my watch; but they were to have
+arrived early, and as it was winter, and the nights long, the hour of
+their visit might well have arrived.
+
+"What, darling, is your reason for thinking so?" I asked.
+
+"I am sure I have heard them for some time in the nursery," she answered.
+"Oh! dear, dear little Fanny! Don't allow them to close the coffin until
+I have seen my darling once more."
+
+I got up, and threw some clothes hastily about me. I opened the door and
+listened. A sound like a muffled knocking reached me from the nursery.
+
+"Yes, my darling!" I said, "I think they have come. I will go and desire
+them to wait until you have seen her again."
+
+And, so saying, I hastened from the room.
+
+Our bedchamber lay at the end of a short corridor, opening from the
+lobby, at the head of the stairs, and the nursery was situated nearly at
+the end of a corresponding passage, which opened from the same lobby at
+the opposite side As I hurried along I distinctly heard the same sounds.
+The light of dawn had not yet appeared, but there was a strong moonlight
+shining through the windows. I thought the morning could hardly be so far
+advanced as we had at first supposed; but still, strangely as it now
+seems to me, suspecting nothing amiss, I walked on in noiseless,
+slippered feet, to the nursery-door. It stood half open; some one had
+unquestionably visited it since we had been there. I stepped forward, and
+entered. At the threshold horror arrested my advance.
+
+The coffin was placed upon tressles at the further extremity of the
+chamber, with the foot of it nearly towards the door, and a large window
+at the side of it admitted the cold lustre of the moon full upon the
+apparatus of mortality, and the objects immediately about it.
+
+At the foot of the coffin stood the ungainly form of our lodger. He
+seemed to be intently watching the face of the corpse, and was stooped a
+little, while with his hands he tapped sharply, from time to time at the
+sides of the coffin, like one who designs to awaken a slumberer. Perched
+upon the body of the child, and nuzzling among the grave-clothes, with a
+strange kind of ecstasy, was the detested brute, the cat I have so often
+mentioned.
+
+The group thus revealed, I looked upon but for one instant; in the next I
+shouted, in absolute terror--
+
+"In God's name! what are you doing?"
+
+Our lodger shuffled away abruptly, as if disconcerted; but the
+ill-favoured cat, whisking round, stood like a demon sentinel upon the
+corpse, growling and hissing, with arched back and glaring eyes.
+
+The lodger, turning abruptly toward me, motioned me to one side.
+Mechanically I obeyed his gesture, and he hurried hastily from the room.
+
+Sick and dizzy, I returned to my own chamber. I confess I had not nerve
+to combat the infernal brute, which still held possession of the room,
+and so I left it undisturbed.
+
+This incident I did not tell to my wife until some time afterwards; and I
+mention it here because it was, and is, in my mind associated with a
+painful circumstance which very soon afterwards came to light.
+
+That morning I witnessed the burial of my darling child. Sore and
+desolate was my heart; but with infinite gratitude to the great
+controller of all events, I recognised in it a change which nothing but
+the spirit of all good can effect. The love and fear of God had grown
+strong within me--in humbleness I bowed to his awful will--with a sincere
+trust I relied upon the goodness, the wisdom, and the mercy of him who
+had sent this great affliction. But a further incident connected with
+this very calamity was to test this trust and patience to the uttermost.
+
+It was still early when I returned, having completed the last sad office.
+My wife, as I afterwards learned, still lay weeping upon her bed. But
+somebody awaited my return in the hall, and opened the door, anticipating
+my knock. This person was our lodger.
+
+I was too much appalled by the sudden presentation of this abhorred
+spectre even to retreat, as my instinct would have directed, through the
+open door.
+
+"I have been expecting your return," he said, "with the design of saying
+something which it might have profited you to learn, but now I apprehend
+it is too late. What a pity you are so violent and impatient; you would
+not have heard me, in all probability, this morning. You cannot think
+how cross-grained and intemperate you have grown since you became a
+saint--but that is your affair, not mine. You have buried your little
+daughter this morning. It requires a good deal of that new attribute of
+yours, _faith_, which judges all things by a rule of contraries, and can
+never see anything but kindness in the worst afflictions which malignity
+could devise, to discover benignity and mercy in the torturing calamity
+which has just punished you and your wife for _nothing_! But I fancy
+that it will be harder still when I tell you what I more than
+suspect--ha, ha. It would be really ridiculous, if it were not
+heart-rending; that your little girl has been actually buried _alive_;
+do you comprehend me?--alive. For, upon my life, I fancy she was not
+dead as she lay in her coffin."
+
+I knew the wretch was exulting in the fresh anguish he had just
+inflicted. I know not how it was, but any announcement of _disaster_ from
+his lips, seemed to me to be necessarily true. Half-stifled with the
+dreadful emotions he had raised, palpitating between hope and terror, I
+rushed frantically back again, the way I had just come, running as fast
+as my speed could carry me, toward the, alas! distant burial-ground where
+my darling lay.
+
+I stopped a cab slowly returning to town, at the corner of the lane,
+sprang into it, directed the man to drive to the church of ----, and
+promised him anything and everything for despatch. The man seemed amazed;
+doubtful, perhaps, whether he carried a maniac or a malefactor. Still he
+took his chance for the promised reward, and galloped his horse, while I,
+tortured with suspense, yelled my frantic incentives to further speed.
+
+At last, in a space immeasurably short, but which to me was protracted
+almost beyond endurance, we reached the spot. I halloed to the sexton,
+who was now employed upon another grave, to follow me. I myself seized a
+mattock, and in obedience to my incoherent and agonised commands, he
+worked as he had never worked before. The crumbling mould flew swiftly to
+the upper soil--deeper and deeper, every moment, grew the narrow
+grave--at last I sobbed, "Thank God--thank God," as I saw the face of the
+coffin emerge; a few seconds more and it lay upon the sward beside me,
+and we both, with the edges of our spades, ripped up the lid.
+
+_There_ was the corpse--but not the tranquil statue I had seen it last.
+Its knees were both raised, and one of its little hands drawn up and
+clenched near its throat, as if in a feeble but agonised struggle to
+force up the superincumbent mass. The eyes, that I had last seen closed,
+were now open, and the face no longer serenely pale, but livid and
+distorted.
+
+I had time to see all in an instant; the whole scene reeled and darkened
+before me, and I swooned away.
+
+When I came to myself, I found that I had been removed to the
+vestry-room. The open coffin was in the aisle of the church, surrounded
+by a curious crowd. A medical gentleman had examined the body carefully,
+and had pronounced life totally extinct. The trepidation and horror I
+experienced were indescribable. I felt like the murderer of my own child.
+Desperate as I was of any chance of its life, I dispatched messengers for
+no less than three of the most eminent physicians then practising in
+London. All concurred--the child was now as dead as any other, the oldest
+tenant of the churchyard.
+
+Notwithstanding which, I would not permit the body to be reinterred for
+several days, until the symptoms of decay became unequivocal, and the
+most fantastic imagination could no longer cherish a doubt. This,
+however, I mention only parenthetically, as I hasten to the conclusion of
+my narrative. The circumstance which I have last described found its way
+to the public, and caused no small sensation at the time.
+
+I drove part of the way home, and then discharged the cab, and walked the
+remainder. On my way, with an emotion of ecstasy I cannot describe, I met
+the good being to whom I owed so much. I ran to meet him, and felt as if
+I could throw myself at his feet, and kiss the very ground before him. I
+knew by his heavenly countenance he was come to speak comfort and healing
+to my heart.
+
+With humbleness and gratitude, I drank in his sage and holy discourse. I
+need not follow the gracious and delightful exposition of God's revealed
+will and character with which he cheered and confirmed my faltering
+spirit. A solemn joy, a peace and trust, streamed on my heart. The wreck
+and desolation there, lost their bleak and ghastly character, like ruins
+illuminated by the mellow beams of a solemn summer sunset.
+
+In this conversation, I told him what I had never revealed to any one
+before--the absolute terror, in all its stupendous and maddening
+amplitude, with which I regarded our ill-omened lodger, and my agonised
+anxiety to rid my house of him. My companion answered me--
+
+"I know the person of whom you speak--he designs no good for you or any
+other. He, too, knows me, and I have intimated to him that he must now
+leave you, and visit you no more. Be firm and bold, trusting in God,
+through his Son, like a good soldier, and you will win the victory from a
+greater and even worse than he--the _unseen_ enemy of mankind. You need
+not see or speak with your evil tenant any more. Call to him from your
+hall, in the name of the Most Holy, to leave you bodily, with all that
+appertains to him, this evening. He knows that he must go, and will obey
+you. But leave the house as soon as may be yourself; you will scarce have
+peace in it. Your own remembrances will trouble you and _other minds have
+established associations within its walls and chambers too_."
+
+These words sounded mysteriously in my ears.
+
+Let me say here, before I bring my reminiscences to a close, a word or
+two about the house in which these detested scenes occurred, and which I
+did not long continue to inhabit. What I afterwards learned of it, seemed
+to supply in part a dim explanation of these words.
+
+In a country village there is no difficulty in accounting for the
+tenacity with which the sinister character of a haunted tenement cleaves
+to it. Thin neighbourhoods are favourable to scandal; and in such
+localities the reputation of a house, like that of a woman, once blown
+upon, never quite recovers. In huge London, however, it is quite another
+matter; and, therefore, it was with some surprise that, five years after
+I had vacated the house in which the occurrences I have described took
+place, I learned that a respectable family who had taken it were obliged
+to give it up, on account of annoyances, for which they could not
+account, and all proceeding from the apartments formerly occupied by our
+"lodger." Among the sounds described were footsteps restlessly
+traversing the floor of that room, accompanied by the peculiar tapping
+of the crutch.
+
+I was so anxious about this occurrence, that I contrived to have strict
+inquiries made into the matter. The result, however, added little to what
+I had at first learned--except, indeed, that our old friend, the cat,
+bore a part in the transaction as I suspected; for the servant, who had
+been placed to sleep in the room, complained that something bounded on
+and off, and ran to-and-fro along the foot of the bed, in the dark. The
+same servant, while in the room, in the broad daylight, had heard the
+sound of walking, and even the rustling of clothes near him, as of people
+passing and repassing; and, although he had never seen anything, he yet
+became so terrified that he would not remain in the house, and
+ultimately, in a short time, left his situation.
+
+These sounds, attention having been called to them, were now incessantly
+observed--the measured walking up and down the room, the opening and
+closing of the door, and the teazing tap of the crutch--all these sounds
+were continually repeated, until at last, worn out, frightened, and
+worried, its occupants resolved on abandoning the house.
+
+About four years since, having had occasion to visit the capital, I
+resolved on a ramble by Old Brompton, just to see if the house were still
+inhabited. I searched for it, however, in vain, and at length, with
+difficulty, ascertained its site, upon which now stood two small,
+staring, bran-new brick houses, with each a gay enclosure of flowers.
+Every trace of our old mansion, and, let us hope, of our "mysterious
+lodger," had entirely vanished.
+
+Let me, however, return to my narrative where I left it.
+
+Discoursing upon heavenly matters, my good and gracious friend
+accompanied me even within the outer gate of my own house. I asked him to
+come in and rest himself, but he would not; and before he turned to
+depart, he lifted up his hand, and blessed me and my household.
+
+Having done this, he went away. My eyes followed him till he disappeared,
+and I turned to the house. My darling wife was standing at the window of
+the parlour. There was a seraphic smile on her face--pale, pure, and
+beautiful as death. She was gazing with an humble, heavenly earnestness
+on us. The parting blessing of the stranger shed a sweet and hallowed
+influence on my heart. I went into the parlour, to my darling: childless
+she was now; I had now need to be a tender companion to her.
+
+She raised her arms in a sort of transport, with the same smile of
+gratitude and purity, and, throwing them round my neck, she said--
+
+"I have seen him--it is he--the man that came with you to the door, and
+blessed us as he went away--is the same I saw in my dream--the same who
+took little baby in his arms, and said he would take care of him, and
+give him safely to me again."
+
+More than a quarter of a century has glided away since then; other
+children have been given us by the good God--children who have been, from
+infancy to maturity, a pride and blessing to us. Sorrows and reverses,
+too, have occasionally visited us; yet, on the whole, we have been
+greatly blessed; prosperity has long since ended all the cares of the
+_res angusta domi_, and expanded our power of doing good to our
+fellow-creatures. God has given it; and God, we trust, directs its
+dispensation. In our children, and--would you think it?--our
+_grand_-children, too, the same beneficent God has given us objects that
+elicit and return all the delightful affections, and exchange the sweet
+converse that makes home and family dearer than aught else, save that
+blessed home where the Christian family shall meet at last.
+
+The dear companion of my early love and sorrows still lives, blessed be
+Heaven! The evening tints of life have fallen upon her; but the dear
+remembrance of a first love, that never grew cold, makes her beauty
+changeless for me. As for your humble servant, he is considerably her
+senior, and looks it: time has stolen away his raven locks, and given
+him a _chevelure_ of snow instead. But, as I said before, I and my wife
+love, and, I believe, _admire_ one another more than ever; and I have
+often seen our elder children smile archly at one another, when they
+thought we did not observe them, thinking, no doubt, how like a pair of
+lovers we two were.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK J. S. LE FANU'S GHOSTLY TALES,
+VOLUME 4***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 12647-8.txt or 12647-8.zip *******
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 4, by
+Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 4
+
+Author: Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
+
+Release Date: June 18, 2004  [eBook #12647]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: US-ASCII
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+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK J. S. LE FANU'S GHOSTLY TALES,
+VOLUME 4***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Project Gutenberg Beginners Projects,
+Mary Meehan, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+J. S. LE FANU'S GHOSTLY TALES, VOLUME 4
+
+Ghost Stories of Chapelizod (1851)
+The Drunkard's Dream (1838)
+The Ghost and the Bone-setter (1838)
+The Mysterious Lodger (1850)
+
+by
+
+Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
+
+
+
+
+
+
+GHOST STORIES OF CHAPELIZOD
+
+
+
+
+Take my word for it, there is no such thing as an ancient village,
+especially if it has seen better days, unillustrated by its legends of
+terror. You might as well expect to find a decayed cheese without mites,
+or an old house without rats, as an antique and dilapidated town without
+an authentic population of goblins. Now, although this class of
+inhabitants are in nowise amenable to the police authorities, yet, as
+their demeanor directly affects the comforts of her Majesty's subjects, I
+cannot but regard it as a grave omission that the public have hitherto
+been left without any statistical returns of their numbers, activity,
+etc., etc. And I am persuaded that a Commission to inquire into and
+report upon the numerical strength, habits, haunts, etc., etc., of
+supernatural agents resident in Ireland, would be a great deal more
+innocent and entertaining than half the Commissions for which the country
+pays, and at least as instructive. This I say, more from a sense of duty,
+and to deliver my mind of a grave truth, than with any hope of seeing the
+suggestion adopted. But, I am sure, my readers will deplore with me that
+the comprehensive powers of belief, and apparently illimitable leisure,
+possessed by parliamentary commissions of inquiry, should never have been
+applied to the subject I have named, and that the collection of that
+species of information should be confided to the gratuitous and desultory
+labours of individuals, who, like myself, have other occupations to
+attend to. This, however, by the way.
+
+Among the village outposts of Dublin, Chapelizod once held a
+considerable, if not a foremost rank. Without mentioning its connexion
+with the history of the great Kilmainham Preceptory of the Knights of St.
+John, it will be enough to remind the reader of its ancient and
+celebrated Castle, not one vestige of which now remains, and of the fact
+that it was for, we believe, some centuries, the summer residence of the
+Viceroys of Ireland. The circumstance of its being up, we believe, to the
+period at which that corps was disbanded, the headquarters of the Royal
+Irish Artillery, gave it also a consequence of an humbler, but not less
+substantial kind. With these advantages in its favour, it is not
+wonderful that the town exhibited at one time an air of substantial and
+semi-aristocratic prosperity unknown to Irish villages in modern times.
+
+A broad street, with a well-paved footpath, and houses as lofty as were
+at that time to be found in the fashionable streets of Dublin; a goodly
+stone-fronted barrack; an ancient church, vaulted beneath, and with a
+tower clothed from its summit to its base with the richest ivy; an humble
+Roman Catholic chapel; a steep bridge spanning the Liffey, and a great
+old mill at the near end of it, were the principal features of the town.
+These, or at least most of them, remain still, but the greater part in a
+very changed and forlorn condition. Some of them indeed are superseded,
+though not obliterated by modern erections, such as the bridge, the
+chapel, and the church in part; the rest forsaken by the order who
+originally raised them, and delivered up to poverty, and in some cases to
+absolute decay.
+
+The village lies in the lap of the rich and wooded valley of the Liffey,
+and is overlooked by the high grounds of the beautiful Phoenix Park on
+the one side, and by the ridge of the Palmerstown hills on the other. Its
+situation, therefore, is eminently picturesque; and factory-fronts and
+chimneys notwithstanding, it has, I think, even in its decay, a sort of
+melancholy picturesqueness of its own. Be that as it may, I mean to
+relate two or three stories of that sort which may be read with very good
+effect by a blazing fire on a shrewd winter's night, and are all directly
+connected with the altered and somewhat melancholy little town I have
+named. The first I shall relate concerns
+
+
+
+
+The Village Bully
+
+
+About thirty years ago there lived in the town of Chapelizod an
+ill-conditioned fellow of herculean strength, well known throughout the
+neighbourhood by the title of Bully Larkin. In addition to his remarkable
+physical superiority, this fellow had acquired a degree of skill as a
+pugilist which alone would have made him formidable. As it was, he was
+the autocrat of the village, and carried not the sceptre in vain.
+Conscious of his superiority, and perfectly secure of impunity, he lorded
+it over his fellows in a spirit of cowardly and brutal insolence, which
+made him hated even more profoundly than he was feared.
+
+Upon more than one occasion he had deliberately forced quarrels upon men
+whom he had singled out for the exhibition of his savage prowess; and in
+every encounter his over-matched antagonist had received an amount of
+"punishment" which edified and appalled the spectators, and in some
+instances left ineffaceable scars and lasting injuries after it.
+
+Bully Larkin's pluck had never been fairly tried. For, owing to his
+prodigious superiority in weight, strength, and skill, his victories had
+always been certain and easy; and in proportion to the facility with
+which he uniformly smashed an antagonist, his pugnacity and insolence
+were inflamed. He thus became an odious nuisance in the neighbourhood,
+and the terror of every mother who had a son, and of every wife who had a
+husband who possessed a spirit to resent insult, or the smallest
+confidence in his own pugilistic capabilities.
+
+Now it happened that there was a young fellow named Ned Moran--better
+known by the soubriquet of "Long Ned," from his slender, lathy
+proportions--at that time living in the town. He was, in truth, a mere
+lad, nineteen years of age, and fully twelve years younger than the
+stalwart bully. This, however, as the reader will see, secured for him no
+exemption from the dastardly provocations of the ill-conditioned
+pugilist. Long Ned, in an evil hour, had thrown eyes of affection upon a
+certain buxom damsel, who, notwithstanding Bully Larkin's amorous
+rivalry, inclined to reciprocate them.
+
+I need not say how easily the spark of jealousy, once kindled, is blown
+into a flame, and how naturally, in a coarse and ungoverned nature, it
+explodes in acts of violence and outrage.
+
+"The bully" watched his opportunity, and contrived to provoke Ned Moran,
+while drinking in a public-house with a party of friends, into an
+altercation, in the course of which he failed not to put such insults
+upon his rival as manhood could not tolerate. Long Ned, though a simple,
+good-natured sort of fellow, was by no means deficient in spirit, and
+retorted in a tone of defiance which edified the more timid, and gave his
+opponent the opportunity he secretly coveted.
+
+Bully Larkin challenged the heroic youth, whose pretty face he had
+privately consigned to the mangling and bloody discipline he was himself
+so capable of administering. The quarrel, which he had himself contrived
+to get up, to a certain degree covered the ill blood and malignant
+premeditation which inspired his proceedings, and Long Ned, being full of
+generous ire and whiskey punch, accepted the gauge of battle on the
+instant. The whole party, accompanied by a mob of idle men and boys, and
+in short by all who could snatch a moment from the calls of business,
+proceeded in slow procession through the old gate into the Phoenix Park,
+and mounting the hill overlooking the town, selected near its summit a
+level spot on which to decide the quarrel.
+
+The combatants stripped, and a child might have seen in the contrast
+presented by the slight, lank form and limbs of the lad, and the muscular
+and massive build of his veteran antagonist, how desperate was the chance
+of poor Ned Moran.
+
+"Seconds" and "bottle-holders"--selected of course for their love of the
+game--were appointed, and "the fight" commenced.
+
+I will not shock my readers with a description of the cool-blooded
+butchery that followed. The result of the combat was what anybody might
+have predicted. At the eleventh round, poor Ned refused to "give in"; the
+brawny pugilist, unhurt, in good wind, and pale with concentrated and as
+yet unslaked revenge, had the gratification of seeing his opponent seated
+upon his second's knee, unable to hold up his head, his left arm
+disabled; his face a bloody, swollen, and shapeless mass; his breast
+scarred and bloody, and his whole body panting and quivering with rage
+and exhaustion.
+
+"Give in, Ned, my boy," cried more than one of the bystanders.
+
+"Never, never," shrieked he, with a voice hoarse and choking.
+
+Time being "up," his second placed him on his feet again. Blinded with
+his own blood, panting and staggering, he presented but a helpless mark
+for the blows of his stalwart opponent. It was plain that a touch would
+have been sufficient to throw him to the earth. But Larkin had no notion
+of letting him off so easily. He closed with him without striking a blow
+(the effect of which, prematurely dealt, would have been to bring him at
+once to the ground, and so put an end to the combat), and getting his
+battered and almost senseless head under his arm, fast in that peculiar
+"fix" known to the fancy pleasantly by the name of "chancery," he held
+him firmly, while with monotonous and brutal strokes he beat his fist, as
+it seemed, almost into his face. A cry of "shame" broke from the crowd,
+for it was plain that the beaten man was now insensible, and supported
+only by the herculean arm of the bully. The round and the fight ended by
+his hurling him upon the ground, falling upon him at the same time with
+his knee upon his chest.
+
+The bully rose, wiping the perspiration from his white face with his
+blood-stained hands, but Ned lay stretched and motionless upon the grass.
+It was impossible to get him upon his legs for another round. So he was
+carried down, just as he was, to the pond which then lay close to the old
+Park gate, and his head and body were washed beside it. Contrary to the
+belief of all he was not dead. He was carried home, and after some months
+to a certain extent recovered. But he never held up his head again, and
+before the year was over he had died of consumption. Nobody could doubt
+how the disease had been induced, but there was no actual proof to
+connect the cause and effect, and the ruffian Larkin escaped the
+vengeance of the law. A strange retribution, however, awaited him.
+
+After the death of Long Ned, he became less quarrelsome than before, but
+more sullen and reserved. Some said "he took it to heart," and others,
+that his conscience was not at ease about it. Be this as it may, however,
+his health did not suffer by reason of his presumed agitations, nor was
+his worldly prosperity marred by the blasting curses with which poor
+Moran's enraged mother pursued him; on the contrary he had rather risen
+in the world, and obtained regular and well-remunerated employment from
+the Chief Secretary's gardener, at the other side of the Park. He still
+lived in Chapelizod, whither, on the close of his day's work, he used to
+return across the Fifteen Acres.
+
+It was about three years after the catastrophe we have mentioned, and
+late in the autumn, when, one night, contrary to his habit, he did not
+appear at the house where he lodged, neither had he been seen anywhere,
+during the evening, in the village. His hours of return had been so very
+regular, that his absence excited considerable surprise, though, of
+course, no actual alarm; and, at the usual hour, the house was closed for
+the night, and the absent lodger consigned to the mercy of the elements,
+and the care of his presiding star. Early in the morning, however, he was
+found lying in a state of utter helplessness upon the slope immediately
+overlooking the Chapelizod gate. He had been smitten with a paralytic
+stroke: his right side was dead; and it was many weeks before he had
+recovered his speech sufficiently to make himself at all understood.
+
+He then made the following relation:--He had been detained, it appeared,
+later than usual, and darkness had closed before he commenced his
+homeward walk across the Park. It was a moonlit night, but masses of
+ragged clouds were slowly drifting across the heavens. He had not
+encountered a human figure, and no sounds but the softened rush of the
+wind sweeping through bushes and hollows met his ear. These wild and
+monotonous sounds, and the utter solitude which surrounded him, did not,
+however, excite any of those uneasy sensations which are ascribed to
+superstition, although he said he did feel depressed, or, in his own
+phraseology, "lonesome." Just as he crossed the brow of the hill which
+shelters the town of Chapelizod, the moon shone out for some moments
+with unclouded lustre, and his eye, which happened to wander by the
+shadowy enclosures which lay at the foot of the slope, was arrested by
+the sight of a human figure climbing, with all the haste of one pursued,
+over the churchyard wall, and running up the steep ascent directly
+towards him. Stories of "resurrectionists" crossed his recollection, as
+he observed this suspicious-looking figure. But he began, momentarily,
+to be aware with a sort of fearful instinct which he could not explain,
+that the running figure was directing his steps, with a sinister
+purpose, towards himself.
+
+The form was that of a man with a loose coat about him, which, as he ran,
+he disengaged, and as well as Larkin could see, for the moon was again
+wading in clouds, threw from him. The figure thus advanced until within
+some two score yards of him, it arrested its speed, and approached with a
+loose, swaggering gait. The moon again shone out bright and clear, and,
+gracious God! what was the spectacle before him? He saw as distinctly as
+if he had been presented there in the flesh, Ned Moran, himself, stripped
+naked from the waist upward, as if for pugilistic combat, and drawing
+towards him in silence. Larkin would have shouted, prayed, cursed, fled
+across the Park, but he was absolutely powerless; the apparition stopped
+within a few steps, and leered on him with a ghastly mimicry of the
+defiant stare with which pugilists strive to cow one another before
+combat. For a time, which he could not so much as conjecture, he was held
+in the fascination of that unearthly gaze, and at last the thing,
+whatever it was, on a sudden swaggered close up to him with extended
+palms. With an impulse of horror, Larkin put out his hand to keep the
+figure off, and their palms touched--at least, so he believed--for a
+thrill of unspeakable agony, running through his arm, pervaded his entire
+frame, and he fell senseless to the earth.
+
+Though Larkin lived for many years after, his punishment was terrible. He
+was incurably maimed; and being unable to work, he was forced, for
+existence, to beg alms of those who had once feared and flattered him. He
+suffered, too, increasingly, under his own horrible interpretation of the
+preternatural encounter which was the beginning of all his miseries. It
+was vain to endeavour to shake his faith in the reality of the
+apparition, and equally vain, as some compassionately did, to try to
+persuade him that the greeting with which his vision closed was intended,
+while inflicting a temporary trial, to signify a compensating
+reconciliation.
+
+"No, no," he used to say, "all won't do. I know the meaning of it well
+enough; it is a challenge to meet him in the other world--in Hell, where
+I am going--that's what it means, and nothing else."
+
+And so, miserable and refusing comfort, he lived on for some years, and
+then died, and was buried in the same narrow churchyard which contains
+the remains of his victim.
+
+I need hardly say, how absolute was the faith of the honest inhabitants,
+at the time when I heard the story, in the reality of the preternatural
+summons which, through the portals of terror, sickness, and misery, had
+summoned Bully Larkin to his long, last home, and that, too, upon the
+very ground on which he had signalised the guiltiest triumph of his
+violent and vindictive career.
+
+I recollect another story of the preternatural sort, which made no small
+sensation, some five-and-thirty years ago, among the good gossips of the
+town; and, with your leave, courteous reader, I shall relate it.
+
+
+
+
+The Sexton's Adventure
+
+
+Those who remember Chapelizod a quarter of a century ago, or more, may
+possibly recollect the parish sexton. Bob Martin was held much in awe by
+truant boys who sauntered into the churchyard on Sundays, to read the
+tombstones, or play leap frog over them, or climb the ivy in search of
+bats or sparrows' nests, or peep into the mysterious aperture under the
+eastern window, which opened a dim perspective of descending steps
+losing themselves among profounder darkness, where lidless coffins gaped
+horribly among tattered velvet, bones, and dust, which time and
+mortality had strewn there. Of such horribly curious, and otherwise
+enterprising juveniles, Bob was, of course, the special scourge and
+terror. But terrible as was the official aspect of the sexton, and
+repugnant as his lank form, clothed in rusty, sable vesture, his small,
+frosty visage, suspicious grey eyes, and rusty, brown scratch-wig, might
+appear to all notions of genial frailty; it was yet true, that Bob
+Martin's severe morality sometimes nodded, and that Bacchus did not
+always solicit him in vain.
+
+Bob had a curious mind, a memory well stored with "merry tales," and
+tales of terror. His profession familiarized him with graves and goblins,
+and his tastes with weddings, wassail, and sly frolics of all sorts. And
+as his personal recollections ran back nearly three score years into the
+perspective of the village history, his fund of local anecdote was
+copious, accurate, and edifying.
+
+As his ecclesiastical revenues were by no means considerable, he was not
+unfrequently obliged, for the indulgence of his tastes, to arts which
+were, at the best, undignified.
+
+He frequently invited himself when his entertainers had forgotten to do
+so; he dropped in accidentally upon small drinking parties of his
+acquaintance in public houses, and entertained them with stories, queer
+or terrible, from his inexhaustible reservoir, never scrupling to accept
+an acknowledgment in the shape of hot whiskey-punch, or whatever else
+was going.
+
+There was at that time a certain atrabilious publican, called Philip
+Slaney, established in a shop nearly opposite the old turnpike. This man
+was not, when left to himself, immoderately given to drinking; but being
+naturally of a saturnine complexion, and his spirits constantly requiring
+a fillip, he acquired a prodigious liking for Bob Martin's company. The
+sexton's society, in fact, gradually became the solace of his existence,
+and he seemed to lose his constitutional melancholy in the fascination of
+his sly jokes and marvellous stories.
+
+This intimacy did not redound to the prosperity or reputation of the
+convivial allies. Bob Martin drank a good deal more punch than was good
+for his health, or consistent with the character of an ecclesiastical
+functionary. Philip Slaney, too, was drawn into similar indulgences, for
+it was hard to resist the genial seductions of his gifted companion; and
+as he was obliged to pay for both, his purse was believed to have
+suffered even more than his head and liver.
+
+Be this as it may, Bob Martin had the credit of having made a drunkard of
+"black Phil Slaney"--for by this cognomen was he distinguished; and Phil
+Slaney had also the reputation of having made the sexton, if possible, a
+"bigger bliggard" than ever. Under these circumstances, the accounts of
+the concern opposite the turnpike became somewhat entangled; and it came
+to pass one drowsy summer morning, the weather being at once sultry and
+cloudy, that Phil Slaney went into a small back parlour, where he kept
+his books, and which commanded, through its dirty window-panes, a full
+view of a dead wall, and having bolted the door, he took a loaded pistol,
+and clapping the muzzle in his mouth, blew the upper part of his skull
+through the ceiling.
+
+This horrid catastrophe shocked Bob Martin extremely; and partly on this
+account, and partly because having been, on several late occasions, found
+at night in a state of abstraction, bordering on insensibility, upon the
+high road, he had been threatened with dismissal; and, as some said,
+partly also because of the difficulty of finding anybody to "treat" him
+as poor Phil Slaney used to do, he for a time forswore alcohol in all its
+combinations, and became an eminent example of temperance and sobriety.
+
+Bob observed his good resolutions, greatly to the comfort of his wife,
+and the edification of the neighbourhood, with tolerable punctuality. He
+was seldom tipsy, and never drunk, and was greeted by the better part of
+society with all the honours of the prodigal son.
+
+Now it happened, about a year after the grisly event we have mentioned,
+that the curate having received, by the post, due notice of a funeral to
+be consummated in the churchyard of Chapelizod, with certain instructions
+respecting the site of the grave, despatched a summons for Bob Martin,
+with a view to communicate to that functionary these official details.
+
+It was a lowering autumn night: piles of lurid thunder-clouds, slowly
+rising from the earth, had loaded the sky with a solemn and boding canopy
+of storm. The growl of the distant thunder was heard afar off upon the
+dull, still air, and all nature seemed, as it were, hushed and cowering
+under the oppressive influence of the approaching tempest.
+
+It was past nine o'clock when Bob, putting on his official coat of seedy
+black, prepared to attend his professional superior.
+
+"Bobby, darlin'," said his wife, before she delivered the hat she held in
+her hand to his keeping, "sure you won't, Bobby, darlin'--you won't--you
+know what."
+
+"I _don't_ know what," he retorted, smartly, grasping at his hat.
+
+"You won't be throwing up the little finger, Bobby, acushla?" she said,
+evading his grasp.
+
+"Arrah, why would I, woman? there, give me my hat, will you?"
+
+"But won't you promise me, Bobby darlin'--won't you, alanna?"
+
+"Ay, ay, to be sure I will--why not?--there, give me my hat, and
+let me go."
+
+"Ay, but you're not promisin', Bobby, mavourneen; you're not promisin'
+all the time."
+
+"Well, divil carry me if I drink a drop till I come back again," said the
+sexton, angrily; "will that do you? And _now_ will you give me my hat?"
+
+"Here it is, darlin'," she said, "and God send you safe back."
+
+And with this parting blessing she closed the door upon his retreating
+figure, for it was now quite dark, and resumed her knitting till his
+return, very much relieved; for she thought he had of late been oftener
+tipsy than was consistent with his thorough reformation, and feared the
+allurements of the half dozen "publics" which he had at that time to pass
+on his way to the other end of the town.
+
+They were still open, and exhaled a delicious reek of whiskey, as Bob
+glided wistfully by them; but he stuck his hands in his pockets and
+looked the other way, whistling resolutely, and filling his mind with the
+image of the curate and anticipations of his coming fee. Thus he steered
+his morality safely through these rocks of offence, and reached the
+curate's lodging in safety.
+
+He had, however, an unexpected sick call to attend, and was not at home,
+so that Bob Martin had to sit in the hall and amuse himself with the
+devil's tattoo until his return. This, unfortunately, was very long
+delayed, and it must have been fully twelve o'clock when Bob Martin set
+out upon his homeward way. By this time the storm had gathered to a
+pitchy darkness, the bellowing thunder was heard among the rocks and
+hollows of the Dublin mountains, and the pale, blue lightning shone upon
+the staring fronts of the houses.
+
+By this time, too, every door was closed; but as Bob trudged homeward,
+his eye mechanically sought the public-house which had once belonged to
+Phil Slaney. A faint light was making its way through the shutters and
+the glass panes over the doorway, which made a sort of dull, foggy halo
+about the front of the house.
+
+As Bob's eyes had become accustomed to the obscurity by this time, the
+light in question was quite sufficient to enable him to see a man in a
+sort of loose riding-coat seated upon a bench which, at that time, was
+fixed under the window of the house. He wore his hat very much over his
+eyes, and was smoking a long pipe. The outline of a glass and a quart
+bottle were also dimly traceable beside him; and a large horse saddled,
+but faintly discernible, was patiently awaiting his master's leisure.
+
+There was something odd, no doubt, in the appearance of a traveller
+refreshing himself at such an hour in the open street; but the sexton
+accounted for it easily by supposing that, on the closing of the house
+for the night, he had taken what remained of his refection to the place
+where he was now discussing it al fresco.
+
+At another time Bob might have saluted the stranger as he passed with a
+friendly "good night"; but, somehow, he was out of humour and in no
+genial mood, and was about passing without any courtesy of the sort,
+when the stranger, without taking the pipe from his mouth, raised the
+bottle, and with it beckoned him familiarly, while, with a sort of lurch
+of the head and shoulders, and at the same time shifting his seat to the
+end of the bench, he pantomimically invited him to share his seat and
+his cheer. There was a divine fragrance of whiskey about the spot, and
+Bob half relented; but he remembered his promise just as he began to
+waver, and said:
+
+"No, I thank you, sir, I can't stop to-night."
+
+The stranger beckoned with vehement welcome, and pointed to the vacant
+space on the seat beside him.
+
+"I thank you for your polite offer," said Bob, "but it's what I'm too
+late as it is, and haven't time to spare, so I wish you a good night."
+
+The traveller jingled the glass against the neck of the bottle, as if to
+intimate that he might at least swallow a dram without losing time. Bob
+was mentally quite of the same opinion; but, though his mouth watered, he
+remembered his promise, and shaking his head with incorruptible
+resolution, walked on.
+
+The stranger, pipe in mouth, rose from his bench, the bottle in one hand,
+and the glass in the other, and followed at the sexton's heels, his dusky
+horse keeping close in his wake.
+
+There was something suspicious and unaccountable in this importunity.
+
+Bob quickened his pace, but the stranger followed close. The sexton began
+to feel queer, and turned about. His pursuer was behind, and still
+inviting him with impatient gestures to taste his liquor.
+
+"I told you before," said Bob, who was both angry and frightened, "that I
+would not taste it, and that's enough. I don't want to have anything to
+say to you or your bottle; and in God's name," he added, more vehemently,
+observing that he was approaching still closer, "fall back and don't be
+tormenting me this way."
+
+These words, as it seemed, incensed the stranger, for he shook the bottle
+with violent menace at Bob Martin; but, notwithstanding this gesture of
+defiance, he suffered the distance between them to increase. Bob,
+however, beheld him dogging him still in the distance, for his pipe shed
+a wonderful red glow, which duskily illuminated his entire figure like
+the lurid atmosphere of a meteor.
+
+"I wish the devil had his own, my boy," muttered the excited sexton, "and
+I know well enough where you'd be."
+
+The next time he looked over his shoulder, to his dismay he observed the
+importunate stranger as close as ever upon his track.
+
+"Confound you," cried the man of skulls and shovels, almost beside
+himself with rage and horror, "what is it you want of me?"
+
+The stranger appeared more confident, and kept wagging his head and
+extending both glass and bottle toward him as he drew near, and Bob
+Martin heard the horse snorting as it followed in the dark.
+
+"Keep it to yourself, whatever it is, for there is neither grace nor
+luck about you," cried Bob Martin, freezing with terror; "leave me
+alone, will you."
+
+And he fumbled in vain among the seething confusion of his ideas for a
+prayer or an exorcism. He quickened his pace almost to a run; he was now
+close to his own door, under the impending bank by the river side.
+
+"Let me in, let me in, for God's sake; Molly, open the door," he cried,
+as he ran to the threshold, and leant his back against the plank. His
+pursuer confronted him upon the road; the pipe was no longer in his
+mouth, but the dusky red glow still lingered round him. He uttered some
+inarticulate cavernous sounds, which were wolfish and indescribable,
+while he seemed employed in pouring out a glass from the bottle.
+
+The sexton kicked with all his force against the door, and cried at the
+same time with a despairing voice.
+
+"In the name of God Almighty, once for all, leave me alone."
+
+His pursuer furiously flung the contents of the bottle at Bob Martin;
+but instead of fluid it issued out in a stream of flame, which expanded
+and whirled round them, and for a moment they were both enveloped in a
+faint blaze; at the same instant a sudden gust whisked off the
+stranger's hat, and the sexton beheld that his skull was roofless. For
+an instant he beheld the gaping aperture, black and shattered, and then
+he fell senseless into his own doorway, which his affrighted wife had
+just unbarred.
+
+I need hardly give my reader the key to this most intelligible and
+authentic narrative. The traveller was acknowledged by all to have been
+the spectre of the suicide, called up by the Evil One to tempt the
+convivial sexton into a violation of his promise, sealed, as it was, by
+an imprecation. Had he succeeded, no doubt the dusky steed, which Bob had
+seen saddled in attendance, was destined to have carried back a double
+burden to the place from whence he came.
+
+As an attestation of the reality of this visitation, the old thorn tree
+which overhung the doorway was found in the morning to have been blasted
+with the infernal fires which had issued from the bottle, just as if a
+thunder-bolt had scorched it.
+
+The moral of the above tale is upon the surface, apparent, and, so to
+speak, _self-acting_--a circumstance which happily obviates the
+necessity of our discussing it together. Taking our leave, therefore, of
+honest Bob Martin, who now sleeps soundly in the same solemn dormitory
+where, in his day, he made so many beds for others, I come to a legend
+of the Royal Irish Artillery, whose headquarters were for so long a time
+in the town of Chapelizod. I don't mean to say that I cannot tell a
+great many more stories, equally authentic and marvellous, touching this
+old town; but as I may possibly have to perform a like office for other
+localities, and as Anthony Poplar is known, like Atropos, to carry a
+shears, wherewith to snip across all "yarns" which exceed reasonable
+bounds, I consider it, on the whole, safer to despatch the traditions of
+Chapelizod with one tale more.
+
+Let me, however, first give it a name; for an author can no more despatch
+a tale without a title, than an apothecary can deliver his physic without
+a label. We shall, therefore, call it--
+
+
+
+
+The Spectre Lovers
+
+
+There lived some fifteen years since in a small and ruinous house, little
+better than a hovel, an old woman who was reported to have considerably
+exceeded her eightieth year, and who rejoiced in the name of Alice, or
+popularly, Ally Moran. Her society was not much courted, for she was
+neither rich, nor, as the reader may suppose, beautiful. In addition to a
+lean cur and a cat she had one human companion, her grandson, Peter
+Brien, whom, with laudable good nature, she had supported from the period
+of his orphanage down to that of my story, which finds him in his
+twentieth year. Peter was a good-natured slob of a fellow, much more
+addicted to wrestling, dancing, and love-making, than to hard work, and
+fonder of whiskey-punch than good advice. His grandmother had a high
+opinion of his accomplishments, which indeed was but natural, and also of
+his genius, for Peter had of late years begun to apply his mind to
+politics; and as it was plain that he had a mortal hatred of honest
+labour, his grandmother predicted, like a true fortuneteller, that he was
+born to marry an heiress, and Peter himself (who had no mind to forego
+his freedom even on such terms) that he was destined to find a pot of
+gold. Upon one point both agreed, that being unfitted by the peculiar
+bias of his genius for work, he was to acquire the immense fortune to
+which his merits entitled him by means of a pure run of good luck. This
+solution of Peter's future had the double effect of reconciling both
+himself and his grandmother to his idle courses, and also of maintaining
+that even flow of hilarious spirits which made him everywhere welcome,
+and which was in truth the natural result of his consciousness of
+approaching affluence.
+
+It happened one night that Peter had enjoyed himself to a very late hour
+with two or three choice spirits near Palmerstown. They had talked
+politics and love, sung songs, and told stories, and, above all, had
+swallowed, in the chastened disguise of punch, at least a pint of good
+whiskey, every man.
+
+It was considerably past one o'clock when Peter bid his companions
+goodbye, with a sigh and a hiccough, and lighting his pipe set forth on
+his solitary homeward way.
+
+The bridge of Chapelizod was pretty nearly the midway point of his night
+march, and from one cause or another his progress was rather slow, and it
+was past two o'clock by the time he found himself leaning over its old
+battlements, and looking up the river, over whose winding current and
+wooded banks the soft moonlight was falling.
+
+The cold breeze that blew lightly down the stream was grateful to him. It
+cooled his throbbing head, and he drank it in at his hot lips. The scene,
+too, had, without his being well sensible of it, a secret fascination.
+The village was sunk in the profoundest slumber, not a mortal stirring,
+not a sound afloat, a soft haze covered it all, and the fairy moonlight
+hovered over the entire landscape.
+
+In a state between rumination and rapture, Peter continued to lean over
+the battlements of the old bridge, and as he did so he saw, or fancied he
+saw, emerging one after another along the river bank in the little
+gardens and enclosures in the rear of the street of Chapelizod, the
+queerest little white-washed huts and cabins he had ever seen there
+before. They had not been there that evening when he passed the bridge on
+the way to his merry tryst. But the most remarkable thing about it was
+the odd way in which these quaint little cabins showed themselves. First
+he saw one or two of them just with the corner of his eye, and when he
+looked full at them, strange to say, they faded away and disappeared.
+Then another and another came in view, but all in the same coy way, just
+appearing and gone again before he could well fix his gaze upon them; in
+a little while, however, they began to bear a fuller gaze, and he found,
+as it seemed to himself, that he was able by an effort of attention to
+fix the vision for a longer and a longer time, and when they waxed faint
+and nearly vanished, he had the power of recalling them into light and
+substance, until at last their vacillating indistinctness became less and
+less, and they assumed a permanent place in the moonlit landscape.
+
+"Be the hokey," said Peter, lost in amazement, and dropping his pipe into
+the river unconsciously, "them is the quarist bits iv mud cabins I ever
+seen, growing up like musharoons in the dew of an evening, and poppin' up
+here and down again there, and up again in another place, like so many
+white rabbits in a warren; and there they stand at last as firm and fast
+as if they were there from the Deluge; bedad it's enough to make a man
+a'most believe in the fairies."
+
+This latter was a large concession from Peter, who was a bit of a
+free-thinker, and spoke contemptuously in his ordinary conversation of
+that class of agencies.
+
+Having treated himself to a long last stare at these mysterious fabrics,
+Peter prepared to pursue his homeward way; having crossed the bridge and
+passed the mill, he arrived at the corner of the main-street of the
+little town, and casting a careless look up the Dublin road, his eye was
+arrested by a most unexpected spectacle.
+
+This was no other than a column of foot soldiers, marching with perfect
+regularity towards the village, and headed by an officer on horseback.
+They were at the far side of the turnpike, which was closed; but much to
+his perplexity he perceived that they marched on through it without
+appearing to sustain the least check from that barrier.
+
+On they came at a slow march; and what was most singular in the matter
+was, that they were drawing several cannons along with them; some held
+ropes, others spoked the wheels, and others again marched in front of the
+guns and behind them, with muskets shouldered, giving a stately character
+of parade and regularity to this, as it seemed to Peter, most unmilitary
+procedure.
+
+It was owing either to some temporary defect in Peter's vision, or to
+some illusion attendant upon mist and moonlight, or perhaps to some other
+cause, that the whole procession had a certain waving and vapoury
+character which perplexed and tasked his eyes not a little. It was like
+the pictured pageant of a phantasmagoria reflected upon smoke. It was as
+if every breath disturbed it; sometimes it was blurred, sometimes
+obliterated; now here, now there. Sometimes, while the upper part was
+quite distinct, the legs of the column would nearly fade away or vanish
+outright, and then again they would come out into clear relief, marching
+on with measured tread, while the cocked hats and shoulders grew, as it
+were, transparent, and all but disappeared.
+
+Notwithstanding these strange optical fluctuations, however, the column
+continued steadily to advance. Peter crossed the street from the corner
+near the old bridge, running on tip-toe, and with his body stooped to
+avoid observation, and took up a position upon the raised footpath in the
+shadow of the houses, where, as the soldiers kept the middle of the road,
+he calculated that he might, himself undetected, see them distinctly
+enough as they passed.
+
+"What the div--, what on airth," he muttered, checking the irreligious
+ejaculation with which he was about to start, for certain queer
+misgivings were hovering about his heart, notwithstanding the factitious
+courage of the whiskey bottle. "What on airth is the manin' of all this?
+is it the French that's landed at last to give us a hand and help us in
+airnest to this blessed repale? If it is not them, I simply ask who the
+div--, I mane who on airth are they, for such sogers as them I never
+seen before in my born days?"
+
+By this time the foremost of them were quite near, and truth to say they
+were the queerest soldiers he had ever seen in the course of his life.
+They wore long gaiters and leather breeches, three-cornered hats, bound
+with silver lace, long blue coats, with scarlet facings and linings,
+which latter were shewn by a fastening which held together the two
+opposite corners of the skirt behind; and in front the breasts were in
+like manner connected at a single point, where and below which they
+sloped back, disclosing a long-flapped waistcoat of snowy whiteness; they
+had very large, long cross-belts, and wore enormous pouches of white
+leather hung extraordinarily low, and on each of which a little silver
+star was glittering. But what struck him as most grotesque and outlandish
+in their costume was their extraordinary display of shirt-frill in front,
+and of ruffle about their wrists, and the strange manner in which their
+hair was frizzled out and powdered under their hats, and clubbed up into
+great rolls behind. But one of the party was mounted. He rode a tall
+white horse, with high action and arching neck; he had a snow-white
+feather in his three-cornered hat, and his coat was shimmering all over
+with a profusion of silver lace. From these circumstances Peter concluded
+that he must be the commander of the detachment, and examined him as he
+passed attentively. He was a slight, tall man, whose legs did not half
+fill his leather breeches, and he appeared to be at the wrong side of
+sixty. He had a shrunken, weather-beaten, mulberry-coloured face, carried
+a large black patch over one eye, and turned neither to the right nor to
+the left, but rode on at the head of his men, with a grim, military
+inflexibility.
+
+The countenances of these soldiers, officers as well as men, seemed all
+full of trouble, and, so to speak, scared and wild. He watched in vain
+for a single contented or comely face. They had, one and all, a
+melancholy and hang-dog look; and as they passed by, Peter fancied that
+the air grew cold and thrilling.
+
+He had seated himself upon a stone bench, from which, staring with all
+his might, he gazed upon the grotesque and noiseless procession as it
+filed by him. Noiseless it was; he could neither hear the jingle of
+accoutrements, the tread of feet, nor the rumble of the wheels; and when
+the old colonel turned his horse a little, and made as though he were
+giving the word of command, and a trumpeter, with a swollen blue nose and
+white feather fringe round his hat, who was walking beside him, turned
+about and put his bugle to his lips, still Peter heard nothing, although
+it was plain the sound had reached the soldiers, for they instantly
+changed their front to three abreast.
+
+"Botheration!" muttered Peter, "is it deaf I'm growing?"
+
+But that could not be, for he heard the sighing of the breeze and the
+rush of the neighbouring Liffey plain enough.
+
+"Well," said he, in the same cautious key, "by the piper, this bangs
+Banagher fairly! It's either the Frinch army that's in it, come to take
+the town iv Chapelizod by surprise, an' makin' no noise for feard iv
+wakenin' the inhabitants; or else it's--it's--what it's--somethin' else.
+But, tundher-an-ouns, what's gone wid Fitzpatrick's shop across the way?"
+
+The brown, dingy stone building at the opposite side of the street looked
+newer and cleaner than he had been used to see it; the front door of it
+stood open, and a sentry, in the same grotesque uniform, with shouldered
+musket, was pacing noiselessly to and fro before it. At the angle of this
+building, in like manner, a wide gate (of which Peter had no recollection
+whatever) stood open, before which, also, a similar sentry was gliding,
+and into this gateway the whole column gradually passed, and Peter
+finally lost sight of it.
+
+"I'm not asleep; I'm not dhramin'," said he, rubbing his eyes, and
+stamping slightly on the pavement, to assure himself that he was wide
+awake. "It is a quare business, whatever it is; an' it's not alone that,
+but everything about town looks strange to me. There's Tresham's house
+new painted, bedad, an' them flowers in the windies! An' Delany's house,
+too, that had not a whole pane of glass in it this morning, and scarce a
+slate on the roof of it! It is not possible it's what it's dhrunk I am.
+Sure there's the big tree, and not a leaf of it changed since I passed,
+and the stars overhead, all right. I don't think it is in my eyes it is."
+
+And so looking about him, and every moment finding or fancying new food
+for wonder, he walked along the pavement, intending, without further
+delay, to make his way home.
+
+But his adventures for the night were not concluded. He had nearly
+reached the angle of the short land that leads up to the church, when for
+the first time he perceived that an officer, in the uniform he had just
+seen, was walking before, only a few yards in advance of him.
+
+The officer was walking along at an easy, swinging gait, and carried
+his sword under his arm, and was looking down on the pavement with an
+air of reverie.
+
+In the very fact that he seemed unconscious of Peter's presence, and
+disposed to keep his reflections to himself, there was something
+reassuring. Besides, the reader must please to remember that our hero had
+a quantum sufficit of good punch before his adventure commenced, and was
+thus fortified against those qualms and terrors under which, in a more
+reasonable state of mind, he might not impossibly have sunk.
+
+The idea of the French invasion revived in full power in Peter's fuddled
+imagination, as he pursued the nonchalant swagger of the officer.
+
+"Be the powers iv Moll Kelly, I'll ax him what it is," said Peter, with a
+sudden accession of rashness. "He may tell me or not, as he plases, but
+he can't be offinded, anyhow."
+
+With this reflection having inspired himself, Peter cleared his voice
+and began--
+
+"Captain!" said he, "I ax your pardon, captain, an' maybe you'd be so
+condescindin' to my ignorance as to tell me, if it's plasin' to yer
+honour, whether your honour is not a Frinchman, if it's plasin' to you."
+
+This he asked, not thinking that, had it been as he suspected, not one
+word of his question in all probability would have been intelligible to
+the person he addressed. He was, however, understood, for the officer
+answered him in English, at the same time slackening his pace and moving
+a little to the side of the pathway, as if to invite his interrogator to
+take his place beside him.
+
+"No; I am an Irishman," he answered.
+
+"I humbly thank your honour," said Peter, drawing nearer--for the
+affability and the nativity of the officer encouraged him--"but maybe
+your honour is in the _sarvice_ of the King of France?"
+
+"I serve the same King as you do," he answered, with a sorrowful
+significance which Peter did not comprehend at the time; and,
+interrogating in turn, he asked, "But what calls you forth at this hour
+of the day?"
+
+"The _day,_ your honour!--the night, you mane."
+
+"It was always our way to turn night into day, and we keep to it still,"
+remarked the soldier. "But, no matter, come up here to my house; I have a
+job for you, if you wish to earn some money easily. I live here."
+
+As he said this, he beckoned authoritatively to Peter, who followed
+almost mechanically at his heels, and they turned up a little lane near
+the old Roman Catholic chapel, at the end of which stood, in Peter's
+time, the ruins of a tall, stone-built house.
+
+Like everything else in the town, it had suffered a metamorphosis. The
+stained and ragged walls were now erect, perfect, and covered with
+pebble-dash; window-panes glittered coldly in every window; the green
+hall-door had a bright brass knocker on it. Peter did not know whether to
+believe his previous or his present impressions; seeing is believing, and
+Peter could not dispute the reality of the scene. All the records of his
+memory seemed but the images of a tipsy dream. In a trance of
+astonishment and perplexity, therefore, he submitted himself to the
+chances of his adventure.
+
+The door opened, the officer beckoned with a melancholy air of authority
+to Peter, and entered. Our hero followed him into a sort of hall, which
+was very dark, but he was guided by the steps of the soldier, and, in
+silence, they ascended the stairs. The moonlight, which shone in at the
+lobbies, showed an old, dark wainscoting, and a heavy, oak banister. They
+passed by closed doors at different landing-places, but all was dark and
+silent as, indeed, became that late hour of the night.
+
+Now they ascended to the topmost floor. The captain paused for a minute
+at the nearest door, and, with a heavy groan, pushing it open, entered
+the room. Peter remained at the threshold. A slight female form in a
+sort of loose, white robe, and with a great deal of dark hair hanging
+loosely about her, was standing in the middle of the floor, with her
+back towards them.
+
+The soldier stopped short before he reached her, and said, in a voice of
+great anguish, "Still the same, sweet bird--sweet bird! still the same."
+Whereupon, she turned suddenly, and threw her arms about the neck of the
+officer, with a gesture of fondness and despair, and her frame was
+agitated as if by a burst of sobs. He held her close to his breast in
+silence; and honest Peter felt a strange terror creep over him, as he
+witnessed these mysterious sorrows and endearments.
+
+"To-night, to-night--and then ten years more--ten long years--another
+ten years."
+
+The officer and the lady seemed to speak these words together; her voice
+mingled with his in a musical and fearful wail, like a distant summer
+wind, in the dead hour of night, wandering through ruins. Then he heard
+the officer say, alone, in a voice of anguish--
+
+"Upon me be it all, for ever, sweet birdie, upon me."
+
+And again they seemed to mourn together in the same soft and desolate
+wail, like sounds of grief heard from a great distance.
+
+Peter was thrilled with horror, but he was also under a strange
+fascination; and an intense and dreadful curiosity held him fast.
+
+The moon was shining obliquely into the room, and through the window
+Peter saw the familiar slopes of the Park, sleeping mistily under its
+shimmer. He could also see the furniture of the room with tolerable
+distinctness--the old balloon-backed chairs, a four-post bed in a sort of
+recess, and a rack against the wall, from which hung some military
+clothes and accoutrements; and the sight of all these homely objects
+reassured him somewhat, and he could not help feeling unspeakably curious
+to see the face of the girl whose long hair was streaming over the
+officer's epaulet.
+
+Peter, accordingly, coughed, at first slightly, and afterward more
+loudly, to recall her from her reverie of grief; and, apparently, he
+succeeded; for she turned round, as did her companion, and both, standing
+hand in hand, gazed upon him fixedly. He thought he had never seen such
+large, strange eyes in all his life; and their gaze seemed to chill the
+very air around him, and arrest the pulses of his heart. An eternity of
+misery and remorse was in the shadowy faces that looked upon him.
+
+If Peter had taken less whisky by a single thimbleful, it is probable
+that he would have lost heart altogether before these figures, which
+seemed every moment to assume a more marked and fearful, though hardly
+definable, contrast to ordinary human shapes.
+
+"What is it you want with me?" he stammered.
+
+"To bring my lost treasure to the churchyard," replied the lady, in a
+silvery voice of more than mortal desolation.
+
+The word "treasure" revived the resolution of Peter, although a cold
+sweat was covering him, and his hair was bristling with horror; he
+believed, however, that he was on the brink of fortune, if he could but
+command nerve to brave the interview to its close.
+
+"And where," he gasped, "is it hid--where will I find it?"
+
+They both pointed to the sill of the window, through which the moon was
+shining at the far end of the room, and the soldier said--
+
+"Under that stone."
+
+Peter drew a long breath, and wiped the cold dew from his face,
+preparatory to passing to the window, where he expected to secure the
+reward of his protracted terrors. But looking steadfastly at the window,
+he saw the faint image of a new-born child sitting upon the sill in the
+moonlight, with its little arms stretched toward him, and a smile so
+heavenly as he never beheld before.
+
+At sight of this, strange to say, his heart entirely failed him, he
+looked on the figures that stood near, and beheld them gazing on the
+infantine form with a smile so guilty and distorted, that he felt as if
+he were entering alive among the scenery of hell, and shuddering, he
+cried in an irrepressible agony of horror--
+
+"I'll have nothing to say with you, and nothing to do with you; I don't
+know what yez are or what yez want iv me, but let me go this minute,
+every one of yez, in the name of God."
+
+With these words there came a strange rumbling and sighing about
+Peter's ears; he lost sight of everything, and felt that peculiar and
+not unpleasant sensation of falling softly, that sometimes supervenes
+in sleep, ending in a dull shock. After that he had neither dream nor
+consciousness till he wakened, chill and stiff, stretched between two
+piles of old rubbish, among the black and roofless walls of the
+ruined house.
+
+We need hardly mention that the village had put on its wonted air of
+neglect and decay, or that Peter looked around him in vain for traces of
+those novelties which had so puzzled and distracted him upon the
+previous night.
+
+"Ay, ay," said his grandmother, removing her pipe, as he ended his
+description of the view from the bridge, "sure enough I remember myself,
+when I was a slip of a girl, these little white cabins among the gardens
+by the river side. The artillery sogers that was married, or had not room
+in the barracks, used to be in them, but they're all gone long ago.
+
+"The Lord be merciful to us!" she resumed, when he had described the
+military procession, "It's often I seen the regiment marchin' into the
+town, jist as you saw it last night, acushla. Oh, voch, but it makes my
+heart sore to think iv them days; they were pleasant times, sure enough;
+but is not it terrible, avick, to think it's what it was the ghost of the
+rigiment you seen? The Lord betune us an' harm, for it was nothing else,
+as sure as I'm sittin' here."
+
+When he mentioned the peculiar physiognomy and figure of the old officer
+who rode at the head of the regiment--
+
+"That," said the old crone, dogmatically, "was ould Colonel Grimshaw, the
+Lord presarve us! he's buried in the churchyard iv Chapelizod, and well I
+remember him, when I was a young thing, an' a cross ould floggin' fellow
+he was wid the men, an' a devil's boy among the girls--rest his soul!"
+
+"Amen!" said Peter; "it's often I read his tombstone myself; but he's a
+long time dead."
+
+"Sure, I tell you he died when I was no more nor a slip iv a girl--the
+Lord betune us and harm!"
+
+"I'm afeard it is what I'm not long for this world myself, afther seeing
+such a sight as that," said Peter, fearfully.
+
+"Nonsinse, avourneen," retorted his grandmother, indignantly, though she
+had herself misgivings on the subject; "sure there was Phil Doolan, the
+ferryman, that seen black Ann Scanlan in his own boat, and what harm ever
+kem of it?"
+
+Peter proceeded with his narrative, but when he came to the description
+of the house, in which his adventure had had so sinister a conclusion,
+the old woman was at fault.
+
+"I know the house and the ould walls well, an' I can remember the time
+there was a roof on it, and the doors an' windows in it, but it had a bad
+name about being haunted, but by who, or for what, I forget intirely."
+
+"Did you ever hear was there goold or silver there?" he inquired.
+
+"No, no, avick, don't be thinking about the likes; take a fool's advice,
+and never go next to near them ugly black walls again the longest day you
+have to live; an' I'd take my davy, it's what it's the same word the
+priest himself id be afther sayin' to you if you wor to ax his raverence
+consarnin' it, for it's plain to be seen it was nothing good you seen
+there, and there's neither luck nor grace about it."
+
+Peter's adventure made no little noise in the neighbourhood, as the
+reader may well suppose; and a few evenings after it, being on an errand
+to old Major Vandeleur, who lived in a snug old-fashioned house, close by
+the river, under a perfect bower of ancient trees, he was called on to
+relate the story in the parlour.
+
+The Major was, as I have said, an old man; he was small, lean, and
+upright, with a mahogany complexion, and a wooden inflexibility of face;
+he was a man, besides, of few words, and if _he_ was old, it follows
+plainly that his mother was older still. Nobody could guess or tell _how_
+old, but it was admitted that her own generation had long passed away,
+and that she had not a competitor left. She had French blood in her
+veins, and although she did not retain her charms quite so well as Ninon
+de l'Enclos, she was in full possession of all her mental activity, and
+talked quite enough for herself and the Major.
+
+"So, Peter," she said, "you have seen the dear, old Royal Irish again in
+the streets of Chapelizod. Make him a tumbler of punch, Frank; and Peter,
+sit down, and while you take it let us have the story."
+
+Peter accordingly, seated, near the door, with a tumbler of the nectarian
+stimulant steaming beside him, proceeded with marvellous courage,
+considering they had no light but the uncertain glare of the fire, to
+relate with minute particularity his awful adventure. The old lady
+listened at first with a smile of good-natured incredulity; her
+cross-examination touching the drinking-bout at Palmerstown had been
+teazing, but as the narrative proceeded she became attentive, and at
+length absorbed, and once or twice she uttered ejaculations of pity or
+awe. When it was over, the old lady looked with a somewhat sad and stern
+abstraction on the table, patting her cat assiduously meanwhile, and then
+suddenly looking upon her son, the Major, she said--
+
+"Frank, as sure as I live he has seen the wicked Captain Devereux."
+
+The Major uttered an inarticulate expression of wonder.
+
+"The house was precisely that he has described. I have told you the story
+often, as I heard it from your dear grandmother, about the poor young
+lady he ruined, and the dreadful suspicion about the little baby. _She_,
+poor thing, died in that house heart-broken, and you know he was shot
+shortly after in a duel."
+
+This was the only light that Peter ever received respecting his
+adventure. It was supposed, however, that he still clung to the hope that
+treasure of some sort was hidden about the old house, for he was often
+seen lurking about its walls, and at last his fate overtook him, poor
+fellow, in the pursuit; for climbing near the summit one day, his holding
+gave way, and he fell upon the hard uneven ground, fracturing a leg and a
+rib, and after a short interval died, and he, like the other heroes of
+these true tales, lies buried in the little churchyard of Chapelizod.
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE DRUNKARD'S DREAM
+
+
+_Being a Fourth Extract from the Legacy of the Late F. Purcell, P. P. of
+Drumcoolagh_
+
+"All this _he_ told with some confusion and
+Dismay, the usual consequence of dreams
+Of the unpleasant kind, with none at hand
+To expound their vain and visionary gleams.
+I've known some odd ones which seemed really planned
+Prophetically, as that which one deems
+'A strange coincidence,' to use a phrase
+By which such things are settled now-a-days."
+
+BYRON.
+
+
+Dreams--What age, or what country of the world has not felt and
+acknowledged the mystery of their origin and end? I have thought not a
+little upon the subject, seeing it is one which has been often forced
+upon my attention, and sometimes strangely enough; and yet I have never
+arrived at any thing which at all appeared a satisfactory conclusion. It
+does appear that a mental phenomenon so extraordinary cannot be wholly
+without its use. We know, indeed, that in the olden times it has been
+made the organ of communication between the Deity and his creatures; and
+when, as I have seen, a dream produces upon a mind, to all appearance
+hopelessly reprobate and depraved, an effect so powerful and so lasting
+as to break down the inveterate habits, and to reform the life of an
+abandoned sinner. We see in the result, in the reformation of morals,
+which appeared incorrigible in the reclamation of a human soul which
+seemed to be irretrievably lost, something more than could be produced by
+a mere chimaera of the slumbering fancy, something more than could arise
+from the capricious images of a terrified imagination; but once
+prevented, we behold in all these things, in the tremendous and
+mysterious results, the operation of the hand of God. And while Reason
+rejects as absurd the superstition which will read a prophecy in every
+dream, she may, without violence to herself, recognize, even in the
+wildest and most incongruous of the wanderings of a slumbering intellect,
+the evidences and the fragments of a language which may be spoken, which
+_has_ been spoken to terrify, to warn, and to command. We have reason to
+believe too, by the promptness of action, which in the age of the
+prophets, followed all intimations of this kind, and by the strength of
+conviction and strange permanence of the effects resulting from certain
+dreams in latter times, which effects ourselves may have witnessed, that
+when this medium of communication has been employed by the Deity, the
+evidences of his presence have been unequivocal. My thoughts were
+directed to this subject, in a manner to leave a lasting impression upon
+my mind, by the events which I shall now relate, the statement of which,
+however extraordinary, is nevertheless _accurately correct_.
+
+About the year l7-- having been appointed to the living of C----h, I
+rented a small house in the town, which bears the same name: one morning,
+in the month of November, I was awakened before my usual time, by my
+servant, who bustled into my bedroom for the purpose of announcing a sick
+call. As the Catholic Church holds her last rites to be totally
+indispensable to the safety of the departing sinner, no conscientious
+clergyman can afford a moment's unnecessary delay, and in little more
+than five minutes I stood ready cloaked and booted for the road in the
+small front parlour, in which the messenger, who was to act as my guide,
+awaited my coming. I found a poor little girl crying piteously near the
+door, and after some slight difficulty I ascertained that her father was
+either dead, or just dying.
+
+"And what may be your father's name, my poor child?" said I. She held
+down her head, as if ashamed. I repeated the question, and the wretched
+little creature burst into floods of tears, still more bitter than she
+had shed before. At length, almost provoked by conduct which appeared to
+me so unreasonable, I began to lose patience, spite of the pity which I
+could not help feeling towards her, and I said rather harshly, "If you
+will not tell me the name of the person to whom you would lead me, your
+silence can arise from no good motive, and I might be justified in
+refusing to go with you at all."
+
+"Oh! don't say that, don't say that," cried she. "Oh! sir, it was that I
+was afeard of when I would not tell you--I was afeard when you heard his
+name you would not come with me; but it is no use hidin' it now--it's Pat
+Connell, the carpenter, your honour."
+
+She looked in my face with the most earnest anxiety, as if her very
+existence depended upon what she should read there; but I relieved her at
+once. The name, indeed, was most unpleasantly familiar to me; but,
+however fruitless my visits and advice might have been at another time,
+the present was too fearful an occasion to suffer my doubts of their
+utility as my reluctance to re-attempting what appeared a hopeless task
+to weigh even against the lightest chance, that a consciousness of his
+imminent danger might produce in him a more docile and tractable
+disposition. Accordingly I told the child to lead the way, and followed
+her in silence. She hurried rapidly through the long narrow street which
+forms the great thoroughfare of the town. The darkness of the hour,
+rendered still deeper by the close approach of the old fashioned houses,
+which lowered in tall obscurity on either side of the way; the damp
+dreary chill which renders the advance of morning peculiarly cheerless,
+combined with the object of my walk, to visit the death-bed of a
+presumptuous sinner, to endeavour, almost against my own conviction, to
+infuse a hope into the heart of a dying reprobate--a drunkard, but too
+probably perishing under the consequences of some mad fit of
+intoxication; all these circumstances united served to enhance the gloom
+and solemnity of my feelings, as I silently followed my little guide, who
+with quick steps traversed the uneven pavement of the main street. After
+a walk of about five minutes she turned off into a narrow lane, of that
+obscure and comfortless class which are to be found in almost all small
+old fashioned towns, chill without ventilation, reeking with all manner
+of offensive effluviae, dingy, smoky, sickly and pent-up buildings,
+frequently not only in a wretched but in a dangerous condition.
+
+"Your father has changed his abode since I last visited him, and, I am
+afraid, much for the worse," said I.
+
+"Indeed he has, sir, but we must not complain," replied she; "we have to
+thank God that we have lodging and food, though it's poor enough, it is,
+your honour."
+
+Poor child! thought I, how many an older head might learn wisdom from
+thee--how many a luxurious philosopher, who is skilled to preach but not
+to suffer, might not thy patient words put to the blush! The manner and
+language of this child were alike above her years and station; and,
+indeed, in all cases in which the cares and sorrows of life have
+anticipated their usual date, and have fallen, as they sometimes do, with
+melancholy prematurity to the lot of childhood, I have observed the
+result to have proved uniformly the same. A young mind, to which joy and
+indulgence have been strangers, and to which suffering and self-denial
+have been familiarised from the first, acquires a solidity and an
+elevation which no other discipline could have bestowed, and which, in
+the present case, communicated a striking but mournful peculiarity to the
+manners, even to the voice of the child. We paused before a narrow, crazy
+door, which she opened by means of a latch, and we forthwith began to
+ascend the steep and broken stairs, which led upwards to the sick man's
+room. As we mounted flight after flight towards the garret floor, I heard
+more and more distinctly the hurried talking of many voices. I could also
+distinguish the low sobbing of a female. On arriving upon the uppermost
+lobby, these sounds became fully audible.
+
+"This way, your honor," said my little conductress, at the same time
+pushing open a door of patched and half rotten plank, she admitted me
+into the squalid chamber of death and misery. But one candle, held in the
+fingers of a scared and haggard-looking child, was burning in the room,
+and that so dim that all was twilight or darkness except within its
+immediate influence. The general obscurity, however, served to throw into
+prominent and startling relief the death-bed and its occupant. The light
+was nearly approximated to, and fell with horrible clearness upon, the
+blue and swollen features of the drunkard. I did not think it possible
+that a human countenance could look so terrific. The lips were black and
+drawn apart--the teeth were firmly set--the eyes a little unclosed, and
+nothing but the whites appearing--every feature was fixed and livid, and
+the whole face wore a ghastly and rigid expression of despairing terror
+such as I never saw equalled; his hands were crossed upon his breast, and
+firmly clenched, while, as if to add to the corpse-like effect of the
+whole, some white cloths, dipped in water, were wound about the forehead
+and temples. As soon as I could remove my eyes from this horrible
+spectacle, I observed my friend Dr. D----, one of the most humane of a
+humane profession, standing by the bedside. He had been attempting, but
+unsuccessfully, to bleed the patient, and had now applied his finger to
+the pulse.
+
+"Is there any hope?" I inquired in a whisper.
+
+A shake of the head was the reply. There was a pause while he continued
+to hold the wrist; but he waited in vain for the throb of life, it was
+not there, and when he let go the hand it fell stiffly back into its
+former position upon the other.
+
+"The man is dead," said the physician, as he turned from the bed where
+the terrible figure lay.
+
+Dead! thought I, scarcely venturing to look upon the tremendous and
+revolting spectacle--dead! without an hour for repentance, even a
+moment for reflection--dead! without the rites which even the best
+should have. Is there a hope for him? The glaring eyeball, the grinning
+mouth, the distorted brow--that unutterable look in which a painter
+would have sought to embody the fixed despair of the nethermost
+hell--these were my answer.
+
+The poor wife sat at a little distance, crying as if her heart would
+break--the younger children clustered round the bed, looking, with
+wondering curiosity, upon the form of death, never seen before. When the
+first tumult of uncontrollable sorrow had passed away, availing myself of
+the solemnity and impressiveness of the scene, I desired the
+heart-stricken family to accompany me in prayer, and all knelt down,
+while I solemnly and fervently repeated some of those prayers which
+appeared most applicable to the occasion. I employed myself thus in a
+manner which, I trusted, was not unprofitable, at least to the living,
+for about ten minutes, and having accomplished my task, I was the first
+to arise. I looked upon the poor, sobbing, helpless creatures who knelt
+so humbly around me, and my heart bled for them. With a natural
+transition, I turned my eyes from them to the bed in which the body lay,
+and, great God! what was the revulsion, the horror which I experienced on
+seeing the corpse-like, terrific thing seated half upright before me--the
+white cloths, which had been wound about the head, had now partly slipped
+from their position, and were hanging in grotesque festoons about the
+face and shoulders, while the distorted eyes leered from amid them--
+
+"A sight to dream of, not to tell."
+
+I stood actually rivetted to the spot. The figure nodded its head and
+lifted its arm, I thought with a menacing gesture. A thousand confused
+and horrible thoughts at once rushed upon my mind. I had often read that
+the body of a presumptuous sinner, who, during life, had been the willing
+creature of every satanic impulse, after the human tenant had deserted
+it, had been known to become the horrible sport of demoniac possession. I
+was roused from the stupefaction of terror in which I stood, by the
+piercing scream of the mother, who now, for the first time, perceived the
+change which had taken place. She rushed towards the bed, but, stunned by
+the shock and overcome by the conflict of violent emotions, before she
+reached it, she fell prostrate upon the floor. I am perfectly convinced
+that had I not been startled from the torpidity of horror in which I was
+bound, by some powerful and arousing stimulant, I should have gazed upon
+this unearthly apparition until I had fairly lost my senses. As it was,
+however, the spell was broken, superstition gave way to reason: the man
+whom all believed to have been actually dead, was living! Dr. D---- was
+instantly standing by the bedside, and, upon examination, he found that a
+sudden and copious flow of blood had taken place from the wound which the
+lancet had left, and this, no doubt, had effected his sudden and almost
+preternatural restoration to an existence from which all thought he had
+been for ever removed. The man was still speechless, but he seemed to
+understand the physician when he forbid his repeating the painful and
+fruitless attempts which he made to articulate, and he at once resigned
+himself quietly into his hands.
+
+I left the patient with leeches upon his temples, and bleeding
+freely--apparently with little of the drowsiness which accompanies
+apoplexy; indeed, Dr. D---- told me that he had never before witnessed a
+seizure which seemed to combine the symptoms of so many kinds, and yet
+which belonged to none of the recognized classes; it certainly was not
+apoplexy, catalepsy, _nor delirium tremens_, and yet it seemed, in some
+degree, to partake of the properties of all--it was strange, but stranger
+things are coming.
+
+During two or three days Dr. D---- would not allow his patient to
+converse in a manner which could excite or exhaust him, with any one; he
+suffered him merely, as briefly as possible, to express his immediate
+wants, and it was not until the fourth day after my early visit, the
+particulars of which I have just detailed, that it was thought expedient
+that I should see him, and then only because it appeared that his extreme
+importunity and impatience were likely to retard his recovery more than
+the mere exhaustion attendant upon a short conversation could possibly
+do; perhaps, too, my friend entertained some hope that if by holy
+confession his patient's bosom were eased of the perilous stuff, which no
+doubt, oppressed it, his recovery would be more assured and rapid. It
+was, then, as I have said, upon the fourth day after my first
+professional call, that I found myself once more in the dreary chamber of
+want and sickness. The man was in bed, and appeared low and restless. On
+my entering the room he raised himself in the bed, and muttered twice or
+thrice--"Thank God! thank God." I signed to those of his family who stood
+by, to leave the room, and took a chair beside the bed. So soon as we
+were alone, he said, rather doggedly--"There's no use now in telling me
+of the sinfulness of bad ways--I know it all--I know where they lead
+to--I seen everything about it with my own eyesight, as plain as I see
+you." He rolled himself in the bed, as if to hide his face in the
+clothes, and then suddenly raising himself, he exclaimed with startling
+vehemence--"Look, sir, there is no use in mincing the matter; I'm blasted
+with the fires of hell; I have been in hell; what do you think of
+that?--in hell--I'm lost for ever--I have not a chance--I am damned
+already--damned--damned--." The end of this sentence he actually
+shouted; his vehemence was perfectly terrific; he threw himself back, and
+laughed, and sobbed hysterically. I poured some water into a tea-cup, and
+gave it to him. After he had swallowed it, I told him if he had anything
+to communicate, to do so as briefly as he could, and in a manner as
+little agitating to himself as possible; threatening at the same time,
+though I had no intention of doing so, to leave him at once, in case he
+again gave way to such passionate excitement. "It's only foolishness," he
+continued, "for me to try to thank you for coming to such a villain as
+myself at all; it's no use for me to wish good to you, or to bless you;
+for such as me has no blessings to give." I told him that I had but done
+my duty, and urged him to proceed to the matter which weighed upon his
+mind; he then spoke nearly as follows:--"I came in drunk on Friday night
+last, and got to my bed here, I don't remember how; sometime in the
+night, it seemed to me, I wakened, and feeling unasy in myself, I got up
+out of the bed. I wanted the fresh air, but I would not make a noise to
+open the window, for fear I'd waken the crathurs. It was very dark, and
+throublesome to find the door; but at last I did get it, and I groped my
+way out, and went down as asy as I could. I felt quite sober, and I
+counted the steps one after another, as I was going down, that I might
+not stumble at the bottom. When I came to the first landing-place, God be
+about us always! the floor of it sunk under me, and I went down, down,
+down, till the senses almost left me. I do not know how long I was
+falling, but it seemed to me a great while. When I came rightly to myself
+at last, I was sitting at a great table, near the top of it; and I could
+not see the end of it, if it had any, it was so far off; and there was
+men beyond reckoning, sitting down, all along by it, at each side, as far
+as I could see at all. I did not know at first was it in the open air;
+but there was a close smothering feel in it, that was not natural, and
+there was a kind of light that my eyesight never saw before, red and
+unsteady, and I did not see for a long time where it was coming from,
+until I looked straight up, and then I seen that it came from great balls
+of blood-coloured fire, that were rolling high over head with a sort of
+rushing, trembling sound, and I perceived that they shone on the ribs of
+a great roof of rock that was arched overhead instead of the sky. When I
+seen this, scarce knowing what I did, I got up, and I said, 'I have no
+right to be here; I must go,' and the man that was sitting at my left
+hand, only smiled, and said, 'sit down again, you can _never_ leave this
+place,' and his voice was weaker than any child's voice I ever heerd, and
+when he was done speaking he smiled again. Then I spoke out very loud and
+bold, and I said--'in the name of God, let me out of this bad place.' And
+there was a great man, that I did not see before, sitting at the end of
+the table that I was near, and he was taller than twelve men, and his
+face was very proud and terrible to look at, and he stood up and
+stretched out his hand before him, and when he stood up, all that was
+there, great and small, bowed down with a sighing sound, and a dread came
+on my heart, and he looked at me, and I could not speak. I felt I was his
+own, to do what he liked with, for I knew at once who he was, and he
+said, 'if you promise to return, you may depart for a season'; and the
+voice he spoke with was terrible and mournful, and the echoes of it went
+rolling and swelling down the endless cave, and mixing with the trembling
+of the fire overhead; so that, when he sate down, there was a sound after
+him, all through the place like the roaring of a furnace, and I said,
+with all the strength I had, 'I promise to come back; in God's name let
+me go,' and with that I lost the sight and the hearing of all that was
+there, and when my senses came to me again, I was sitting in the bed with
+the blood all over me, and you and the rest praying around the room."
+Here he paused and wiped away the chill drops of horror which hung upon
+his forehead.
+
+I remained silent for some moments. The vision which he had just
+described struck my imagination not a little, for this was long before
+Vathek and the "Hall of Iblis" had delighted the world; and the
+description which he gave had, as I received it, all the attractions of
+novelty beside the impressiveness which always belongs to the narration
+of an _eye-witness_, whether in the body or in the spirit, of the scenes
+which he describes. There was something, too, in the stern horror with
+which the man related these things, and in the incongruity of his
+description, with the vulgarly received notions of the great place of
+punishment, and of its presiding spirit, which struck my mind with awe,
+almost with fear. At length he said, with an expression of horrible,
+imploring earnestness, which I shall never forget--"Well, sir, is there
+any hope; is there any chance at all? or, is my soul pledged and promised
+away for ever? is it gone out of my power? must I go back to the place?"
+
+In answering him I had no easy task to perform; for however clear might
+be my internal conviction of the groundlessness of his fears, and however
+strong my scepticism respecting the reality of what he had described, I
+nevertheless felt that his impression to the contrary, and his humility
+and terror resulting from it, might be made available as no mean engines
+in the work of his conversion from profligacy, and of his restoration to
+decent habits, and to religious feeling. I therefore told him that he was
+to regard his dream rather in the light of a warning than in that of a
+prophecy; that our salvation depended not upon the word or deed of a
+moment, but upon the habits of a life; that, in fine, if he at once
+discarded his idle companions and evil habits, and firmly adhered to a
+sober, industrious, and religious course of life, the powers of darkness
+might claim his soul in vain, for that there were higher and firmer
+pledges than human tongue could utter, which promised salvation to him
+who should repent and lead a new life.
+
+I left him much comforted, and with a promise to return upon the next
+day. I did so, and found him much more cheerful, and without any remains
+of the dogged sullenness which I suppose had arisen from his despair.
+His promises of amendment were given in that tone of deliberate
+earnestness, which belongs to deep and solemn determination; and it was
+with no small delight that I observed, after repeated visits, that his
+good resolutions, so far from failing, did but gather strength by time;
+and when I saw that man shake off the idle and debauched companions,
+whose society had for years formed alike his amusement and his ruin, and
+revive his long discarded habits of industry and sobriety, I said within
+myself, there is something more in all this than the operation of an
+idle dream. One day, sometime after his perfect restoration to health, I
+was surprised on ascending the stairs, for the purpose of visiting this
+man, to find him busily employed in nailing down some planks upon the
+landing place, through which, at the commencement of his mysterious
+vision, it seemed to him that he had sunk. I perceived at once that he
+was strengthening the floor with a view to securing himself against such
+a catastrophe, and could scarcely forbear a smile as I bid "God bless
+his work."
+
+He perceived my thoughts, I suppose, for he immediately said,
+
+"I can never pass over that floor without trembling. I'd leave this
+house if I could, but I can't find another lodging in the town so cheap,
+and I'll not take a better till I've paid off all my debts, please God;
+but I could not be asy in my mind till I made it as safe as I could.
+You'll hardly believe me, your honor, that while I'm working, maybe a
+mile away, my heart is in a flutter the whole way back, with the bare
+thoughts of the two little steps I have to walk upon this bit of a
+floor. So it's no wonder, sir, I'd thry to make it sound and firm with
+any idle timber I have."
+
+I applauded his resolution to pay off his debts, and the steadiness with
+which he pursued his plans of conscientious economy, and passed on.
+
+Many months elapsed, and still there appeared no alteration in his
+resolutions of amendment. He was a good workman, and with his better
+habits he recovered his former extensive and profitable employment. Every
+thing seemed to promise comfort and respectability. I have little more to
+add, and that shall be told quickly. I had one evening met Pat Connell,
+as he returned from his work, and as usual, after a mutual, and on his
+side respectful salutation, I spoke a few words of encouragement and
+approval. I left him industrious, active, healthy--when next I saw him,
+not three days after, he was a corpse. The circumstances which marked the
+event of his death were somewhat strange--I might say fearful. The
+unfortunate man had accidentally met an early friend, just returned,
+after a long absence, and in a moment of excitement, forgetting
+everything in the warmth of his joy, he yielded to his urgent invitation
+to accompany him into a public house, which lay close by the spot where
+the encounter had taken place. Connell, however, previously to entering
+the room, had announced his determination to take nothing more than the
+strictest temperance would warrant. But oh! who can describe the
+inveterate tenacity with which a drunkard's habits cling to him through
+life. He may repent--he may reform--he may look with actual abhorrence
+upon his past profligacy; but amid all this reformation and compunction,
+who can tell the moment in which the base and ruinous propensity may not
+recur, triumphing over resolution, remorse, shame, everything, and
+prostrating its victim once more in all that is destructive and revolting
+in that fatal vice.
+
+The wretched man left the place in a state of utter intoxication. He was
+brought home nearly insensible, and placed in his bed, where he lay in
+the deep calm lethargy of drunkenness. The younger part of the family
+retired to rest much after their usual hour; but the poor wife remained
+up sitting by the fire, too much grieved and shocked at the recurrence of
+what she had so little expected, to settle to rest; fatigue, however, at
+length overcame her, and she sunk gradually into an uneasy slumber. She
+could not tell how long she had remained in this state, when she
+awakened, and immediately on opening her eyes, she perceived by the faint
+red light of the smouldering turf embers, two persons, one of whom she
+recognized as her husband noiselessly gliding out of the room.
+
+"Pat, darling, where are you going?" said she. There was no answer--the
+door closed after them; but in a moment she was startled and terrified by
+a loud and heavy crash, as if some ponderous body had been hurled down
+the stair. Much alarmed, she started up, and going to the head of the
+staircase, she called repeatedly upon her husband, but in vain. She
+returned to the room, and with the assistance of her daughter, whom I had
+occasion to mention before, she succeeded in finding and lighting a
+candle, with which she hurried again to the head of the staircase. At the
+bottom lay what seemed to be a bundle of clothes, heaped together,
+motionless, lifeless--it was her husband. In going down the stairs, for
+what purpose can never now be known, he had fallen helplessly and
+violently to the bottom, and coming head foremost, the spine at the neck
+had been dislocated by the shock, and instant death must have ensued. The
+body lay upon that landing-place to which his dream had referred. It is
+scarcely worth endeavouring to clear up a single point in a narrative
+where all is mystery; yet I could not help suspecting that the second
+figure which had been seen in the room by Connell's wife on the night of
+his death, might have been no other than his own shadow. I suggested this
+solution of the difficulty; but she told me that the unknown person had
+been considerably in advance of the other, and on reaching the door, had
+turned back as if to communicate something to his companion--it was then
+a mystery. Was the dream verified?--whither had the disembodied spirit
+sped?--who can say? We know not. But I left the house of death that day
+in a state of horror which I could not describe. It seemed to me that I
+was scarce awake. I heard and saw everything as if under the spell of a
+nightmare. The coincidence was terrible.
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE GHOST AND THE BONE-SETTER
+
+
+In looking over the papers of my late valued and respected friend,
+Francis Purcell, who for nearly fifty years discharged the arduous duties
+of a parish priest in the south of Ireland, I met with the following
+document. It is one of many such, for he was a curious and industrious
+collector of old local traditions--a commodity in which the quarter where
+he resided mightily abounded. The collection and arrangement of such
+legends was, as long as I can remember him, his _hobby_; but I had never
+learned that his love of the marvellous and whimsical had carried him so
+far as to prompt him to commit the results of his enquiries to writing,
+until, in the character of _residuary legatee_, his will put me in
+possession of all his manuscript papers. To such as may think the
+composing of such productions as these inconsistent with the character
+and habits of a country priest, it is necessary to observe, that there
+did exist a race of priests--those of the old school, a race now nearly
+extinct--whose habits were from many causes more refined, and whose
+tastes more literary than are those of the alumni of Maynooth.
+
+It is perhaps necessary to add that the superstition illustrated by the
+following story, namely, that the corpse last buried is obliged, during
+his juniority of interment, to supply his brother tenants of the
+churchyard in which he lies, with fresh water to allay the burning thirst
+of purgatory, is prevalent throughout the south of Ireland. The writer
+can vouch for a case in which a respectable and wealthy farmer, on the
+borders of Tipperary, in tenderness to the corns of his departed
+helpmate, enclosed in her coffin two pair of brogues, a light and a
+heavy, the one for dry, the other for sloppy weather; seeking thus to
+mitigate the fatigues of her inevitable perambulations in procuring
+water, and administering it to the thirsty souls of purgatory. Fierce and
+desperate conflicts have ensued in the case of two funeral parties
+approaching the same churchyard together, each endeavouring to secure to
+his own dead priority of sepulture, and a consequent immunity from the
+tax levied upon the pedestrian powers of the last comer. An instance not
+long since occurred, in which one of two such parties, through fear of
+losing to their deceased friend this inestimable advantage, made their
+way to the churchyard by a _short cut_, and in violation of one of their
+strongest prejudices, actually threw the coffin over the wall, lest time
+should be lost in making their entrance through the gate. Innumerable
+instances of the same kind might be quoted, all tending to show how
+strongly, among the peasantry of the south, this superstition is
+entertained. However, I shall not detain the reader further, by any
+prefatory remarks, but shall proceed to lay before him the following:--
+
+_Extract from the Ms. Papers of the Late Rev. Francis Purcell, of
+Drumcoolagh_
+
+"I tell the following particulars, as nearly as I can recollect them,
+in the words of the narrator. It may be necessary to observe that he
+was what is termed a _well-spoken_ man, having for a considerable time
+instructed the ingenious youth of his native parish in such of the
+liberal arts and sciences as he found it convenient to profess--a
+circumstance which may account for the occurrence of several big
+words, in the course of this narrative, more distinguished for
+euphonious effect, than for correctness of application. I proceed
+then, without further preface, to lay before you the wonderful
+adventures of Terry Neil.
+
+"Why, thin, 'tis a quare story, an' as thrue as you're sittin' there; and
+I'd make bould to say there isn't a boy in the seven parishes could tell
+it better nor crickther than myself, for 'twas my father himself it
+happened to, an' many's the time I heerd it out iv his own mouth; an' I
+can say, an' I'm proud av that same, my father's word was as incredible
+as any squire's oath in the counthry; and so signs an' if a poor man got
+into any unlucky throuble, he was the boy id go into the court an' prove;
+but that dosen't signify--he was as honest and as sober a man, barrin' he
+was a little bit too partial to the glass, as you'd find in a day's walk;
+an' there wasn't the likes of him in the counthry round for nate
+labourin' an' _baan_ diggin'; and he was mighty handy entirely for
+carpenther's work, and mendin' ould spudethrees, an' the likes i' that.
+An' so he tuck up with bone-setting, as was most nathural, for none of
+them could come up to him in mendin' the leg iv a stool or a table; an'
+sure, there never was a bone-setter got so much custom--man an' child,
+young an' ould--there never was such breakin' and mendin' of bones known
+in the memory of man. Well, Terry Neil, for that was my father's name,
+began to feel his heart growin' light and his purse heavy; an' he took a
+bit iv a farm in Squire Phalim's ground, just undher the ould castle, an'
+a pleasant little spot it was; an' day an' mornin', poor crathurs not
+able to put a foot to the ground, with broken arms and broken legs, id be
+comin' ramblin' in from all quarters to have their bones spliced up.
+Well, yer honour, all this was as well as well could be; but it was
+customary when Sir Phelim id go any where out iv the country, for some iv
+the tinants to sit up to watch in the ould castle, just for a kind of a
+compliment to the ould family--an' a mighty unpleasant compliment it was
+for the tinants, for there wasn't a man of them but knew there was some
+thing quare about the ould castle. The neighbours had it, that the
+squire's ould grandfather, as good a gintleman, God be with him, as I
+heer'd as ever stood in shoe leather, used to keep walkin' about in the
+middle iv the night, ever sinst he bursted a blood vessel pullin' out a
+cork out iv a bottle, as you or I might be doin', and will too, plase
+God; but that dosen't signify. So, as I was sayin', the ould squire used
+to come down out of the frame, where his picthur was hung up, and to
+brake the bottles and glasses, God be marciful to us all, an' dhrink all
+he could come at--an' small blame to him for that same; and then if any
+of the family id be comin' in, he id be up again in his place, looking as
+quite an' innocent as if he didn't know any thing about it--the
+mischievous ould chap.
+
+"Well, your honour, as I was sayin', one time the family up at the
+castle was stayin' in Dublin for a week or two; and so as usual, some of
+the tenants had to sit up in the castle, and the third night it kem to
+my father's turn. 'Oh, tare an ouns,' says he unto himself, 'an' must I
+sit up all night, and that ould vagabond of a sperit, glory be to God,'
+says he, 'serenading through the house, an' doin' all sorts iv
+mischief.' However, there was no gettin' aff, and so he put a bould face
+on it, an' he went up at nightfall with a bottle of pottieen, and
+another of holy wather.
+
+"It was rainin' smart enough, an' the evenin' was darksome and gloomy,
+when my father got in, and the holy wather he sprinkled on himself, it
+wasn't long till he had to swallee a cup iv the pottieen, to keep the
+cowld out iv his heart. It was the ould steward, Lawrence Connor, that
+opened the door--and he an' my father wor always very great. So when he
+seen who it was, an' my father tould him how it was his turn to watch in
+the castle, he offered to sit up along with him; and you may be sure my
+father wasn't sorry for that same. So says Larry,
+
+"'We'll have a bit iv fire in the parlour,' says he.
+
+"'An' why not in the hall?' says my father, for he knew that the squire's
+picthur was hung in the parlour.
+
+"'No fire can be lit in the hall,' says Lawrence, 'for there's an ould
+jackdaw's nest in the chimney.'
+
+"'Oh thin,' says my father, 'let us stop in the kitchen, for it's very
+umproper for the likes iv me to be sittin' in the parlour,' says he.
+
+"'Oh, Terry, that can't be,' says Lawrence; 'if we keep up the ould
+custom at all, we may as well keep it up properly,' says he.
+
+"'Divil sweep the ould custom,' says my father--to himself, do ye mind,
+for he didn't like to let Lawrence see that he was more afeard himself.
+
+"'Oh, very well,' says he. 'I'm agreeable, Lawrence,' says he; and so
+down they both went to the kitchen, until the fire id be lit in the
+parlour--an' that same wasn't long doin'.
+
+"Well, your honour, they soon wint up again, an' sat down mighty
+comfortable by the parlour fire, and they beginn'd to talk, an' to smoke,
+an' to dhrink a small taste iv the pottieen; and, moreover, they had a
+good rousing fire of bogwood and turf, to warm their shins over.
+
+"Well, sir, as I was sayin' they kep convarsin' and smokin' together
+most agreeable, until Lawrence beginn'd to get sleepy, as was but
+nathural for him, for he was an ould sarvint man, and was used to a
+great dale iv sleep.
+
+"'Sure it's impossible,' says my father, 'it's gettin' sleepy you are?'
+
+"'Oh, divil a taste,' says Larry, 'I'm only shuttin' my eyes,' says he,
+'to keep out the parfume of the tibacky smoke, that's makin' them
+wather,' says he. 'So don't you mind other people's business,' says he
+stiff enough (for he had a mighty high stomach av his own, rest his
+sowl), 'and go on,' says he, 'with your story, for I'm listenin',' says
+he, shuttin' down his eyes.
+
+"Well, when my father seen spakin' was no use, he went on with his
+story.--By the same token, it was the story of Jim Soolivan and his ould
+goat he was tellin'--an' a pleasant story it is--an' there was so much
+divarsion in it, that it was enough to waken a dormouse, let alone to
+pervint a Christian goin' asleep. But, faix, the way my father tould it,
+I believe there never was the likes heerd sinst nor before for he bawled
+out every word av it, as if the life was fairly leavin' him thrying to
+keep ould Larry awake; but, faix, it was no use, for the hoorsness came
+an him, an' before he kem to the end of his story, Larry O'Connor
+beginned to snore like a bagpipes.
+
+"'Oh, blur an' agres,' says my father, 'isn't this a hard case,' says
+he, 'that ould villain, lettin' on to be my friend, and to go asleep
+this way, an' us both in the very room with a sperit,' says he. 'The
+crass o' Christ about us,' says he; and with that he was goin' to shake
+Lawrence to waken him, but he just remimbered if he roused him, that
+he'd surely go off to his bed, an lave him completely alone, an' that id
+be by far worse.
+
+"'Oh thin,' says my father, 'I'll not disturb the poor boy. It id be
+neither friendly nor good-nathured,' says he, 'to tormint him while he is
+asleep,' says he; 'only I wish I was the same way myself,' says he.
+
+"An' with that he beginned to walk up an' down, an' sayin' his prayers,
+until he worked himself into a sweat, savin' your presence. But it was
+all no good; so he dhrunk about a pint of sperits, to compose his mind.
+
+"'Oh,' says he, 'I wish to the Lord I was as asy in my mind as Larry
+there. Maybe,' says he, 'if I thried I could go asleep'; an' with that he
+pulled a big arm-chair close beside Lawrence, an' settled himself in it
+as well as he could.
+
+"But there was one quare thing I forgot to tell you. He couldn't help, in
+spite av himself, lookin' now an' thin at the picthur, an' he immediately
+observed that the eyes av it was follyin' him about, an' starin' at him,
+an' winkin' at him, wherever he wint. 'Oh,' says he, when he seen that,
+'it's a poor chance I have,' says he; 'an' bad luck was with me the day I
+kem into this unforthunate place,' says he; 'but any way there's no use
+in bein' freckened now,' says he; 'for if I am to die, I may as well
+parspire undaunted,' says he.
+
+"Well, your honour, he thried to keep himself quite an' asy, an' he
+thought two or three times he might have wint asleep, but for the way the
+storm was groanin' and creekin' through the great heavy branches outside,
+an' whistlin' through the ould chimnies iv the castle. Well, afther one
+great roarin' blast iv the wind, you'd think the walls iv the castle was
+just goin' to fall, quite an' clane, with the shakin' iv it. All av a
+suddint the storm stopt, as silent an' as quite as if it was a July
+evenin'. Well, your honour, it wasn't stopped blowin' for three minnites,
+before he thought he hard a sort iv a noise over the chimney-piece; an'
+with that my father just opened his eyes the smallest taste in life, an'
+sure enough he seen the ould squire gettin' out iv the picthur, for all
+the world as if he was throwin' aff his ridin' coat, until he stept out
+clane an' complate, out av the chimly-piece, an' thrun himself down an
+the floor. Well, the slieveen ould chap--an' my father thought it was the
+dirtiest turn iv all--before he beginned to do anything out iv the way,
+he stopped, for a while, to listen wor they both asleep; an' as soon as
+he thought all was quite, he put out his hand, and tuck hould iv the
+whiskey bottle, an' dhrank at laste a pint iv it. Well, your honour, when
+he tuck his turn out iv it, he settled it back mighty cute intirely, in
+the very same spot it was in before. An' he beginn'd to walk up an' down
+the room, lookin' as sober an' as solid as if he never done the likes at
+all. An' whinever he went apast my father, he thought he felt a great
+scent of brimstone, an' it was that that freckened him entirely; for he
+knew it was brimstone that was burned in hell, savin' your presence. At
+any rate, he often heer'd it from Father Murphy, an' he had a right to
+know what belonged to it--he's dead since, God rest him. Well, your
+honour, my father was asy enough until the sperit kem past him; so close,
+God be marciful to us all, that the smell iv the sulphur tuck the breath
+clane out iv him; an' with that he tuck such a fit iv coughin', that it
+al-a-most shuck him out iv the chair he was sittin' in.
+
+"'Ho, ho!' says the squire, stoppin' short about two steps aff, and
+turnin' round facin' my father, 'is it you that's in it?--an' how's all
+with you, Terry Neil?'
+
+"'At your honour's sarvice,' says my father (as well as the fright id let
+him, for he was more dead than alive), 'an' it's proud I am to see your
+honour to-night,' says he.
+
+"'Terence,' says the squire, 'you're a respectable man (an' it was thrue
+for him), an industhrious, sober man, an' an example of inebriety to the
+whole parish,' says he.
+
+"'Thank your honour,' says my father, gettin' courage, 'you were always a
+civil spoken gintleman, God rest your honour.'
+
+"'Rest my honour,' says the sperit (fairly gettin' red in the face with
+the madness), 'Rest my honour?' says he. 'Why, you ignorant spalpeen,'
+says he, 'you mane, niggarly ignoramush,' says he, 'where did you lave
+your manners?' says he. 'If I _am_ dead, it's no fault iv mine,' says he;
+'an' it's not to be thrun in my teeth at every hand's turn, by the likes
+iv you,' says he, stampin' his foot an the flure, that you'd think the
+boords id smash undher him.
+
+"'Oh,' says my father, 'I'm only a foolish, ignorant, poor man,' says he.
+
+"'You're nothing else,' says the squire; 'but any way,' says he, 'it's
+not to be listenin' to your gosther, nor convarsin' with the likes iv
+you, that I came _up_--down I mane,' says he--(an' as little as the
+mistake was, my father tuck notice iv it). 'Listen to me now, Terence
+Neil,' says he, 'I was always a good masther to Pathrick Neil, your
+grandfather,' says he.
+
+"'Tis thrue for your honour,' says my father.
+
+"'And, moreover, I think I was always a sober, riglar gintleman,' says
+the squire.
+
+"'That's your name, sure enough,' says my father (though it was a big lie
+for him, but he could not help it).
+
+"'Well,' says the sperit, 'although I was as sober as most men--at laste
+as most gintlemen'--says he; 'an' though I was at different pariods a
+most extempory Christian, and most charitable and inhuman to the poor,'
+says he; 'for all that I'm not as asy where I am now,' says he, 'as I had
+a right to expect,' says he.
+
+"'An' more's the pity,' says my father; 'maybe your honour id wish to
+have a word with Father Murphy?'
+
+"'Hould your tongue, you misherable bliggard,' says the squire; 'it's
+not iv my sowl I'm thinkin'--an' I wondher you'd have the impitence to
+talk to a gintleman consarnin' his sowl;--and when I want _that_ fixed,'
+says he, slappin' his thigh, 'I'll go to them that knows what belongs to
+the likes,' says he. 'It's not my sowl,' says he, sittin' down opposite
+my father; 'it's not my sowl that's annoyin' me most--I'm unasy on my
+right leg,' says he, 'that I bruck at Glenvarloch cover the day I killed
+black Barney.'
+
+"(My father found out afther, it was a favourite horse that fell undher
+him, afther leapin' the big fince that runs along by the glen.)
+
+"'I hope,' says my father, 'your honour's not unasy about the
+killin' iv him?
+
+"'Hould your tongue, ye fool,' said the squire, 'an' I'll tell you why
+I'm anasy an my leg,' says he. 'In the place, where I spend most iv my
+time,' says he, 'except the little leisure I have for lookin' about me
+here,' says he, 'I have to walk a great dale more than I was ever used
+to,' says he, 'and by far more than is good for me either,' says he; 'for
+I must tell you,' says he, 'the people where I am is ancommonly fond iv
+could wather, for there is nothin' betther to be had; an', moreover, the
+weather is hotter than is altogether plisint,' says he; 'and I'm
+appinted,' says he, 'to assist in carryin' the wather, an' gets a mighty
+poor share iv it myself,' says he, 'an' a mighty throublesome, warin' job
+it is, I can tell you,' says he; 'for they're all iv them surprisingly
+dhry, an' dhrinks it as fast as my legs can carry it,' says he; 'but what
+kills me intirely,' says he, 'is the wakeness in my leg,' says he, 'an' I
+want you to give it a pull or two to bring it to shape,' says he, 'and
+that's the long an' the short iv it,' says he.
+
+"'Oh, plase your honour,' says my father (for he didn't like to handle
+the sperit at all), 'I wouldn't have the impitence to do the likes to
+your honour,' says he; 'it's only to poor crathurs like myself I'd do it
+to,' says he.
+
+"'None iv your blarney,' says the squire, 'here's my leg,' says he,
+cockin' it up to him, 'pull it for the bare life,' says he; 'an' if you
+don't, by the immortial powers I'll not lave a bone in your carcish I'll
+not powdher,' says he.
+
+"'When my father heerd that, he seen there was no use in purtendin', so
+he tuck hould iv the leg, an' he kept pullin' an' pullin', till the
+sweat, God bless us, beginned to pour down his face.
+
+"'Pull, you divil', says the squire.
+
+"'At your sarvice, your honour,' says my father.
+
+"'Pull harder,' says the squire.
+
+"My father pulled like the divil.
+
+"'I'll take a little sup,' says the squire, rachin' over his hand to the
+bottle, 'to keep up my courage,' says he, lettin' an to be very wake in
+himself intirely. But, as cute as he was, he was out here, for he tuck
+the wrong one. 'Here's to your good health, Terence,' says he, 'an' now
+pull like the very divil,' 'an' with that he lifted the bottle of holy
+wather, but it was hardly to his mouth, whin he let a screech out, you'd
+think the room id fairly split with it, an' made one chuck that sent the
+leg clane aff his body in my father's hands; down wint the squire over
+the table, an' bang wint my father half way across the room on his back,
+upon the flure. Whin he kem to himself the cheerful mornin' sun was
+shinin' through the windy shutthers, an' he was lying flat an his back,
+with the leg iv one of the great ould chairs pulled clane out iv the
+socket an' tight in his hand, pintin' up to the ceilin', an' ould Larry
+fast asleep, an' snorin' as loud as ever. My father wint that mornin' to
+Father Murphy, an' from that to the day of his death, he never neglected
+confission nor mass, an' what he tould was betther believed that he spake
+av it but seldom. An', as for the squire, that is the sperit, whether it
+was that he did not like his liquor, or by rason iv the loss iv his leg,
+he was never known to walk again."
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE MYSTERIOUS LODGER
+
+
+
+
+PART I
+
+
+About the year 1822 I resided in a comfortable and roomy old house, the
+exact locality of which I need not particularise, further than to say
+that it was not very far from Old Brompton, in the immediate
+neighbourhood, or rather continuity (as even my Connemara readers
+perfectly well know), of the renowned city of London.
+
+Though this house was roomy and comfortable, as I have said, it was not,
+by any means, a handsome one. It was composed of dark red brick, with
+small windows, and thick white sashes; a porch, too--none of your flimsy
+trellis-work, but a solid projection of the same vermillion
+masonry--surmounted by a leaded balcony, with heavy, half-rotten
+balustrades, darkened the hall-door with a perennial gloom. The mansion
+itself stood in a walled enclosure, which had, perhaps, from the date of
+the erection itself, been devoted to shrubs and flowers. Some of the
+former had grown there almost to the dignity of trees; and two dark
+little yews stood at each side of the porch, like swart and inauspicious
+dwarfs, guarding the entrance of an enchanted castle. Not that my
+domicile in any respect deserved the comparison: it had no reputation as
+a haunted house; if it ever had any ghosts, nobody remembered them. Its
+history was not known to me: it may have witnessed plots, cabals, and
+forgeries, bloody suicides and cruel murders. It was certainly old enough
+to have become acquainted with iniquity; a small stone slab, under the
+balustrade, and over the arch of the porch I mentioned, had the date
+1672, and a half-effaced coat of arms, which I might have deciphered any
+day, had I taken the trouble to get a ladder, but always put it off. All
+I can say for the house is, that it was well stricken in years, with a
+certain air of sombre comfort about it; contained a vast number of rooms
+and closets; and, what was of far greater importance, was got by me a
+dead bargain.
+
+Its individuality attracted me. I grew fond of it for itself, and for its
+associations, until other associations of a hateful kind first disturbed,
+and then destroyed, their charm. I forgave its dull red brick, and
+pinched white windows, for the sake of the beloved and cheerful faces
+within: its ugliness was softened by its age; and its sombre evergreens,
+and moss-grown stone flower-pots, were relieved by the brilliant hues of
+a thousand gay and graceful flowers that peeped among them, or nodded
+over the grass.
+
+Within that old house lay my life's treasure! I had a darling little
+girl of nine, and another little darling--a boy--just four years of age;
+and dearer, unspeakably, than either--a wife--the prettiest, gayest,
+best little wife in all London. When I tell you that our income was
+scarcely L380 a-year, you will perceive that our establishment cannot
+have been a magnificent one; yet, I do assure you, we were more
+comfortable than a great many lords, and happier, I dare say, than the
+whole peerage put together.
+
+This happiness was not, however, what it ought to have been. The reader
+will understand at once, and save me a world of moralising
+circumlocution, when he learns, bluntly and nakedly, that, among all my
+comforts and blessings, I was an infidel.
+
+I had not been without religious training; on the contrary, more than
+average pains had been bestowed upon my religious instruction from my
+earliest childhood. My father, a good, plain, country clergyman, had
+worked hard to make me as good as himself; and had succeeded, at least,
+in training me in godly habits. He died, however, when I was but twelve
+years of age; and fate had long before deprived me of the gentle care of
+a mother. A boarding-school, followed by a college life, where nobody
+having any very direct interest in realising in my behalf the ancient
+blessing, that in fulness of time I should "die a good old man," I was
+left very much to my own devices, which, in truth, were none of the best.
+
+Among these were the study of Voltaire, Tom Paine, Hume, Shelley, and the
+whole school of infidels, poetical as well as prose. This pursuit, and
+the all but blasphemous vehemence with which I gave myself up to it, was,
+perhaps, partly reactionary. A somewhat injudicious austerity and
+precision had indissolubly associated in my childish days the ideas of
+restraint and gloom with religion. I bore it a grudge; and so, when I
+became thus early my own master, I set about paying off, after my own
+fashion, the old score I owed it. I was besides, like every other young
+infidel whom it has been my fate to meet, a conceited coxcomb. A
+smattering of literature, without any real knowledge, and a great
+assortment of all the cut-and-dry flippancies of the school I had
+embraced, constituted my intellectual stock in trade. I was, like most of
+my school of philosophy, very proud of being an unbeliever; and fancied
+myself, in the complacency of my wretched ignorance, at an immeasurable
+elevation above the church-going, Bible-reading herd, whom I treated with
+a good-humoured superciliousness which I thought vastly indulgent.
+
+My wife was an excellent little creature and truly pious. She had married
+me in the full confidence that my levity was merely put on, and would at
+once give way before the influence she hoped to exert upon my mind. Poor
+little thing! she deceived herself. I allowed her, indeed, to do entirely
+as she pleased; but for myself, I carried my infidelity to the length of
+an absolute superstition. I made an ostentation of it. I would rather
+have been in a "hell" than in a church on Sunday; and though I did not
+prevent my wife's instilling her own principles into the minds of our
+children, I, in turn, took especial care to deliver mine upon all
+occasions in their hearing, by which means I trusted to sow the seeds of
+that unprejudiced scepticism in which I prided myself, at least as early
+as my good little partner dropped those of her own gentle "superstition"
+into their infant minds. Had I had my own absurd and impious will in this
+matter, my children should have had absolutely no religious education
+whatsoever, and been left wholly unshackled to choose for themselves
+among all existing systems, infidelity included, precisely as chance,
+fancy, or interest might hereafter determine.
+
+It is not to be supposed that such a state of things did not afford her
+great uneasiness. Nevertheless, we were so very fond of one another,
+and in our humble way enjoyed so many blessings, that we were as
+entirely happy as any pair can be without the holy influence of
+religious sympathy.
+
+But the even flow of prosperity which had for so long gladdened my little
+household was not destined to last for ever. It was ordained that I
+should experience the bitter truth of more than one of the wise man's
+proverbs, and first, especially, of that which declares that "he that
+hateth suretyship is sure." I found myself involved (as how many have
+been before) by a "d--d good-natured friend," for more than two hundred
+pounds. This agreeable intelligence was conveyed to me in an attorney's
+letter, which, to obviate unpleasant measures, considerately advised my
+paying the entire amount within just one week of the date of his pleasant
+epistle. Had I been called upon within that time to produce the Pitt
+diamond, or to make title to the Buckingham estates, the demand would
+have been just as easily complied with.
+
+I have no wish to bore my reader further with this little worry--a very
+serious one to me, however--and it will be enough to mention, that the
+kindness of a friend extricated me from the clutches of the law by a
+timely advance, which, however, I was bound to replace within two years.
+To enable me to fulfill this engagement, my wife and I, after repeated
+consultations, resolved upon the course which resulted in the odd and
+unpleasant consequences which form the subject of this narrative.
+
+We resolved to advertise for a lodger, with or without board, &c.; and by
+resolutely submitting, for a single year, to the economy we had
+prescribed for ourselves, as well as to the annoyance of a stranger's
+intrusion, we calculated that at the end of that term we should have
+liquidated our debt.
+
+Accordingly, without losing time, we composed an advertisement in the
+most tempting phraseology we could devise, consistently with that
+economic laconism which the cost per line in the columns of the _Times_
+newspaper imposes upon the rhetoric of the advertising public.
+
+Somehow we were unlucky; for although we repeated our public notification
+three times in the course of a fortnight, we had but two applications.
+The one was from a clergyman in ill health--a man of great ability and
+zealous piety, whom we both knew by reputation, and who has since been
+called to his rest. My good little wife was very anxious that we should
+close with his offer, which was very considerably under what we had fixed
+upon; and I have no doubt that she was influenced by the hope that his
+talents and zeal might exert a happy influence upon my stubborn and
+unbelieving heart. For my part, his religious character displeased me. I
+did not wish my children's heads to be filled with mythic dogmas--for so
+I judged the doctrines of our holy faith--and instinctively wished him
+away. I therefore declined his offer; and I have often since thought not
+quite so graciously as I ought to have done. The other offer--if so it
+can be called--was so very inadequate that we could not entertain it.
+
+I was now beginning to grow seriously uneasy--our little project, so far
+from bringing in the gains on which we had calculated, had put me
+considerably out of pocket; for, independently of the cost of the
+advertisement I have mentioned, there were sundry little expenses
+involved in preparing for the meet reception of our expected inmate,
+which, under ordinary circumstances, we should not have dreamed of.
+Matters were in this posture, when an occurrence took place which
+immediately revived my flagging hopes.
+
+As we had no superfluity of servants, our children were early obliged to
+acquire habits of independence; and my little girl, then just nine years
+of age, was frequently consigned with no other care than that of her own
+good sense, to the companionship of a little band of playmates, pretty
+similarly circumstanced, with whom it was her wont to play. Having one
+fine summer afternoon gone out as usual with these little companions, she
+did not return quite so soon as we had expected her; when she did so, she
+was out of breath, and excited.
+
+"Oh, papa," she said, "I have seen such a nice old, kind gentleman, and
+he told me to tell you that he has a particular friend who wants a
+lodging in a quiet place, and that he thinks your house would suit him
+exactly, and ever so much more; and, look here, he gave me this."
+
+She opened her hand, and shewed me a sovereign.
+
+"Well, this does look promisingly," I said, my wife and I having first
+exchanged a smiling glance.
+
+"And what kind of gentleman was he, dear?" inquired she. "Was he well
+dressed--whom was he like?"
+
+"He was not like any one that I know," she answered; "but he had very
+nice new clothes on, and he was one of the fattest men I ever saw; and
+I am sure he is sick, for he looks very pale, and he had a crutch
+beside him."
+
+"Dear me, how strange!" exclaimed my wife; though, in truth there was
+nothing very wonderful in the matter. "Go on, child," I said; "let us
+hear it all out."
+
+"Well, papa, he had such an immense yellow waistcoat!--I never did see
+such a waistcoat," she resumed; "and he was sitting or leaning, I can't
+say which, against the bank of the green lane; I suppose to rest himself,
+for he seems very weak, poor gentleman!"
+
+"And how did you happen to speak to him?" asked my wife.
+
+"When we were passing by, none of us saw him at all but I suppose he
+heard them talking to me, and saying my name; for he said,
+'Fanny--little Fanny--so, that's your name--come here child, I have a
+question to ask you.'"
+
+"And so you went to him?" I said.
+
+"Yes," she continued, "he beckoned to me, and I did go over to him, but
+not very near, for I was greatly afraid of him at first."
+
+"Afraid! dear, and why afraid?" asked I.
+
+"I was afraid, because he looked very old, very frightful, and as if he
+would hurt me."
+
+"What was there so old and frightful about him?" I asked.
+
+She paused and reflected a little, and then said--
+
+"His face was very large and pale, and it was looking upwards: it seemed
+very angry, I thought, but maybe it was angry from pain; and sometimes
+one side of it used to twitch and tremble for a minute, and then to grow
+quite still again; and all the time he was speaking to me, he never
+looked at me once, but always kept his face and eyes turned upwards; but
+his voice was very soft, and he called me little Fanny, and gave me this
+pound to buy toys with; so I was not so frightened in a little time, and
+then he sent a long message to you, papa, and told me if I forgot it he
+would beat me; but I knew he was only joking, so that did not frighten
+me either."
+
+"And what was the message, my girl?" I asked, patting her pretty head
+with my hand.
+
+"Now, let me remember it all," she said, reflectively; "for he told it to
+me twice. He asked me if there was a good bedroom at the top of the
+house, standing by itself--and you know there is, so I told him so; it
+was exactly the kind of room that he described. And then he said that his
+friend would pay two hundred pounds a-year for that bedroom, his board
+and attendance; and he told me to ask you, and have your answer when he
+should next meet me."
+
+"Two hundred pounds!" ejaculated my poor little wife; "why that is nearly
+twice as much as we expected."
+
+"But did he say that his friend was sick, or very old; or that he had any
+servant to be supported also?" I asked.
+
+"Oh! no; he told me that he was quite able to take care of himself, and
+that he had, I think he called it, an asthma, but nothing else the
+matter; and that he would give no trouble at all, and that any friend who
+came to see him, he would see, not in the house, but only in the garden."
+
+"In the garden!" I echoed, laughing in spite of myself.
+
+"Yes, indeed he said so; and he told me to say that he would pay one
+hundred pounds when he came here, and the next hundred in six months, and
+so on," continued she.
+
+"Oh, ho! half-yearly in advance--better and better," said I.
+
+"And he bid me say, too, if you should ask about his character, that he
+is just as good as the master of the house himself," she added; "and when
+he said that, he laughed a little."
+
+"Why, if he gives us a hundred pounds in advance," I answered, turning to
+my wife, "we are safe enough; for he will not find half that value in
+plate and jewels in the entire household, if he is disposed to rob us. So
+I see no reason against closing with the offer, should it be seriously
+meant--do you, dear?"
+
+"Quite the contrary, love," said she. "I think it most desirable--indeed,
+most _providential_."
+
+"Providential! my dear little bigot!" I repeated, with a smile. "Well, be
+it so. I call it _lucky_ merely; but, perhaps, you are happier in your
+faith, than I in my philosophy. Yes, you are _grateful_ for the chance
+that I only rejoice at. You receive it as a proof of a divine and tender
+love--I as an accident. Delusions are often more elevating than truth."
+
+And so saying, I kissed away the saddened cloud that for a moment
+overcast her face.
+
+"Papa, he bid me be sure to have an answer for him when we meet again,"
+resumed the child. "What shall I say to him when he asks me?"
+
+"Say that we agree to his proposal, my dear--or stay," I said, addressing
+my wife, "may it not be prudent to reduce what the child says to writing,
+and accept the offer so? This will prevent misunderstanding, as she may
+possibly have made some mistake."
+
+My wife agreed, and I wrote a brief note, stating that I was willing to
+receive an inmate upon the terms recounted by little Fanny, and which I
+distinctly specified, so that no mistake could possibly arise owing to
+the vagueness of what lawyers term a parole agreement. This important
+memorandum I placed in the hands of my little girl, who was to deliver
+it whenever the old gentleman in the yellow waistcoat should chance to
+meet her. And all these arrangements completed, I awaited the issue of
+the affair with as much patience as I could affect. Meanwhile, my wife
+and I talked it over incessantly; and she, good little soul, almost wore
+herself to death in settling and unsettling the furniture and
+decorations of our expected inmate's apartments. Days passed away--days
+of hopes deferred, tedious and anxious. We were beginning to despond
+again, when one morning our little girl ran into the breakfast-parlour,
+more excited even than she had been before, and fresh from a new
+interview with the gentleman in the yellow waistcoat. She had
+encountered him suddenly, pretty nearly where she had met him before,
+and the result was, that he had read the little note I have mentioned,
+and desired the child to inform me that his friend, _Mr. Smith_, would
+take possession of the apartments I proposed setting, on the terms
+agreed between us, that very evening.
+
+"This evening!" exclaimed my wife and I simultaneously--_I_ full of the
+idea of making a first instalment on the day following; _she_, of the
+hundred-and-one preparations which still remained to be completed.
+
+"And so Smith is his name! Well, that does not tell us much," said I;
+"but where did you meet your friend on this occasion, and how long is
+it since?"
+
+"Near the corner of the wall-flower lane (so we indicated one which
+abounded in these fragrant plants); he was leaning with his back against
+the old tree you cut my name on, and his crutch was under his arm."
+
+"But how long ago?" I urged.
+
+"Only this moment; I ran home as fast as I could," she replied.
+
+"Why, you little blockhead, you should have told me that at first," I
+cried, snatching up my hat, and darting away in pursuit of the yellow
+waistcoat, whose acquaintance I not unnaturally coveted, inasmuch as a
+man who, for the first time, admits a stranger into his house, on the
+footing of permanent residence, desires generally to know a little more
+about him than that his name is Smith.
+
+The place indicated was only, as we say, a step away; and as yellow
+waistcoat was fat, and used a crutch, I calculated on easily overtaking
+him. I was, however, disappointed; crutch, waistcoat, and all had
+disappeared. I climbed to the top of the wall, and from this commanding
+point of view made a sweeping observation--but in vain. I returned
+home, cursing my ill-luck, the child's dulness, and the fat old
+fellow's activity.
+
+I need hardly say that Mr. Smith, in all his aspects, moral, social,
+physical, and monetary, formed a fruitful and interesting topic of
+speculation during dinner. How many phantom Smiths, short and long, stout
+and lean, ill-tempered and well-tempered--rich, respectable, or highly
+dangerous merchants, spies, forgers, nabobs, swindlers, danced before us,
+in the endless mazes of fanciful conjecture, during that anxious
+_tete-a-tete_, which was probably to be interrupted by the arrival of the
+gentleman himself.
+
+My wife and I puzzled over the problem as people would over the possible
+_denouement_ of a French novel; and at last, by mutual consent, we came
+to the conclusion that Smith could, and would turn out to be no other
+than the good-natured valetudinarian in the yellow waistcoat himself, a
+humorist, as was evident enough, and a millionaire, as we unhesitatingly
+pronounced, who had no immediate relatives, and as I hoped, and my wife
+"was certain," taken a decided fancy to our little Fanny; I patted the
+child's head with something akin to pride, as I thought of the
+magnificent, though remote possibilities, in store for her.
+
+Meanwhile, hour after hour stole away. It was a beautiful autumn evening,
+and the amber lustre of the declining sun fell softly upon the yews and
+flowers, and gave an air, half melancholy, half cheerful, to the dark-red
+brick piers surmounted with their cracked and grass-grown stone urns, and
+furnished with the light foliage of untended creeping plants. Down the
+short broad walk leading to this sombre entrance, my eye constantly
+wandered; but no impatient rattle on the latch, no battering at the gate,
+indicated the presence of a visited, and the lazy bell hung dumbly among
+the honey-suckles.
+
+"When will he come? Yellow waistcoat promised _this evening_! It has
+been evening a good hour and a half, and yet he is not here. When will
+he come? It will soon be dark--the evening will have passed--will he
+come at all?"
+
+Such were the uneasy speculations which began to trouble us. Redder and
+duskier grew the light of the setting sun, till it saddened into the
+mists of night. Twilight came, and then darkness, and still no arrival,
+no summons at the gate. I would not admit even to my wife the excess of
+my own impatience. I could, however, stand it no longer; so I took my hat
+and walked to the gate, where I stood by the side of the public road,
+watching every vehicle and person that approached, in a fever of
+expectation. Even these, however, began to fail me, and the road grew
+comparatively quiet and deserted. Having kept guard like a sentinel for
+more than half an hour, I returned in no very good humour, with the
+punctuality of an expected inmate--ordered the servant to draw the
+curtains and secure the hall-door; and so my wife and I sate down to our
+disconsolate cup of tea. It must have been about ten o'clock, and we were
+both sitting silently--she working, I looking moodily into a paper--and
+neither of us any longer entertaining a hope that anything but
+disappointment would come of the matter, when a sudden tapping, very loud
+and sustained, upon the window pane, startled us both in an instant from
+our reveries.
+
+I am not sure whether I mentioned before that the sitting-room we
+occupied was upon the ground-floor, and the sward came close under the
+window. I drew the curtains, and opened the shutters with a revived hope;
+and looking out, saw a very tall thin figure, a good deal wrapped up,
+standing about a yard before me, and motioning with head and hand
+impatiently towards the hall-door. Though the night was clear, there was
+no moon, and therefore I could see no more than the black outline, like
+that of an _ombre chinoise_ figure, signing to me with mop and moe. In a
+moment I was at the hall-door, candle in hand; the stranger stept in--his
+long fingers clutched in the handle of a valise, and a bag which trailed
+upon the ground behind him.
+
+The light fell full upon him. He wore a long, ill-made, black surtout,
+buttoned across, and which wrinkled and bagged about his lank figure; his
+hat was none of the best, and rather broad in the brim; a sort of white
+woollen muffler enveloped the lower part of his face; a pair of prominent
+green goggles, fenced round with leather, completely concealed his eyes;
+and nothing of the genuine man, but a little bit of yellow forehead, and
+a small transverse segment of equally yellow cheek and nose, encountered
+the curious gaze of your humble servant.
+
+"You are--I suppose"--I began; for I really was a little doubtful
+about my man.
+
+"Mr. Smith--the same; be good enough to show me to my bedchamber,"
+interrupted the stranger, brusquely, and in a tone which, spite of the
+muffler that enveloped his mouth, was sharp and grating enough.
+
+"Ha!--Mr. Smith--so I supposed. I hope you may find everything as
+comfortable as we desire to make it--"
+
+I was about making a speech, but was cut short by a slight bow, and a
+decisive gesture of the hand in the direction of the staircase. It was
+plain that the stranger hated ceremony.
+
+Together, accordingly, we mounted the staircase; he still pulling his
+luggage after him, and striding lightly up without articulating a word;
+and on reaching his bedroom, he immediately removed his hat, showing a
+sinister, black scratch-wig underneath, and then began unrolling the
+mighty woolen wrapping of his mouth and chin.
+
+"Come," thought I, "we _shall_ see something of your face after all."
+
+This something, however, proved to be very little; for under his muffler
+was a loose cravat, which stood up in front of his chin and upon his
+mouth, he wore a respirator--an instrument which I had never seen before,
+and of the use of which I was wholly ignorant.
+
+There was something so excessively odd in the effect of this piece of
+unknown mechanism upon his mouth, surmounted by the huge goggles which
+encased his eyes, that I believe I should have laughed outright, were
+it not for a certain unpleasant and peculiar impressiveness in the
+_tout ensemble_ of the narrow-chested, long-limbed, and cadaverous
+figure in black. As it was, we stood looking at one another in silence
+for several seconds.
+
+"Thank you, sir," at last he said, abruptly. "I shan't want anything
+whatever to-night; if you can only spare me this candle."
+
+I assented; and, becoming more communicative, he added--
+
+"I am, though an invalid, an independent sort of fellow enough. I am a
+bit of a philosopher; I am my own servant, and, I hope, my own master,
+too. I rely upon myself in matters of the body and of the mind. I place
+valets and priests in the same category--fellows who live by our
+laziness, intellectual or corporeal. I am a Voltaire, without his
+luxuries--a Robinson Crusoe, without his Bible--an anchorite, without a
+superstition--in short, my indulgence is asceticism, and my faith
+infidelity. Therefore, I shan't disturb your servants much with my bell,
+nor yourselves with my psalmody. You have got a rational lodger, who
+knows how to attend upon himself."
+
+During this singular address he was drawing off his ill-fitting black
+gloves, and when he had done so, a bank-note, which had been slipped
+underneath for safety, remained in his hand.
+
+"Punctuality, sir, is one of my poor pleasures," he said; "will you allow
+me to enjoy it now? To-morrow you may acknowledge this; I should not rest
+were you to decline it."
+
+He extended his bony and discoloured fingers, and placed the note in my
+hand. Oh, Fortune and Plutus! It was a L100 bank-note.
+
+"Pray, not one word, my dear sir," he continued, unbending still further;
+"it is simply done pursuant to agreement. We shall know one another
+better, I hope, in a little time; you will find me always equally
+punctual. At present pray give yourself no further trouble; I require
+nothing more. Good night."
+
+I returned the valediction, closed his door, and groped my way down the
+stairs. It was not until I had nearly reached the hall, that I
+recollected that I had omitted to ask our new inmate at what hour he
+would desire to be called in the morning, and so I groped my way back
+again. As I reached the lobby on which his chamber opened, I perceived a
+long line of light issuing from the partially-opened door, within which
+stood Mr. Smith, the same odd figure I had just left; while along the
+boards was creeping towards him across the lobby, a great, big-headed,
+buff-coloured cat. I had never seen this ugly animal before; and it had
+reached the threshold of his door, arching its back, and rubbing itself
+on the post, before either appeared conscious of my approach, when, with
+an angry growl, it sprang into the stranger's room.
+
+"What do you want?" he demanded, sharply, standing in the doorway.
+
+I explained my errand.
+
+"I shall call myself," was his sole reply; and he shut the door with a
+crash that indicated no very pleasurable emotions.
+
+I cared very little about my lodger's temper. The stealthy rustle of his
+bank-note in my waistcoat pocket was music enough to sweeten the harshest
+tones of his voice, and to keep alive a cheerful good humour in my heart;
+and although there was, indisputably, something queer about him, I was,
+on the whole, very well pleased with my bargain.
+
+The next day our new inmate did not ring his bell until noon. As soon
+as he had had some breakfast, of which he very sparingly partook, he
+told the servant that, for the future, he desired that a certain
+quantity of milk and bread might be left outside his door; and this
+being done, he would dispense with regular meals. He desired, too,
+that, on my return, I should be acquainted that he wished to see me in
+his own room at about nine o'clock; and, meanwhile, he directed that he
+should be left undisturbed. I found my little wife full of astonishment
+at Mr. Smith's strange frugality and seclusion, and very curious to
+learn the object of the interview he had desired with me. At nine
+o'clock I repaired to his room.
+
+I found him in precisely the costume in which I had left him--the same
+green goggles--the same muffling of the mouth, except that being now no
+more than a broadly-folded black silk handkerchief, very loose, and
+covering even the lower part of the nose, it was obviously intended for
+the sole purpose of concealment. It was plain I was not to see more of
+his features than he had chosen to disclose at our first interview. The
+effect was as if the lower part of his face had some hideous wound or
+sore. He closed the door with his own hand on my entrance, nodded
+slightly, and took his seat. I expected him to begin, but he was so long
+silent that I was at last constrained to address him.
+
+I said, for want of something more to the purpose, that I hoped he had
+not been tormented by the strange cat the night before.
+
+"What cat?" he asked, abruptly; "what the plague do you mean?"
+
+"Why, I certainly did see a cat go into your room last night," I resumed.
+
+"Hey, and what if you did--though I fancy you dreamed it--I'm not afraid
+of a cat; are you?" he interrupted, tartly.
+
+At this moment there came a low growling mew from the closet which opened
+from the room in which we sat.
+
+"Talk of the devil," said I, pointing towards the closet. My companion,
+without any exact change of expression, looked, I thought, somehow
+still more sinister and lowering; and I felt for a moment a sort of
+superstitious misgiving, which made the rest of the sentence die away
+on my lips.
+
+Perhaps Mr. Smith perceived this, for he said, in a tone calculated to
+reassure me--
+
+"Well, sir, I think I am bound to tell you that I like my apartments very
+well; they suit me, and I shall probably be your tenant for much longer
+than at first you anticipated."
+
+I expressed my gratification.
+
+He then began to talk, something in the strain in which he had spoken of
+his own peculiarities of habit and thinking upon the previous evening. He
+disposed of all classes and denominations of superstition with an easy
+sarcastic slang, which for me was so captivating, that I soon lost all
+reserve, and found myself listening and suggesting by turns--acquiescent
+and pleased--sometimes hazarding dissent; but whenever I did, foiled and
+floored by a few pointed satirical sentences, whose sophistry, for such I
+must now believe it, confounded me with a rapidity which, were it not for
+the admiration with which he had insensibly inspired me, would have
+piqued and irritated my vanity not a little.
+
+While this was going on, from time to time the mewing and growling of a
+cat within the closet became more and more audible. At last these sounds
+became so loud, accompanied by scratching at the door, that I paused in
+the midst of a sentence, and observed--
+
+"There certainly is a cat shut up in the closet?"
+
+"Is there?" he ejaculated, in a surprised tone; "nay, I do not hear it."
+
+He rose abruptly and approached the door; his back was towards me, but I
+observed he raised the goggles which usually covered his eyes, and looked
+steadfastly at the closet door. The angry sounds all died away into a
+low, protracted growl, which again subsided into silence. He continued in
+the same attitude for some moments, and then returned.
+
+"I do not hear it," he said, as he resumed his place, and taking a book
+from his capacious pocket, asked me if I had seen it before? I never had,
+and this surprised me, for I had flattered myself that I knew, at least
+by name, every work published in England during the last fifty years in
+favour of that philosophy in which we both delighted. The book, moreover,
+was an odd one, as both its title and table of contents demonstrated.
+
+While we were discoursing upon these subjects, I became more and more
+distinctly conscious of a new class of sounds proceeding from the same
+closet. I plainly heard a measured and heavy tread, accompanied by the
+tapping of some hard and heavy substance like the end of a staff, pass up
+and down the floor--first, as it seemed, stealthily, and then more and
+more unconcealedly. I began to feel very uncomfortable and suspicious. As
+the noise proceeded, and became more and more unequivocal, Mr. Smith
+abruptly rose, opened the closet door, just enough to admit his own
+lath-like person, and steal within the threshold for some seconds. What
+he did I could not see--I felt conscious he had an associate concealed
+there; and though my eyes remained fixed on the book, I could not avoid
+listening for some audible words, or signal of caution. I heard, however,
+nothing of the kind. Mr. Smith turned back--walked a step or two towards
+me, and said--
+
+"I fancied I heard a sound from that closet, but there is
+nothing--nothing--nothing whatever; bring the candle, let us both look."
+
+I obeyed with some little trepidation, for I fully anticipated that I
+should detect the intruder, of whose presence my own ears had given me,
+for nearly half an hour, the most unequivocal proofs. We entered the
+closet together; it contained but a few chairs and a small spider table.
+At the far end of the room there was a sort of grey woollen cloth upon
+the floor, and a bundle of something underneath it. I looked jealously at
+it, and half thought I could trace the outline of a human figure; but, if
+so, it was perfectly motionless.
+
+"Some of my poor wardrobe," he muttered, as he pointed his lean finger in
+the direction. "It did not sound like a cat, did it--hey--did it?" he
+muttered; and without attending to my answer, he went about the
+apartment, clapping his hands, and crying, "Hish--hish--hish!"
+
+The game, however, whatever it was, did not start. As I entered I had
+seen, however, a large crutch reposing against the wall in the corner
+opposite to the door. This was the only article in the room, except that
+I have mentioned, with which I was not familiar. With the exception of
+our two selves, there was not a living creature to be seen there; no
+shadow but ours upon the bare walls; no feet but our own upon the
+comfortless floor.
+
+I had never before felt so strange and unpleasant a sensation.
+
+"There is nothing unusual in the room but that crutch," I said.
+
+"What crutch, you dolt? I see no crutch," he ejaculated, in a tone of
+sudden but suppressed fury.
+
+"Why, _that_ crutch," I answered (for somehow I neither felt nor resented
+his rudeness), turning and pointing to the spot where I had seen it. It
+was gone!--it was neither there nor anywhere else. It must have been an
+illusion--rather an odd one, to be sure. And yet I could at this moment,
+with a safe conscience, _swear_ that I never saw an object more
+distinctly than I had seen it but a second before.
+
+My companion was muttering fast to himself as we withdrew; his presence
+rather scared than reassured me; and I felt something almost amounting to
+horror, as, holding the candle above his cadaverous and sable figure, he
+stood at his threshold, while I descended the stairs, and said, in a sort
+of whisper--
+
+"Why, but that I am, like yourself, a philosopher, I should say that your
+house is--is--a--ha! ha! ha!--HAUNTED!"
+
+"You look very pale, my love," said my wife, as I entered the
+drawing-room, where she had been long awaiting my return. "Nothing
+unpleasant has happened?"
+
+"Nothing, nothing, I assure you. Pale!--_do_ I look pale?" I answered.
+"We are excellent friends, I assure you. So far from having had the
+smallest disagreement, there is every prospect of our agreeing but too
+well, as you will say; for I find that he holds all my opinions upon
+speculative subjects. We have had a great deal of conversation this
+evening, I assure you; and I never met, I think, so scholarlike and
+able a man."
+
+"I am sorry for it, dearest," she said, sadly. "The greater his talents,
+if such be his opinions, the more dangerous a companion is he."
+
+We turned, however, to more cheerful topics, and it was late before we
+retired to rest. I believe it was pride--perhaps only vanity--but, at all
+events, some obstructive and stubborn instinct of my nature, which I
+could not overcome--that prevented my telling my wife the odd occurrences
+which had disturbed my visit to our guest. I was unable or ashamed to
+confess that so slight a matter had disturbed me; and, above all, that
+any accident could possibly have clouded, even for a moment, the frosty
+clearness of my pure and lofty scepticism with the shadows of
+superstition.
+
+Almost every day seemed to develop some new eccentricity of our strange
+guest. His dietary consisted, without any variety or relief, of the
+monotonous bread and milk with which he started; his bed had not been
+made for nearly a week; nobody had been admitted into his room since my
+visit, just described; and he never ventured down stairs, or out of
+doors, until after nightfall, when he used sometimes to glide swiftly
+round our little enclosed shrubbery, and at others stand quite
+motionless, composed, as if in an attitude of deep attention. After
+employing about an hour in this way, he would return, and steal up stairs
+to his room, when he would shut himself up, and not be seen again until
+the next night--or, it might be, the night after that--when, perhaps, he
+would repeat his odd excursion.
+
+Strange as his habits were, their eccentricity was all upon the side
+least troublesome to us. He required literally no attendance; and as to
+his occasional night ramble, even _it_ caused not the slightest
+disturbance of our routine hour for securing the house and locking up the
+hall-door for the night, inasmuch as he had invariably retired before
+that hour arrived.
+
+All this stimulated curiosity, and, in no small degree, that of my wife,
+who, notwithstanding her vigilance and her anxiety to see our strange
+inmate, had been hitherto foiled by a series of cross accidents. We were
+sitting together somewhere about ten o'clock at night, when there came a
+tap at the room-door. We had just been discussing the unaccountable
+Smith; and I felt a sheepish consciousness that he might be himself at
+the door, and have possibly even overheard our speculation--some of them
+anything but complimentary, respecting himself.
+
+"Come in," cried, I, with an effort; and the tall form of our lodger
+glided into the room. My wife was positively frightened, and stood
+looking at him, as he advanced, with a stare of manifest apprehension,
+and even recoiled mechanically, and caught my hand.
+
+Sensitiveness, however, was not his fault: he made a kind of stiff nod as
+I mumbled an introduction; and seating himself unasked, began at once to
+chat in that odd, off-hand, and sneering style, in which he excelled, and
+which had, as he wielded it, a sort of fascination of which I can pretend
+to convey no idea.
+
+My wife's alarm subsided, and although she still manifestly felt some
+sort of misgiving about our visitor, she yet listened to his
+conversation, and, spite of herself, soon began to enjoy it. He stayed
+for nearly half an hour. But although he glanced at a great variety of
+topics, he did not approach the subject of religion. As soon as he was
+gone, my wife delivered judgment upon him in form. She admitted he was
+agreeable; but then he was such an unnatural, awful-looking object: there
+was, besides, something indescribably frightful, she thought, in his
+manner--the very tone of his voice was strange and hateful; and, on the
+whole, she felt unutterably relieved at his departure.
+
+A few days after, on my return, I found my poor little wife agitated and
+dispirited. Mr. Smith had paid her a visit, and brought with him a book,
+which he stated he had been reading, and which contained some references
+to the Bible which he begged of her to explain in that profounder and
+less obvious sense in which they had been cited. This she had endeavoured
+to do; and affecting to be much gratified by her satisfactory exposition,
+he had requested her to reconcile some discrepancies which he said had
+often troubled him when reading the Scriptures. Some of them were quite
+new to my good little wife; they startled and even horrified her. He
+pursued this theme, still pretending only to seek for information to
+quiet his own doubts, while in reality he was sowing in her mind the
+seeds of the first perturbations that had ever troubled the sources of
+her peace. He had been with her, she thought, no more than a quarter of
+an hour; but he had contrived to leave her abundant topics on which to
+ruminate for days. I found her shocked and horrified at the doubts which
+this potent Magus had summoned from the pit--doubts which she knew not
+how to combat, and from the torment of which she could not escape.
+
+"He has made me very miserable with his deceitful questions. I never
+thought of them before; and, merciful Heaven! I cannot answer them! What
+am I to do? My serenity is gone; I shall never be happy again."
+
+In truth, she was so very miserable, and, as it seemed to me, so
+disproportionately excited, that, inconsistent in me as the task would
+have been, I would gladly have explained away her difficulties, and
+restored to her mind its wonted confidence and serenity, had I possessed
+sufficient knowledge for the purpose. I really pitied her, and heartily
+wished Mr. Smith, for the nonce, at the devil.
+
+I observed after this that my wife's spirits appeared permanently
+affected. There was a constantly-recurring anxiety, and I thought
+something was lying still more heavily at her heart than the
+uncertainties inspired by our lodger.
+
+One evening, as we two were sitting together, after a long silence, she
+suddenly laid her hand upon my arm, and said--
+
+"Oh, Richard, my darling! would to God you could pray for me!"
+
+There was something so agitated, and even terrified, in her manner,
+that I was absolutely startled. I urged her to disclose whatever preyed
+upon her mind.
+
+"You can't sympathise with me--you can't help me--you can scarcely
+compassionate me in my misery! Oh, dearest Richard! Some evil influence
+has been gaining upon my heart, dulling and destroying my convictions,
+killing all my holy affections, and--and absolutely transforming me. I
+look inward upon myself with amazement, with terror--with--oh, God!--with
+actual despair!"
+
+Saying this, she threw herself on her knees, and wept an agonised flood
+of tears, with her head reposing in my lap.
+
+Poor little thing, my heart bled for her! But what could I do or say?
+
+All I could suggest was what I really thought, that she was
+unwell--hysterical--and needed to take better care of her precious self;
+that her change of feeling was fancied, not real; and that a few days
+would restore her to her old health and former spirits and serenity.
+
+"And sometimes," she resumed, after I had ended a consolatory discussion,
+which it was but too manifest had fallen unprofitably upon her ear, "such
+dreadful, impious thoughts come into my mind, whether I choose it or not;
+they come, and stay, and return, strive as I may; and I can't pray
+against them. They are forced upon me with the strength of an independent
+will; and oh!--horrible--frightful--they blaspheme the character of God
+himself. They upbraid the Almighty upon his throne, and I can't pray
+against them; there is something in me now that resists prayer."
+
+There was such a real and fearful anguish in the agitation of my gentle
+companion, that it shook my very soul within me, even while I was
+affecting to make light of her confessions. I had never before witnessed
+a struggle at all like this, and I was awe-struck at the spectacle.
+
+At length she became comparatively calm. I did gradually succeed, though
+very imperfectly, in reassuring her. She strove hard against her
+depression, and recovered a little of her wonted cheerfulness.
+
+After a while, however, the cloud returned. She grew sad and earnest,
+though no longer excited; and entreated, or rather implored, of me to
+grant her one special favour, and this was, to avoid the society of
+our lodger.
+
+"I never," she said, "could understand till now the instinctive dread
+with which poor Margaret, in _Faust_, shrinks from the hateful presence
+of Mephistopheles. I now feel it in myself. The dislike and suspicion I
+first felt for that man--Smith, or whatever else he may call himself--has
+grown into literal detestation and terror. I hate him--I am afraid of
+him--I never knew what anguish of mind was until he entered our doors;
+and would to God--would to God he were gone."
+
+I reasoned with her--kissed her--laughed at her; but could not dissipate,
+in the least degree, the intense and preternatural horror with which she
+had grown to regard the poor philosophic invalid, who was probably, at
+that moment, poring over some metaphysical book in his solitary
+bedchamber.
+
+The circumstance I am about to mention will give you some notion of the
+extreme to which these excited feelings had worked upon her nerves. I was
+that night suddenly awakened by a piercing scream--I started upright in
+the bed, and saw my wife standing at the bedside, white as ashes with
+terror. It was some seconds, so startled was I, before I could find words
+to ask her the cause of her affright. She caught my wrist in her icy
+grasp, and climbed, trembling violently, into bed. Notwithstanding my
+repeated entreaties, she continued for a long time stupified and dumb. At
+length, however, she told me, that having lain awake for a long time, she
+felt, on a sudden, that she could pray, and lighting the candle, she had
+stolen from beside me, and kneeled down for the purpose. She had,
+however, scarcely assumed the attitude of prayer, when somebody, she
+said, clutched her arm violently near the wrist, and she heard, at the
+same instant, some blasphemous menace, the import of which escaped her
+the moment it was spoken, muttered close in her ear. This terrifying
+interruption was the cause of the scream which had awakened me; and the
+condition in which she continued during the remainder of the night
+confirmed me more than ever in the conviction, that she was suffering
+under some morbid action of the nervous system.
+
+After this event, which _I_ had no hesitation in attributing to fancy,
+she became literally afraid to pray, and her misery and despondency
+increased proportionately.
+
+It was shortly after this that an unusual pressure of business called me
+into town one evening after office hours. I had left my dear little wife
+tolerably well, and little Fanny was to be her companion until I
+returned. She and her little companion occupied the same room in which we
+sat on the memorable evening which witnessed the arrival of our eccentric
+guest. Though usually a lively child, it most provokingly happened upon
+this night that Fanny was heavy and drowsy to excess. Her mamma would
+have sent her to bed, but that she now literally feared to be left alone;
+although, however, she could not so far overcome her horror of solitude
+as to do this, she yet would not persist in combating the poor child's
+sleepiness.
+
+Accordingly, little Fanny was soon locked in a sound sleep, while her
+mamma quietly pursued her work beside her. They had been perhaps some
+ten minutes thus circumstanced, when my wife heard the window softly
+raised from without--a bony hand parted the curtains, and Mr. Smith
+leaned into the room.
+
+She was so utterly overpowered at sight of this apparition, that even had
+it, as she expected, climbed into the room, she told me she could not
+have uttered a sound, or stirred from the spot where she sate transfixed
+and petrified.
+
+"Ha, ha!" he said gently, "I hope you'll excuse this, I must admit, very
+odd intrusion; but I knew I should find you here, and could not resist
+the opportunity of raising the window just for a moment, to look in upon
+a little family picture, and say a word to yourself. I understand that
+you are troubled, because for some cause you cannot say your
+prayers--because what you call your 'faith' is, so to speak, dead and
+gone, and also because what _you_ consider bad thoughts are constantly
+recurring to your mind. Now, all that is very silly. If it is really
+impossible for you to believe and to pray, what are you to infer from
+that? It is perfectly plain your Christian system can't be a true
+one--faith and _prayer_ it everywhere represents as the conditions of
+grace, acceptance, and salvation; and yet your Creator will not _permit_
+you either to believe or pray. The Christian system is, forsooth, a
+_free_ gift, and yet he who formed _you_ and _it_, makes it absolutely
+impossible for you to accept it. _Is_ it, I ask you, from your own
+experience--is it a free gift? And if your own experience, in which you
+can't be mistaken, gives its pretensions the lie, why, in the name of
+common sense, will you persist in believing it? I say it is downright
+blasphemy to think it has emanated from the Good Spirit--assuming that
+there is one. It tells you that you must be tormented hereafter in a way
+only to be made intelligible by the image of eternal fires--pretty
+strong, we must all allow--unless you comply with certain conditions,
+which it pretends are so easy that it is a positive pleasure to embrace
+and perform them; and yet, for the life of you, you can't--physically
+_can't_--do either. Is this truth and mercy?--or is it swindling and
+cruelty? Is it the part of the Redeemer, or that of the tyrant, deceiver,
+and tormentor?"
+
+Up to that moment, my wife had sate breathless and motionless, listening,
+in the catalepsy of nightmare, to a sort of echo of the vile and impious
+reasoning which had haunted her for so long. At the last words of the
+sentence his voice became harsh and thrilling; and his whole manner
+bespoke a sort of crouching and terrific hatred, the like of which she
+could not have conceived.
+
+Whatever may have been the cause, she was on a sudden disenchanted. She
+started to her feet; and, freezing with horror though she was, in a
+shrill cry of agony commanded him, in the name of God, to depart from
+her. His whole frame seemed to darken; he drew back silently; the
+curtains dropped into their places, the window was let down again as
+stealthily as it had just been raised; and my wife found herself alone in
+the chamber with our little child, who had been startled from her sleep
+by her mother's cry of anguish, and with the fearful words, "tempter,"
+"destroyer," "devil," still ringing in her ears, was weeping bitterly,
+and holding her terrified mother's hand.
+
+There is nothing, I believe, more infectious than that species of
+nervousness which shows itself in superstitious fears. I began--although
+I could not bring myself to admit anything the least like it--to partake
+insensibly, but strongly of the peculiar feelings with which my wife, and
+indeed my whole household, already regarded the lodger up stairs. The
+fact was, beside, that the state of my poor wife's mind began to make me
+seriously uneasy; and, although I was fully sensible of the pecuniary and
+other advantages attendant upon his stay, they were yet far from
+outweighing the constant gloom and frequent misery in which the
+protracted sojourn was involving my once cheerful house. I resolved,
+therefore, at whatever monetary sacrifice, to put an end to these
+commotions; and, after several debates with my wife, in which the subject
+was, as usual, turned in all its possible and impossible bearings, we
+agreed that, deducting a fair proportion for his five weeks' sojourn, I
+should return the remainder of his L100, and request immediate possession
+of his apartments. Like a man suddenly relieved of an insufferable load,
+and breathing freely once more, I instantly prepared to carry into effect
+the result of our deliberations.
+
+In pursuance of this resolution, I waited upon Mr. Smith. This time my
+call was made in the morning, somewhere about nine o'clock. He
+received me at his door, standing as usual in the stealthy opening
+which barely admitted his lank person. There he stood, fully equipped
+with goggles and respirator, and swathed, rather than dressed, in his
+puckered black garments.
+
+As he did not seem disposed to invite me into his apartment, although
+I had announced my visit as one of business, I was obliged to open my
+errand where I stood; and after a great deal of fumbling and
+muttering, I contrived to place before him distinctly the resolution
+to which I had come.
+
+"But I can't think of taking back any portion of the sum I have paid
+you," said he, with a cool, dry emphasis.
+
+"Your reluctance to do so, Mr. Smith, is most handsome, and I assure you,
+appreciated," I replied. "It is very generous; but, at the same time, it
+is quite impossible for me to accept what I have no right to take, and I
+must beg of you not to mention that part of the subject again."
+
+"And why should _I_ take it?" demanded Mr. Smith.
+
+"Because you have paid this hundred pounds for six months, and you are
+leaving me with nearly five months of the term still unexpired," I
+replied. "I expect to receive fair play myself, and always give it."
+
+"But who on earth said that I was going away so soon?" pursued Mr. Smith,
+in the same dry, sarcastic key. "_I_ have not said so--because I really
+don't intend it; I mean to stay here to the last day of the six months
+for which I have paid you. I have no notion of vacating my hired
+lodgings, simply because you say, _go_. I shan't quarrel with you--I
+never quarrel with anybody. I'm as much your friend as ever; but, without
+the least wish to disoblige, I can't do this, positively I cannot. Is
+there anything else?"
+
+I had not anticipated in the least the difficulty which thus
+encountered and upset our plans. I had so set my heart upon effecting
+the immediate retirement of our inauspicious inmate, that the
+disappointment literally stunned me for a moment. I, however, returned
+to the charge: I urged, and prayed, and almost besought him to give up
+his apartments, and to leave us. I offered to repay every farthing of
+the sum he had paid me--reserving nothing on account of the time he had
+already been with us. I suggested all the disadvantages of the house. I
+shifted my ground, and told him that my wife wanted the rooms; I
+pressed his gallantry--his good nature--his economy; in short, I
+assailed him upon every point--but in vain, he did not even take the
+trouble of repeating what he had said before--he neither relented, nor
+showed the least irritation, but simply said--
+
+"I can't do this; here I am, and here I stay until the half-year has
+expired. You wanted a lodger, and you have got one--the quietest, least
+troublesome, least expensive person you could have; and though your
+house, servants, and furniture are none of the best, I don't care for
+that. I pursue my own poor business and enjoyments here entirely to my
+satisfaction."
+
+Having thus spoken, he gave me a sort of nod, and closed the door.
+
+So, instead of getting rid of him the next day, as we had hoped, we had
+nearly five months more of his company in expectancy; I hated, and my
+wife dreaded the prospect. She was literally miserable and panic-struck
+at her disappointment--and grew so nervous and wretched that I made up my
+mind to look out for lodgings for her and the children (subversive of all
+our schemes of retrenchment as such a step would be), and surrendering
+the house absolutely to Mr. Smith and the servants during the remainder
+of his term.
+
+Circumstances, however, occurred to prevent our putting this plan in
+execution. My wife, meanwhile, was, if possible, more depressed and
+nervous every day. The servants seemed to sympathise in the dread and
+gloom which involved ourselves; the very children grew timid and
+spiritless, without knowing why--and the entire house was pervaded with
+an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear. A poorhouse or a dungeon would
+have been cheerful, compared with a dwelling haunted unceasingly with
+unearthly suspicions and alarms. I would have made any sacrifice short of
+ruin, to emancipate our household from the odious mental and moral
+thraldom which was invisibly established over us--overcasting us with
+strange anxieties and an undefined terror.
+
+About this time my wife had a dream which troubled her much, although
+she could not explain its supposed significance satisfactorily by any
+of the ordinary rules of interpretation in such matters. The vision was
+as follows.
+
+She dreamed that we were busily employed in carrying out our scheme of
+removal, and that I came into the parlour where she was making some
+arrangements, and, with rather an agitated manner, told her that the
+carriage had come for the children. She thought she went out to the hall,
+in consequence, holding little Fanny by one hand, and the boy--or, as we
+still called him, "baby,"--by the other, and feeling, as she did so, an
+unaccountable gloom, almost amounting to terror, steal over her. The
+children, too, seemed, she thought, frightened, and disposed to cry.
+
+So close to the hall-door as to exclude the light, stood some kind of
+vehicle, of which she could see nothing but that its door was wide open,
+and the interior involved in total darkness. The children, she thought,
+shrunk back in great trepidation, and she addressed herself to induce
+them, by persuasion, to enter, telling them that they were only "going to
+their new home." So, in a while, little Fanny approached it; but, at the
+same instant, some person came swiftly up from behind, and, raising the
+little boy in his hands, said fiercely, "No, the baby first"; and placed
+him in the carriage. This person was our lodger, Mr. Smith, and was gone
+as soon as seen. My wife, even in her dream, could not act or speak; but
+as the child was lifted into the carriage-door, a man, whose face was
+full of beautiful tenderness and compassion, leaned forward from the
+carriage and received the little child, which, stretching his arms to the
+stranger, looked back with a strange smile upon his mother.
+
+"He is safe with me, and I will deliver him to you when you come."
+
+These words the man spoke, looking upon her, as he received him, and
+immediately the carriage-door shut, and the noise of its closing wakened
+my wife from her nightmare.
+
+This dream troubled her very much, and even haunted my mind unpleasantly
+too. We agreed, however, not to speak of it to anybody, not to divulge
+any of our misgivings respecting the stranger. We were anxious that
+neither the children nor the servants should catch the contagion of those
+fears which had seized upon my poor little wife, and, if truth were
+spoken, upon myself in some degree also. But this precaution was, I
+believe, needless, for, as I said before, everybody under the same roof
+with Mr. Smith was, to a certain extent, affected with the same nervous
+gloom and apprehension.
+
+And now commences a melancholy chapter in my life. My poor little Fanny
+was attacked with a cough which soon grew very violent, and after a time
+degenerated into a sharp attack of inflammation. We were seriously
+alarmed for her life, and nothing that care and medicine could effect
+was spared to save it. Her mother was indefatigable, and scarcely left
+her night or day; and, indeed, for some time, we all but despaired of
+her recovery.
+
+One night, when she was at the worst, her poor mother, who had sat for
+many a melancholy hour listening, by her bedside, to those plaintive
+incoherences of delirium and moanings of fever, which have harrowed so
+many a fond heart, gained gradually from her very despair the courage
+which she had so long wanted, and knelt down at the side of her sick
+darling's bed to pray for her deliverance.
+
+With clasped hands, in an agony of supplication, she prayed that God
+would, in his mercy, spare her little child--that, justly as she herself
+deserved the sorest chastisement his hand could inflict, he would yet
+deal patiently and tenderly with her in this one thing. She poured out
+her sorrows before the mercy-seat--she opened her heart, and declared her
+only hope to be in his pity; without which, she felt that her darling
+would only leave the bed where she was lying for her grave.
+
+Exactly as she came to this part of her supplication, the child, who had
+grown, as it seemed, more and more restless, and moaned and muttered with
+increasing pain and irritation, on a sudden started upright in her bed,
+and, in a thrilling voice, cried--
+
+"No! no!--the baby first."
+
+The mysterious sentence which had secretly tormented her for so long,
+thus piercingly uttered by this delirious, and, perhaps, dying child,
+with what seemed a preternatural earnestness and strength, arrested her
+devotions, and froze her with a feeling akin to terror.
+
+"Hush, hush, my darling!" said the poor mother, almost wildly, as she
+clasped the attenuated frame of the sick child in her arms; "hush, my
+darling; don't cry out so loudly--there--there--my own love."
+
+The child did not appear to see or hear her, but sate up still with
+feverish cheeks, and bright unsteady eyes, while her dry lips were
+muttering inaudible words.
+
+"Lie down, my sweet child--lie down, for your own mother," she said;
+"if you tire yourself, you can't grow well, and your poor mother will
+lose you."
+
+At these words, the child suddenly cried out again, in precisely the same
+loud, strong voice--"No! no! the baby first, the baby first"--and
+immediately afterwards lay down, and fell, for the first time since her
+illness into a tranquil sleep.
+
+My good little wife sate, crying bitterly by her bedside. The child was
+better--_that_ was, indeed, delightful. But then there was an omen in the
+words, thus echoed from her dream, which she dared not trust herself to
+interpret, and which yet had seized, with a grasp of iron, upon every
+fibre of her brain.
+
+"Oh, Richard," she cried, as she threw her arms about my neck, "I am
+terrified at this horrible menace from the unseen world. Oh! poor,
+darling little baby, I shall lose you--I am sure I shall lose you.
+Comfort me, darling, and say he is not to die."
+
+And so I did; and tasked all my powers of argument and persuasion to
+convince her how unsubstantial was the ground of her anxiety. The little
+boy was perfectly well, and, even were he to die before his sister that
+event might not occur for seventy years to come. I could not, however,
+conceal from myself that there was something odd and unpleasant in the
+coincidence; and my poor wife had grown so nervous and excitable, that a
+much less ominous conjecture would have sufficed to alarm her.
+
+Meanwhile, the unaccountable terror which our lodger's presence inspired
+continued to increase. One of our maids gave us warning, solely from her
+dread of our queer inmate, and the strange accessories which haunted him.
+She said--and this was corroborated by her fellow-servant--that Mr. Smith
+seemed to have constantly a companion in his room; that although they
+never heard them speak, they continually and distinctly heard the tread
+of two persons walking up and down the room together, and described
+accurately the peculiar sound of a stick or crutch tapping upon the
+floor, which my own ears had heard. They also had seen the large,
+ill-conditioned cat I have mentioned, frequently steal in and out of the
+stranger's room; and observed that when our little girl was in greatest
+danger, the hateful animal was constantly writhing, fawning, and crawling
+about the door of the sick room after nightfall. They were thoroughly
+persuaded that this ill-omened beast was the foul fiend himself, and I
+confess I could not--sceptic as I was--bring myself absolutely to the
+belief that he was nothing more than a "harmless, necessary cat." These
+and similar reports--implicitly believed as they palpably were by those
+who made them--were certainly little calculated to allay the perturbation
+and alarm with which our household was filled.
+
+The evenings had by this time shortened very much, and darkness often
+overtook us before we sate down to our early tea. It happened just at
+this period of which I have been speaking, after my little girl had begun
+decidedly to mend, that I was sitting in our dining-parlour, with my
+little boy fast asleep upon my knees, and thinking of I know not what, my
+wife having gone up stairs, as usual, to sit in the room with little
+Fanny. As I thus sate in what was to me, in effect, total solitude,
+darkness unperceived stole on us.
+
+On a sudden, as I sate, with my elbow leaning upon the table, and my
+other arm round the sleeping child, I felt, as I thought, a cold
+current of air faintly blowing upon my forehead. I raised my head, and
+saw, as nearly as I could calculate, at the far end of the table on
+which my arm rested, two large green eyes confronting me. I could see
+no more, but instantly concluded they were those of the abominable cat.
+Yielding to an impulse of horror and abhorrence, I caught a water-croft
+that was close to my hand, and threw it full at it with all my force. I
+must have missed my object, for the shining eyes continued fixed for a
+second, and then glided still nearer to me, and then a little nearer
+still. The noise of the glass smashed with so much force upon the table
+called in the servant, who happened to be passing. She had a candle in
+her hand, and, perhaps, the light alarmed the odious beast, for as she
+came in it was gone.
+
+I had had an undefined idea that its approach was somehow connected with
+a designed injury of some sort to the sleeping child. I could not be
+mistaken as to the fact that I had plainly seen the two broad, glaring,
+green eyes. Where the cursed animal had gone I had not observed: it
+might, indeed, easily have run out at the door as the servant opened it,
+but neither of us had seen it do so; and we were every one of us in such
+a state of nervous excitement, that even this incident was something in
+the catalogue of our ambiguous experiences.
+
+It was a great happiness to see our darling little Fanny every day
+mending, and now quite out of danger: this was cheering and delightful.
+It was also something to know that more than two months of our lodger's
+term of occupation had already expired; and to realise, as we now could
+do, by anticipation, the unspeakable relief of his departure.
+
+My wife strove hard to turn our dear child's recovery to good account for
+me; but the impressions of fear soon depart, and those of religious
+gratitude must be preceded by religious faith. All as yet was but as seed
+strewn upon the rock.
+
+Little Fanny, though recovering rapidly, was still very weak, and her
+mother usually passed a considerable part of every evening in her
+bedroom--for the child was sometimes uneasy and restless at night. It
+happened at this period that, sitting as usual at Fanny's bedside, she
+witnessed an occurrence which agitated her not a little.
+
+The child had been, as it seems, growing sleepy, and was lying
+listlessly, with eyes half open, apparently taking no note of what was
+passing. Suddenly, however, with an expression of the wildest terror, she
+drew up her limbs, and cowered in the bed's head, gazing at some object;
+which, judging from the motion of her eyes, must have been slowly
+advancing from the end of the room next the door.
+
+The child made a low shuddering cry, as she grasped her mother's hand,
+and, with features white and tense with terror, slowly following with her
+eyes the noiseless course of some unseen spectre, shrinking more and more
+fearfully backward every moment.
+
+"What is it? Where? What is it that frightens you, my darling?" asked the
+poor mother, who, thrilled with horror, looked in vain for the apparition
+which seemed to have all but bereft the child of reason.
+
+"Stay with me--save me--keep it away--look, look at it--making signs to
+me--don't let it hurt me--it is angry--Oh! mamma, save me, save me!"
+
+The child said this, all the time clinging to her with both her hands, in
+an ecstasy of panic.
+
+"There--there, my darling," said my poor wife, "don't be afraid; there's
+nothing but me--your own mamma--and little baby in the room; nothing, my
+darling; nothing indeed."
+
+"Mamma, mamma, don't move; don't go near him"; the child continued
+wildly. "It's only his back now; don't make him turn again; he's untying
+his handkerchief. Oh! baby, baby; he'll _kill_ baby! and he's lifting up
+those green things from his eyes; don't you see him doing it? Mamma,
+mamma, why does he come here? Oh, mamma, poor baby--poor little baby!"
+
+She was looking with a terrified gaze at the little boy's bed, which lay
+directly opposite to her own, and in which he was sleeping calmly.
+
+"Hush, hush, my darling child," said my wife, with difficulty
+restraining an hysterical burst of tears; "for God's sake don't speak so
+wildly, my own precious love--there, there--don't be frightened--there,
+darling, there."
+
+"Oh! poor baby--poor little darling baby," the child continued as before;
+"will no one save him--tell that wicked man to go away--oh--there--why,
+mamma--don't--oh, sure you won't let him--don't--don't--he'll take the
+child's life--will you let him lie down that way on the bed--save poor
+little baby--oh, baby, baby, waken--his head is on your face."
+
+As she said this she raised her voice to a cry of despairing terror which
+made the whole room ring again.
+
+This cry, or rather yell, reached my ears as I sate reading in the
+parlour by myself, and fearing I knew not what, I rushed to the
+apartment; before I reached it, the sound had subsided into low but
+violent sobbing; and, just as I arrived at the threshold I heard, close
+at my feet, a fierce protracted growl, and something rubbing along the
+surbase. I was in the dark, but, with a feeling of mingled terror and
+fury, I stamped and struck at the abhorred brute with my feet, but in
+vain. The next moment I was in the room, and heard little Fanny, through
+her sobs, cry--
+
+"Oh, poor baby is killed--that wicked man has killed him--he uncovered
+his face, and put it on him, and lay upon the bed and killed poor baby. I
+knew he came to kill him. Ah, papa, papa, why did you not come up before
+he went?--he is gone, he went away as soon as he killed our poor little
+darling baby."
+
+I could not conceal my agitation, quite, and I said to my wife--
+
+"Has he, Smith, been here?"
+
+"No."
+
+"What is it, then?"
+
+"The child has seen _some_ one."
+
+"Seen whom? Who? Who has been here?"
+
+"I did not see it; but--but I am sure the child saw--that is, _thought_
+she saw _him_;--the person you have named. Oh, God, in mercy deliver us!
+What shall I do--what shall I do!"
+
+Thus saying, the dear little woman burst into tears, and crying, as if
+her heart would break, sobbed out an entreaty that I would look at baby;
+adding, that she herself had not courage to see whether her darling was
+sleeping or dead.
+
+"Dead!" I exclaimed. "Tut, tut, my darling; you must not give way to such
+morbid fancies--he is very well, I see him breathing;" and so saying, I
+went over to the bed where our little boy was lying. He was slumbering;
+though it seemed to me very heavily, and his cheeks were flushed.
+
+"Sleeping tranquilly, my darling--tranquilly, and deeply; and with a
+warm colour in his cheeks," I said, rearranging the coverlet, and
+retiring to my wife, who sate almost breathless whilst I was looking at
+our little boy.
+
+"Thank God--thank God," she said quietly; and she wept again; and rising,
+came to his bedside.
+
+"Yes, yes--alive; thank God; but it seems to me he is breathing very
+short, and with difficulty, and he looks--_does_ he not look hot and
+feverish? Yes, he _is_ very hot; feel his little hand--feel his neck;
+merciful heaven! he is burning."
+
+It was, indeed, very true, that his skin was unnaturally dry and hot; his
+little pulse, too, was going at a fearful rate.
+
+"I do think," said I--resolved to conceal the extent of my own
+apprehensions--"I do think that he is just a _little_ feverish; but he
+has often been much more so; and will, I dare say, in the morning, be
+perfectly well again. I dare say, but for little Fanny's _dream_, we
+should not have observed it at all."
+
+"Oh, my darling, my darling, my darling!" sobbed the poor little woman,
+leaning over the bed, with her hands locked together, and looking the
+very picture of despair. "Oh, my darling, what has happened to you? I put
+you into your bed, looking so well and beautiful, this evening, and here
+you are, stricken with sickness, my own little love. Oh, you will
+not--you cannot, leave your poor mother!"
+
+It was quite plain that she despaired of the child from the moment we had
+ascertained that it was unwell. As it happened, her presentiment was but
+too truly prophetic. The apothecary said the child's ailment was
+"suppressed small-pox"; the physician pronounced it "typhus." The only
+certainty about it was the issue--the child died.
+
+To me few things appear so beautiful as a very young child in its
+shroud. The little innocent face looks so sublimely simple and confiding
+amongst the cold terrors of death--crimeless, and fearless, that little
+mortal has passed alone under the shadow, and explored the mystery of
+dissolution. There is death in its sublimest and purest image--no
+hatred, no hypocrisy, no suspicion, no care for the morrow ever darkened
+that little face; death has come lovingly upon it; there is nothing
+cruel, or harsh, in his victory. The yearnings of love, indeed, cannot
+be stifled; for the prattle, and smiles, and all the little world of
+thoughts that were so delightful, are gone for ever. Awe, too, will
+overcast us in its presence--for we are looking on death; but we do not
+fear for the little, lonely voyager--for the child has gone, simple and
+trusting, into the presence of its all-wise Father; and of such, we
+know, is the kingdom of heaven.
+
+And so we parted from poor little baby. I and his poor old nurse
+drove in a mourning carriage, in which lay the little coffin, early
+in the morning, to the churchyard of ----. Sore, indeed, was my
+heart, as I followed that little coffin to the grave! Another burial
+had just concluded as we entered the churchyard, and the mourners
+stood in clusters round the grave, into which the sexton was now
+shovelling the mould.
+
+As I stood, with head uncovered, listening to the sublime and touching
+service which our ritual prescribes, I found that a gentleman had drawn
+near also, and was standing at my elbow. I did not turn to look at him
+until the earth had closed over my darling boy; I then walked a little
+way apart, that I might be alone, and drying my eyes, sat down upon a
+tombstone, to let the confusion of my mind subside.
+
+While I was thus lost in a sorrowful reverie, the gentleman who had stood
+near me at the grave was once more at my side. The face of the stranger,
+though I could not call it handsome, was very remarkable; its expression
+was the purest and noblest I could conceive, and it was made very
+beautiful by a look of such compassion as I never saw before.
+
+"Why do you sorrow as one without hope?" he said, gently.
+
+"I _have_ no hope," I answered.
+
+"Nay, I think you have," he answered again; "and I am sure you will soon
+have more. That little child for which you grieve, has escaped the
+dangers and miseries of life; its body has perished; but he will receive
+in the end the crown of life. God has given him an early victory."
+
+I know not what it was in him that rebuked my sullen pride, and humbled
+and saddened me, as I listened to this man. He was dressed in deep
+mourning, and looked more serene, noble, and sweet than any I had ever
+seen. He was young, too, as I have said, and his voice very clear and
+harmonious. He talked to me for a long time, and I listened to him with
+involuntary reverence. At last, however, he left me, saying he had often
+seen me walking into town, about the same hour that he used to go that
+way, and that if he saw me again he would walk with me, and so we might
+reason of these things together.
+
+It was late when I returned to my home, now a house of mourning.
+
+
+
+
+PART II
+
+
+Our home was one of sorrow and of fear. The child's death had stricken us
+with terror no less than grief. Referring it, as we both tacitly did, to
+the mysterious and fiendish agency of the abhorred being whom, in an evil
+hour, we had admitted into our house, we both viewed him with a degree
+and species of fear for which I can find no name.
+
+I felt that some further calamity was impending. I could not hope that we
+were to be delivered from the presence of the malignant agent who
+haunted, rather than inhabited our home, without some additional proofs
+alike of his malice and his power.
+
+My poor wife's presentiments were still more terrible and overpowering,
+though not more defined, than my own. She was never tranquil while our
+little girl was out of her sight; always dreading and expecting some new
+revelation of the evil influence which, as we were indeed both persuaded,
+had bereft our darling little boy of life. Against an hostility so
+unearthly and intangible there was no guarding, and the sense of
+helplessness intensified the misery of our situation. Tormented with
+doubts of the very basis of her religion, and recoiling from the ordeal
+of prayer with the strange horror with which the victim of hydrophobia
+repels the pure water, she no longer found the consolation which, had
+sorrow reached her in any other shape, she would have drawn from the
+healing influence of religion. We were both of us unhappy, dismayed,
+DEMON-STRICKEN.
+
+Meanwhile, our lodger's habits continued precisely the same. If, indeed,
+the sounds which came from his apartments were to be trusted, he and his
+agents were more on the alert than ever. I can convey to you, good
+reader, no notion, even the faintest, of the dreadful sensation always
+more or less present to my mind, and sometimes with a reality which
+thrilled me almost to frenzy--the apprehension that I had admitted into
+my house the incarnate spirit of the dead or damned, to torment me and
+my family.
+
+It was some nights after the burial of our dear little baby; we had not
+gone to bed until late, and I had slept, I suppose, some hours, when I
+was awakened by my wife, who clung to me with the energy of terror. She
+said nothing, but grasped and shook me with more than her natural
+strength. She had crept close to me, and was cowering with her head under
+the bedclothes.
+
+The room was perfectly dark, as usual, for we burned no night-light; but
+from the side of the bed next her proceeded a voice as of one sitting
+there with his head within a foot of the curtains--and, merciful heavens!
+it was the voice of our lodger.
+
+He was discoursing of the death of our baby, and inveighing, in the old
+mocking tone of hate and suppressed fury, against the justice, mercy, and
+goodness of God. He did this with a terrible plausibility of sophistry,
+and with a resolute emphasis and precision, which seemed to imply, "I
+have got something to tell you, and, whether you like it or like it not,
+I _will_ say out my say."
+
+To pretend that I felt anger at his intrusion, or emotion of any sort,
+save the one sense of palsied terror, would be to depart from the truth.
+I lay, cold and breathless, as if frozen to death--unable to move, unable
+to utter a cry--with the voice of that demon pouring, in the dark, his
+undisguised blasphemies and temptations close into my ears. At last the
+dreadful voice ceased--whether the speaker went or stayed I could not
+tell--the silence, which he might be improving for the purpose of some
+hellish strategem, was to me more tremendous even than his speech.
+
+We both lay awake, not daring to move or speak, scarcely even breathing,
+but clasping one another fast, until at length the welcome light of day
+streamed into the room through the opening door, as the servant came in
+to call us. I need not say that our nocturnal visitant had left us.
+
+The magnanimous reader will, perhaps, pronounce that I ought to have
+pulled on my boots and inexpressibles with all available despatch, run to
+my lodger's bedroom, and kicked him forthwith downstairs, and the entire
+way moreover out to the public road, as some compensation for the
+scandalous affront put upon me and my wife by his impertinent visit. Now,
+at that time, I had no scruples against what are termed the laws of
+honour, was by no means deficient in "pluck," and gifted, moreover, with
+a somewhat excitable temper. Yet, I will honestly avow that, so far from
+courting a collision with the dreaded stranger, I would have recoiled at
+his very sight, and given my eyes to avoid him, such was the ascendancy
+which he had acquired over me, as well as everybody else in my household,
+in his own quiet, irresistible, hellish way.
+
+The shuddering antipathy which our guest inspired did not rob his
+infernal homily of its effect. It was not a new or strange thing which
+he presented to our minds. There was an awful subtlety in the train of
+his suggestions. All that he had said had floated through my own mind
+before, without order, indeed, or shew of logic. From my own rebellious
+heart the same evil thoughts had risen, like pale apparitions hovering
+and lost in the fumes of a necromancer's cauldron. His was like the
+summing up of all this--a reflection of my own feelings and fancies--but
+reduced to an awful order and definiteness, and clothed with a
+sophistical form of argument. The effect of it was powerful. It revived
+and exaggerated these bad emotions--it methodised and justified
+them--and gave to impulses and impressions, vague and desultory before,
+something of the compactness of a system.
+
+My misfortune, therefore, did not soften, it exasperated me. I regarded
+the Great Disposer of events as a persecutor of the human race, who took
+delight in their miseries. I asked why my innocent child had been smitten
+down into the grave?--and why my darling wife, whose first object, I
+knew, had ever been to serve and glorify her Maker, should have been thus
+tortured and desolated by the cruelest calamity which the malignity of a
+demon could have devised? I railed and blasphemed, and even in my agony
+defied God with the impotent rage and desperation of a devil, in his
+everlasting torment.
+
+In my bitterness, I could not forbear speaking these impenitent
+repetitions of the language of our nightly visitant, even in the presence
+of my wife. She heard me with agony, almost with terror. I pitied and
+loved her too much not to respect even her weaknesses--for so I
+characterised her humble submission to the chastisements of heaven. But
+even while I spared her reverential sensitiveness, the spectacle of her
+patience but enhanced my own gloomy and impenitent rage.
+
+I was walking into town in this evil mood, when I was overtaken by the
+gentleman whom I had spoken with in the churchyard on the morning when my
+little boy was buried. I call him _gentleman_, but I could not say _what_
+was his rank--I never thought about it; there was a grace, a purity, a
+compassion, and a grandeur of intellect in his countenance, in his
+language, in his mien, that was beautiful and kinglike. I felt, in his
+company, a delightful awe, and an humbleness more gratifying than any
+elation of earthly pride.
+
+He divined my state of feeling, but he said nothing harsh. He did not
+rebuke, but he reasoned with me--and oh! how mighty was that
+reasoning--without formality--without effort--as the flower grows and
+blossoms. Its process was in harmony with the successions of
+nature--gentle, spontaneous, irresistible.
+
+At last he left me. I was grieved at his departure--I was
+wonder-stricken. His discourse had made me cry tears at once sweet and
+bitter; it had sounded depths I knew not of, and my heart was disquieted
+within me. Yet my trouble was happier than the resentful and defiant calm
+that had reigned within me before.
+
+When I came home, I told my wife of my having met the same good, wise man
+I had first seen by the grave of my child. I recounted to her his
+discourse, and, as I brought it again to mind, my tears flowed afresh,
+and I was happy while I wept.
+
+I now see that the calamity which bore at first such evil fruit, was good
+for me. It fixed my mind, however rebelliously, upon God, and it stirred
+up all the passions of my heart. Levity, inattention, and
+self-complacency are obstacles harder to be overcome than the violence of
+evil passions--the transition from hate is easier than from indifference,
+to love. A mighty change was making on my mind.
+
+I need not particularise the occasions upon which I again met my
+friend, for so I knew him to be, nor detail the train of reasoning and
+feeling which in such interviews he followed out; it is enough to say,
+that he assiduously cultivated the good seed he had sown, and that his
+benignant teachings took deep root, and flourished in my soul,
+heretofore so barren.
+
+One evening, having enjoyed on the morning of the same day another of
+those delightful and convincing conversations, I was returning on foot
+homeward; and as darkness had nearly closed, and the night threatened
+cold and fog, the footpaths were nearly deserted.
+
+As I walked on, deeply absorbed in the discourse I had heard on the same
+morning, a person overtook me, and continued to walk, without much
+increasing the interval between us, a little in advance of me. There came
+upon me, at the same moment, an indefinable sinking of the heart, a
+strange and unaccountable fear. The pleasing topics of my meditations
+melted away, and gave place to a sense of danger, all the more unpleasant
+that it was vague and objectless. I looked up. What was that which moved
+before me? I stared--I faltered; my heart fluttered as if it would choke
+me, and then stood still. It was the peculiar and unmistakeable form of
+our lodger.
+
+Exactly as I looked at him, he turned his head, and looked at me over his
+shoulder. His face was muffled as usual. I cannot have seen its features
+with any completeness, yet I felt that his look was one of fury. The next
+instant he was at my side; and my heart quailed within me--my limbs all
+but refused their office; yet the very emotions of terror, which might
+have overcome me, acted as a stimulus, and I quickened my pace.
+
+"Hey! what a pious person! So I suppose you have learned at last that
+'evil communications corrupt good manners'; and you are absolutely afraid
+of the old infidel, the old blasphemer, hey?"
+
+I made him no answer; I was indeed too much agitated to speak.
+
+"You'll make a good Christian, no doubt," he continued; "the independent
+man, who thinks for himself, reasons his way to his principles, and
+sticks fast to them, is sure to be true to whatever system he embraces.
+You have been so consistent a philosopher, that I am sure you will make a
+steady Christian. You're not the man to be led by the nose by a
+sophistical mumbler. _You_ could never be made the prey of a grasping
+proselytism; _you_ are not the sport of every whiff of doctrine, nor the
+facile slave of whatever superstition is last buzzed in your ear. No, no:
+you've got a masculine intellect, and think for yourself, hey?"
+
+I was incapable of answering him. I quickened my pace to escape from his
+detested persecution; but he was close beside me still.
+
+We walked on together thus for a time, during which I heard him muttering
+fast to himself, like a man under fierce and malignant excitement. We
+reached, at length, the gateway of my dwelling; and I turned the
+latch-key in the wicket, and entered the enclosure. As we stood together
+within, he turned full upon me, and confronting me with an aspect whose
+character I felt rather than saw, he said--
+
+"And so you mean to be a Christian, after all! Now just reflect how very
+absurdly you are choosing. Leave the Bible to that class of fanatics who
+may hope to be saved under its system, and, in the name of common sense,
+study the Koran, or some less ascetic tome. Don't be gulled by a
+plausible slave, who wants nothing more than to multiply _professors_ of
+his theory. Why don't you _read_ the Bible, you miserable, puling
+poltroon, before you hug it as a treasure? Why don't you read it, and
+learn out of the mouth of the founder of Christianity, that there is one
+sin for which there is _no_ forgiveness--blasphemy against the Holy
+Ghost, hey?--and that sin I myself have heard you commit by the hour--in
+my presence--in my room. I have heard you commit it in our free
+discussions a dozen times. The Bible seals against you the lips of mercy.
+If _it_ be true, you are this moment as irrevocably damned as if you had
+died with those blasphemies on your lips."
+
+Having thus spoken, he glided into the house. I followed slowly.
+
+His words rang in my ears--I was stunned. What he had said I feared might
+be true. Giant despair felled me to the earth. He had recalled, and
+lighted up with a glare from the pit, remembrances with which I knew not
+how to cope. It was true I had spoken with daring impiety of subjects
+whose sacredness I now began to appreciate. With trembling hands I opened
+the Bible. I read and re-read the mysterious doom recorded by the
+Redeemer himself against blasphemers of the Holy Ghost--monsters set
+apart from the human race, and damned and dead, even while they live and
+walk upon the earth. I groaned--I wept. Henceforward the Bible, I
+thought, must be to me a dreadful record of despair. I dared not read it.
+
+I will not weary you with all my mental agonies. My dear little wife did
+something toward relieving my mind, but it was reserved for the friend,
+to whose heavenly society I owed so much, to tranquillise it once more.
+He talked this time to me longer, and even more earnestly than before. I
+soon encountered him again. He expounded to me the ways of Providence,
+and showed me how needful sorrow was for every servant of God. How mercy
+was disguised in tribulation, and our best happiness came to us, like our
+children, in tears and wailing. He showed me that trials were sent to
+call us up, with a voice of preternatural power, from the mortal apathy
+of sin and the world. And then, again, in our new and better state, to
+prove our patience and our faith--
+
+"The more trouble befalls you, the nearer is God to you. He visits you in
+sorrow--and sorrow, as well as joy, is a sign of his presence. If, then,
+other griefs overtake you, remember this--be patient, be faithful; and
+bless the name of God."
+
+I returned home comforted and happy, although I felt assured that some
+further and sadder trial was before me.
+
+Still our household was overcast by the same insurmountable dread of our
+tenant. The same strange habits characterised him, and the same
+unaccountable sounds disquieted us--an atmosphere of death and malice
+hovered about his door, and we all hated and feared to pass it.
+
+Let me now tell, as well and briefly as I may, the dreadful circumstances
+of my last great trial. One morning, my wife being about her household
+affairs, and I on the point of starting for town, I went into the parlour
+for some letters which I was to take with me. I cannot easily describe my
+consternation when, on entering the room, I saw our lodger seated near
+the window, with our darling little girl upon his knee.
+
+His back was toward the door, but I could plainly perceive that the
+respirator had been removed from his mouth, and that the odious green
+goggles were raised. He was sitting, as it seemed, absolutely without
+motion, and his face was advanced close to that of the child.
+
+I stood looking at this group in a state of stupor for some seconds. He
+was, I suppose, conscious of my presence, for although he did not turn
+his head, or otherwise take any note of my arrival, he readjusted the
+muffler which usually covered his mouth, and lowered the clumsy
+spectacles to their proper place.
+
+The child was sitting upon his knee as motionless as he himself, with a
+countenance white and rigid as that of a corpse, and from which every
+trace of meaning, except some vague character of terror, had fled, and
+staring with a fixed and dilated gaze into his face.
+
+As it seemed, she did not perceive my presence. Her eyes were transfixed
+and fascinated. She did not even seem to me to breathe. Horror and
+anguish at last overcame my stupefaction.
+
+"What--what is it?" I cried; "what ails my child, my darling child?"
+
+"I'd be glad to know, myself," he replied, coolly; "it is certainly
+something very queer."
+
+"What is it, darling?" I repeated, frantically, addressing the child.
+
+"What is it?" he reiterated. "Why it's pretty plain, I should suppose,
+that the child is ill."
+
+"Oh merciful God!" I cried, half furious, half terrified--"You have
+injured her--you have terrified her. Give me my child--give her to me."
+
+These words I absolutely shouted, and stamped upon the floor in my horrid
+excitement.
+
+"Pooh, pooh!" he said, with a sort of ugly sneer; "the child is
+nervous--you'll make her more so--be quiet and she'll probably find her
+tongue presently. I have had her on my knee some minutes, but the sweet
+bird could not tell what ails her."
+
+"Let the child go," I shouted in a voice of thunder; "let her go, I
+say--let her go."
+
+He took the passive, death-like child, and placed her standing by the
+window, and rising, he simply said--
+
+"As soon as you grow cool, you are welcome to ask me what questions you
+like. The child is plainly ill. I should not wonder if she had seen
+something that frightened her."
+
+Having thus spoken, he passed from the room. I felt as if I spoke, saw,
+and walked in a horrid dream. I seized the darling child in my arms, and
+bore her away to her mother.
+
+"What is it--for mercy's sake what is the matter?" she cried, growing in
+an instant as pale as the poor child herself.
+
+"I found that--that _demon_--in the parlour with the child on his lap,
+staring in her face. She is manifestly terrified."
+
+"Oh! gracious God! she is lost--she is killed," cried the poor
+mother, frantically looking into the white, apathetic, meaningless
+face of the child.
+
+"Fanny, darling Fanny, tell us if you are ill," I cried, pressing the
+little girl in terror to my heart.
+
+"Tell your own mother, my darling," echoed my poor little wife. "Oh!
+darling, darling child, speak to your poor mother."
+
+It was all in vain. Still the same dilated, imploring gaze--the same pale
+face--wild and dumb. We brought her to the open window--we gave her cold
+water to drink--we sprinkled it in her face. We sent for the apothecary,
+who lived hard by, and he arrived in a few moments, with a parcel of
+tranquillising medicines. These, however, were equally unavailing.
+
+Hour after hour passed away. The darling child looked upon us as if she
+would have given the world to speak to us, or to weep, but she uttered no
+sound. Now and then she drew a long breath as though preparing to say
+something, but still she was mute. She often put her hand to her throat,
+as if there was some pain or obstruction there.
+
+I never can, while I live, lose one line of that mournful and terrible
+portrait--the face of my stricken child. As hour after hour passed away,
+without bringing the smallest change or amendment, we grew both alarmed,
+and at length absolutely terrified for her safety.
+
+We called in a physician toward night, and told him that we had reason to
+suspect that the child had somehow been frightened, and that in no other
+way could we at all account for the extraordinary condition in which he
+found her.
+
+This was a man, I may as well observe, though I do not name him, of the
+highest eminence in his profession, and one in whose skill, from past
+personal experience, I had the best possible reasons for implicitly
+confiding.
+
+He asked a multiplicity of questions, the answers to which seemed to
+baffle his attempts to arrive at a satisfactory diagnosis. There was
+something undoubtedly anomalous in the case, and I saw plainly that there
+were features in it which puzzled and perplexed him not a little.
+
+At length, however, he wrote his prescription, and promised to return at
+nine o'clock. I remember there was something to be rubbed along her
+spine, and some medicines beside.
+
+But these remedies were as entirely unavailing as the others. In a state
+of dismay and distraction we watched by the bed in which, in accordance
+with the physician's direction, we had placed her. The absolute
+changelessness of her condition filled us with despair. The day which had
+elapsed had not witnessed even a transitory variation in the dreadful
+character of her seizure. Any change, even a change for the worse, would
+have been better than this sluggish, hopeless monotony of suffering.
+
+At the appointed hour the physician returned. He appeared disappointed,
+almost shocked, at the failure of his prescriptions. On feeling her pulse
+he declared that she must have a little wine. There had been a wonderful
+prostration of all the vital powers since he had seen her before. He
+evidently thought the case a strange and precarious one.
+
+She was made to swallow the wine, and her pulse rallied for a time, but
+soon subsided again. I and the physician were standing by the fire,
+talking in whispers of the darling child's symptoms, and likelihood of
+recovery, when we were arrested in our conversation by a cry of anguish
+from the poor mother, who had never left the bedside of her little child,
+and this cry broke into bitter and convulsive weeping.
+
+The poor little child had, on a sudden, stretched down her little hands
+and feet, and died. There is no mistaking the features of death: the
+filmy eye and dropt jaw once seen, are recognised whenever we meet them
+again. Yet, spite of our belief, we cling to hope; and the distracted
+mother called on the physician, in accents which might have moved a
+statue, to say that her darling was not dead, not quite dead--that
+something might still be done--that it could not be all over. Silently
+he satisfied himself that no throb of life still fluttered in that
+little frame.
+
+"It is, indeed, all over," he said, in tones scarce above a whisper; and
+pressing my hand kindly, he said, "comfort your poor wife"; and so, after
+a momentary pause, he left the room.
+
+This blow had smitten me with stunning suddenness. I looked at the dead
+child, and from her to her poor mother. Grief and pity were both
+swallowed up in transports of fury and detestation with which the
+presence in my house of the wretch who had wrought all this destruction
+and misery filled my soul. My heart swelled with ungovernable rage; for a
+moment my habitual fear of him was neutralised by the vehemence of these
+passions. I seized a candle in silence, and mounted the stairs. The sight
+of the accursed cat, flitting across the lobby, and the loneliness of the
+hour, made me hesitate for an instant. I had, however, gone so far, that
+shame sustained me. Overcoming a momentary thrill of dismay, and
+determined to repel and defy the influence that had so long awed me, I
+knocked sharply at the door, and, almost at the same instant, pushed it
+open, and entered our lodger's chamber.
+
+He had had no candle in the room, and it was lighted only by the
+"darkness visible" that entered through the window. The candle which I
+held very imperfectly illuminated the large apartment; but I saw his
+spectral form floating, rather than walking, back and forward in front of
+the windows.
+
+At sight of him, though I hated him more than ever, my instinctive fear
+returned. He confronted me, and drew nearer and nearer, without speaking.
+There was something indefinably fearful in the silent attraction which
+seemed to be drawing him to me. I could not help recoiling, little by
+little, as he came toward me, and with an effort I said--
+
+"You know why I have come: the child--she's dead!"
+
+"Dead--ha!--_dead_--is she?" he said, in his odious, mocking tone.
+
+"Yes--dead!" I cried, with an excitement which chilled my very marrow
+with horror; "and _you_ have killed her, as you killed my other."
+
+"How?--I killed her!--eh?--ha, ha!" he said, still edging nearer
+and nearer.
+
+"Yes; I say you!" I shouted, trembling in every joint, but
+possessed by that unaccountable infatuation which has made men
+invoke, spite of themselves, their own destruction, and which I was
+powerless to resist--"deny it as you may, it is you who killed
+her--wretch!--FIEND!--no wonder she could not stand the breath and
+glare of HELL!"
+
+"And you are one of those who believe that not a sparrow falls to the
+ground without your Creator's consent," he said, with icy sarcasm; "and
+this is a specimen of Christian resignation--hey? You charge his act upon
+a poor fellow like me, simply that you may cheat the devil, and rave and
+rebel against the decrees of heaven, under pretence of abusing me. The
+breath and flare of hell!--eh? You mean that I removed this and these
+(touching the covering of his mouth and eyes successively) as I _shall_
+do now again, and show you there's no great harm in that."
+
+There was a tone of menace in his concluding words not to be mistaken.
+
+"Murderer and liar from the beginning, as you are, I defy you!" I
+shouted, in a frenzy of hate and horror, stamping furiously on the floor.
+
+As I said this, it seemed to me that he darkened and dilated before my
+eyes. My senses, thoughts, consciousness, grew horribly confused, as if
+some powerful, extraneous will, were seizing upon the functions of my
+brain. Whether I were to be mastered by death, or madness, or possession,
+I knew not; but hideous destruction of some sort was impending: all hung
+upon the moment, and I cried aloud, in my agony, an adjuration in the
+name of the three persons of the Trinity, that he should not torment me.
+
+Stunned, bewildered, like a man recovered from a drunken fall, I stood,
+freezing and breathless, in the same spot, looking into the room, which
+wore, in my eyes, a strange, unearthly character. Mr. Smith was cowering
+darkly in the window, and, after a silence, spoke to me in a croaking,
+sulky tone, which was, however, unusually submissive.
+
+"Don't it strike you as an odd procedure to break into a gentleman's
+apartment at such an hour, for the purpose of railing at him in the
+coarsest language? If you have any charge to make against me, do so; I
+invite inquiry and defy your worst. If you think you can bring home to me
+the smallest share of blame in this unlucky matter, call the coroner, and
+let his inquest examine and cross-examine me, and sift the matter--if,
+indeed, there is anything to _be_ sifted--to the bottom. Meanwhile, go
+you about your business, and leave me to mine. But I see how the wind
+sits; you want to get rid of me, and so you make the place odious to me.
+But it won't do; and if you take to making criminal charges against me,
+you had better look to yourself; for two can play at that game."
+
+There was a suppressed whine in all this, which strangely contrasted with
+the cool and threatening tone of his previous conversation.
+
+Without answering a word I hurried from the room, and scarcely felt
+secure, even when once more in the melancholy chamber, where my poor wife
+was weeping.
+
+Miserable, horrible was the night that followed. The loss of our child
+was a calamity which we had not dared to think of. It had come, and with
+a suddenness enough to bereave me of reason. It seemed all unreal, all
+fantastic. It needed an effort to convince me, minute after minute, that
+the dreadful truth was so; and the old accustomed feeling that she was
+still alive, still running from room to room, and the expectation that I
+should hear her step and her voice, and see her entering at the door,
+would return. But still the sense of dismay, of having received some
+stunning, irreparable blow, remained behind; and then came the horrible
+effort, like that with which one rouses himself from a haunted sleep, the
+question, "What disaster is this that has befallen?"--answered, alas! but
+too easily, too terribly! Amidst all this was perpetually rising before
+my fancy the obscure, dilated figure of our lodger, as he had confronted
+me in his malign power that night. I dismissed the image with a shudder
+as often as it recurred; and even now, at this distance of time, I have
+felt more than I could well describe in the mere effort to fix my
+recollection upon its hated traits, while writing the passages I have
+just concluded.
+
+This hateful scene I did not recount to my poor wife. Its horrors were
+too fresh upon me. I had not courage to trust myself with the agitating
+narrative; and so I sate beside her, with her hand locked in mine: I had
+no comfort to offer but the dear love I bore her.
+
+At last, like a child, she cried herself to sleep--the dull, heavy
+slumber of worn-out grief. As for me, the agitation of my soul was too
+fearful and profound for repose. My eye accidentally rested on the holy
+volume, which lay upon the table open, as I had left it in the morning;
+and the first words which met my eye were these--"For our light
+affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more
+exceeding and eternal weight of glory." This blessed sentence riveted my
+attention, and shed a stream of solemn joy upon my heart; and so the
+greater part of that mournful night, I continued to draw comfort and
+heavenly wisdom from the same inspired source.
+
+Next day brought the odious incident, the visit of the undertaker--the
+carpentery, upholstery, and millinery of death. Why has not civilisation
+abolished these repulsive and shocking formalities? What has the poor
+corpse to do with frills, and pillows, and napkins, and all the equipage
+in which it rides on its last journey? There is no intrusion so jarring
+to the decent grief of surviving affection, no conceivable mummery more
+derisive of mortality.
+
+In the room which we had been so long used to call "the nursery," now
+desolate and mute, the unclosed coffin lay, with our darling shrouded in
+it. Before we went to our rest at night we visited it. In the morning the
+lid was to close over that sweet face, and I was to see the child laid by
+her little brother. We looked upon the well-known and loved features,
+purified in the sublime serenity of death, for a long time, whispering to
+one another, among our sobs, how sweet and beautiful we thought she
+looked; and at length, weeping bitterly, we tore ourselves away.
+
+We talked and wept for many hours, and at last, in sheer exhaustion,
+dropt asleep. My little wife awaked me, and said--
+
+"I think they have come--the--the undertakers."
+
+It was still dark, so I could not consult my watch; but they were to have
+arrived early, and as it was winter, and the nights long, the hour of
+their visit might well have arrived.
+
+"What, darling, is your reason for thinking so?" I asked.
+
+"I am sure I have heard them for some time in the nursery," she answered.
+"Oh! dear, dear little Fanny! Don't allow them to close the coffin until
+I have seen my darling once more."
+
+I got up, and threw some clothes hastily about me. I opened the door and
+listened. A sound like a muffled knocking reached me from the nursery.
+
+"Yes, my darling!" I said, "I think they have come. I will go and desire
+them to wait until you have seen her again."
+
+And, so saying, I hastened from the room.
+
+Our bedchamber lay at the end of a short corridor, opening from the
+lobby, at the head of the stairs, and the nursery was situated nearly at
+the end of a corresponding passage, which opened from the same lobby at
+the opposite side As I hurried along I distinctly heard the same sounds.
+The light of dawn had not yet appeared, but there was a strong moonlight
+shining through the windows. I thought the morning could hardly be so far
+advanced as we had at first supposed; but still, strangely as it now
+seems to me, suspecting nothing amiss, I walked on in noiseless,
+slippered feet, to the nursery-door. It stood half open; some one had
+unquestionably visited it since we had been there. I stepped forward, and
+entered. At the threshold horror arrested my advance.
+
+The coffin was placed upon tressles at the further extremity of the
+chamber, with the foot of it nearly towards the door, and a large window
+at the side of it admitted the cold lustre of the moon full upon the
+apparatus of mortality, and the objects immediately about it.
+
+At the foot of the coffin stood the ungainly form of our lodger. He
+seemed to be intently watching the face of the corpse, and was stooped a
+little, while with his hands he tapped sharply, from time to time at the
+sides of the coffin, like one who designs to awaken a slumberer. Perched
+upon the body of the child, and nuzzling among the grave-clothes, with a
+strange kind of ecstasy, was the detested brute, the cat I have so often
+mentioned.
+
+The group thus revealed, I looked upon but for one instant; in the next I
+shouted, in absolute terror--
+
+"In God's name! what are you doing?"
+
+Our lodger shuffled away abruptly, as if disconcerted; but the
+ill-favoured cat, whisking round, stood like a demon sentinel upon the
+corpse, growling and hissing, with arched back and glaring eyes.
+
+The lodger, turning abruptly toward me, motioned me to one side.
+Mechanically I obeyed his gesture, and he hurried hastily from the room.
+
+Sick and dizzy, I returned to my own chamber. I confess I had not nerve
+to combat the infernal brute, which still held possession of the room,
+and so I left it undisturbed.
+
+This incident I did not tell to my wife until some time afterwards; and I
+mention it here because it was, and is, in my mind associated with a
+painful circumstance which very soon afterwards came to light.
+
+That morning I witnessed the burial of my darling child. Sore and
+desolate was my heart; but with infinite gratitude to the great
+controller of all events, I recognised in it a change which nothing but
+the spirit of all good can effect. The love and fear of God had grown
+strong within me--in humbleness I bowed to his awful will--with a sincere
+trust I relied upon the goodness, the wisdom, and the mercy of him who
+had sent this great affliction. But a further incident connected with
+this very calamity was to test this trust and patience to the uttermost.
+
+It was still early when I returned, having completed the last sad office.
+My wife, as I afterwards learned, still lay weeping upon her bed. But
+somebody awaited my return in the hall, and opened the door, anticipating
+my knock. This person was our lodger.
+
+I was too much appalled by the sudden presentation of this abhorred
+spectre even to retreat, as my instinct would have directed, through the
+open door.
+
+"I have been expecting your return," he said, "with the design of saying
+something which it might have profited you to learn, but now I apprehend
+it is too late. What a pity you are so violent and impatient; you would
+not have heard me, in all probability, this morning. You cannot think
+how cross-grained and intemperate you have grown since you became a
+saint--but that is your affair, not mine. You have buried your little
+daughter this morning. It requires a good deal of that new attribute of
+yours, _faith_, which judges all things by a rule of contraries, and can
+never see anything but kindness in the worst afflictions which malignity
+could devise, to discover benignity and mercy in the torturing calamity
+which has just punished you and your wife for _nothing_! But I fancy
+that it will be harder still when I tell you what I more than
+suspect--ha, ha. It would be really ridiculous, if it were not
+heart-rending; that your little girl has been actually buried _alive_;
+do you comprehend me?--alive. For, upon my life, I fancy she was not
+dead as she lay in her coffin."
+
+I knew the wretch was exulting in the fresh anguish he had just
+inflicted. I know not how it was, but any announcement of _disaster_ from
+his lips, seemed to me to be necessarily true. Half-stifled with the
+dreadful emotions he had raised, palpitating between hope and terror, I
+rushed frantically back again, the way I had just come, running as fast
+as my speed could carry me, toward the, alas! distant burial-ground where
+my darling lay.
+
+I stopped a cab slowly returning to town, at the corner of the lane,
+sprang into it, directed the man to drive to the church of ----, and
+promised him anything and everything for despatch. The man seemed amazed;
+doubtful, perhaps, whether he carried a maniac or a malefactor. Still he
+took his chance for the promised reward, and galloped his horse, while I,
+tortured with suspense, yelled my frantic incentives to further speed.
+
+At last, in a space immeasurably short, but which to me was protracted
+almost beyond endurance, we reached the spot. I halloed to the sexton,
+who was now employed upon another grave, to follow me. I myself seized a
+mattock, and in obedience to my incoherent and agonised commands, he
+worked as he had never worked before. The crumbling mould flew swiftly to
+the upper soil--deeper and deeper, every moment, grew the narrow
+grave--at last I sobbed, "Thank God--thank God," as I saw the face of the
+coffin emerge; a few seconds more and it lay upon the sward beside me,
+and we both, with the edges of our spades, ripped up the lid.
+
+_There_ was the corpse--but not the tranquil statue I had seen it last.
+Its knees were both raised, and one of its little hands drawn up and
+clenched near its throat, as if in a feeble but agonised struggle to
+force up the superincumbent mass. The eyes, that I had last seen closed,
+were now open, and the face no longer serenely pale, but livid and
+distorted.
+
+I had time to see all in an instant; the whole scene reeled and darkened
+before me, and I swooned away.
+
+When I came to myself, I found that I had been removed to the
+vestry-room. The open coffin was in the aisle of the church, surrounded
+by a curious crowd. A medical gentleman had examined the body carefully,
+and had pronounced life totally extinct. The trepidation and horror I
+experienced were indescribable. I felt like the murderer of my own child.
+Desperate as I was of any chance of its life, I dispatched messengers for
+no less than three of the most eminent physicians then practising in
+London. All concurred--the child was now as dead as any other, the oldest
+tenant of the churchyard.
+
+Notwithstanding which, I would not permit the body to be reinterred for
+several days, until the symptoms of decay became unequivocal, and the
+most fantastic imagination could no longer cherish a doubt. This,
+however, I mention only parenthetically, as I hasten to the conclusion of
+my narrative. The circumstance which I have last described found its way
+to the public, and caused no small sensation at the time.
+
+I drove part of the way home, and then discharged the cab, and walked the
+remainder. On my way, with an emotion of ecstasy I cannot describe, I met
+the good being to whom I owed so much. I ran to meet him, and felt as if
+I could throw myself at his feet, and kiss the very ground before him. I
+knew by his heavenly countenance he was come to speak comfort and healing
+to my heart.
+
+With humbleness and gratitude, I drank in his sage and holy discourse. I
+need not follow the gracious and delightful exposition of God's revealed
+will and character with which he cheered and confirmed my faltering
+spirit. A solemn joy, a peace and trust, streamed on my heart. The wreck
+and desolation there, lost their bleak and ghastly character, like ruins
+illuminated by the mellow beams of a solemn summer sunset.
+
+In this conversation, I told him what I had never revealed to any one
+before--the absolute terror, in all its stupendous and maddening
+amplitude, with which I regarded our ill-omened lodger, and my agonised
+anxiety to rid my house of him. My companion answered me--
+
+"I know the person of whom you speak--he designs no good for you or any
+other. He, too, knows me, and I have intimated to him that he must now
+leave you, and visit you no more. Be firm and bold, trusting in God,
+through his Son, like a good soldier, and you will win the victory from a
+greater and even worse than he--the _unseen_ enemy of mankind. You need
+not see or speak with your evil tenant any more. Call to him from your
+hall, in the name of the Most Holy, to leave you bodily, with all that
+appertains to him, this evening. He knows that he must go, and will obey
+you. But leave the house as soon as may be yourself; you will scarce have
+peace in it. Your own remembrances will trouble you and _other minds have
+established associations within its walls and chambers too_."
+
+These words sounded mysteriously in my ears.
+
+Let me say here, before I bring my reminiscences to a close, a word or
+two about the house in which these detested scenes occurred, and which I
+did not long continue to inhabit. What I afterwards learned of it, seemed
+to supply in part a dim explanation of these words.
+
+In a country village there is no difficulty in accounting for the
+tenacity with which the sinister character of a haunted tenement cleaves
+to it. Thin neighbourhoods are favourable to scandal; and in such
+localities the reputation of a house, like that of a woman, once blown
+upon, never quite recovers. In huge London, however, it is quite another
+matter; and, therefore, it was with some surprise that, five years after
+I had vacated the house in which the occurrences I have described took
+place, I learned that a respectable family who had taken it were obliged
+to give it up, on account of annoyances, for which they could not
+account, and all proceeding from the apartments formerly occupied by our
+"lodger." Among the sounds described were footsteps restlessly
+traversing the floor of that room, accompanied by the peculiar tapping
+of the crutch.
+
+I was so anxious about this occurrence, that I contrived to have strict
+inquiries made into the matter. The result, however, added little to what
+I had at first learned--except, indeed, that our old friend, the cat,
+bore a part in the transaction as I suspected; for the servant, who had
+been placed to sleep in the room, complained that something bounded on
+and off, and ran to-and-fro along the foot of the bed, in the dark. The
+same servant, while in the room, in the broad daylight, had heard the
+sound of walking, and even the rustling of clothes near him, as of people
+passing and repassing; and, although he had never seen anything, he yet
+became so terrified that he would not remain in the house, and
+ultimately, in a short time, left his situation.
+
+These sounds, attention having been called to them, were now incessantly
+observed--the measured walking up and down the room, the opening and
+closing of the door, and the teazing tap of the crutch--all these sounds
+were continually repeated, until at last, worn out, frightened, and
+worried, its occupants resolved on abandoning the house.
+
+About four years since, having had occasion to visit the capital, I
+resolved on a ramble by Old Brompton, just to see if the house were still
+inhabited. I searched for it, however, in vain, and at length, with
+difficulty, ascertained its site, upon which now stood two small,
+staring, bran-new brick houses, with each a gay enclosure of flowers.
+Every trace of our old mansion, and, let us hope, of our "mysterious
+lodger," had entirely vanished.
+
+Let me, however, return to my narrative where I left it.
+
+Discoursing upon heavenly matters, my good and gracious friend
+accompanied me even within the outer gate of my own house. I asked him to
+come in and rest himself, but he would not; and before he turned to
+depart, he lifted up his hand, and blessed me and my household.
+
+Having done this, he went away. My eyes followed him till he disappeared,
+and I turned to the house. My darling wife was standing at the window of
+the parlour. There was a seraphic smile on her face--pale, pure, and
+beautiful as death. She was gazing with an humble, heavenly earnestness
+on us. The parting blessing of the stranger shed a sweet and hallowed
+influence on my heart. I went into the parlour, to my darling: childless
+she was now; I had now need to be a tender companion to her.
+
+She raised her arms in a sort of transport, with the same smile of
+gratitude and purity, and, throwing them round my neck, she said--
+
+"I have seen him--it is he--the man that came with you to the door, and
+blessed us as he went away--is the same I saw in my dream--the same who
+took little baby in his arms, and said he would take care of him, and
+give him safely to me again."
+
+More than a quarter of a century has glided away since then; other
+children have been given us by the good God--children who have been, from
+infancy to maturity, a pride and blessing to us. Sorrows and reverses,
+too, have occasionally visited us; yet, on the whole, we have been
+greatly blessed; prosperity has long since ended all the cares of the
+_res angusta domi_, and expanded our power of doing good to our
+fellow-creatures. God has given it; and God, we trust, directs its
+dispensation. In our children, and--would you think it?--our
+_grand_-children, too, the same beneficent God has given us objects that
+elicit and return all the delightful affections, and exchange the sweet
+converse that makes home and family dearer than aught else, save that
+blessed home where the Christian family shall meet at last.
+
+The dear companion of my early love and sorrows still lives, blessed be
+Heaven! The evening tints of life have fallen upon her; but the dear
+remembrance of a first love, that never grew cold, makes her beauty
+changeless for me. As for your humble servant, he is considerably her
+senior, and looks it: time has stolen away his raven locks, and given
+him a _chevelure_ of snow instead. But, as I said before, I and my wife
+love, and, I believe, _admire_ one another more than ever; and I have
+often seen our elder children smile archly at one another, when they
+thought we did not observe them, thinking, no doubt, how like a pair of
+lovers we two were.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK J. S. LE FANU'S GHOSTLY TALES,
+VOLUME 4***
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