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diff --git a/24879-0.txt b/24879-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5187b21 --- /dev/null +++ b/24879-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9149 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 24879 *** + + + + +CURIOUS, IF TRUE + + +STRANGE TALES + + + +Mrs Gaskell + + + + +Contents + + +The Old Nurse's Story 1 + +The Poor Clare 26 + +Lois the Witch 88 + +The Grey Woman 187 + +Curious, if True 249 + + + + +THE OLD NURSE'S STORY + + +You know, my dears, that your mother was an orphan, and an only child; +and I daresay you have heard that your grandfather was a clergyman up +in Westmoreland, where I come from. I was just a girl in the village +school, when, one day, your grandmother came in to ask the mistress if +there was any scholar there who would do for a nurse-maid; and mighty +proud I was, I can tell ye, when the mistress called me up, and spoke +of me being a good girl at my needle, and a steady, honest girl, and +one whose parents were very respectable, though they might be poor. I +thought I should like nothing better than to serve the pretty young +lady, who was blushing as deep as I was, as she spoke of the coming +baby, and what I should have to do with it. However, I see you don't +care so much for this part of my story, as for what you think is to +come, so I'll tell you at once. I was engaged and settled at the +parsonage before Miss Rosamond (that was the baby, who is now your +mother) was born. To be sure, I had little enough to do with her when +she came, for she was never out of her mother's arms, and slept by her +all night long; and proud enough was I sometimes when missis trusted +her to me. There never was such a baby before or since, though you've +all of you been fine enough in your turns; but for sweet, winning ways, +you've none of you come up to your mother. She took after her mother, +who was a real lady born; a Miss Furnivall, a grand-daughter of Lord +Furnivall's, in Northumberland. I believe she had neither brother nor +sister, and had been brought up in my lord's family till she had +married your grandfather, who was just a curate, son to a shopkeeper in +Carlisle--but a clever, fine gentleman as ever was--and one who was a +right-down hard worker in his parish, which was very wide, and +scattered all abroad over the Westmoreland Fells. When your mother, +little Miss Rosamond, was about four or five years old, both her +parents died in a fortnight--one after the other. Ah! that was a sad +time. My pretty young mistress and me was looking for another baby, +when my master came home from one of his long rides, wet and tired, and +took the fever he died of; and then she never held up her head again, +but just lived to see her dead baby, and have it laid on her breast, +before she sighed away her life. My mistress had asked me, on her +death-bed, never to leave Miss Rosamond; but if she had never spoken a +word, I would have gone with the little child to the end of the world. + +The next thing, and before we had well stilled our sobs, the executors +and guardians came to settle the affairs. They were my poor young +mistress's own cousin, Lord Furnivall, and Mr. Esthwaite, my master's +brother, a shopkeeper in Manchester; not so well to do then as he was +afterwards, and with a large family rising about him. Well! I don't +know if it were their settling, or because of a letter my mistress +wrote on her death-bed to her cousin, my lord; but somehow it was +settled that Miss Rosamond and me were to go to Furnivall Manor House, +in Northumberland, and my lord spoke as if it had been her mother's +wish that she should live with his family, and as if he had no +objections, for that one or two more or less could make no difference +in so grand a household. So, though that was not the way in which I +should have wished the coming of my bright and pretty pet to have been +looked at--who was like a sunbeam in any family, be it never so +grand--I was well pleased that all the folks in the Dale should stare +and admire, when they heard I was going to be young lady's maid at my +Lord Furnivall's at Furnivall Manor. + +But I made a mistake in thinking we were to go and live where my lord +did. It turned out that the family had left Furnivall Manor House fifty +years or more. I could not hear that my poor young mistress had never +been there, though she had been brought up in the family; and I was +sorry for that, for I should have liked Miss Rosamond's youth to have +passed where her mother's had been. + +My lord's gentleman, from whom I asked as many questions as I durst, +said that the Manor House was at the foot of the Cumberland Fells, and +a very grand place; that an old Miss Furnivall, a great-aunt of my +lord's, lived there, with only a few servants; but that it was a very +healthy place, and my lord had thought that it would suit Miss Rosamond +very well for a few years, and that her being there might perhaps amuse +his old aunt. + +I was bidden by my lord to have Miss Rosamond's things ready by a +certain day. He was a stern, proud man, as they say all the Lords +Furnivall were; and he never spoke a word more than was necessary. Folk +did say he had loved my young mistress; but that, because she knew that +his father would object, she would never listen to him, and married Mr. +Esthwaite; but I don't know. He never married, at any rate. But he +never took much notice of Miss Rosamond; which I thought he might have +done if he had cared for her dead mother. He sent his gentleman with us +to the Manor House, telling him to join him at Newcastle that same +evening; so there was no great length of time for him to make us known +to all the strangers before he, too, shook us off; and we were left, +two lonely young things (I was not eighteen) in the great old Manor +House. It seems like yesterday that we drove there. We had left our own +dear parsonage very early, and we had both cried as if our hearts would +break, though we were travelling in my lord's carriage, which I thought +so much of once. And now it was long past noon on a September day, and +we stopped to change horses for the last time at a little smoky town, +all full of colliers and miners. Miss Rosamond had fallen asleep, but +Mr. Henry told me to waken her, that she might see the park and the +Manor House as we drove up. I thought it rather a pity; but I did what +he bade me, for fear he should complain of me to my lord. We had left +all signs of a town, or even a village, and were then inside the gates +of a large wild park--not like the parks here in the south, but with +rocks, and the noise of running water, and gnarled thorn-trees, and old +oaks, all white and peeled with age. + +The road went up about two miles, and then we saw a great and stately +house, with many trees close around it, so close that in some places +their branches dragged against the walls when the wind blew; and some +hung broken down; for no one seemed to take much charge of the +place;--to lop the wood, or to keep the moss-covered carriage-way in +order. Only in front of the house all was clear. The great oval drive +was without a weed; and neither tree nor creeper was allowed to grow +over the long, many-windowed front; at both sides of which a wing +protected, which were each the ends of other side fronts; for the +house, although it was so desolate, was even grander than I expected. +Behind it rose the Fells; which seemed unenclosed and bare enough; and +on the left hand of the house, as you stood facing it, was a little, +old-fashioned flower-garden, as I found out afterwards. A door opened +out upon it from the west front; it had been scooped out of the thick, +dark wood for some old Lady Furnivall; but the branches of the great +forest-trees had grown and overshadowed it again, and there were very +few flowers that would live there at that time. + +When we drove up to the great front entrance, and went into the hall, I +thought we would be lost--it was so large, and vast and grand. There +was a chandelier all of bronze, hung down from the middle of the +ceiling; and I had never seen one before, and looked at it all in +amaze. Then, at one end of the hall, was a great fire-place, as large +as the sides of the houses in my country, with massy andirons and dogs +to hold the wood; and by it were heavy, old-fashioned sofas. At the +opposite end of the hall, to the left as you went in--on the western +side--was an organ built into the wall, and so large that it filled up +the best part of that end. Beyond it, on the same side, was a door; and +opposite, on each side of the fire-place, were also doors leading to +the east front; but those I never went through as long as I stayed in +the house, so I can't tell you what lay beyond. + +The afternoon was closing in, and the hall, which had no fire lighted +in it, looked dark and gloomy, but we did not stay there a moment. The +old servant, who had opened the door for us, bowed to Mr. Henry, and +took us in through the door at the further side of the great organ, and +led us through several smaller halls and passages into the west +drawing-room, where he said that Miss Furnivall was sitting. Poor +little Miss Rosamond held very tight to me, as if she were scared and +lost in that great place; and as for myself, I was not much better. The +west drawing-room was very cheerful-looking, with a warm fire in it, +and plenty of good, comfortable furniture about. Miss Furnivall was an +old lady not far from eighty, I should think, but I do not know. She +was thin and tall, and had a face as full of fine wrinkles as if they +had been drawn all over it with a needle's point. Her eyes were very +watchful, to make up, I suppose, for her being so deaf as to be obliged +to use a trumpet. Sitting with her, working at the same great piece of +tapestry, was Mrs. Stark, her maid and companion, and almost as old as +she was. She had lived with Miss Furnivall ever since they both were +young, and now she seemed more like a friend than a servant; she looked +so cold, and grey, and stony, as if she had never loved or cared for +any one; and I don't suppose she did care for any one, except her +mistress; and, owing to the great deafness of the latter, Mrs. Stark +treated her very much as if she were a child. Mr. Henry gave some +message from my lord, and then he bowed good-by to us all,--taking no +notice of my sweet little Miss Rosamond's outstretched hand--and left +us standing there, being looked at by the two old ladies through their +spectacles. + +I was right glad when they rung for the old footman who had shown us in +at first, and told him to take us to our rooms. So we went out of that +great drawing-room and into another sitting-room, and out of that, and +then up a great flight of stairs, and along a broad gallery--which was +something like a library, having books all down one side, and windows +and writing-tables all down the other--till we came to our rooms, which +I was not sorry to hear were just over the kitchens; for I began to +think I should be lost in that wilderness of a house. There was an old +nursery, that had been used for all the little lords and ladies long +ago, with a pleasant fire burning in the grate, and the kettle boiling +on the hob, and tea-things spread out on the table; and out of that +room was the night-nursery, with a little crib for Miss Rosamond close +to my bed. And old James called up Dorothy, his wife, to bid us +welcome; and both he and she were so hospitable and kind, that +by-and-by Miss Rosamond and me felt quite at home; and by the time tea +was over, she was sitting on Dorothy's knee, and chattering away as +fast as her little tongue could go. I soon found out that Dorothy was +from Westmoreland, and that bound her and me together, as it were; and +I would never wish to meet with kinder people than were old James and +his wife. James had lived pretty nearly all his life in my lord's +family, and thought there was no one so grand as they. He even looked +down a little on his wife; because, till he had married her, she had +never lived in any but a farmer's household. But he was very fond of +her, as well he might be. They had one servant under them, to do all +the rough work. Agnes they called her; and she and me, and James and +Dorothy, with Miss Furnivall and Mrs. Stark, made up the family; always +remembering my sweet little Miss Rosamond! I used to wonder what they +had done before she came, they thought so much of her now. Kitchen and +drawing-room, it was all the same. The hard, sad Miss Furnivall, and +the cold Mrs. Stark, looked pleased when she came fluttering in like a +bird, playing and pranking hither and thither, with a continual murmur, +and pretty prattle of gladness. I am sure, they were sorry many a time +when she flitted away into the kitchen, though they were too proud to +ask her to stay with them, and were a little surprised at her taste; +though to be sure, as Mrs. Stark said, it was not to be wondered at, +remembering what stock her father had come of. The great, old rambling +house was a famous place for little Miss Rosamond. She made expeditions +all over it, with me at her heels; all, except the east wing, which was +never opened, and whither we never thought of going. But in the western +and northern part was many a pleasant room; full of things that were +curiosities to us, though they might not have been to people who had +seen more. The windows were darkened by the sweeping boughs of the +trees, and the ivy which had overgrown them; but, in the green gloom, +we could manage to see old china jars and carved ivory boxes, and great +heavy books, and, above all, the old pictures! + +Once, I remember, my darling would have Dorothy go with us to tell us +who they all were; for they were all portraits of some of my lord's +family, though Dorothy could not tell us the names of every one. We had +gone through most of the rooms, when we came to the old state +drawing-room over the hall, and there was a picture of Miss Furnivall; +or, as she was called in those days, Miss Grace, for she was the +younger sister. Such a beauty she must have been! but with such a set, +proud look, and such scorn looking out of her handsome eyes, with her +eyebrows just a little raised, as if she wondered how anyone could have +the impertinence to look at her, and her lip curled at us, as we stood +there gazing. She had a dress on, the like of which I had never seen +before, but it was all the fashion when she was young; a hat of some +soft white stuff like beaver, pulled a little over her brows, and a +beautiful plume of feathers sweeping round it on one side; and her gown +of blue satin was open in front to a quilted white stomacher. + +'Well, to be sure!' said I, when I had gazed my fill. 'Flesh is grass, +they do say; but who would have thought that Miss Furnivall had been +such an out-and-out beauty, to see her now.' + +'Yes,' said Dorothy. 'Folks change sadly. But if what my master's +father used to say was true, Miss Furnivall, the elder sister, was +handsomer than Miss Grace. Her picture is here somewhere; but, if I +show it you, you must never let on, even to James, that you have seen +it. Can the little lady hold her tongue, think you?' asked she. + +I was not so sure, for she was such a little sweet, bold, open-spoken +child, so I set her to hide herself; and then I helped Dorothy to turn +a great picture, that leaned with its face towards the wall, and was +not hung up as the others were. To be sure, it beat Miss Grace for +beauty; and, I think, for scornful pride, too, though in that matter it +might be hard to choose. I could have looked at it an hour, but Dorothy +seemed half frightened at having shown it to me, and hurried it back +again, and bade me run and find Miss Rosamond, for that there were some +ugly places about the house, where she should like ill for the child to +go. I was a brave, high-spirited girl, and thought little of what the +old woman said, for I liked hide-and-seek as well as any child in the +parish; so off I ran to find my little one. + +As winter drew on, and the days grew shorter, I was sometimes almost +certain that I heard a noise as if someone was playing on the great +organ in the hall. I did not hear it every evening; but, certainly, I +did very often, usually when I was sitting with Miss Rosamond, after I +had put her to bed, and keeping quite still and silent in the bedroom. +Then I used to hear it booming and swelling away in the distance. The +first night, when I went down to my supper, I asked Dorothy who had +been playing music, and James said very shortly that I was a gowk to +take the wind soughing among the trees for music; but I saw Dorothy +look at him very fearfully, and Bessy, the kitchen-maid, said something +beneath her breath, and went quite white. I saw they did not like my +question, so I held my peace till I was with Dorothy alone, when I knew +I could get a good deal out of her. So, the next day, I watched my +time, and I coaxed and asked her who it was that played the organ; for +I knew that it was the organ and not the wind well enough, for all I +had kept silence before James. But Dorothy had had her lesson, I'll +warrant, and never a word could I get from her. So then I tried Bessy, +though I had always held my head rather above her, as I was evened to +James and Dorothy, and she was little better than their servant. So she +said I must never, never tell; and if ever I told, I was never to say +_she_ had told me; but it was a very strange noise, and she had heard +it many a time, but most of all on winter nights, and before storms; +and folks did say it was the old lord playing on the great organ in the +hall, just as he used to do when he was alive; but who the old lord +was, or why he played, and why he played on stormy winter evenings in +particular, she either could not or would not tell me. Well! I told you +I had a brave heart; and I thought it was rather pleasant to have that +grand music rolling about the house, let who would be the player; for +now it rose above the great gusts of wind, and wailed and triumphed +just like a living creature, and then it fell to a softness most +complete, only it was always music, and tunes, so it was nonsense to +call it the wind. I thought at first, that it might be Miss Furnivall +who played, unknown to Bessy; but one day, when I was in the hall by +myself, I opened the organ and peeped all about it and around it, as I +had done to the organ in Crosthwaite church once before, and I saw it +was all broken and destroyed inside, though it looked so brave and +fine; and then, though it was noon-day, my flesh began to creep a +little, and I shut it up, and run away pretty quickly to my own bright +nursery; and I did not like hearing the music for some time after that, +any more than James and Dorothy did. All this time Miss Rosamond was +making herself more and more beloved. The old ladies liked her to dine +with them at their early dinner. James stood behind Miss Furnivall's +chair, and I behind Miss Rosamond's all in state; and after dinner, she +would play about in a corner of the great drawing-room as still as any +mouse, while Miss Furnivall slept, and I had my dinner in the kitchen. +But she was glad enough to come to me in the nursery afterwards; for, +as she said, Miss Furnivall was so sad, and Mrs. Stark so dull; but she +and I were merry enough; and by-and-by, I got not to care for that +weird rolling music, which did one no harm, if we did not know where it +came from. + +That winter was very cold. In the middle of October the frosts began, +and lasted many, many weeks. I remember one day, at dinner, Miss +Furnivall lifted up her sad, heavy eyes, and said to Mrs. Stark, 'I am +afraid we shall have a terrible winter,' in a strange kind of meaning +way. But Mrs. Stark pretended not to hear, and talked very loud of +something else. My little lady and I did not care for the frost; not +we! As long as it was dry, we climbed up the steep brows behind the +house, and went up on the Fells, which were bleak and bare enough, and +there we ran races in the fresh, sharp air; and once we came down by a +new path, that took us past the two old gnarled holly-trees, which grew +about half-way down by the east side of the house. But the days grew +shorter and shorter, and the old lord, if it was he, played away, more +and more stormily and sadly, on the great organ. One Sunday +afternoon--it must have been towards the end of November--I asked +Dorothy to take charge of little missy when she came out of the +drawing-room, after Miss Furnivall had had her nap; for it was too cold +to take her with me to church, and yet I wanted to go. And Dorothy was +glad enough to promise, and was so fond of the child, that all seemed +well; and Bessy and I set off very briskly, though the sky hung heavy +and black over the white earth, as if the night had never fully gone +away, and the air, though still, was very biting and keen. + +'We shall have a fall of snow,' said Bessy to me. And sure enough, even +while we were in church, it came down thick, in great large flakes,--so +thick, it almost darkened the windows. It had stopped snowing before we +came out, but it lay soft, thick and deep beneath our feet, as we +tramped home. Before we got to the hall, the moon rose, and I think it +was lighter then--what with the moon, and what with the white dazzling +snow--than it had been when we went to church, between two and three +o'clock. I have not told you that Miss Furnivall and Mrs. Stark never +went to church; they used to read the prayers together, in their quiet, +gloomy way; they seemed to feel the Sunday very long without their +tapestry-work to be busy at. So when I went to Dorothy in the kitchen, +to fetch Miss Rosamond and take her upstairs with me, I did not much +wonder when the old woman told me that the ladies had kept the child +with them, and that she had never come to the kitchen, as I had bidden +her, when she was tired of behaving pretty in the drawing-room. So I +took off my things and went to find her, and bring her to her supper in +the nursery. But when I went into the best drawing-room, there sat the +two old ladies, very still and quiet, dropping out a word now and then, +but looking as if nothing so bright and merry as Miss Rosamond had ever +been near them. Still I thought she might be hiding from me; it was one +of her pretty ways,--and that she had persuaded them to look as if they +knew nothing about her; so I went softly peeping under this sofa, and +behind that chair, making believe I was sadly frightened at not finding +her. + +'What's the matter, Hester?' said Mrs. Stark, sharply. I don't know if +Miss Furnivall had seen me, for, as I told you, she was very deaf, and +she sat quite still, idly staring into the fire, with her hopeless +face. 'I'm only looking for my little Rosy Posy,' replied I, still +thinking that the child was there, and near me, though I could not see +her. + +'Miss Rosamond is not here,' said Mrs. Stark. 'She went away, more than +an hour ago, to find Dorothy.' And she, too, turned and went on looking +into the fire. + +My heart sank at this, and I began to wish I had never left my darling. +I went back to Dorothy and told her. James was gone out for the day, +but she, and me, and Bessy took lights, and went up into the nursery +first; and then we roamed over the great, large house, calling and +entreating Miss Rosamond to come out of her hiding-place, and not +frighten us to death in that way. But there was no answer; no sound. + +'Oh!' said I, at last, 'can she have got into the east wing and hidden +there?' + +But Dorothy said it was not possible, for that she herself had never +been in there; that the doors were always locked, and my lord's steward +had the keys, she believed; at any rate, neither she nor James had ever +seen them: so I said I would go back, and see if, after all, she was +not hidden in the drawing-room, unknown to the old ladies; and if I +found her there, I said, I would whip her well for the fright she had +given me; but I never meant to do it. Well, I went back to the west +drawing-room, and I told Mrs. Stark we could not find her anywhere, and +asked for leave to look all about the furniture there, for I thought +now that she might have fallen asleep in some warm, hidden corner; but +no! we looked--Miss Furnivall got up and looked, trembling all +over--and she was nowhere there; then we set off again, every one in +the house, and looked in all the places we had searched before, but we +could not find her. Miss Furnivall shivered and shook so much, that +Mrs. Stark took her back into the warm drawing-room; but not before +they had made me promise to bring her to them when she was found. +Well-a-day! I began to think she never would be found, when I bethought +me to look into the great front court, all covered with snow. I was +upstairs when I looked out; but, it was such clear moonlight, I could +see, quite plain, two little footprints, which might be traced from the +hall-door and round the corner of the east wing. I don't know how I got +down, but I tugged open the great stiff hall-door, and, throwing the +skirt of my gown over my head for a cloak, I ran out. I turned the east +corner, and there a black shadow fell on the snow; but when I came +again into the moonlight, there were the little foot-marks going up--up +to the Fells. It was bitter cold; so cold, that the air almost took the +skin off my face as I ran; but I ran on crying to think how my poor +little darling must be perished and frightened. I was within sight of +the holly-trees, when I saw a shepherd coming down the hill, bearing +something in his arms wrapped in his maud. He shouted to me, and asked +me if I had lost a bairn; and, when I could not speak for crying, he +bore towards me, and I saw my wee bairnie, lying still, and white, and +stiff in his arms, as if she had been dead. He told me he had been up +the Fells to gather in his sheep, before the deep cold of night came +on, and that under the holly-trees (black marks on the hill-side, where +no other bush was for miles around) he had found my little lady--my +lamb--my queen--my darling--stiff and cold in the terrible sleep which +is frost-begotten. Oh! the joy and the tears of having her in my arms +once again! for I would not let him carry her; but took her, maud and +all, into my own arms, and held her near my own warm neck and heart, +and felt the life stealing slowly back again into her little gentle +limbs. But she was still insensible when we reached the hall, and I had +no breath for speech. We went in by the kitchen-door. + +'Bring me the warming-pan,' said I; and I carried her upstairs and +began undressing her by the nursery fire, which Bessy had kept up. I +called my little lammie all the sweet and playful names I could think +of,--even while my eyes were blinded by my tears; and at last, oh! at +length she opened her large blue eyes. Then I put her into her warm +bed, and sent Dorothy down to tell Miss Furnivall that all was well; +and I made up my mind to sit by my darling's bedside the live-long +night. She fell away into a soft sleep as soon as her pretty head had +touched the pillow, and I watched by her till morning light; when she +wakened up bright and clear--or so I thought at first--and, my dears, +so I think now. + +She said, that she had fancied that she should like to go to Dorothy, +for that both the old ladies were asleep, and it was very dull in the +drawing-room; and that, as she was going through the west lobby, she +saw the snow through the high window falling--falling--soft and steady; +but she wanted to see it lying pretty and white on the ground; so she +made her way into the great hall; and then, going to the window, she +saw it bright and soft upon the drive; but while she stood there, she +saw a little girl, not so old as she was, 'but so pretty,' said my +darling, 'and this little girl beckoned to me to come out; and oh, she +was so pretty and so sweet, I could not choose but go.' And then this +other little girl had taken her by the hand, and side by side the two +had gone round the east corner. + +'Now you are a naughty little girl, and telling stories,' said I. 'What +would your good mamma, that is in heaven, and never told a story in her +life, say to her little Rosamond, if she heard her--and I daresay she +does--telling stories!' + +'Indeed, Hester,' sobbed out my child, 'I'm telling you true. Indeed I +am.' + +'Don't tell me!' said I, very stern. 'I tracked you by your foot-marks +through the snow; there were only yours to be seen: and if you had had +a little girl to go hand-in-hand with you up the hill, don't you think +the footprints would have gone along with yours?' + +'I can't help it, dear, dear Hester,' said she, crying, 'if they did +not; I never looked at her feet, but she held my hand fast and tight in +her little one, and it was very, very cold. She took me up the +Fell-path, up to the holly-trees; and there I saw a lady weeping and +crying; but when she saw me, she hushed her weeping, and smiled very +proud and grand, and took me on her knee, and began to lull me to +sleep; and that's all, Hester--but that is true; and my dear mamma +knows it is,' said she, crying. So I thought the child was in a fever, +and pretended to believe her, as she went over her story--over and over +again, and always the same. At last Dorothy knocked at the door with +Miss Rosamond's breakfast; and she told me the old ladies were down in +the eating parlour, and that they wanted to speak to me. They had both +been into the night-nursery the evening before, but it was after Miss +Rosamond was asleep; so they had only looked at her--not asked me any +questions. + +'I shall catch it,' thought I to myself, as I went along the north +gallery. 'And yet,' I thought, taking courage, 'it was in their charge +I left her; and it's they that's to blame for letting her steal away +unknown and unwatched.' So I went in boldly, and told my story. I told +it all to Miss Furnivall, shouting it close to her ear; but when I came +to the mention of the other little girl out in the snow, coaxing and +tempting her out, and willing her up to the grand and beautiful lady by +the holly-tree, she threw her arms up--her old and withered arms--and +cried aloud, 'Oh! Heaven forgive! Have mercy!' + +Mrs. Stark took hold of her; roughly enough, I thought; but she was +past Mrs. Stark's management, and spoke to me, in a kind of wild +warning and authority. + +'Hester! keep her from that child! It will lure her to her death! That +evil child! Tell her it is a wicked, naughty child.' Then, Mrs. Stark +hurried me out of the room; where, indeed, I was glad enough to go; but +Miss Furnivall kept shrieking out, 'Oh, have mercy! Wilt Thou never +forgive! It is many a long year ago----' + +I was very uneasy in my mind after that. I durst never leave Miss +Rosamond, night or day, for fear lest she might slip off again, after +some fancy or other; and all the more, because I thought I could make +out that Miss Furnivall was crazy, from their odd ways about her; and I +was afraid lest something of the same kind (which might be in the +family, you know) hung over my darling. And the great frost never +ceased all this time; and, whenever it was a more stormy night than +usual, between the gusts, and through the wind, we heard the old lord +playing on the great organ. But, old lord, or not, wherever Miss +Rosamond went, there I followed; for my love for her, pretty, helpless +orphan, was stronger than my fear for the grand and terrible sound. +Besides, it rested with me to keep her cheerful and merry, as beseemed +her age. So we played together, and wandered together, here and there, +and everywhere; for I never dared to lose sight of her again in that +large and rambling house. And so it happened, that one afternoon, not +long before Christmas-day, we were playing together on the +billiard-table in the great hall (not that we knew the right way of +playing, but she liked to roll the smooth ivory balls with her pretty +hands, and I liked to do whatever she did); and, by-and-by, without our +noticing it, it grew dusk indoors, though it was still light in the +open air, and I was thinking of taking her back into the nursery, when, +all of a sudden, she cried out, + +'Look, Hester! look! there is my poor little girl out in the snow!' + +I turned towards the long narrow windows, and there, sure enough, I saw +a little girl, less than my Miss Rosamond--dressed all unfit to be +out-of-doors such a bitter night--crying, and beating against the +window-panes, as if she wanted to be let in. She seemed to sob and +wail, till Miss Rosamond could bear it no longer, and was flying to the +door to open it, when, all of a sudden, and close upon us, the great +organ pealed out so loud and thundering, it fairly made me tremble; and +all the more, when I remembered me that, even in the stillness of that +dead-cold weather, I had heard no sound of little battering hands upon +the windowglass, although the phantom child had seemed to put forth all +its force; and, although I had seen it wail and cry, no faintest touch +of sound had fallen upon my ears. Whether I remembered all this at the +very moment, I do not know; the great organ sound had so stunned me +into terror; but this I know, I caught up Miss Rosamond before she got +the hall-door opened, and clutched her, and carried her away, kicking +and screaming, into the large, bright kitchen, where Dorothy and Agnes +were busy with their mince-pies. + +'What is the matter with my sweet one?' cried Dorothy, as I bore in +Miss Rosamond, who was sobbing as if her heart would break. + +'She won't let me open the door for my little girl to come in; and +she'll die if she is out on the Fells all night. Cruel, naughty +Hester,' she said, slapping me; but she might have struck harder, for I +had seen a look of ghastly terror on Dorothy's face, which made my very +blood run cold. + +'Shut the back-kitchen door fast, and bolt it well,' said she to Agnes. +She said no more; she gave me raisins and almonds to quiet Miss +Rosamond; but she sobbed about the little girl in the snow, and would +not touch any of the good things. I was thankful when she cried herself +to sleep in bed. Then I stole down to the kitchen, and told Dorothy I +had made up my mind. I would carry my darling back to my father's house +in Applethwaite; where, if we lived humbly, we lived at peace. I said I +had been frightened enough with the old lord's organ-playing; but now +that I had seen for myself this little moaning child, all decked out as +no child in the neighbourhood could be, beating and battering to get +in, yet always without any sound or noise--with the dark wound on its +right shoulder; and that Miss Rosamond had known it again for the +phantom that had nearly lured her to her death (which Dorothy knew was +true); I would stand it no longer. + +I saw Dorothy change colour once or twice. When I had done, she told me +she did not think I could take Miss Rosamond with me, for that she was +my lord's ward, and I had no right over her; and she asked me would I +leave the child that I was so fond of just for sounds and sights that +could do me no harm; and that they had all had to get used to in their +turns? I was all in a hot, trembling passion; and I said it was very +well for her to talk; that knew what these sights and noises betokened, +and that had, perhaps, had something to do with the spectre child while +it was alive. And I taunted her so, that she told me all she knew at +last; and then I wished I had never been told, for it only made me more +afraid than ever. + +She said she had heard the tale from old neighbours that were alive +when she was first married; when folks used to come to the hall +sometimes, before it had got such a bad name on the country side: it +might not be true, or it might, what she had been told. + +The old lord was Miss Furnivall's father--Miss Grace, as Dorothy called +her, for Miss Maude was the elder, and Miss Furnivall by rights. The +old lord was eaten up with pride. Such a proud man was never seen or +heard of; and his daughters were like him. No one was good enough to +wed them, although they had choice enough; for they were the great +beauties of their day, as I had seen by their portraits, where they +hung in the state drawing-room. But, as the old saying is, 'Pride will +have a fall;' and these two haughty beauties fell in love with the same +man, and he no better than a foreign musician, whom their father had +down from London to play music with him at the Manor House. For, above +all things, next to his pride, the old lord loved music. He could play +on nearly every instrument that ever was heard of, and it was a strange +thing it did not soften him; but he was a fierce dour old man, and had +broken his poor wife's heart with his cruelty, they said. He was mad +after music, and would pay any money for it. So he got this foreigner +to come; who made such beautiful music, that they said the very birds +on the trees stopped their singing to listen. And, by degrees, this +foreign gentleman got such a hold over the old lord, that nothing would +serve him but that he must come every year; and it was he that had the +great organ brought from Holland, and built up in the hall, where it +stood now. He taught the old lord to play on it; but many and many a +time, when Lord Furnivall was thinking of nothing but his fine organ, +and his finer music, the dark foreigner was walking abroad in the woods +with one of the young ladies; now Miss Maude, and then Miss Grace. + +Miss Maude won the day and carried off the prize, such as it was; and +he and she were married, all unknown to any one; and before he made his +next yearly visit, she had been confined of a little girl at a +farm-house on the Moors, while her father and Miss Grace thought she +was away at Doncaster Races. But though she was a wife and a mother, +she was not a bit softened, but as haughty and as passionate as ever; +and perhaps more so, for she was jealous of Miss Grace, to whom her +foreign husband paid a deal of court--by way of blinding her--as he +told his wife. But Miss Grace triumphed over Miss Maude, and Miss Maude +grew fiercer and fiercer, both with her husband and with her sister; +and the former--who could easily shake off what was disagreeable, and +hide himself in foreign countries--went away a month before his usual +time that summer, and half-threatened that he would never come back +again. Meanwhile, the little girl was left at the farm-house, and her +mother used to have her horse saddled and gallop wildly over the hills +to see her once every week, at the very least; for where she loved she +loved, and where she hated she hated. And the old lord went on +playing--playing on his organ; and the servants thought the sweet music +he made had soothed down his awful temper, of which (Dorothy said) some +terrible tales could be told. He grew infirm too, and had to walk with +a crutch; and his son--that was the present Lord Furnivall's +father--was with the army in America, and the other son at sea; so Miss +Maude had it pretty much her own way, and she and Miss Grace grew +colder and bitterer to each other every day; till at last they hardly +ever spoke, except when the old lord was by. The foreign musician came +again the next summer, but it was for the last time; for they led him +such a life with their jealousy and their passions, that he grew weary, +and went away, and never was heard of again. And Miss Maude, who had +always meant to have her marriage acknowledged when her father should +be dead, was left now a deserted wife, whom nobody knew to have been +married, with a child that she dared not own, although she loved it to +distraction; living with a father whom she feared, and a sister whom +she hated. When the next summer passed over, and the dark foreigner +never came, both Miss Maude and Miss Grace grew gloomy and sad; they +had a haggard look about them, though they looked handsome as ever. +But, by-and-by, Maude brightened; for her father grew more and more +infirm, and more than ever carried away by his music; and she and Miss +Grace lived almost entirely apart, having separate rooms, the one on +the west side, Miss Maude on the east--those very rooms which were now +shut up. So she thought she might have her little girl with her, and no +one need ever know except those who dared not speak about it, and were +bound to believe that it was, as she said, a cottager's child she had +taken a fancy to. All this, Dorothy said, was pretty well known; but +what came afterwards no one knew, except Miss Grace and Mrs. Stark, who +was even then her maid, and much more of a friend to her than ever her +sister had been. But the servants supposed, from words that were +dropped, that Miss Maude had triumphed over Miss Grace, and told her +that all the time the dark foreigner had been mocking her with +pretended love--he was her own husband. The colour left Miss Grace's +cheek and lips that very day for ever, and she was heard to say many a +time that sooner or later she would have her revenge; and Mrs. Stark +was for ever spying about the east rooms. + +One fearful night, just after the New Year had come in, when the snow +was lying thick and deep; and the flakes were still falling--fast +enough to blind any one who might be out and abroad--there was a great +and violent noise heard, and the old lord's voice above all, cursing +and swearing awfully, and the cries of a little child, and the proud +defiance of a fierce woman, and the sound of a blow, and a dead +stillness, and moans and wailings dying away on the hill-side! Then the +old lord summoned all his servants, and told them, with terrible oaths, +and words more terrible, that his daughter had disgraced herself, and +that he had turned her out of doors--her, and her child--and that if +ever they gave her help, or food, or shelter, he prayed that they might +never enter heaven. And, all the while, Miss Grace stood by him, white +and still as any stone; and, when he had ended, she heaved a great +sigh, as much as to say her work was done, and her end was +accomplished. But the old lord never touched his organ again, and died +within the year; and no wonder! for, on the morrow of that wild and +fearful night, the shepherds, coming down the Fell side, found Miss +Maude sitting, all crazy and smiling, under the holly-trees, nursing a +dead child, with a terrible mark on its right shoulder. 'But that was +not what killed it,' said Dorothy: 'it was the frost and the cold. +Every wild creature was in its hole, and every beast in its fold, while +the child and its mother were turned out to wander on the Fells! And +now you know all! and I wonder if you are less frightened now?' + +I was more frightened than ever; but I said I was not. I wished Miss +Rosamond and myself well out of that dreadful house for ever; but I +would not leave her, and I dared not take her away. But oh, how I +watched her, and guarded her! We bolted the doors, and shut the +window-shutters fast, an hour or more before dark, rather than leave +them open five minutes too late. But my little lady still heard the +weird child crying and mourning; and not all we could do or say could +keep her from wanting to go to her, and let her in from the cruel wind +and the snow. All this time I kept away from Miss Furnivall and Mrs. +Stark, as much as ever I could; for I feared them--I knew no good could +be about them, with their grey, hard faces, and their dreamy eyes, +looking back into the ghastly years that were gone. But, even in my +fear, I had a kind of pity for Miss Furnivall, at least. Those gone +down to the pit can hardly have a more hopeless look than that which +was ever on her face. At last I even got so sorry for her--who never +said a word but what was quite forced from her--that I prayed for her; +and I taught Miss Rosamond to pray for one who had done a deadly sin; +but often when she came to those words, she would listen, and start up +from her knees, and say, 'I hear my little girl plaining and crying +very sad--oh, let her in, or she will die!' + +One night--just after New Year's Day had come at last, and the long +winter had taken a turn, as I hoped--I heard the west drawing-room bell +ring three times, which was the signal for me. I would not leave Miss +Rosamond alone, for all she was asleep--for the old lord had been +playing wilder than ever--and I feared lest my darling should waken to +hear the spectre child; see her, I knew she could not. I had fastened +the windows too well for that. So I took her out of her bed, and +wrapped her up in such outer clothes as were most handy, and carried +her down to the drawing-room, where the old ladies sat at their +tapestry-work as usual. They looked up when I came in, and Mrs. Stark +asked, quite astounded, 'Why did I bring Miss Rosamond there, out of +her warm bed?' I had begun to whisper, 'Because I was afraid of her +being tempted out while I was away, by the wild child in the snow,' +when she stopped me short (with a glance at Miss Furnivall), and said +Miss Furnivall wanted me to undo some work she had done wrong, and +which neither of them could see to unpick. So I laid my pretty dear on +the sofa, and sat down on a stool by them, and hardened my heart +against them, as I heard the wind rising and howling. + +Miss Rosamond slept on sound, for all the wind blew so Miss Furnivall +said never a word, nor looked round when the gusts shook the windows. +All at once she started up to her full height, and put up one hand, as +if to bid us to listen. + +'I hear voices!' said she. 'I hear terrible screams--I hear my father's +voice!' + +Just at that moment my darling wakened with a sudden start: 'My little +girl is crying, oh, how she is crying!' and she tried to get up and go +to her, but she got her feet entangled in the blanket, and I caught her +up; for my flesh had begun to creep at these noises, which they heard +while we could catch no sound. In a minute or two the noises came, and +gathered fast, and filled our ears; we, too, heard voices and screams, +and no longer heard the winter's wind that raged abroad. Mrs. Stark +looked at me, and I at her, but we dared not speak. Suddenly Miss +Furnivall went towards the door, out into the ante-room, through the +west lobby, and opened the door into the great hall. Mrs. Stark +followed, and I durst not be left, though my heart almost stopped +beating for fear. I wrapped my darling tight in my arms, and went out +with them. In the hall the screams were louder than ever; they seemed +to come from the east wing--nearer and nearer--close on the other side +of the locked-up doors--close behind them. Then I noticed that the +great bronze chandelier seemed all alight, though the hall was dim, and +that a fire was blazing in the vast hearth-place, though it gave no +heat; and I shuddered up with terror, and folded my darling closer to +me. But as I did so the east door shook, and she, suddenly struggling +to get free from me, cried, 'Hester! I must go. My little girl is +there! I hear her; she is coming! Hester, I must go!' + +I held her tight with all my strength; with a set will, I held her. If +I had died, my hands would have grasped her still, I was so resolved in +my mind. Miss Furnivall stood listening, and paid no regard to my +darling, who had got down to the ground, and whom I, upon my knees now, +was holding with both my arms clasped round her neck; she still +striving and crying to get free. + +All at once, the east door gave way with a thundering crash, as if torn +open in a violent passion, and there came into that broad and +mysterious light, the figure of a tall old man, with grey hair and +gleaming eyes. He drove before him, with many a relentless gesture of +abhorrence, a stern and beautiful woman, with a little child clinging +to her dress. + +'Oh, Hester! Hester!' cried Miss Rosamond; 'it's the lady! the lady +below the holly-trees; and my little girl is with her. Hester! Hester! +let me go to her; they are drawing me to them. I feel them--I feel +them. I must go!' + +Again she was almost convulsed by her efforts to get away; but I held +her tighter and tighter, till I feared I should do her a hurt; but +rather that than let her go towards those terrible phantoms. They +passed along towards the great hall-door, where the winds howled and +ravened for their prey; but before they reached that, the lady turned; +and I could see that she defied the old man with a fierce and proud +defiance; but then she quailed--and then she threw up her arms wildly +and piteously to save her child--her little child--from a blow from his +uplifted crutch. + +And Miss Rosamond was torn as by a power stronger than mine and writhed +in my arms, and sobbed (for by this time the poor darling was growing +faint). + +'They want me to go with them on to the Fells--they are drawing me to +them. Oh, my little girl! I would come, but cruel, wicked Hester holds +me very tight.' But when she saw the uplifted crutch, she swooned away, +and I thanked God for it. Just at this moment--when the tall old man, +his hair streaming as in the blast of a furnace, was going to strike +the little shrinking child--Miss Furnivall, the old woman by my side, +cried out, 'Oh father! father! spare the little innocent child!' But +just then I saw--we all saw--another phantom shape itself, and grow +clear out of the blue and misty light that filled the hall; we had not +seen her till now, for it was another lady who stood by the old man, +with a look of relentless hate and triumphant scorn. That figure was +very beautiful to look upon, with a soft, white hat drawn down over the +proud brows, and a red and curling lip. It was dressed in an open robe +of blue satin. I had seen that figure before. It was the likeness of +Miss Furnivall in her youth; and the terrible phantoms moved on, +regardless of old Miss Furnivall's wild entreaty,--and the uplifted +crutch fell on the right shoulder of the little child, and the younger +sister looked on, stony, and deadly serene. But at that moment, the dim +lights, and the fire that gave no heat, went out of themselves, and +Miss Furnivall lay at our feet stricken down by the palsy--death-stricken. + +Yes! she was carried to her bed that night never to rise again. She lay +with her face to the wall, muttering low, but muttering always: 'Alas! +alas! what is done in youth can never be undone in age! What is done in +youth can never be undone in age!' + + + + +THE POOR CLARE + +Chapter 1 + + +December 12th, 1747.--My life has been strangely bound up with +extraordinary incidents, some of which occurred before I had any +connection with the principal actors in them, or, indeed, before I even +knew of their existence. I suppose, most old men are, like me, more +given to looking back upon their own career with a kind of fond +interest and affectionate remembrance, than to watching the +events--though these may have far more interest for the +multitude--immediately passing before their eyes. If this should be the +case with the generality of old people, how much more so with me!... If +I am to enter upon that strange story connected with poor Lucy, I must +begin a long way back. I myself only came to the knowledge of her +family history after I knew her; but, to make the tale clear to any one +else, I must arrange events in the order in which they occurred--not +that in which I became acquainted with them. + +There is a great old hall in the north-east of Lancashire, in a part +they call the Trough of Bolland, adjoining that other district named +Craven. Starkey Manor-House is rather like a number of rooms clustered +round a grey, massive, old keep than a regularly-built hall. Indeed, I +suppose that the house only consisted of the great tower in the centre, +in the days when the Scots made their raids terrible as far south as +this; and that after the Stuarts came in, and there was a little more +security of property in those parts, the Starkeys of that time added +the lower building, which runs, two stories high, all round the base of +the keep. There has been a grand garden laid out in my days, on the +southern slope near the house; but when I first knew the place, the +kitchen-garden at the farm was the only piece of cultivated ground +belonging to it. The deer used to come within sight of the drawing-room +windows, and might have browsed quite close up to the house if they had +not been too wild and shy. Starkey Manor-House itself stood on a +projection or peninsula of high land, jutting out from the abrupt hills +that form the sides of the Trough of Bolland. These hills were rocky +and bleak enough towards their summit; lower down they were clothed +with tangled copsewood and green depths of fern, out of which a grey +giant of an ancient forest-tree would tower here and there, throwing up +its ghastly white branches, as if in imprecation, to the sky. These +trees, they told me, were the remnants of that forest which existed in +the days of the Heptarchy, and were even then noted as landmarks. No +wonder that their upper and more exposed branches were leafless, and +that the dead bark had peeled away, from sapless old age. + +Not far from the house there were a few cottages, apparently of the +same date as the keep, probably built for some retainers of the family, +who sought shelter--they and their families and their small flocks and +herds--at the hands of their feudal lord. Some of them had pretty much +fallen to decay. They were built in a strange fashion. Strong beams had +been sunk firm in the ground at the requisite distance, and their other +ends had been fastened together, two and two, so as to form the shape +of one of those rounded waggon-headed gipsy-tents, only very much +larger. The spaces between were filled with mud, stones, osiers, +rubbish, mortar--anything to keep out the weather. The fires were made +in the centre of these rude dwellings, a hole in the roof forming the +only chimney. No Highland hut or Irish cabin could be of rougher +construction. + +The owner of this property, at the beginning of the present century, +was a Mr. Patrick Byrne Starkey. His family had kept to the old faith, +and were staunch Roman Catholics, esteeming it even a sin to marry any +one of Protestant descent, however willing he or she might have been to +embrace the Romish religion. Mr. Patrick Starkey's father had been a +follower of James the Second; and, during the disastrous Irish campaign +of that monarch, he had fallen in love with an Irish beauty, a Miss +Byrne, as zealous for her religion and for the Stuarts as himself. He +had returned to Ireland after his escape to France, and married her, +bearing her back to the court at St. Germains. But some licence on the +part of the disorderly gentlemen who surrounded King James in his +exile, had insulted his beautiful wife, and disgusted him; so he +removed from St. Germains to Antwerp, whence, in a few years' time, he +quietly returned to Starkey Manor-House--some of his Lancashire +neighbours having lent their good offices to reconcile him to the +powers that were. He was as firm a Roman Catholic as ever, and as +staunch an advocate for the Stuarts and the divine right of kings; but +his religion almost amounted to asceticism, and the conduct of those +with whom he had been brought in such close contact at St. Germains +would little bear the inspection of a stern moralist. So he gave his +allegiance where he could not give his esteem, and learned to respect +sincerely the upright and moral character of one whom he yet regarded +as an usurper. King William's government had little need to fear such a +one. So he returned, as I have said, with a sobered heart and +impoverished fortunes, to his ancestral house, which had fallen sadly +to ruin while the owner had been a courtier, a soldier, and an exile. +The roads into the Trough of Bolland were little more than cart-ruts; +indeed, the way up to the house lay along a ploughed field before you +came to the deer-park. Madam, as the country-folk used to call Mrs. +Starkey, rode on a pillion behind her husband, holding on to him with a +light hand by his leather riding-belt. Little master (he that was +afterwards Squire Patrick Byrne Starkey) was held on to his pony by a +serving-man. A woman past middle age walked, with a firm and strong +step, by the cart that held much of the baggage; and, high up on the +mails and boxes, sat a girl of dazzling beauty, perched lightly on the +topmost trunk, and swaying herself fearlessly to and fro, as the cart +rocked and shook in the heavy roads of late autumn. The girl wore the +Antwerp faille, or black Spanish mantle over her head, and altogether +her appearance was such that the old cottager, who described the +procession to me many years after, said that all the country-folk took +her for a foreigner. Some dogs, and the boy who held them in charge, +made up the company. They rode silently along, looking with grave, +serious eyes at the people, who came out of the scattered cottages to +bow or curtsy to the real Squire, 'come back at last,' and gazed after +the little procession with gaping wonder, not deadened by the sound of +the foreign language in which the few necessary words that passed among +them were spoken. One lad, called from his staring by the Squire to +come and help about the cart, accompanied them to the Manor-House. He +said that when the lady had descended from her pillion, the middle-aged +woman whom I have described as walking while the others rode, stepped +quickly forward, and taking Madam Starkey (who was of a slight and +delicate figure) in her arms, she lifted her over the threshold, and +set her down in her husband's house, at the same time uttering a +passionate and outlandish blessing. The Squire stood by, smiling +gravely at first; but when the words of blessing were pronounced, he +took off his fine feathered hat, and bent his head. The girl with the +black mantle stepped onward into the shadow of the dark hall, and +kissed the lady's hand; and that was all the lad could tell to the +group that gathered round him on his return, eager to hear everything, +and to know how much the Squire had given him for his services. + +From all I could gather, the Manor-House, at the time of the Squire's +return, was in the most dilapidated state. The stout grey walls +remained firm and entire; but the inner chambers had been used for all +kinds of purposes. The great withdrawing-room had been a barn; the +state tapestry-chamber had held wool, and so on. But, by-and-by, they +were cleared out; and if the Squire had no money to spend on new +furniture, he and his wife had the knack of making the best of the old. +He was no despicable joiner; she had a kind of grace in whatever she +did, and imparted an air of elegant picturesqueness to whatever she +touched. Besides, they had brought many rare things from the Continent; +perhaps I should rather say, things that were rare in that part of +England--carvings, and crosses, and beautiful pictures. And then, +again, wood was plentiful in the Trough of Bolland, and great log-fires +danced and glittered in all the dark, old rooms, and gave a look of +home and comfort to everything. + +Why do I tell you all this? I have little to do with the Squire and +Madam Starkey; and yet I dwell upon them, as if I were unwilling to +come to the real people with whom my life was so strangely mixed up. +Madam had been nursed in Ireland by the very woman who lifted her in +her arms, and welcomed her to her husband's home in Lancashire. +Excepting for the short period of her own married life, Bridget +Fitzgerald had never left her nursling. Her marriage--to one above her +in rank--had been unhappy. Her husband had died, and left her in even +greater poverty than that in which she was when he had first met with +her. She had one child, the beautiful daughter who came riding on the +waggon-load of furniture that was brought to the Manor-House. Madam +Starkey had taken her again into her service when she became a widow. +She and her daughter had followed 'the mistress' in all her fortunes; +they had lived at St. Germains and at Antwerp, and were now come to her +home in Lancashire. As soon as Bridget had arrived there, the Squire +gave her a cottage of her own, and took more pains in furnishing it for +her than he did in anything else out of his own house. It was only +nominally her residence. She was constantly up at the great house; +indeed, it was but a short cut across the woods from her own home to +the home of her nursling. Her daughter Mary, in like manner, moved from +one house to the other at her own will. Madam loved both mother and +child dearly. They had great influence over her, and, through her, over +her husband. Whatever Bridget or Mary willed was sure to come to pass. +They were not disliked; for, though wild and passionate, they were also +generous by nature. But the other servants were afraid of them, as +being in secret the ruling spirits of the household. The Squire had +lost his interest in all secular things; Madam was gentle, +affectionate, and yielding. Both husband and wife were tenderly +attached to each other and to their boy; but they grew more and more to +shun the trouble of decision on any point; and hence it was that +Bridget could exert such despotic power. But if every one else yielded +to her 'magic of a superior mind,' her daughter not unfrequently +rebelled. She and her mother were too much alike to agree. There were +wild quarrels between them, and wilder reconciliations. There were +times when, in the heat of passion, they could have stabbed each other. +At all other times they both--Bridget especially--would have willingly +laid down their lives for one another. Bridget's love for her child lay +very deep--deeper than that daughter ever knew; or I should think she +would never have wearied of home as she did, and prayed her mistress to +obtain for her some situation--as waiting-maid--beyond the seas, in +that more cheerful continental life, among the scenes of which so many +of her happiest years had been spent. She thought, as youth thinks, +that life would last for ever, and that two or three years were but a +small portion of it to pass away from her mother, whose only child she +was. Bridget thought differently, but was too proud ever to show what +she felt. If her child wished to leave her, why--she should go. But +people said Bridget became ten years older in the course of two months +at this time. She took it that Mary wanted to leave her. The truth was, +that Mary wanted for a time to leave the place, and to seek some +change, and would thankfully have taken her mother with her. Indeed, +when Madam Starkey had gotten her a situation with some grand lady +abroad, and the time drew near for her to go, it was Mary who clung to +her mother with passionate embrace, and, with floods of tears, declared +that she would never leave her; and it was Bridget, who at last +loosened her arms, and, grave and tearless herself, bade her keep her +word, and go forth into the wide world. Sobbing aloud, and looking back +continually, Mary went away. Bridget was still as death, scarcely +drawing her breath, or closing her stony eyes; till at last she turned +back into her cottage, and heaved a ponderous old settle against the +door. There she sat, motionless, over the grey ashes of her +extinguished fire, deaf to Madam's sweet voice, as she begged leave to +enter and comfort her nurse. Deaf, stony, and motionless, she sat for +more than twenty hours; till, for the third time, Madam came across the +snowy path from the great house, carrying with her a young spaniel, +which had been Mary's pet up at the hall, and which had not ceased all +night long to seek for its absent mistress, and to whine and moan after +her. With tears Madam told this story, through the closed door--tears +excited by the terrible look of anguish, so steady, so immovable--so +the same to-day as it was yesterday--on her nurse's face. The little +creature in her arms began to utter its piteous cry, as it shivered +with the cold. Bridget stirred; she moved--she listened. Again that +long whine; she thought it was for her daughter; and what she had +denied to her nursling and mistress she granted to the dumb creature +that Mary had cherished. She opened the door, and took the dog from +Madam's arms. Then Madam came in, and kissed and comforted the old +woman, who took but little notice of her or anything. And sending up +Master Patrick to the hall for fire and food, the sweet young lady +never left her nurse all that night. Next day, the Squire himself came +down, carrying a beautiful foreign picture: Our Lady of the Holy Heart, +the Papists call it. It is a picture of the Virgin, her heart pierced +with arrows, each arrow representing one of her great woes. That +picture hung in Bridget's cottage when I first saw her; I have that +picture now. + +Years went on. Mary was still abroad. Bridget was still and stern, +instead of active and passionate. The little dog, Mignon, was indeed +her darling. I have heard that she talked to it continually; although, +to most people, she was so silent. The Squire and Madam treated her +with the greatest consideration, and well they might; for to them she +was as devoted and faithful as ever. Mary wrote pretty often, and +seemed satisfied with her life. But at length the letters ceased--I +hardly know whether before or after a great and terrible sorrow came +upon the house of the Starkeys. The Squire sickened of a putrid fever; +and Madam caught it in nursing him, and died. You may be sure, Bridget +let no other woman tend her but herself; and in the very arms that had +received her at her birth, that sweet young woman laid her head down, +and gave up her breath. The Squire recovered, in a fashion. He was +never strong--he had never the heart to smile again. He fasted and +prayed more than ever; and people did say that he tried to cut off the +entail, and leave all the property away to found a monastery abroad, of +which he prayed that some day little Squire Patrick might be the +reverend father. But he could not do this, for the strictness of the +entail and the laws against the Papists. So he could only appoint +gentlemen of his own faith as guardians to his son, with many charges +about the lad's soul, and a few about the land, and the way it was to +be held while he was a minor. Of course, Bridget was not forgotten. He +sent for her as he lay on his death-bed, and asked her if she would +rather have a sum down, or have a small annuity settled upon her. She +said at once she would have a sum down; for she thought of her +daughter, and how she could bequeath the money to her, whereas an +annuity would have died with her. So the Squire left her her cottage +for life, and a fair sum of money. And then he died, with as ready and +willing a heart as, I suppose, ever any gentleman took out of this +world with him. The young Squire was carried off by his guardians, and +Bridget was left alone. + +I have said that she had not heard from Mary for some time. In her last +letter, she had told of travelling about with her mistress, who was the +English wife of some great foreign officer, and had spoken of her +chances of making a good marriage, without naming the gentleman's name, +keeping it rather back as a pleasant surprise to her mother; his +station and fortune being, as I had afterwards reason to know, far +superior to anything she had a right to expect. Then came a long +silence; and Madam was dead, and the Squire was dead; and Bridget's +heart was gnawed by anxiety, and she knew not whom to ask for news of +her child. She could not write, and the Squire had managed her +communication with her daughter. She walked off to Hurst; and got a +good priest there--one whom she had known at Antwerp--to write for her. +But no answer came. It was like crying into the awful stillness of +night. + +One day, Bridget was missed by those neighbours who had been accustomed +to mark her goings-out and comings-in. She had never been sociable with +any of them; but the sight of her had become a part of their daily +lives, and slow wonder arose in their minds, as morning after morning +came, and her house-door remained closed, her window dead from any +glitter, or light of fire within. At length, some one tried the door; +it was locked. Two or three laid their heads together, before daring to +look in through the blank, unshuttered window. But, at last, they +summoned up courage; and then saw that Bridget's absence from their +little world was not the result of accident or death, but of +premeditation. Such small articles of furniture as could be secured +from the effects of time and damp by being packed up, were stowed away +in boxes. The picture of the Madonna was taken down, and gone. In a +word, Bridget had stolen away from her home, and left no trace whither +she was departed. I knew afterwards, that she and her little dog had +wandered off on the long search for her lost daughter. She was too +illiterate to have faith in letters, even had she had the means of +writing and sending many. But she had faith in her own strong love, and +believed that her passionate instinct would guide her to her child. +Besides, foreign travel was no new thing to her, and she could speak +enough of French to explain the object of her journey, and had, +moreover, the advantage of being, from her faith, a welcome object of +charitable hospitality at many a distant convent. But the country +people round Starkey Manor-House knew nothing of all this. They +wondered what had become of her, in a torpid, lazy fashion, and then +left off thinking of her altogether. Several years passed. Both +Manor-House and cottage were deserted. The young Squire lived far away +under the direction of his guardians. There were inroads of wool and +corn into the sitting-rooms of the Hall; and there was some low talk, +from time to time, among the hinds and country people, whether it would +not be as well to break into old Bridget's cottage, and save such of +her goods as were left from the moth and rust which must be making sad +havoc. But this idea was always quenched by the recollection of her +strong character and passionate anger; and tales of her masterful +spirit, and vehement force of will, were whispered about, till the very +thought of offending her, by touching any article of hers, became +invested with a kind of horror: it was believed that, dead or alive, +she would not fail to avenge it. + +Suddenly she came home; with as little noise or note of preparation as +she had departed. One day, some one noticed a thin, blue curl of smoke, +ascending from her chimney. Her door stood open to the noon-day sun; +and, ere many hours had elapsed, some one had seen an old +travel-and-sorrow-stained woman dipping her pitcher in the well; and +said, that the dark, solemn eyes that looked up at him were more like +Bridget Fitzgerald's than any one else's in this world; and yet, if it +were she, she looked as if she had been scorched in the flames of hell, +so brown, and scared, and fierce a creature did she seem. By-and-by +many saw her; and those who met her eye once cared not to be caught +looking at her again. She had got into the habit of perpetually talking +to herself; nay, more, answering herself, and varying her tones +according to the side she took at the moment. It was no wonder that +those who dared to listen outside her door at night, believed that she +held converse with some spirit; in short, she was unconsciously earning +for herself the dreadful reputation of a witch. + +Her little dog, which had wandered half over the Continent with her, +was her only companion; a dumb remembrancer of happier days. Once he +was ill; and she carried him more than three miles, to ask about his +management from one who had been groom to the last Squire, and had then +been noted for his skill in all diseases of animals. Whatever this man +did, the dog recovered; and they who heard her thanks, intermingled +with blessings (that were rather promises of good fortune than +prayers), looked grave at his good luck when, next year, his ewes +twinned, and his meadow-grass was heavy and thick. + +Now it so happened that, about the year seventeen hundred and eleven, +one of the guardians of the young Squire, a certain Sir Philip Tempest, +bethought him of the good shooting there must be on his ward's +property; and, in consequence, he brought down four or five gentlemen, +of his friends, to stay for a week or two at the Hall. From all +accounts, they roystered and spent pretty freely. I never heard any of +their names but one, and that was Squire Gisborne's. He was hardly a +middle-aged man then; he had been much abroad, and there, I believe, he +had known Sir Philip Tempest, and done him some service. He was a +daring and dissolute fellow in those days: careless and fearless, and +one who would rather be in a quarrel than out of it. He had his fits of +ill-temper beside, when he would spare neither man nor beast. +Otherwise, those who knew him well, used to say he had a good heart, +when he was neither drunk, nor angry, nor in any way vexed. He had +altered much when I came to know him. + +One day, the gentlemen had all been out shooting, and with but little +success, I believe; anyhow, Mr. Gisborne had had none, and was in a +black humour accordingly. He was coming home, having his gun loaded, +sportsman-like, when little Mignon crossed his path, just as he turned +out of the wood by Bridget's cottage. Partly for wantonness, partly to +vent his spleen upon some living creature, Mr. Gisborne took his gun, +and fired--he had better have never fired gun again, than aimed that +unlucky shot. He hit Mignon; and at the creature's sudden cry, Bridget +came out, and saw at a glance what had been done. She took Mignon up in +her arms, and looked hard at the wound; the poor dog looked at her with +his glazing eyes, and tried to wag his tail and lick her hand, all +covered with blood. Mr. Gisborne spoke in a kind of sullen penitence: + +'You should have kept the dog out of my way--a little poaching +varmint.' + +At this very moment, Mignon stretched out his legs, and stiffened in +her arms--her lost Mary's dog, who had wandered and sorrowed with her +for years. She walked right into Mr. Gisborne's path, and fixed his +unwilling, sullen look with her dark and terrible eye. + +'Those never throve that did me harm,' said she. 'I'm alone in the +world, and helpless; the more do the Saints in Heaven hear my prayers. +Hear me, ye blessed ones! hear me while I ask for sorrow on this bad, +cruel man. He has killed the only creature that loved me--the dumb +beast that I loved. Bring down heavy sorrow on his head for it, O ye +Saints! He thought that I was helpless, because he saw me lonely and +poor; but are not the armies of Heaven for the like of me?' + +'Come, come,' said he, half-remorseful, but not one whit afraid. +'Here's a crown to buy thee another dog. Take it, and leave off +cursing! I care none for thy threats.' + +'Don't you?' said she, coming a step closer, and changing her +imprecatory cry for a whisper which made the gamekeeper's lad, +following Mr. Gisborne, creep all over. 'You shall live to see the +creature you love best, and who alone loves you--ay, a human creature, +but as innocent and fond as my poor, dead darling--you shall see this +creature, for whom death would be too happy, become a terror and a +loathing to all, for this blood's sake. Hear me, O holy Saints, who +never fail them that have no other help!' + +She threw up her right hand, filled with poor Mignon's life-drops; they +spirted, one or two of them, on his shooting-dress,--an ominous sight +to the follower. But the master only laughed a little, forced, scornful +laugh, and went on to the Hall. Before he got there, however, he took +out a gold piece, and bade the boy carry it to the old woman on his +return to the village. The lad was 'afeard,' as he told me in after +years; he came to the cottage, and hovered about, not daring to enter. +He peeped through the window at last; and by the flickering wood-flame, +he saw Bridget kneeling before the picture of our Lady of the Holy +Heart, with dead Mignon lying between her and the Madonna. She was +praying wildly, as her outstretched arms betokened. The lad shrank away +in redoubled terror; and contented himself with slipping the gold-piece +under the ill-fitting door. The next day it was thrown out upon the +midden; and there it lay, no one daring to touch it. + +Meanwhile Mr. Gisborne, half curious, half uneasy, thought to lessen +his uncomfortable feelings by asking Sir Philip who Bridget was? He +could only describe her--he did not know her name. Sir Philip was +equally at a loss. But an old servant of the Starkeys, who had resumed +his livery at the Hall on this occasion--a scoundrel whom Bridget had +saved from dismissal more than once during her palmy days--said:-- + +'It will be the old witch, that his worship means. She needs a ducking, +if ever woman did, does that Bridget Fitzgerald.' + +'Fitzgerald!' said both the gentlemen at once. But Sir Philip was the +first to continue: + +'I must have no talk of ducking her, Dickon. Why, she must be the very +woman poor Starkey bade me have a care of; but when I came here last +she was gone, no one knew where. I'll go and see her tomorrow. But mind +you, sirrah, if any harm comes to her, or any more talk of her being a +witch--I've a pack of hounds at home, who can follow the scent of a +lying knave as well as ever they followed a dog-fox; so take care how +you talk about ducking a faithful old servant of your dead master's.' + +'Had she ever a daughter?' asked Mr. Gisborne, after a while. + +'I don't know--yes! I've a notion she had; a kind of waiting-woman to +Madam Starkey.' + +'Please your worship,' said humbled Dickon, 'Mistress Bridget had a +daughter--one Mistress Mary--who went abroad, and has never been heard +on since; and folk do say that has crazed her mother.' + +Mr. Gisborne shaded his eyes with his hand. + +'I could wish she had not cursed me,' he muttered. 'She may have +power--no one else could.' After a while, he said aloud, no one +understanding rightly what he meant, 'Tush! it's impossible!'--and +called for claret; and he and the other gentlemen set to to a +drinking-bout. + + + + +Chapter 2 + + +I now come to the time in which I myself was mixed up with the people +that I have been writing about. And to make you understand how I became +connected with them, I must give you some little account of myself. My +father was the younger son of a Devonshire gentleman of moderate +property; my eldest uncle succeeded to the estate of his forefathers, +my second became an eminent attorney in London, and my father took +orders. Like most poor clergymen, he had a large family; and I have no +doubt was glad enough when my London uncle, who was a bachelor, offered +to take charge of me, and bring me up to be his successor in business. + +In this way I came to live in London, in my uncle's house, not far from +Gray's Inn, and to be treated and esteemed as his son, and to labour +with him in his office. I was very fond of the old gentleman. He was +the confidential agent of many country squires, and had attained to his +present position as much by knowledge of human nature as by knowledge +of law; though he was learned enough in the latter. He used to say his +business was law, his pleasure heraldry. From his intimate acquaintance +with family history, and all the tragic courses of life therein +involved, to hear him talk, at leisure times, about any coat of arms +that came across his path was as good as a play or a romance. Many +cases of disputed property, dependent on a love of genealogy, were +brought to him, as to a great authority on such points. If the lawyer +who came to consult him was young, he would take no fee, only give him +a long lecture on the importance of attending to heraldry; if the +lawyer was of mature age and good standing, he would mulct him pretty +well, and abuse him to me afterwards as negligent of one great branch +of the profession. His house was in a stately new street called Ormond +Street, and in it he had a handsome library; but all the books treated +of things that were past; none of them planned or looked forward into +the future. I worked away--partly for the sake of my family at home, +partly because my uncle had really taught me to enjoy the kind of +practice in which he himself took such delight. I suspect I worked too +hard; at any rate, in seventeen hundred and eighteen I was far from +well, and my good uncle was disturbed by my ill looks. + +One day, he rang the bell twice into the clerk's room at the dingy +office in Gray's Inn Lane. It was the summons for me, and I went into +his private room just as a gentleman--whom I knew well enough by sight +as an Irish lawyer of more reputation than he deserved--was leaving. + +My uncle was slowly rubbing his hands together and considering. I was +there two or three minutes before he spoke. Then he told me that I must +pack up my portmanteau that very afternoon, and start that night by +post-horse for West Chester. I should get there, if all went well, at +the end of five days' time, and must then wait for a packet to cross +over to Dublin; from thence I must proceed to a certain town named +Kildoon, and in that neighbourhood I was to remain, making certain +inquiries as to the existence of any descendants of the younger branch +of a family to whom some valuable estates had descended in the female +line. The Irish lawyer whom I had seen was weary of the case, and would +willingly have given up the property, without further ado, to a man who +appeared to claim them; but on laying his tables and trees before my +uncle, the latter had foreseen so many possible prior claimants, that +the lawyer had begged him to undertake the management of the whole +business. In his youth, my uncle would have liked nothing better than +going over to Ireland himself, and ferreting out every scrap of paper +or parchment, and every word of tradition respecting the family. As it +was, old and gouty, he deputed me. + +Accordingly, I went to Kildoon. I suspect I had something of my uncle's +delight in following up a genealogical scent, for I very soon found +out, when on the spot, that Mr. Rooney, the Irish lawyer, would have +got both himself and the first claimant into a terrible scrape, if he +had pronounced his opinion that the estates ought to be given up to +him. There were three poor Irish fellows, each nearer of kin to the +last possessor; but, a generation before, there was a still nearer +relation, who had never been accounted for, nor his existence ever +discovered by the lawyers, I venture to think, till I routed him out +from the memory of some of the old dependants of the family. What had +become of him? I travelled backwards and forwards; I crossed over to +France, and came back again with a slight clue, which ended in my +discovering that, wild and dissipated himself, he had left one child, a +son, of yet worse character than his father; that this same Hugh +Fitzgerald had married a very beautiful serving-woman of the Byrnes--a +person below him in hereditary rank, but above him in character; that +he had died soon after his marriage, leaving one child, whether a boy +or a girl I could not learn, and that the mother had returned to live +in the family of the Byrnes. Now, the chief of this latter family was +serving in the Duke of Berwick's regiment, and it was long before I +could hear from him; it was more than a year before I got a short, +haughty letter--I fancy he had a soldier's contempt for a civilian, an +Irishman's hatred for an Englishman, an exiled Jacobite's jealousy of +one who prospered and lived tranquilly under the government he looked +upon as an usurpation. 'Bridget Fitzgerald,' he said, 'had been +faithful to the fortunes of his sister--had followed her abroad, and to +England when Mrs. Starkey had thought fit to return. Both her sister +and her husband were dead; he knew nothing of Bridget Fitzgerald at the +present time: probably Sir Philip Tempest, his nephew's guardian, might +be able to give me some information.' I have not given the little +contemptuous terms; the way in which faithful service was meant to +imply more than it said--all that has nothing to do with my story. Sir +Philip, when applied to, told me that he paid an annuity regularly to +an old woman named Fitzgerald, living at Coldholme (the village near +Starkey Manor-House). Whether she had any descendants he could not say. + +One bleak March evening, I came in sight of the places described at the +beginning of my story. I could hardly understand the rude dialect in +which the direction to old Bridget's house was given. + +'Yo' see yon furleets,' all run together, gave me no idea that I was to +guide myself by the distant lights that shone in the windows of the +Hall, occupied for the time by a farmer who held the post of steward, +while the Squire, now four or five and twenty, was making the grand +tour. However, at last, I reached Bridget's cottage--a low, moss-grown +place; the palings that had once surrounded it were broken and gone; +and the underwood of the forest came up to the walls, and must have +darkened the windows. It was about seven o'clock--not late to my London +notions--but, after knocking for some time at the door and receiving no +reply, I was driven to conjecture that the occupant of the house was +gone to bed. So I betook myself to the nearest church I had seen, three +miles back on the road I had come, sure that close to that I should +find an inn of some kind; and early the next morning I set off back to +Coldholme, by a field-path which my host assured me I should find a +shorter cut than the road I had taken the night before. It was a cold, +sharp morning; my feet left prints in the sprinkling of hoar-frost that +covered the ground; nevertheless, I saw an old woman, whom I +instinctively suspected to be the object of my search, in a sheltered +covert on one side of my path. I lingered and watched her. She must +have been considerably above the middle size in her prime, for when she +raised herself from the stooping position in which I first saw her, +there was something fine and commanding in the erectness of her figure. +She drooped again in a minute or two, and seemed looking for something +on the ground, as, with bent head, she turned off from the spot where I +gazed upon her, and was lost to my sight. I fancy I missed my way, and +made a round in spite of the landlord's directions; for by the time I +had reached Bridget's cottage she was there, with no semblance of +hurried walk or discomposure of any kind. The door was slightly ajar. I +knocked, and the majestic figure stood before me, silently awaiting the +explanation of my errand. Her teeth were all gone, so the nose and chin +were brought near together; the grey eyebrows were straight, and almost +hung over her deep, cavernous eyes, and the thick white hair lay in +silvery masses over the low, wide, wrinkled forehead. For a moment, I +stood uncertain how to shape my answer to the solemn questioning of her +silence. + +'Your name is Bridget Fitzgerald, I believe?' She bowed her head in +assent. + +'I have something to say to you. May I come in? I am unwilling to keep +you standing.' + +'You cannot tire me,' she said, and at first she seemed inclined to +deny me the shelter of her roof. But the next moment--she had searched +the very soul in me with her eyes during that instant--she led me in, +and dropped the shadowing hood of her grey, draping cloak, which had +previously hid part of the character of her countenance. The cottage +was rude and bare enough. But before that picture of the Virgin, of +which I have made mention, there stood a little cup filled with fresh +primroses. While she paid her reverence to the Madonna, I understood +why she had been out seeking through the clumps of green in the +sheltered copse. Then she turned round, and bade me be seated. The +expression of her face, which all this time I was studying, was not +bad, as the stories of my last night's landlord had led me to expect; +it was a wild, stern, fierce, indomitable countenance, seamed and +scarred by agonies of solitary weeping; but it was neither cunning nor +malignant. + +'My name is Bridget Fitzgerald,' said she, by way of opening our +conversation. + +'And your husband was Hugh Fitzgerald, of Knock-Mahon, near Kildoon, in +Ireland?' + +A faint light came into the dark gloom of her eyes. + +'He was.' + +'May I ask if you had any children by him?' + +The light in her eyes grew quick and red. She tried to speak, I could +see; but something rose in her throat, and choked her, and until she +could speak calmly, she would fain not speak at all before a stranger. +In a minute or so she said: + +'I had a daughter--one Mary Fitzgerald,'--then her strong nature +mastered her strong will, and she cried out, with a trembling, wailing +cry: 'Oh, man! what of her?--what of her?' + +She rose from her seat, and came and clutched at my arm, and looked in +my eyes. There she read, as I suppose, my utter ignorance of what had +become of her child; for she went blindly back to her chair, and sat +rocking herself and softly moaning, as if I were not there; I not +daring to speak to the lone and awful woman. After a little pause, she +knelt down before the picture of our Lady of the Holy Heart, and spoke +to her by all the fanciful and poetic names of the Litany. + +'O Rose of Sharon! O Tower of David! O Star of the Sea! have you no +comfort for my sore heart? Am I for ever to hope? Grant me at least +despair!'--and so on she went, heedless of my presence. Her prayers +grew wilder and wilder, till they seemed to me to touch on the borders +of madness and blasphemy. Almost involuntarily, I spoke as if to stop +her. + +'Have you any reason to think that your daughter is dead?' + +She rose from her knees, and came and stood before me. + +'Mary Fitzgerald is dead,' said she. 'I shall never see her again in +the flesh. No tongue ever told me. But I know she is dead. I have +yearned so to see her, and my heart's will is fearful and strong: it +would have drawn her to me before now, if she had been a wanderer on +the other side of the world. I wonder often it has not drawn her out of +the grave to come and stand before me, and hear me tell her how I loved +her. For, sir, we parted unfriends.' + +I knew nothing but the dry particulars needed for my lawyer's quest, +but I could not help feeling for the desolate woman; and she must have +read the unusual sympathy with her wistful eyes. + +'Yes, sir, we did. She never knew how I loved her; and we parted +unfriends; and I fear me that I wished her voyage might not turn out +well, only meaning,--O, blessed Virgin! you know I only meant that she +should come home to her mother's arms as to the happiest place on +earth; but my wishes are terrible--their power goes beyond my +thought--and there is no hope for me, if my words brought Mary harm.' + +'But,' I said, 'you do not know that she is dead. Even now, you hoped +she might be alive. Listen to me,' and I told her the tale I have +already told you, giving it all in the driest manner, for I wanted to +recall the clear sense that I felt almost sure she had possessed in her +younger days, and by keeping up her attention to details, restrain the +vague wildness of her grief. + +She listened with deep attention, putting from time to time such +questions as convinced me I had to do with no common intelligence, +however dimmed and shorn by solitude and mysterious sorrow. Then she +took up her tale; and in few brief words, told me of her wanderings +abroad in vain search after her daughter; sometimes in the wake of +armies, sometimes in camp, sometimes in city. The lady, whose +waiting-woman Mary had gone to be, had died soon after the date of her +last letter home; her husband, the foreign officer, had been serving in +Hungary, whither Bridget had followed him, but too late to find him. +Vague rumours reached her that Mary had made a great marriage; and this +sting of doubt was added,--whether the mother might not be close to her +child under her new name, and even hearing of her every day, and yet +never recognising the lost one under the appellation she then bore. At +length the thought took possession of her, that it was possible that +all this time Mary might be at home at Coldholme, in the Trough of +Bolland, in Lancashire, in England; and home came Bridget, in that vain +hope, to her desolate hearth, and empty cottage. Here she had thought +it safest to remain; if Mary was in life, it was here she would seek +for her mother. + +I noted down one or two particulars out of Bridget's narrative that I +thought might be of use to me; for I was stimulated to further search +in a strange and extraordinary manner. It seemed as if it were +impressed upon me, that I must take up the quest where Bridget had laid +it down; and this for no reason that had previously influenced me (such +as my uncle's anxiety on the subject, my own reputation as a lawyer, +and so on), but from some strange power which had taken possession of +my will only that very morning, and which forced it in the direction it +chose. + +'I will go,' said I. 'I will spare nothing in the search. Trust to me. +I will learn all that can be learnt. You shall know all that money, or +pains, or wit can discover. It is true she may be long dead: but she +may have left a child.' + +'A child!' she cried, as if for the first time this idea had struck her +mind. 'Hear him, Blessed Virgin! he says she may have left a child. And +you have never told me, though I have prayed so for a sign, waking or +sleeping!' + +'Nay,' said I, 'I know nothing but what you tell me. You say you heard +of her marriage.' + +But she caught nothing of what I said. She was praying to the Virgin in +a kind of ecstacy, which seemed to render her unconscious of my very +presence. + +From Coldholme I went to Sir Philip Tempest's. The wife of the foreign +officer had been a cousin of his father's, and from him I thought I +might gain some particulars as to the existence of the Count de la Tour +d'Auvergne, and where I could find him; for I knew questions _de vive +voix_ aid the flagging recollection, and I was determined to lose no +chance for want of trouble. But Sir Philip had gone abroad, and it +would be some time before I could receive an answer. So I followed my +uncle's advice, to whom I had mentioned how wearied I felt, both in +body and mind, by my will-o'-the-wisp search. He immediately told me to +go to Harrogate, there to await Sir Philip's reply. I should be near to +one of the places connected with my search, Coldholme; not far from Sir +Philip Tempest, in case he returned, and I wished to ask him any +further questions; and, in conclusion, my uncle bade me try to forget +all about my business for a time. + +This was far easier said than done. I have seen a child on a common +blown along by a high wind, without power of standing still and +resisting the tempestuous force. I was somewhat in the same predicament +as regarded my mental state. Something resistless seemed to urge my +thoughts on, through every possible course by which there was a chance +of attaining to my object. I did not see the sweeping moors when I +walked out: when I held a book in my hand, and read the words, their +sense did not penetrate to my brain. If I slept, I went on with the +same ideas, always flowing in the same direction. This could not last +long without having a bad effect on the body. I had an illness, which, +although I was racked with pain, was a positive relief to me, as it +compelled me to live in the present suffering, and not in the visionary +researches I had been continually making before. My kind uncle came to +nurse me; and after the immediate danger was over, my life seemed to +slip away in delicious languor for two or three months. I did not +ask--so much did I dread falling into the old channel of +thought--whether any reply had been received to my letter to Sir +Philip. I turned my whole imagination right away from all that subject. +My uncle remained with me until nigh summer, and then returned to his +business in London; leaving me perfectly well, although not completely +strong. I was to follow him in a fortnight; when, as he said, 'we would +look over letters, and talk about several things.' I knew what this +little speech alluded to, and shrank from the train of thought it +suggested, which was so intimately connected with my first feelings of +illness. However, I had a fortnight more to roam on those invigorating +Yorkshire moors. + +In those days, there was one large, rambling inn at Harrogate, close to +the Medicinal Spring; but it was already becoming too small for the +accommodation of the influx of visitors, and many lodged round about, +in the farm-houses of the district. It was so early in the season, that +I had the inn pretty much to myself; and, indeed, felt rather like a +visitor in a private house, so intimate had the landlord and landlady +become with me during my long illness. She would chide me for being out +so late on the moors, or for having been too long without food, quite +in a motherly way; while he consulted me about vintages and wines, and +taught me many a Yorkshire wrinkle about horses. In my walks I met +other strangers from time to time. Even before my uncle had left me, I +had noticed, with half-torpid curiosity, a young lady of very striking +appearance, who went about always accompanied by an elderly companion, +hardly a gentlewoman, but with something in her look that prepossessed +me in her favour. The younger lady always put her veil down when any +one approached; so it had been only once or twice, when I had come upon +her at a sudden turn in the path, that I had even had a glimpse of her +face. I am not sure if it was beautiful, though in after-life I grew to +think it so. But it was at this time over-shadowed by a sadness that +never varied: a pale, quiet, resigned look of intense suffering, that +irresistibly attracted me, not with love, but with a sense of infinite +compassion for one so young yet so hopelessly unhappy. The companion +wore something of the same look: quiet, melancholy, hopeless, yet +resigned. I asked my landlord who they were. He said they were called +Clarke, and wished to be considered as mother and daughter; but that, +for his part, he did not believe that to be their right name, or that +there was any such relationship between them. They had been in the +neighbourhood of Harrogate for some time, lodging in a remote +farm-house. The people there would tell nothing about them; saying that +they paid handsomely, and never did any harm; so why should they be +speaking of any strange things that might happen? That, as the landlord +shrewdly observed, showed there was something out of the common way: he +had heard that the elderly woman was a cousin of the farmer's where +they lodged, and so the regard existing between relations might help to +keep them quiet. + +'What did he think, then, was the reason for their extreme seclusion?' +asked I. + +'Nay, he could not tell, not he. He had heard that the young lady, for +all as quiet as she seemed, played strange pranks at times.' He shook +his head when I asked him for more particulars, and refused to give +them, which made me doubt if he knew any, for he was in general a +talkative and communicative man. In default of other interests, after +my uncle left, I set myself to watch these two people. I hovered about +their walks, drawn towards them with a strange fascination, which was +not diminished by their evident annoyance at so frequently meeting me. +One day, I had the sudden good fortune to be at hand when they were +alarmed by the attack of a bull, which, in those unenclosed grazing +districts, was a particularly dangerous occurrence. I have other and +more important things to relate, than to tell of the accident which +gave me an opportunity of rescuing them; it is enough to say, that this +event was the beginning of an acquaintance, reluctantly acquiesced in +by them, but eagerly prosecuted by me. I can hardly tell when intense +curiosity became merged in love, but in less than ten days after my +uncle's departure I was passionately enamoured of Mrs. Lucy, as her +attendant called her; carefully--for this I noted well--avoiding any +address which appeared as if there was an equality of station between +them. I noticed also that Mrs. Clarke, the elderly woman, after her +first reluctance to allow me to pay them any attentions had been +overcome, was cheered by my evident attachment to the young girl; it +seemed to lighten her heavy burden of care, and she evidently favoured +my visits to the farm-house where they lodged. It was not so with Lucy. +A more attractive person I never saw, in spite of her depression of +manner, and shrinking avoidance of me. I felt sure at once, that +whatever was the source of her grief, it rose from no fault of her own. +It was difficult to draw her into conversation; but when at times, for +a moment or two, I beguiled her into talk, I could see a rare +intelligence in her face, and a grave, trusting look in the soft, grey +eyes that were raised for a minute to mine. I made every excuse I +possibly could for going there. I sought wild flowers for Lucy's sake; +I planned walks for Lucy's sake; I watched the heavens by night, in +hopes that some unusual beauty of sky would justify me in tempting Mrs. +Clarke and Lucy forth upon the moors, to gaze at the great purple dome +above. + +It seemed to me that Lucy was aware of my love; but that, for some +motive which I could not guess, she would fain have repelled me; but +then again I saw, or fancied I saw, that her heart spoke in my favour, +and that there was a struggle going on in her mind, which at times (I +loved so dearly) I could have begged her to spare herself, even though +the happiness of my whole life should have been the sacrifice; for her +complexion grew paler, her aspect of sorrow more hopeless, her delicate +frame yet slighter. During this period I had written, I should say, to +my uncle, to beg to be allowed to prolong my stay at Harrogate, not +giving any reason; but such was his tenderness towards me, that in a +few days I heard from him, giving me a willing permission, and only +charging me to take care of myself, and not use too much exertion +during the hot weather. + +One sultry evening I drew near the farm. The windows of their parlour +were open, and I heard voices when I turned the corner of the house, as +I passed the first window (there were two windows in their little +ground-floor room). I saw Lucy distinctly; but when I had knocked at +their door--the house-door stood always ajar--she was gone, and I saw +only Mrs. Clarke, turning over the work-things lying on the table, in a +nervous and purposeless manner. I felt by instinct that a conversation +of some importance was coming on, in which I should be expected to say +what was my object in paying these frequent visits. I was glad of the +opportunity. My uncle had several times alluded to the pleasant +possibility of my bringing home a young wife, to cheer and adorn the +old house in Ormond Street. He was rich, and I was to succeed him, and +had, as I knew, a fair reputation for so young a lawyer. So on my side +I saw no obstacle. It was true that Lucy was shrouded in mystery; her +name (I was convinced it was not Clarke), birth, parentage, and +previous life were unknown to me. But I was sure of her goodness and +sweet innocence, and although I knew that there must be something +painful to be told, to account for her mournful sadness, yet I was +willing to bear my share in her grief, whatever it might be. + +Mrs. Clarke began, as if it was a relief to her to plunge into the +subject. + +'We have thought, sir--at least I have thought--that you know very +little of us, nor we of you, indeed; not enough to warrant the intimate +acquaintance we have fallen into. I beg your pardon, sir,' she went on, +nervously; 'I am but a plain kind of woman, and I mean to use no +rudeness; but I must say straight out that I--we--think it would be +better for you not to come so often to see us. She is very unprotected, +and----' + +'Why should I not come to see you, dear madam?' asked I, eagerly, glad +of the opportunity of explaining myself. 'I come, I own, because I have +learnt to love Mistress Lucy, and wish to teach her to love me.' + +Mistress Clarke shook her head, and sighed. + +'Don't, sir--neither love her, nor, for the sake of all you hold +sacred, teach her to love you! If I am too late, and you love her +already, forget her,--forget these last few weeks. O! I should never +have allowed you to come!' she went on, passionately; 'but what am I to +do? We are forsaken by all, except the great God, and even He permits a +strange and evil power to afflict us--what am I to do? Where is it to +end?' She wrung her hands in her distress; then she turned to me: 'Go +away, sir; go away, before you learn to care any more for her. I ask it +for your own sake--I implore. You have been good and kind to us, and we +shall always recollect you with gratitude; but go away now, and never +come back to cross our fatal path!' + +'Indeed, madam,' said I, 'I shall do no such thing. You urge it for my +own sake. I have no fear, so urged--nor wish, except to hear more--all. +I cannot have seen Mistress Lucy in all the intimacy of this last +fortnight, without acknowledging her goodness and innocence; and +without seeing--pardon me, madam--that for some reason you are two very +lonely women, in some mysterious sorrow and distress. Now, though I am +not powerful myself, yet I have friends who are so wise and kind, that +they may be said to possess power. Tell me some particulars. Why are +you in grief--what is your secret--why are you here? I declare solemnly +that nothing you have said has daunted me in my wish to become Lucy's +husband; nor will I shrink from any difficulty that, as such an +aspirant, I may have to encounter. You say you are friendless--why cast +away an honest friend? I will tell you of people to whom you may write, +and who will answer any questions as to my character and prospects. I +do not shun inquiry.' + +She shook her head again. 'You had better go away, sir. You know +nothing about us.' + +'I know your names,' said I, 'and I have heard you allude to the part +of the country from which you came, which I happen to know as a wild +and lonely place. There are so few people living in it that, if I chose +to go there, I could easily ascertain all about you; but I would rather +hear it from yourself.' You see I wanted to pique her into telling me +something definite. + +'You do not know our true names, sir,' said she, hastily. + +'Well, I may have conjectured as much. But tell me, then, I conjure +you. Give me your reasons for distrusting my willingness to stand by +what I have said with regard to Mistress Lucy.' + +'Oh, what can I do?' exclaimed she. 'If I am turning away a true friend +as he says?--Stay!' coming to a sudden decision--'I will tell you +something--I cannot tell you all--you would not believe it. But, +perhaps, I can tell you enough to prevent your going on in your +hopeless attachment. I am not Lucy's mother.' + +'So I conjectured,' I said. 'Go on.' + +'I do not even know whether she is the legitimate or illegitimate child +of her father. But he is cruelly turned against her; and her mother is +long dead; and, for a terrible reason, she has no other creature to +keep constant to her but me. She--only two years ago--such a darling +and such a pride in her father's house! Why, sir, there is a mystery +that might happen in connection with her any moment; and then you would +go away like all the rest; and, when you next heard her name, you would +loathe her. Others, who have loved her longer, have done so before now. +My poor child, whom neither God nor man has mercy upon--or, surely, she +would die!' + +The good woman was stopped by her crying. I confess, I was a little +stunned by her last words; but only for a moment. At any rate, till I +knew definitely what was this mysterious stain upon one so simple and +pure, as Lucy seemed, I would not desert her, and so I said; and she +made answer: + +'If you are daring in your heart to think harm of my child, sir, after +knowing her as you have done, you are no good man yourself; but I am so +foolish and helpless in my great sorrow, that I would fain hope to find +a friend in you. I cannot help trusting that, although you may no +longer feel towards her as a lover, you will have pity upon us; and +perhaps, by your learning, you can tell us where to go for aid.' + +'I implore you to tell me what this mystery is,' I cried, almost +maddened by this suspense. + +'I cannot,' said she, solemnly. 'I am under a deep vow of secrecy. If +you are to be told, it must be by her.' She left the room, and I +remained to ponder over this strange interview. I mechanically turned +over the few books, and with eyes that saw nothing at the time, +examined the tokens of Lucy's frequent presence in that room. + +When I got home at night, I remembered how all these trifles spoke of a +pure and tender heart and innocent life. Mistress Clarke returned; she +had been crying sadly. + +'Yes,' said she, 'it is as I feared: she loves you so much that she is +willing to run the fearful risk of telling you all herself--she +acknowledges it is but a poor chance; but your sympathy will be a balm, +if you give it. To-morrow, come here at ten in the morning; and as you +hope for pity in your hour of agony, repress all show of fear or +repugnance you may feel towards one so grievously afflicted.' + +I half smiled. 'Have no fear,' I said. It seemed too absurd to imagine +my feeling dislike to Lucy. + +'Her father loved her well,' said she, gravely, 'yet he drove her out +like some monstrous thing.' + +Just at this moment came a peal of ringing laughter from the garden. It +was Lucy's voice; it sounded as if she were standing just on one side +of the open casement--and as though she were suddenly stirred to +merriment--merriment verging on boisterousness, by the doings or +sayings of some other person. I can scarcely say why, but the sound +jarred on me inexpressibly. She knew the subject of our conversation, +and must have been at least aware of the state of agitation her friend +was in: she herself usually so gentle and quiet. I half rose to go to +the window, and satisfy my instinctive curiosity as to what had +provoked this burst of ill-timed laughter; but Mrs. Clarke threw her +whole weight and power upon the hand with which she pressed and kept me +down. + +'For God's sake!' she said, white and trembling all over, 'sit still; +be quiet. Oh! be patient. To-morrow you will know all. Leave us, for we +are all sorely afflicted. Do not seek to know more about us.' + +Again that laugh--so musical in sound, yet so discordant to my heart. +She held me tight--tighter; without positive violence I could not have +risen. I was sitting with my back to the window, but I felt a shadow +pass between the sun's warmth and me, and a strange shudder ran through +my frame. In a minute or two she released me. + +'Go,' repeated she. 'Be warned, I ask you once more. I do not think you +can stand this knowledge that you seek. If I had had my own way, Lucy +should never have yielded, and promised to tell you all. Who knows what +may come of it?' + +'I am firm in my wish to know all. I return at ten to-morrow morning, +and then expect to see Mistress Lucy herself.' + +I turned away; having my own suspicions, I confess, as to Mistress +Clarke's sanity. + +Conjectures as to the meaning of her hints, and uncomfortable thoughts +connected with that strange laughter, filled my mind. I could hardly +sleep. I rose early; and long before the hour I had appointed, I was on +the path over the common that led to the old farm-house where they +lodged. I suppose that Lucy had passed no better a night than I; for +there she was also, slowly pacing with her even step, her eyes bent +down, her whole look most saintly and pure. She started when I came +close to her, and grew paler as I reminded her of my appointment, and +spoke with something of the impatience of obstacles that, seeing her +once more, had called up afresh in my mind. All strange and terrible +hints, and giddy merriment were forgotten. My heart gave forth words of +fire, and my tongue uttered them. Her colour went and came, as she +listened; but, when I had ended my passionate speeches, she lifted her +soft eyes to me, and said: + +'But you know that you have something to learn about me yet. I only +want to say this: I shall not think less of you--less well of you, I +mean--if you, too, fall away from me when you know all. Stop!' said +she, as if fearing another burst of mad words. 'Listen to me. My father +is a man of great wealth. I never knew my mother; she must have died +when I was very young. When first I remember anything, I was living in +a great, lonely house, with my dear and faithful Mistress Clarke. My +father, even, was not there; he was--he is--a soldier, and his duties +lie abroad. But he came, from time to time, and every time I think he +loved me more and more. He brought me rarities from foreign lands, +which prove to me now how much he must have thought of me during his +absences. I can sit down and measure the depth of his lost love now, by +such standards as these. I never thought whether he loved me or not, +then; it was so natural, that it was like the air I breathed. Yet he +was an angry man at times, even then; but never with me. He was very +reckless, too; and, once or twice, I heard a whisper among the servants +that a doom was over him, and that he knew it, and tried to drown his +knowledge in wild activity, and even sometimes, sir, in wine. So I grew +up in this grand mansion, in that lonely place. Everything around me +seemed at my disposal, and I think every one loved me; I am sure loved +them. Till about two years ago--I remember it well--my father had come +to England, to us; and he seemed so proud and so pleased with me and +all I had done. And one day his tongue seemed loosened with wine, and +he told me much that I had not known till then,--how dearly he had +loved my mother, yet how his wilful usage had caused her death; and +then he went on to say how he loved me better than any creature on +earth, and how, some day, he hoped to take me to foreign places, for +that he could hardly bear these long absences from his only child. Then +he seemed to change suddenly, and said, in a strange, wild way, that I +was not to believe what he said; that there was many a thing he loved +better--his horse--his dog--I know not what. + +'And 'twas only the next morning that, when I came into his room to ask +his blessing as was my wont, he received me with fierce and angry +words. 'Why had I,' so he asked, 'been delighting myself in such wanton +mischief--dancing over the tender plants in the flower-beds, all set +with the famous Dutch bulbs he had brought from Holland?' I had never +been out of doors that morning, sir, and I could not conceive what he +meant, and so I said; and then he swore at me for a liar, and said I +was of no true blood, for he had seen me doing all that mischief +himself--with his own eyes. What could I say? He would not listen to +me, and even my tears seemed only to irritate him. That day was the +beginning of my great sorrows. Not long after, he reproached me for my +undue familiarity--all unbecoming a gentlewoman--with his grooms. I had +been in the stable-yard, laughing and talking, he said. Now, sir, I am +something of a coward by nature, and I had always dreaded horses; +besides that, my father's servants--those whom he brought with him from +foreign parts--were wild fellows, whom I had always avoided, and to +whom I had never spoken, except as a lady must needs from time to time +speak to her father's people. Yet my father called me by names of which +I hardly know the meaning, but my heart told me they were such as shame +any modest woman; and from that day he turned quite against me;--nay, +sir, not many weeks after that, he came in with a riding-whip in his +hand; and, accusing me harshly of evil doings, of which I knew no more +than you, sir, he was about to strike me, and I, all in bewildering +tears, was ready to take his stripes as great kindness compared to his +harder words, when suddenly he stopped his arm mid-way, gasped and +staggered, crying out, 'The curse--the curse!' I looked up in terror. +In the great mirror opposite I saw myself, and, right behind, another +wicked, fearful self, so like me that my soul seemed to quiver within +me, as though not knowing to which similitude of body it belonged. My +father saw my double at the same moment, either in its dreadful +reality, whatever that might be, or in the scarcely less terrible +reflection in the mirror; but what came of it at that moment I cannot +say, for I suddenly swooned away; and when I came to myself I was lying +in my bed, and my faithful Clarke sitting by me. I was in my bed for +days; and even while I lay there my double was seen by all, flitting +about the house and gardens, always about some mischievous or +detestable work. What wonder that every one shrank from me in +dread--that my father drove me forth at length, when the disgrace of +which I was the cause was past his patience to bear. Mistress Clarke +came with me; and here we try to live such a life of piety and prayer +as may in time set me free from the curse.' + +All the time she had been speaking, I had been weighing her story in my +mind. I had hitherto put cases of witchcraft on one side, as mere +superstitions; and my uncle and I had had many an argument, he +supporting himself by the opinion of his good friend Sir Matthew Hale. +Yet this sounded like the tale of one bewitched; or was it merely the +effect of a life of extreme seclusion telling on the nerves of a +sensitive girl? My scepticism inclined me to the latter belief, and +when she paused I said: + +'I fancy that some physician could have disabused your father of his +belief in visions----' + +Just at that instant, standing as I was opposite to her in the full and +perfect morning light, I saw behind her another figure--a ghastly +resemblance, complete in likeness, so far as form and feature and +minutest touch of dress could go, but with a loathsome demon soul +looking out of the grey eyes, that were in turns mocking and +voluptuous. My heart stood still within me; every hair rose up erect; +my flesh crept with horror. I could not see the grave and tender +Lucy--my eyes were fascinated by the creature beyond. I know not why, +but I put out my hand to clutch it; I grasped nothing but empty air, +and my whole blood curdled to ice. For a moment I could not see; then +my sight came back, and I saw Lucy standing before me, alone, deathly +pale, and, I could have fancied, almost, shrunk in size. + +'IT has been near me?' she said, as if asking a question. + +The sound seemed taken out of her voice; it was husky as the notes on +an old harpsichord when the strings have ceased to vibrate. She read +her answer in my face, I suppose, for I could not speak. Her look was +one of intense fear, but that died away into an aspect of most humble +patience. At length she seemed to force herself to face behind and +around her: she saw the purple moors, the blue distant hills, quivering +in the sunlight, but nothing else. + +'Will you take me home?' she said, meekly. + +I took her by the hand, and led her silently through the budding +heather--we dared not speak; for we could not tell but that the dread +creature was listening, although unseen,--but that IT might appear and +push us asunder. I never loved her more fondly than now when--and that +was the unspeakable misery--the idea of her was becoming so +inextricably blended with the shuddering thought of IT. She seemed to +understand what I must be feeling. She let go my hand, which she had +kept clasped until then, when we reached the garden gate, and went +forwards to meet her anxious friend, who was standing by the window +looking for her. I could not enter the house: I needed silence, +society, leisure, change--I knew not what--to shake off the sensation +of that creature's presence. Yet I lingered about the garden--I hardly +know why; I partly suppose, because I feared to encounter the +resemblance again on the solitary common, where it had vanished, and +partly from a feeling of inexpressible compassion for Lucy. In a few +minutes Mistress Clarke came forth and joined me. We walked some paces +in silence. + +'You know all now,' said she, solemnly. + +'I saw IT,' said I, below my breath. + +'And you shrink from us, now,' she said, with a hopelessness which +stirred up all that was brave or good in me. + +'Not a whit,' said I. 'Human flesh shrinks from encounter with the +powers of darkness: and, for some reason unknown to me, the pure and +holy Lucy is their victim.' + +'The sins of the fathers shall be visited upon the children,' she said. + +'Who is her father?' asked I. 'Knowing as much as I do, I may surely +know more--know all. Tell me, I entreat you, madam, all that you can +conjecture respecting this demoniac persecution of one so good.' + +'I will; but not now. I must go to Lucy now. Come this afternoon, I +will see you alone; and oh, sir! I will trust that you may yet find +some way to help us in our sore trouble!' + +I was miserably exhausted by the swooning affright which had taken +possession of me. When I reached the inn, I staggered in like one +overcome by wine. I went to my own private room. It was some time +before I saw that the weekly post had come in, and brought me my +letters. There was one from my uncle, one from my home in Devonshire, +and one, re-directed over the first address, sealed with a great coat +of arms. It was from Sir Philip Tempest: my letter of inquiry +respecting Mary Fitzgerald had reached him at Liège, where it so +happened that the Count de la Tour d'Auvergne was quartered at the very +time. He remembered his wife's beautiful attendant; she had had high +words with the deceased countess, respecting her intercourse with an +English gentleman of good standing, who was also in the foreign +service. The countess augured evil of his intentions; while Mary, proud +and vehement, asserted that he would soon marry her, and resented her +mistress's warnings as an insult. The consequence was, that she had +left Madame de la Tour d'Auvergne's service, and, as the Count +believed, had gone to live with the Englishman; whether he had married +her, or not, he could not say. 'But,' added Sir Philip Tempest, 'you +may easily hear what particulars you wish to know respecting Mary +Fitzgerald from the Englishman himself, if, as I suspect, he is no +other than my neighbour and former acquaintance, Mr. Gisborne, of +Skipford Hall, in the West Riding. I am led to the belief that he is no +other by several small particulars, none of which are in themselves +conclusive, but which, taken together, make a mass of presumptive +evidence. As far as I could make out from the Count's foreign +pronunciation, Gisborne was the name of the Englishman: I know that +Gisborne of Skipford was abroad and in the foreign service at that +time--he was a likely fellow enough for such an exploit, and, above +all, certain expressions recur to my mind which he used in reference to +old Bridget Fitzgerald, of Coldholme, whom he once encountered while +staying with me at Starkey Manor-House. I remember that the meeting +seemed to have produced some extraordinary effect upon his mind, as +though he had suddenly discovered some connection which she might have +had with his previous life. I beg you to let me know if I can be of any +further service to you. Your uncle once rendered me a good turn, and I +will gladly repay it, so far as in me lies, to his nephew.' + +I was now apparently close on the discovery which I had striven so many +months to attain. But success had lost its zest. I put my letters down, +and seemed to forget them all in thinking of the morning I had passed +that very day. Nothing was real but the unreal presence, which had come +like an evil blast across my bodily eyes, and burnt itself down upon my +brain. Dinner came, and went away untouched. Early in the afternoon I +walked to the farm-house. I found Mistress Clarke alone, and I was glad +and relieved. She was evidently prepared to tell me all I might wish to +hear. + +'You asked me for Mistress Lucy's true name; it is Gisborne,' she +began. + +'Not Gisborne of Skipford?' I exclaimed, breathless with anticipation. + +'The same,' said she, quietly, not regarding my manner. 'Her father is +a man of note; although, being a Roman Catholic, he cannot take that +rank in this country to which his station entitles him. The consequence +is that he lives much abroad--has been a soldier, I am told.' + +'And Lucy's mother?' I asked. + +She shook her head. 'I never knew her,' said she. 'Lucy was about three +years old when I was engaged to take charge of her. Her mother was +dead.' + +'But you know her name?--you can tell if it was Mary Fitzgerald?' + +She looked astonished. 'That was her name. But, sir, how came you to be +so well acquainted with it? It was a mystery to the whole household at +Skipford Court. She was some beautiful young woman whom he lured away +from her protectors while he was abroad. I have heard said he practised +some terrible deceit upon her, and when she came to know it, she was +neither to have nor to hold, but rushed off from his very arms, and +threw herself into a rapid stream and was drowned. It stung him deep +with remorse, but I used to think the remembrance of the mother's cruel +death made him love the child yet dearer.' + +I told her, as briefly as might be, of my researches after the +descendant and heir of the Fitzgeralds of Kildoon, and added--something +of my old lawyer spirit returning into me for the moment--that I had no +doubt but that we should prove Lucy to be by right possessed of large +estates in Ireland. + +No flush came over her grey face; no light into her eyes. 'And what is +all the wealth in the whole world to that poor girl?' she said. 'It +will not free her from the ghastly bewitchment which persecutes her. As +for money, what a pitiful thing it is; it cannot touch her.' + +'No more can the Evil Creature harm her,' I said. 'Her holy nature +dwells apart, and cannot be defiled or stained by all the devilish arts +in the whole world.' + +'True! but it is a cruel fate to know that all shrink from her, sooner +or later, as from one possessed--accursed.' + +'How came it to pass?' I asked. + +'Nay, I know not. Old rumours there are, that were bruited through the +household at Skipford.' + +'Tell me,' I demanded. + +'They came from servants, who would fain account for everything. They +say that, many years ago, Mr. Gisborne killed a dog belonging to an old +witch at Coldholme; that she cursed, with a dreadful and mysterious +curse, the creature, whatever it might be, that he should love best; +and that it struck so deeply into his heart that for years he kept +himself aloof from any temptation to love aught. But who could help +loving Lucy?' + +'You never heard the witch's name?' I gasped. + +'Yes--they called her Bridget; they said he would never go near the +spot again for terror of her. Yet he was a brave man!' + +'Listen,' said I, taking hold of her arm, the better to arrest her full +attention; 'if what I suspect holds true, that man stole Bridget's only +child--the very Mary Fitzgerald who was Lucy's mother; if so, Bridget +cursed him in ignorance of the deeper wrong he had done her. To this +hour she yearns after her lost child, and questions the saints whether +she be living or not. The roots of that curse lie deeper than she +knows: she unwittingly banned him for a deeper guilt than that of +killing a dumb beast. The sins of the fathers are indeed visited upon +the children.' + +'But,' said Mistress Clarke, eagerly, 'she would never let evil rest on +her own grandchild? Surely, sir, if what you say be true, there are +hopes for Lucy. Let us go--go at once, and tell this fearful woman all +that you suspect, and beseech her to take off the spell she has put +upon her innocent grandchild.' + +It seemed to me, indeed, that something like this was the best course +we could pursue. But first it was necessary to ascertain more than what +mere rumour or careless hearsay could tell. My thoughts turned to my +uncle--he could advise me wisely--he ought to know all. I resolved to +go to him without delay; but I did not choose to tell Mistress Clarke +of all the visionary plans that flitted through my mind. I simply +declared my intention of proceeding straight to London on Lucy's +affairs. I bade her believe that my interest on the young lady's behalf +was greater than ever, and that my whole time should be given up to her +cause. I saw that Mistress Clarke distrusted me, because my mind was +too full of thoughts for my words to flow freely. She sighed and shook +her head, and said, 'Well, it is all right!' in such a tone that it was +an implied reproach. But I was firm and constant in my heart, and I +took confidence from that. + +I rode to London. I rode long days drawn out into the lovely summer +nights: I could not rest. I reached London. I told my uncle all, though +in the stir of the great city the horror had faded away, and I could +hardly imagine that he would believe the account I gave him of the +fearful double of Lucy which I had seen on the lonely moor-side. But my +uncle had lived many years, and learnt many things; and, in the deep +secrets of family history that had been confided to him, he had heard +of cases of innocent people bewitched and taken possession of by evil +spirits yet more fearful than Lucy's. For, as he said, to judge from +all I told him, that resemblance had no power over her--she was too +pure and good to be tainted by its evil, haunting presence. It had, in +all probability, so my uncle conceived, tried to suggest wicked +thoughts and to tempt to wicked actions; but she, in her saintly +maidenhood, had passed on undefiled by evil thought or deed. It could +not touch her soul: but true, it set her apart from all sweet love or +common human intercourse. My uncle threw himself with an energy more +like six-and-twenty than sixty into the consideration of the whole +case. He undertook the proving Lucy's descent, and volunteered to go +and find out Mr. Gisborne, and obtain, firstly, the legal proofs of her +descent from the Fitzgeralds of Kildoon, and, secondly, to try and hear +all that he could respecting the working of the curse, and whether any +and what means had been taken to exorcise that terrible appearance. For +he told me of instances where, by prayers and long fasting, the evil +possessor had been driven forth with howling and many cries from the +body which it had come to inhabit; he spoke of those strange New +England cases which had happened not so long before; of Mr. Defoe, who +had written a book, wherein he had named many modes of subduing +apparitions, and sending them back whence they came; and, lastly, he +spoke low of dreadful ways of compelling witches to undo their +witchcraft. But I could not endure to hear of those tortures and +burnings. I said that Bridget was rather a wild and savage woman than a +malignant witch; and, above all, that Lucy was of her kith and kin; and +that, in putting her to the trial, by water or by fire, we should be +torturing--it might be to the death--the ancestress of her we sought to +redeem. + +My uncle thought awhile, and then said, that in this last matter I was +right--at any rate, it should not be tried, with his consent, till all +other modes of remedy had failed; and he assented to my proposal that I +should go myself and see Bridget, and tell her all. + +In accordance with this, I went down once more to the wayside inn near +Coldholme. It was late at night when I arrived there; and, while I +supped, I inquired of the landlord more particulars as to Bridget's +ways. Solitary and savage had been her life for many years. Wild and +despotic were her words and manner to those few people who came across +her path. The country-folk did her imperious bidding, because they +feared to disobey. If they pleased her, they prospered; if, on the +contrary, they neglected or traversed her behests, misfortune, small or +great, fell on them and theirs. It was not detestation so much as an +indefinable terror that she excited. + +In the morning I went to see her. She was standing on the green outside +her cottage, and received me with the sullen grandeur of a throneless +queen. I read in her face that she recognised me, and that I was not +unwelcome; but she stood silent till I had opened my errand. + +'I have news of your daughter,' said I, resolved to speak straight to +all that I knew she felt of love, and not to spare her. 'She is dead!' + +The stern figure scarcely trembled, but her hand sought the support of +the door-post. + +'I knew that she was dead,' said she, deep and low, and then was silent +for an instant. 'My tears that should have flowed for her were burnt up +long years ago. Young man, tell me about her.' + +'Not yet,' said I, having a strange power given me of confronting one, +whom, nevertheless, in my secret soul I dreaded. + +'You had once a little dog,' I continued. The words called out in her +more show of emotion than the intelligence of her daughter's death. She +broke in upon my speech: + +'I had! It was hers--the last thing I had of hers--and it was shot for +wantonness! It died in my arms. The man who killed that dog rues it to +this day. For that dumb beast's blood, his best-beloved stands +accursed.' + +Her eyes distended, as if she were in a trance and saw the working of +her curse. Again I spoke: + +'O, woman!' I said, 'that best-beloved, standing accursed before men, +is your dead daughter's child.' + +The life, the energy, the passion came back to the eyes with which she +pierced through me, to see if I spoke truth; then, without another +question or word, she threw herself on the ground with fearful +vehemence, and clutched at the innocent daisies with convulsed hands. + +'Bone of my bone! flesh of my flesh! have I cursed thee--and art thou +accursed?' + +So she moaned, as she lay prostrate in her great agony. I stood aghast +at my own work. She did not hear my broken sentences; she asked no +more, but the dumb confirmation which my sad looks had given that one +fact, that her curse rested on her own daughter's child. The fear grew +on me lest she should die in her strife of body and soul; and then +might not Lucy remain under the spell as long as she lived? + +Even at this moment, I saw Lucy coming through the woodland path that +led to Bridget's cottage; Mistress Clarke was with her: I felt at my +heart that it was she, by the balmy peace which the look of her sent +over me, as she slowly advanced, a glad surprise shining out of her +soft quiet eyes. That was as her gaze met mine. As her looks fell on +the woman lying stiff, convulsed on the earth, they became full of +tender pity; and she came forward to try and lift her up. Seating +herself on the turf, she took Bridget's head into her lap; and, with +gentle touches, she arranged the dishevelled grey hair streaming thick +and wild from beneath her mutch. + +'God help her!' murmured Lucy. 'How she suffers!' + +At her desire we sought for water; but when we returned, Bridget had +recovered her wandering senses, and was kneeling with clasped hands +before Lucy, gazing at that sweet sad face as though her troubled +nature drank in health and peace from every moment's contemplation. A +faint tinge on Lucy's pale cheeks showed me that she was aware of our +return; otherwise it appeared as if she was conscious of her influence +for good over the passionate and troubled woman kneeling before her, +and would not willingly avert her grave and loving eyes from that +wrinkled and careworn countenance. + +Suddenly--in the twinkling of an eye--the creature appeared, there, +behind Lucy; fearfully the same as to outward semblance, but kneeling +exactly as Bridget knelt, and clasping her hands in jesting mimicry as +Bridget clasped hers in her ecstasy that was deepening into a prayer. +Mistress Clarke cried out--Bridget arose slowly, her gaze fixed on the +creature beyond: drawing her breath with a hissing sound, never moving +her terrible eyes, that were steady as stone, she made a dart at the +phantom, and caught, as I had done, a mere handful of empty air. We saw +no more of the creature--it vanished as suddenly as it came, but +Bridget looked slowly on, as if watching some receding form. Lucy sat +still, white, trembling, drooping--I think she would have swooned if I +had not been there to uphold her. While I was attending to her, Bridget +passed us, without a word to any one, and, entering her cottage, she +barred herself in, and left us without. + +All our endeavours were now directed to get Lucy back to the house +where she had tarried the night before. Mistress Clarke told me that, +not hearing from me (some letter must have miscarried), she had grown +impatient and despairing, and had urged Lucy to the enterprise of +coming to seek her grandmother; not telling her, indeed, of the dread +reputation she possessed, or how we suspected her of having so +fearfully blighted that innocent girl; but, at the same time, hoping +much from the mysterious stirring of blood, which Mistress Clarke +trusted in for the removal of the curse. They had come, by a different +route from that which I had taken, to a village inn not far from +Coldholme, only the night before. This was the first interview between +ancestress and descendant. + +All through the sultry noon I wandered along the tangled wood-paths of +the old neglected forest, thinking where to turn for remedy in a matter +so complicated and mysterious. Meeting a countryman, I asked my way to +the nearest clergyman, and went, hoping to obtain some counsel from +him. But he proved to be a coarse and common-minded man, giving no time +or attention to the intricacies of a case, but dashing out a strong +opinion involving immediate action. For instance, as soon as I named +Bridget Fitzgerald, he exclaimed: + +'The Coldholme witch! the Irish papist! I'd have had her ducked long +since but for that other papist, Sir Philip Tempest. He has had to +threaten honest folk about here over and over again, or they'd have had +her up before the justices for her black doings. And it's the law of +the land that witches should be burnt! Ay, and of Scripture, too, sir! +Yet you see a papist, if he's a rich squire, can overrule both law and +Scripture. I'd carry a fagot myself to rid the country of her!' + +Such a one could give me no help. I rather drew back what I had already +said; and tried to make the parson forget it, by treating him to +several pots of beer, in the village inn, to which we had adjourned for +our conference at his suggestion. I left him as soon as I could, and +returned to Coldholme, shaping my way past deserted Starkey +Manor-House, and coming upon it by the back. At that side were the +oblong remains of the old moat, the waters of which lay placid and +motionless under the crimson rays of the setting sun; with the +forest-trees lying straight along each side, and their deep-green +foliage mirrored to blackness in the burnished surface of the moat +below--and the broken sun-dial at the end nearest the hall--and the +heron, standing on one leg at the water's edge, lazily looking down for +fish--the lonely and desolate house scarce needed the broken windows, +the weeds on the door-sill, the broken shutter softly flapping to and +fro in the twilight breeze, to fill up the picture of desertion and +decay. I lingered about the place until the growing darkness warned me +on. And then I passed along the path, cut by the orders of the last +lady of Starkey Manor-House, that led me to Bridget's cottage. I +resolved at once to see her; and, in spite of closed doors--it might be +of resolved will--she should see me. So I knocked at her door, gently, +loudly, fiercely. I shook it so vehemently that at length the old +hinges gave way, and with a crash it fell inwards, leaving me suddenly +face to face with Bridget--I, red, heated, agitated with my so +long-baffled efforts--she, stiff as any stone, standing right facing +me, her eyes dilated with terror, her ashen lips trembling, but her +body motionless. In her hands she held her crucifix, as if by that holy +symbol she sought to oppose my entrance. At sight of me, her whole +frame relaxed, and she sank back upon a chair. Some mighty tension had +given way. Still her eyes looked fearfully into the gloom of the outer +air, made more opaque by the glimmer of the lamp inside, which she had +placed before the picture of the Virgin. + +'Is she there?' asked Bridget, hoarsely. + +'No! Who? I am alone. You remember me.' + +'Yes,' replied she, still terror-stricken. 'But she--that creature--has +been looking in upon me through that window all day long. I closed it +up with my shawl; and then I saw her feet below the door, as long as it +was light, and I knew she heard my very breathing--nay, worse, my very +prayers; and I could not pray, for her listening choked the words ere +they rose to my lip. Tell me, who is she?--what means that double girl +I saw this morning? One had a look of my dead Mary; but the other +curdled my blood, and yet it was the same!' + +She had taken hold of my arm, as if to secure herself some human +companionship. She shook all over with the slight, never-ceasing tremor +of intense terror. I told her my tale, as I have told it you, sparing +none of the details. + +How Mistress Clarke had informed me that the resemblance had driven +Lucy forth from her father's house--how I had disbelieved, until, with +mine own eyes, I had seen another Lucy standing behind my Lucy, the +same in form and feature, but with the demon-soul looking out of the +eyes. I told her all, I say, believing that she--whose curse was +working so upon the life of her innocent grandchild--was the only +person who could find the remedy and the redemption. When I had done, +she sat silent for many minutes. + +'You love Mary's child?' she asked. + +'I do, in spite of the fearful working of the curse--I love her. Yet I +shrink from her ever since that day on the moor-side. And men must +shrink from one so accompanied; friends and lovers must stand afar off. +Oh, Bridget Fitzgerald! loosen the curse! Set her free!' + +'Where is she?' + +I eagerly caught at the idea that her presence was needed, in order +that, by some strange prayer or exorcism, the spell might be reversed. + +'I will go and bring her to you,' I exclaimed. But Bridget tightened +her hold upon my arm. + +'Not so,' said she, in a low, hoarse voice. 'It would kill me to see +her again as I saw her this morning. And I must live till I have worked +my work. Leave me!' said she, suddenly, and again taking up the cross. +'I defy the demon I have called up. Leave me to wrestle with it!' + +She stood up, as if in an ecstasy of inspiration, from which all fear +was banished. I lingered--why, I can hardly tell--until once more she +bade me begone. As I went along the forest way, I looked back, and saw +her planting the cross in the empty threshold, where the door had been. + +The next morning Lucy and I went to seek her, to bid her join her +prayers with ours. The cottage stood open and wide to our gaze. No +human being was there: the cross remained on the threshold, but Bridget +was gone. + + + + +Chapter 3 + + +What was to be done next? was the question that I asked myself. As for +Lucy, she would fain have submitted to the doom that lay upon her. Her +gentleness and piety, under the pressure of so horrible a life, seemed +over-passive to me. She never complained. Mrs. Clarke complained more +than ever. As for me, I was more in love with the real Lucy than ever; +but I shrunk from the false similitude with an intensity proportioned +to my love. I found out by instinct that Mrs. Clarke had occasional +temptations to leave Lucy. The good lady's nerves were shaken, and, +from what she said, I could almost have concluded that the object of +the Double was to drive away from Lucy this last and almost earliest +friend. At times, I could scarcely bear to own it, but I myself felt +inclined to turn recreant; and I would accuse Lucy of being too +patient--too resigned. One after another, she won the little children +of Coldholme. (Mrs. Clarke and she had resolved to stay there, for was +it not as good a place as any other to such as they? and did not all +our faint hopes rest on Bridget--never seen or heard of now, but still +we trusted to come back, or give some token?) So, as I say, one after +another, the little children came about my Lucy, won by her soft tones, +and her gentle smiles, and kind actions. Alas! one after another they +fell away, and shrunk from her path with blanching terror; and we too +surely guessed the reason why. It was the last drop. I could bear it no +longer. I resolved no more to linger around the spot, but to go back to +my uncle, and among the learned divines of the city of London, seek for +some power whereby to annul the curse. + +My uncle, meanwhile, had obtained all the requisite testimonials +relating to Lucy's descent and birth, from the Irish lawyers, and from +Mr. Gisborne. The latter gentleman had written from abroad (he was +again serving in the Austrian army), a letter alternately passionately +self-reproachful and stoically repellent. It was evident that when he +thought of Mary--her short life--how he had wronged her, and of her +violent death, he could hardly find words severe enough for his own +conduct; and from this point of view, the curse that Bridget had laid +upon him and his was regarded by him as a prophetic doom, to the +utterance of which she was moved by a Higher Power, working for the +fulfilment of a deeper vengeance than for the death of the poor dog. +But then, again, when he came to speak of his daughter, the repugnance +which the conduct of the demoniac creature had produced in his mind, +was but ill disguised under a show of profound indifference as to +Lucy's fate. One almost felt as if he would have been as content to put +her out of existence, as he would have been to destroy some disgusting +reptile that had invaded his chamber or his couch. + +The great Fitzgerald property was Lucy's; and that was all--was +nothing. + +My uncle and I sat in the gloom of a London November evening, in our +house in Ormond Street. _I_ was out of health, and felt as if I were in +an inextricable coil of misery. Lucy and I wrote to each other, but +that was little; and we dared not see each other for dread of the +fearful Third, who had more than once taken her place at our meetings. +My uncle had, on the day I speak of, bidden prayers to be put up, on +the ensuing Sabbath, in many a church and meeting-house in London, for +one grievously tormented by an evil spirit. He had faith in prayers--I +had none; I was fast losing faith in all things. So we sat--he trying +to interest me in the old talk of other days, I oppressed by one +thought--when our old servant, Anthony, opened the door, and, without +speaking, showed in a very gentlemanly and prepossessing man, who had +something remarkable about his dress, betraying his profession to be +that of the Roman Catholic priesthood. He glanced at my uncle first, +then at me. It was to me he bowed. 'I did not give my name,' said he, +'because you would hardly have recognised it; unless, sir, when in the +north, you heard of Father Bernard, the chaplain at Stoney Hurst?' + +I remembered afterwards that I had heard of him, but at the time I had +utterly forgotten it; so I professed myself a complete stranger to him; +while my ever-hospitable uncle, although hating a papist as much as it +was in his nature to hate anything, placed a chair for the visitor, and +bade Anthony bring glasses and a fresh jug of claret. + +Father Bernard received this courtesy with the graceful ease and +pleasant acknowledgment which belongs to the man of the world. Then he +turned to scan me with his keen glance. After some slight conversation, +entered into on his part, I am certain, with an intention of +discovering on what terms of confidence I stood with my uncle, he +paused, and said gravely: + +'I am sent here with a message to you, sir, from a woman to whom you +have shown kindness, and who is one of my penitents, in Antwerp--one +Bridget Fitzgerald.' + +'Bridget Fitzgerald!' exclaimed I. 'In Antwerp? Tell me, sir, all that +you can about her.' + +'There is much to be said,' he replied. 'But may I inquire if this +gentleman--if your uncle is acquainted with the particulars of which +you and I stand informed?' + +'All that I know, he knows,' said I, eagerly laying my hand on my +uncle's arm, as he made a motion as if to quit the room. + +'Then I have to speak before two gentlemen who, however they may differ +from me in faith, are yet fully impressed with the fact, that there are +evil powers going about continually to take cognizance of our evil +thoughts; and, if their Master gives them power, to bring them into +overt action. Such is my theory of the nature of that sin, of which I +dare not disbelieve--as some sceptics would have us do--the sin of +witchcraft. Of this deadly sin, you and I are aware Bridget Fitzgerald +has been guilty. Since you saw her last, many prayers have been offered +in our churches, many masses sung, many penances undergone, in order +that, if God and the Holy Saints so willed it, her sin might be blotted +out. But it has not been so willed.' + +'Explain to me,' said I, 'who you are, and how you come connected with +Bridget. Why is she at Antwerp? I pray you, sir, tell me more. If I am +impatient, excuse me; I am ill and feverish, and in consequence +bewildered.' + +There was something to me inexpressibly soothing in the tone of voice +with which he began to narrate, as it were from the beginning, his +acquaintance with Bridget. + +'I had known Mr. and Mrs. Starkey during their residence abroad, and so +it fell out naturally that, when I came as chaplain to the Sherburnes +at Stoney Hurst, our acquaintance was renewed; and thus I became the +confessor of the whole family, isolated as they were from the offices +of the Church, Sherburne being their nearest neighbour who professed +the true faith. Of course, you are aware that facts revealed in +confession are sealed as in the grave; but I learnt enough of Bridget's +character to be convinced that I had to do with no common woman; one +powerful for good as for evil. I believe that I was able to give her +spiritual assistance from time to time, and that she looked upon me as +a servant of that Holy Church, which has such wonderful power of moving +men's hearts, and relieving them of the burden of their sins. I have +known her cross the moors on the wildest nights of storm, to confess +and be absolved; and then she would return, calmed and subdued, to her +daily work about her mistress, no one witting where she had been during +the hours that most passed in sleep upon their beds. After her +daughter's departure--after Mary's mysterious disappearance--I had to +impose many a long penance, in order to wash away the sin of impatient +repining that was fast leading her into the deeper guilt of blasphemy. +She set out on that long journey of which you have possibly heard--that +fruitless journey in search of Mary--and during her absence, my +superiors ordered my return to my former duties at Antwerp, and for +many years I heard no more of Bridget. + +'Not many months ago, as I was passing homewards in the evening, along +one of the streets near St. Jacques, leading into the Meer Straet, I +saw a woman sitting crouched up under the shrine of the Holy Mother of +Sorrows. Her hood was drawn over her head, so that the shadow caused by +the light of the lamp above fell deep over her face; her hands were +clasped round her knees. It was evident that she was some one in +hopeless trouble, and as such it was my duty to stop and speak. I +naturally addressed her first in Flemish, believing her to be one of +the lower class of inhabitants. She shook her head, but did not look +up. Then I tried French, and she replied in that language, but speaking +it so indifferently, that I was sure she was either English or Irish, +and consequently spoke to her in my own native tongue. She recognised +my voice; and, starting up, caught at my robes, dragging me before the +blessed shrine, and throwing herself down, and forcing me, as much by +her evident desire as by her action, to kneel beside her, she +exclaimed: + +'"O Holy Virgin! you will never hearken to me again, but hear him; for +you know him of old, that he does your bidding, and strives to heal +broken hearts. Hear him!" + +'She turned to me. + +'"She will hear you, if you will only pray. She never hears me: she and +all the saints in Heaven cannot hear my prayers, for the Evil One +carries them off, as he carried that first away. O, Father Bernard, +pray for me!" + +'I prayed for one in sore distress, of what nature I could not say; but +the Holy Virgin would know. Bridget held me fast, gasping with +eagerness at the sound of my words. When I had ended, I rose, and, +making the sign of the Cross over her, I was going to bless her in the +name of the Holy Church, when she shrank away like some terrified +creature, and said: + +'"I am guilty of deadly sin, and am not shriven." + +'"Arise, my daughter," said I, "and come with me." And I led the way +into one of the confessionals of St. Jacques. + +'She knelt; I listened. No words came. The evil powers had stricken her +dumb, as I heard afterwards they had many a time before, when she +approached confession. + +'She was too poor to pay for the necessary forms of exorcism; and +hitherto those priests to whom she had addressed herself were either so +ignorant of the meaning of her broken French, or her Irish-English, or +else esteemed her to be one crazed--as, indeed, her wild and excited +manner might easily have led any one to think--that they had neglected +the sole means of loosening her tongue, so that she might confess her +deadly sin, and after due penance, obtain absolution. But I knew +Bridget of old, and felt that she was a penitent sent to me. I went +through those holy offices appointed by our church for the relief of +such a case. I was the more bound to do this, as I found that she had +come to Antwerp for the sole purpose of discovering me, and making +confession to me. Of the nature of that fearful confession I am +forbidden to speak. Much of it you know; possibly all. + +'It now remains for her to free herself from mortal guilt, and to set +others free from the consequences thereof. No prayer, no masses, will +ever do it, although they may strengthen her with that strength by +which alone acts of deepest love and purest self-devotion may be +performed. Her words of passion, and cries for revenge--her unholy +prayers could never reach the ears of the Holy Saints! Other powers +intercepted them, and wrought so that the curses thrown up to Heaven +have fallen on her own flesh and blood; and so, through her very +strength of love, have bruised and crushed her heart. Henceforward her +former self must be buried,--yea, buried quick, if need be,--but never +more to make sign, or utter cry on earth! She has become a Poor Clare, +in order that, by perpetual penance and constant service of others, she +may at length so act as to obtain final absolution and rest for her +soul. Until then, the innocent must suffer. It is to plead for the +innocent that I come to you; not in the name of the witch, Bridget +Fitzgerald, but of the penitent and servant of all men, the Poor Clare, +Sister Magdalen.' + +'Sir,' said I, 'I listen to your request with respect; only I may tell +you it is not needed to urge me to do all that I can on behalf of one, +love for whom is part of my very life. If for a time I have absented +myself from her, it is to think and work for her redemption. I, a +member of the English Church--my uncle, a Puritan--pray morning and +night for her by name: the congregations of London, on the next +Sabbath, will pray for one unknown, that she may be set free from the +Powers of Darkness. Moreover, I must tell you, sir, that those evil +ones touch not the great calm of her soul. She lives her own pure and +loving life, unharmed and untainted, though all men fall off from her. +I would I could have her faith!' + +My uncle now spoke. + +'Nephew,' said he, 'it seems to me that this gentleman, although +professing what I consider an erroneous creed, has touched upon the +right point in exhorting Bridget to acts of love and mercy, whereby to +wipe out her sin of hate and vengeance. Let us strive after our +fashion, by almsgiving and visiting of the needy and fatherless, to +make our prayers acceptable. Meanwhile, I myself will go down into the +north, and take charge of the maiden. I am too old to be daunted by man +or demon. I will bring her to this house as to a home; and let the +Double come if it will! A company of godly divines shall give it the +meeting, and we will try issue.' + +The kindly brave old man! But Father Bernard sat on musing. + +'All hate,' said he, 'cannot be quenched in her heart; all Christian +forgiveness cannot have entered into her soul, or the demon would have +lost its power. You said, I think, that her grandchild was still +tormented?' + +'Still tormented!' I replied, sadly, thinking of Mistress Clarke's last +letter. + +He rose to go. We afterwards heard that the occasion of his coming to +London was a secret political mission on behalf of the Jacobites. +Nevertheless, he was a good and a wise man. + +Months and months passed away without any change. Lucy entreated my +uncle to leave her where she was,--dreading, as I learnt, lest if she +came, with her fearful companion, to dwell in the same house with me, +that my love could not stand the repeated shocks to which I should be +doomed. And this she thought from no distrust of the strength of my +affection, but from a kind of pitying sympathy for the terror to the +nerves which she observed that the demoniac visitation caused in all. + +I was restless and miserable. I devoted myself to good works; but I +performed them from no spirit of love, but solely from the hope of +reward and payment, and so the reward was never granted. At length, I +asked my uncle's leave to travel; and I went forth, a wanderer, with no +distincter end than that of many another wanderer--to get away from +myself. A strange impulse led me to Antwerp, in spite of the wars and +commotions then raging in the Low Countries--or rather, perhaps, the +very craving to become interested in something external, led me into +the thick of the struggle then going on with the Austrians. The cities +of Flanders were all full at that time of civil disturbances and +rebellions, only kept down by force, and the presence of an Austrian +garrison in every place. + +I arrived in Antwerp, and made inquiry for Father Bernard. He was away +in the country for a day or two. Then I asked my way to the Convent of +Poor Clares; but, being healthy and prosperous, I could only see the +dim, pent-up, grey walls, shut closely in by narrow streets, in the +lowest part of the town. My landlord told me, that had I been stricken +by some loathsome disease, or in desperate case of any kind, the Poor +Clares would have taken me, and tended me. He spoke of them as an order +of mercy of the strictest kind, dressing scantily in the coarsest +materials, going barefoot, living on what the inhabitants of Antwerp +chose to bestow, and sharing even those fragments and crumbs with the +poor and helpless that swarmed all around; receiving no letters or +communication with the outer world; utterly dead to everything but the +alleviation of suffering. He smiled at my inquiring whether I could get +speech of one of them; and told me that they were even forbidden to +speak for the purposes of begging their daily food; while yet they +lived, and fed others upon what was given in charity. + +'But,' exclaimed I, 'supposing all men forgot them! Would they quietly +lie down and die, without making sign of their extremity?' + +'If such were their rule, the Poor Clares would willingly do it; but +their founder appointed a remedy for such extreme case as you suggest. +They have a bell--'tis but a small one, as I have heard, and has yet +never been rung in the memory of man: when the Poor Clares have been +without food for twenty-four hours, they may ring this bell, and then +trust to our good people of Antwerp for rushing to the rescue of the +Poor Clares, who have taken such blessed care of us in all our +straits.' + +It seemed to me that such rescue would be late in the day; but I did +not say what I thought. I rather turned the conversation, by asking my +landlord if he knew, or had ever heard, anything of a certain Sister +Magdalen. + +'Yes,' said he, rather under his breath; 'news will creep out, even +from a convent of Poor Clares. Sister Magdalen is either a great sinner +or a great saint. She does more, as I have heard, than all the other +nuns put together; yet, when last month they would fain have made her +mother-superior, she begged rather that they would place her below all +the rest, and make her the meanest servant of all.' + +'You never saw her?' asked I. + +'Never,' he replied. + +I was weary of waiting for Father Bernard, and yet I lingered in +Antwerp. The political state of things became worse than ever, +increased to its height by the scarcity of food consequent on many +deficient harvests. I saw groups of fierce, squalid men, at every +corner of the street, glaring out with wolfish eyes at my sleek skin +and handsome clothes. + +At last Father Bernard returned. We had a long conversation, in which +he told me that, curiously enough, Mr. Gisborne, Lucy's father, was +serving in one of the Austrian regiments, then in garrison at Antwerp. +I asked Father Bernard if he would make us acquainted; which he +consented to do. But, a day or two afterwards, he told me that, on +hearing my name, Mr. Gisborne had declined responding to any advances +on my part, saying he had abjured his country, and hated his +countrymen. + +Probably he recollected my name in connection with that of his daughter +Lucy. Anyhow, it was clear enough that I had no chance of making his +acquaintance. Father Bernard confirmed me in my suspicions of the +hidden fermentation, for some coming evil, working among the 'blouses' +of Antwerp, and he would fain have had me depart from out the city; but +I rather craved the excitement of danger, and stubbornly refused to +leave. + +One day, when I was walking with him in the Place Verte, he bowed to an +Austrian officer, who was crossing towards the cathedral. + +'That is Mr. Gisborne,' said he, as soon as the gentleman was past. + +I turned to look at the tall, slight figure of the officer. He carried +himself in a stately manner, although he was past middle age, and from +his years, might have had some excuse for a slight stoop. As I looked +at the man, he turned round, his eyes met mine, and I saw his face. +Deeply lined, sallow, and scathed was that countenance; scarred by +passion as well as by the fortunes of war. 'Twas but a moment our eyes +met. We each turned round, and went on our separate way. + +But his whole appearance was not one to be easily forgotten; the +thorough appointment of the dress, and evident thought bestowed on it, +made but an incongruous whole with the dark, gloomy expression of his +countenance. Because he was Lucy's father, I sought instinctively to +meet him everywhere. At last he must have become aware of my +pertinacity, for he gave me a haughty scowl whenever I passed him. In +one of these encounters, however, I chanced to be of some service to +him. He was turning the corner of a street, and came suddenly on one of +the groups of discontented Flemings of whom I have spoken. Some words +were exchanged, when my gentleman out with his sword, and with a slight +but skilful cut drew blood from one of those who had insulted him, as +he fancied, though I was too far off to hear the words. They would all +have fallen upon him had I not rushed forwards and raised the cry, then +well known in Antwerp, of rally, to the Austrian soldiers who were +perpetually patrolling the streets, and who came in numbers to the +rescue. I think that neither Mr. Gisborne nor the mutinous group of +plebeians owed me much gratitude for my interference. He had planted +himself against a wall, in a skilful attitude of fence, ready with his +bright glancing rapier to do battle with all the heavy, fierce, unarmed +men, some six or seven in number. But when his own soldiers came up, he +sheathed his sword; and, giving some careless word of command, sent +them away again, and continued his saunter all alone down the street, +the workmen snarling in his rear, and more than half-inclined to fall +on me for my cry for rescue. I cared not if they did, my life seemed so +dreary a burden just then; and, perhaps, it was this daring loitering +among them that prevented their attacking me. Instead, they suffered me +to fall into conversation with them; and I heard some of their +grievances. Sore and heavy to be borne were they, and no wonder the +sufferers were savage and desperate. + +The man whom Gisborne had wounded across his face would fain have got +out of me the name of his aggressor, but I refused to tell it. Another +of the group heard his inquiry, and made answer: + +'I know the man. He is one Gisborne, aide-de-camp to the +General-Commandant. I know him well.' + +He began to tell some story in connection with Gisborne in a low and +muttering voice; and while he was relating a tale, which I saw excited +their evil blood, and which they evidently wished me not to hear, I +sauntered away and back to my lodgings. + +That night Antwerp was in open revolt. The inhabitants rose in +rebellion against their Austrian masters. The Austrians, holding the +gates of the city, remained at first pretty quiet in the citadel; only, +from time to time, the boom of a great cannon swept sullenly over the +town. But, if they expected the disturbance to die away, and spend +itself in a few hours' fury, they were mistaken. In a day or two, the +rioters held possession of the principal municipal buildings. Then the +Austrians poured forth in bright flaming array, calm and smiling, as +they marched to the posts assigned, as if the fierce mob were no more +to them than the swarms of buzzing summer flies. Their practised +manoeuvres, their well-aimed shot, told with terrible effect; but in +the place of one slain rioter, three sprang up of his blood to avenge +his loss. But a deadly foe, a ghastly ally of the Austrians, was at +work. Food, scarce and dear for months, was now hardly to be obtained +at any price. Desperate efforts were being made to bring provisions +into the city, for the rioters had friends without. Close to the city +port nearest to the Scheldt, a great struggle took place. I was there, +helping the rioters, whose cause I had adopted. We had a savage +encounter with the Austrians. Numbers fell on both sides; I saw them +lie bleeding for a moment; then a volley of smoke obscured them; and +when it cleared away, they were dead--trampled upon or smothered, +pressed down and hidden by the freshly-wounded whom those last guns had +brought low. And then a grey-robed and grey-veiled figure came right +across the flashing guns, and stooped over some one, whose life-blood +was ebbing away; sometimes it was to give him drink from cans which +they carried slung at their sides, sometimes I saw the cross held above +a dying man, and rapid prayers were being uttered, unheard by men in +that hellish din and clangour, but listened to by One above. I saw all +this as in a dream: the reality of that stern time was battle and +carnage. But I knew that these grey figures, their bare feet all wet +with blood, and their faces hidden by their veils, were the Poor +Clares--sent forth now because dire agony was abroad and imminent +danger at hand. Therefore, they left their cloistered shelter, and came +into that thick and evil mêlée. + +Close to me--driven past me by the struggle of many fighters--came the +Antwerp burgess with the scarce-healed scar upon his face; and in an +instant more, he was thrown by the press upon the Austrian officer +Gisborne, and ere either had recovered the shock, the burgess had +recognised his opponent. + +'Ha! the Englishman Gisborne!' he cried, and threw himself upon him +with redoubled fury. He had struck him hard--the Englishman was down; +when out of the smoke came a dark-grey figure, and threw herself right +under the uplifted flashing sword. The burgess's arm stood arrested. +Neither Austrians nor Anversois willingly harmed the Poor Clares. + +'Leave him to me!' said a low stern voice. 'He is mine enemy--mine for +many years.' + +Those words were the last I heard. I myself was struck down by a +bullet. I remember nothing more for days. When I came to myself, I was +at the extremity of weakness, and was craving for food to recruit my +strength. My landlord sat watching me. He, too, looked pinched and +shrunken; he had heard of my wounded state, and sought me out. Yes! the +struggle still continued, but the famine was sore; and some, he had +heard, had died for lack of food. The tears stood in his eyes as he +spoke. But soon he shook off his weakness, and his natural cheerfulness +returned. Father Bernard had been to see me--no one else. (Who should, +indeed?) Father Bernard would come back that afternoon--he had +promised. But Father Bernard never came, although I was up and dressed, +and looking eagerly for him. + +My landlord brought me a meal which he had cooked himself: of what it +was composed he would not say, but it was most excellent, and with +every mouthful I seemed to gain strength. The good man sat looking at +my evident enjoyment with a happy smile of sympathy; but, as my +appetite became satisfied, I began to detect a certain wistfulness in +his eyes, as if craving for the food I had so nearly devoured--for, +indeed, at that time I was hardly aware of the extent of the famine. +Suddenly, there was a sound of many rushing feet past our window. My +landlord opened one of the sides of it, the better to learn what was +going on. Then we heard a faint, cracked, tinkling bell, coming shrill +upon clear and distinct from all other sounds. 'Holy Mother!' exclaimed +my landlord, 'the Poor Clares!' + +He snatched up the fragments of my meal, and crammed them into my +hands, bidding me follow. Down-stairs he ran, clutching at more food, +as the women of his house eagerly held it out to him; and in a moment +we were in the street, moving along with the great current, all tending +towards the Convent of the Poor Clares. And still, as if piercing our +ears with its inarticulate cry, came the shrill tinkle of the bell. In +that strange crowd were old men trembling and sobbing, as they carried +their little pittance of food; women with the tears running down their +cheeks, who had snatched up what provisions they had in the vessels in +which they stood, so that the burden of these was in many cases much +greater than that which they contained; children, with flushed faces, +grasping tight the morsel of bitten cake or bread, in their eagerness +to carry it safe to the help of the Poor Clares; strong men--yea, both +Anversois and Austrians--pressing onwards with set teeth, and no word +spoken; and over all, and through all, came that sharp tinkle--that cry +for help in extremity. + +We met the first torrent of people returning with blanched and piteous +faces: they were issuing out of the convent to make way for the +offerings of others. 'Haste, haste!' said they. + +'A Poor Clare is dying! A Poor Clare is dead for hunger! God forgive +us, and our city!' + +We pressed on. The stream bore us along where it would. We were carried +through refectories, bare and crumbless; into cells over whose doors +the conventual name of the occupant was written. Thus it was that I, +with others, was forced into Sister Magdalen's cell. On her couch lay +Gisborne, pale unto death, but not dead. By his side was a cup of +water, and a small morsel of mouldy bread, which he had pushed out of +his reach, and could not move to obtain. Over against his bed were +these words, copied in the English version: 'Therefore, if thine enemy +hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink.' + +Some of us gave him of our food, and left him eating greedily, like +some famished wild animal. For now it was no longer the sharp tinkle, +but that one solemn toll, which in all Christian countries tells of the +passing of the spirit out of earthly life into eternity; and again a +murmur gathered and grew, as of many people speaking with awed breath, +'A Poor Clare is dying! a Poor Clare is dead!' + +Borne along once more by the motion of the crowd, we were carried into +the chapel belonging to the Poor Clares. On a bier before the high +altar, lay a woman--lay sister Magdalen--lay Bridget Fitzgerald. By her +side stood Father Bernard, in his robes of office, and holding the +crucifix on high while he pronounced the solemn absolution of the +Church, as to one who had newly confessed herself of deadly sin. I +pushed on with passionate force, till I stood close to the dying woman, +as she received extreme unction amid the breathless and awed hush of +the multitude around. Her eyes were glazing, her limbs were stiffening; +but when the rite was over and finished, she raised her gaunt figure +slowly up, and her eyes brightened to a strange intensity of joy, as, +with the gesture of her finger and the trance-like gleam of her eye, +she seemed like one who watched the disappearance of some loathed and +fearful creature. + +'She is freed from the curse!' said she, as she fell back dead. + + * * * * * + +Now, of all our party who had first listened to my Lady Ludlow, Mr. +Preston was the only one who had not told us something, either of +information, tradition, history, or legend. We naturally turned to him; +but we did not like asking him directly for his contribution, for he +was a grave, reserved, and silent man. + +He understood us, however, and, rousing himself as it were, he said: + +'I know you wish me to tell you, in my turn, of something which I have +learnt or heard during my life. I could tell you something of my own +life, and of a life dearer still to my memory; but I have shrunk from +narrating anything so purely personal. Yet, shrink as I will, no other +but those sad recollections will present themselves to my mind. I call +them sad when I think of the end of it all. However I am not going to +moralize. If my dear brother's life and death does not speak for +itself, no words of mine will teach you what may be learnt from it.' + + + + +LOIS THE WITCH + +Chapter 1 + + +In the year 1691, Lois Barclay stood on a little wooden pier, steadying +herself on the stable land, in much the same manner as, eight or nine +weeks ago, she had tried to steady herself on the deck of the rocking +ship which had carried her across from Old to New England. It seemed as +strange now to be on solid earth as it had been, not long ago, to be +rocked by the sea, both by day and by night; and the aspect of the land +was equally strange. The forests which showed in the distance all +round, and which, in truth, were not very far from the wooden houses +forming the town of Boston, were of different shades of green, and +different, too, in shape of outline to those which Lois Barclay knew +well in her old home in Warwickshire. Her heart sank a little as she +stood alone, waiting for the captain of the good ship Redemption, the +kind rough old sailor, who was her only known friend in this unknown +continent. Captain Holdernesse was busy, however, as she saw, and it +would probably be some time before he would be ready to attend, to her; +so Lois sat down on one of the casks that lay about, and wrapped her +grey duffle cloak tight around her, and sheltered herself under her +hood, as well as might be, from the piercing wind, which seemed to +follow those whom it had tyrannized over at sea with a dogged wish of +still tormenting them on land. Very patiently did Lois sit there, +although she was weary, and shivering with cold; for the day was severe +for May, and the Redemption, with store of necessaries and comforts for +the Puritan colonists of New England, was the earliest ship that had +ventured across the seas. + +How could Lois help thinking of the past, and speculating on the +future, as she sat on Boston pier, at this breathing-time of her life? +In the dim sea-mist which she gazed upon with aching eyes (filled, +against her will, with tears, from time to time), there rose the little +village church of Barford (not three miles from Warwick--you may see it +yet), where her father had preached ever since 1661, long before she +was born. He and her mother both lay dead in Barford churchyard; and +the old low grey church could hardly come before her vision without her +seeing the old parsonage too, the cottage covered with Austrian roses, +and yellow jessamine, where she had been born, sole child of parents +already long past the prime of youth. She saw the path, not a hundred +yards long, from the parsonage to the vestry door: that path which her +father trod daily; for the vestry was his study, and the sanctum, where +he pored over the ponderous tomes of the Father, and compared their +precepts with those of the authorities of the Anglican Church of that +day--the day of the later Stuarts; for Barford Parsonage at that time +scarcely exceeded in size and dignity the cottages by which it was +surrounded: it only contained three rooms on a floor, and was but two +stories high. On the first, or ground floor, were the parlour, kitchen, +and back or working kitchen; up-stairs, Mr. and Mrs. Barclay's room, +that belonging to Lois, and the maid-servant's room. If a guest came, +Lois left her own chamber, and shared old Clemence's bed. But those +days were over. Never more should Lois see father or mother on earth; +they slept, calm and still, in Barford churchyard, careless of what +became of their orphan child, as far as earthly manifestations of care +or love went. And Clemence lay there too, bound down in her grassy bed +by withes of the briar-rose, which Lois had trained over those three +precious graves before leaving England for ever. + +There were some who would fain have kept her there; one who swore in +his heart a great oath unto the Lord that he would seek her sooner or +later, if she was still upon the earth. But he was the rich heir and +only son of the Miller Lucy, whose mill stood by the Avon-side in the +grassy Barford meadows, and his father looked higher for him than the +penniless daughter of Parson Barclay (so low were clergymen esteemed in +those days!); and the very suspicion of Hugh Lucy's attachment to Lois +Barclay made his parents think it more prudent not to offer the orphan +a home, although none other of the parishioners had the means, even if +they had the will, to do so. + +So Lois swallowed her tears down till the time came for crying, and +acted upon her mother's words: + +'Lois, thy father is dead of this terrible fever, and I am dying. Nay, +it is so, though I am easier from pain for these few hours, the Lord be +praised! The cruel men of the Commonwealth have left thee very +friendless. Thy father's only brother was shot down at Edgehill. I, +too, have a brother, though thou hast never heard me speak of him, for +he was a schismatic; and thy father and he had words, and he left for +that new country beyond the seas, without ever saying farewell to us. +But Ralph was a kind lad until he took up these new-fangled notions, +and for the old days' sake he will take thee in, and love thee as a +child, and place thee among his children. Blood is thicker than water. +Write to him as soon as I am gone--for Lois, I am going--and I bless +the Lord that has letten me join my husband again so soon.' Such was +the selfishness of conjugal love; she thought little of Lois's +desolation in comparison with her rejoicing over her speedy reunion +with her dead husband! 'Write to thine uncle, Ralph Hickson, Salem, New +England (put it down, child, on thy tablets), and say that I, Henrietta +Barclay, charge him, for the sake of all he holds dear in heaven or on +earth,--for his salvation's sake, as well as for the sake of the old +home at Lester-bridge,--for the sake of the father and mother that gave +us birth, as well as for the sake of the six little children who lie +dead between him and me,--that he take thee into his home as if thou +wert his own flesh and blood, as indeed thou art. He has a wife and +children of his own, and no one need fear having thee, my Lois, my +darling, my baby, among his household. Oh, Lois, would that thou wert +dying with me! The thought of thee makes death sore!' Lois comforted +her mother more than herself, poor child, by promises to obey her dying +wishes to the letter, and by expressing hopes she dared not feel of her +uncle's kindness. + +'Promise me'--the dying woman's breath came harder and harder--'that +thou wilt go at once. The money our goods will bring--the letter thy +father wrote to Captain Holdernesse, his old schoolfellow--thou knowest +all I would say--my Lois, God bless thee!' + +Solemnly did Lois promise; strictly she kept her word. It was all the +more easy, for Hugh Lucy met her, and told her, in one great burst of +love, of his passionate attachment, his vehement struggles with his +father, his impotence at present, his hope and resolves for the future. +And, intermingled with all this, came such outrageous threats and +expressions of uncontrolled vehemence, that Lois felt that in Barford +she must not linger to be a cause of desperate quarrel between father +and son, while her absence might soften down matters, so that either +the rich old miller might relent, or--and her heart ached to think of +the other possibility--Hugh's love might cool, and the dear play-fellow +of her childhood learn to forget. If not--if Hugh were to be trusted in +one tithe of what he said--God might permit him to fulfil his resolve +of coming to seek her out before many years were over. It was all in +God's hands, and that was best, thought Lois Barclay. + +She was roused out of her trance of recollections by Captain +Holdernesse, who, having done all that was necessary in the way of +orders and directions to his mate, now came up to her, and, praising +her for her quiet patience, told her that he would now take her to the +Widow Smith's, a decent kind of house, where he and many other sailors +of the better order were in the habit of lodging, during their stay on +the New England shores. Widow Smith, he said, had a parlour for herself +and her daughters, in which Lois might sit, while he went about the +business that, as he had told her, would detain him in Boston for a day +or two, before he could accompany her to her uncle's at Salem. All this +had been to a certain degree arranged on ship-board; but Captain +Holdernesse, for want of anything else that he could think of to talk +about, recapitulated it as he and Lois walked along. It was his way of +showing sympathy with the emotion that made her grey eyes full of +tears, as she started up from the pier at the sound of his voice. In +his heart he said, 'Poor wench! poor wench! it's a strange land to her, +and they are all strange folks, and, I reckon, she will be feeling +desolate. I'll try and cheer her up.' So he talked on about hard facts, +connected with the life that lay before her, until they reached Widow +Smith's; and perhaps Lois was more brightened by this style of +conversation, and the new ideas it presented to her, than she would +have been by the tenderest woman's sympathy. + +'They are a queer set, these New Englanders,' said Captain Holdernesse. +'They are rare chaps for praying; down on their knees at every turn of +their life. Folk are none so busy in a new country, else they would +have to pray like me, with a "Yo-hoy!" on each side of my prayers, and +a rope cutting like fire through my hand. Yon pilot was for calling us +all to thanksgiving for a good voyage, and lucky escape from the +pirates; but I said I always put up my thanks on dry land, after I had +got my ship into harbour. The French colonists, too, are vowing +vengeance for the expedition against Canada, and the people here are +raging like heathens--at least, as like as godly folk can be--for the +loss of their charter. All that is the news the pilot told me; for, for +all he wanted us to be thanksgiving instead of casting the lead, he was +as down in the mouth as could be about the state of the country. But +here we are at Widow Smith's! Now, cheer up, and show the godly a +pretty smiling Warwickshire lass!' + +Anybody would have smiled at Widow Smith's greeting. She was a comely, +motherly woman, dressed in the primmest fashion in vogue twenty years +before, in England, among the class to which she belonged. But, +somehow, her pleasant face gave the lie to her dress; were it as brown +and sober-coloured as could be, folk remembered it bright and cheerful, +because it was a part of Widow Smith herself. + +She kissed Lois on both cheeks, before she rightly understood who the +stranger maiden was, only because she was a stranger, and looked sad +and forlorn; and then she kissed her again, because Captain Holdernesse +commended her to the widow's good offices. And so she led Lois by the +hand into her rough, substantial log-house, over the door of which hung +a great bough of a tree, by way of sign of entertainment for man and +horse. Yet not all men were received by Widow Smith. To some she could +be as cold and reserved as need be, deaf to all inquiries save +one--where else they could find accommodation? To this question she +would give a ready answer, and speed the unwelcome guest on his way. +Widow Smith was guided in these matters by instinct: one glance at a +man's face told her whether or not she chose to have him as an inmate +of the same house as her daughters; and her promptness of decision in +these matters gave her manner a kind of authority which no one liked to +disobey, especially as she had stalwart neighbours within call to back +her, if her assumed deafness in the first instance, and her voice and +gesture in the second, were not enough to give the would-be guest his +dismissal. Widow Smith chose her customers merely by their physical +aspect; not one whit with regard to their apparent worldly +circumstances. Those who had been staying at her house once, always +came again, for she had the knack of making every one beneath her roof +comfortable and at his ease. Her daughters, Prudence and Hester, had +somewhat of their mother's gifts, but not in such perfection. They +reasoned a little upon a stranger's appearance, instead of knowing at +the first moment whether they liked him or no; they noticed the +indications of his clothes, the quality and cut thereof, as telling +somewhat of his station in society; they were more reserved, they +hesitated more than their mother; they had not her prompt authority, +her happy power. Their bread was not so light, their cream went +sometimes to sleep when it should have been turning into butter, their +hams were not always 'just like the hams of the old country,' as their +mother's were invariably pronounced to be; yet they were good, orderly, +kindly girls, and rose and greeted Lois with a friendly shake of the +hand, as their mother, with her arm round the stranger's waist, led her +into the private room which she called her parlour. The aspect of this +room was strange in the English girl's eyes. The logs of which the +house was built, showed here and there through the mud plaster, +although before both plaster and logs were hung the skins of many +curious animals,--skins presented to the widow by many a trader of her +acquaintance, just as her sailor guests brought her another description +of gift--shells, strings of wampum-beads, sea-birds' eggs, and presents +from the old country. The room was more like a small museum of natural +history of these days than a parlour; and it had a strange, peculiar, +but not unpleasant smell about it, neutralized in some degree by the +smoke from the enormous trunk of pinewood which smouldered on the +hearth. + +The instant their mother told them that Captain Holdernesse was in the +outer room, the girls began putting away their spinning-wheel and +knitting-needles, and preparing for a meal of some kind; what meal, +Lois, sitting there and unconsciously watching, could hardly tell. +First, dough was set to rise for cakes; then came out of a corner +cupboard--a present from England--an enormous square bottle of a +cordial called Golden Wasser; next, a mill for grinding chocolate--a +rare unusual treat anywhere at that time; then a great Cheshire cheese. +Three venison steaks were cut ready for broiling, fat cold pork sliced +up and treacle poured over it, a great pie something like a mince-pie, +but which the daughters spoke of with honour as the 'punken-pie,' fresh +and salt fish brandered, oysters cooked in various ways. Lois wondered +where would be the end of the provisions for hospitably receiving the +strangers from the old country. At length everything was placed on the +table, the hot food smoking; but all was cool, not to say cold, before +Elder Hawkins (an old neighbour of much repute and standing, who had +been invited in by Widow Smith to hear the news) had finished his +grace, into which was embodied thanksgivings for the past and prayers +for the future lives of every individual present, adapted to their +several cases, as far as the elder could guess at them from +appearances. This grace might not have ended so soon as it did, had it +not been for the somewhat impatient drumming of his knife-handle on the +table with which Captain Holdernesse accompanied the latter half of the +elder's words. + +When they first sat down to their meal, all were too hungry for much +talking; but as their appetites diminished their curiosity increased, +and there was much to be told and heard on both sides. With all the +English intelligence Lois was, of course, well acquainted; but she +listened with natural attention to all that was said about the new +country, and the new people among whom she had come to live. Her father +had been a Jacobite, as the adherents of the Stuarts were beginning at +this time to be called. His father, again, had been a follower of +Archbishop Laud; so Lois had hitherto heard little of the conversation, +and seen little of the ways of the Puritans. Elder Hawkins was one of +the strictest of the strict, and evidently his presence kept the two +daughters of the house considerably in awe. But the widow herself was a +privileged person; her known goodness of heart (the effects of which +had been experienced by many) gave her the liberty of speech which was +tacitly denied to many, under penalty of being esteemed ungodly if they +infringed certain conventional limits. And Captain Holdernesse and his +mate spoke out their minds, let who would be present. So that on this +first landing in New England, Lois was, as it were, gently let down +into the midst of the Puritan peculiarities, and yet they were +sufficient to make her feel very lonely and strange. + +The first subject of conversation was the present state of the +colony--Lois soon found out that, although at the beginning she was not +a little perplexed by the frequent reference to names of places which +she naturally associated with the old country. Widow Smith was +speaking: 'In the county of Essex the folk are ordered to keep four +scouts, or companies of minute-men; six persons in each company; to be +on the look-out for the wild Indians, who are for ever stirring about +in the woods, stealthy brutes as they are! I am sure, I got such a +fright the first harvest-time after I came over to New England, I go on +dreaming, now near twenty years after Lothrop's business, of painted +Indians, with their shaven scalps and their war-streaks, lurking behind +the trees, and coming nearer and nearer with their noiseless steps.' + +'Yes,' broke in one of her daughters; 'and, mother, don't you remember +how Hannah Benson told us how her husband had cut down every tree near +his house at Deerbrook, in order that no one might come near him, under +cover; and how one evening she was a-sitting in the twilight, when all +her family were gone to bed, and her husband gone off to Plymouth on +business, and she saw a log of wood, just like a trunk of a felled +tree, lying in the shadow, and thought nothing of it, till, on looking +again a while after, she fancied it was come a bit nearer to the house, +and how her heart turned sick with fright, and how she dared not stir +at first, but shut her eyes while she counted a hundred, and looked +again, and the shadow was deeper, but she could see that the log was +nearer; so she ran in and bolted the door, and went up to where her +eldest lad lay. It was Elijah, and he was but sixteen then; but he rose +up at his mother's words, and took his father's long duck-gun down, and +he tried the loading, and spoke for the first time to put up a prayer +that God would give his aim good guidance, and went to a window that +gave a view upon the side where the log lay, and fired, and no one +dared to look what came of it, but all the household read the +Scriptures, and prayed the whole night long, till morning came and +showed a long stream of blood lying on the grass close by the log, +which the full sunlight showed to be no log at all, but just a Red +Indian covered with bark, and painted most skilfully, with his +war-knife by his side.' + +All were breathless with listening, though to most the story, or such +like it, were familiar. Then another took up the tale of horror: + +'And the pirates have been down at Marblehead since you were here, +Captain Holdernesse. 'Twas only the last winter they landed,--French +Papist pirates; and the people kept close within their houses, for they +knew not what would come of it; and they dragged folk ashore. There was +one woman among those folk--prisoners from some vessel, doubtless--and +the pirates took them by force to the inland marsh; and the Marblehead +folk kept still and quiet, every gun loaded, and every ear on the +watch, for who knew but what the wild sea-robbers might take a turn on +land next; and, in the dead of the night, they heard a woman's loud and +pitiful outcry from the marsh, 'Lord Jesu! have mercy on me! Save me +from the power of man, O Lord Jesu!' And the blood of all who heard the +cry ran cold with terror, till old Nance Hickson, who had been +stone-deaf and bedridden for years, stood up in the midst of the folk +all gathered together in her grandson's house, and said, that as they, +the dwellers in Marblehead, had not had brave hearts or faith enough to +go and succour the helpless, that cry of a dying woman should be in +their ears, and in their children's ears, till the end of the world. +And Nance dropped down dead as soon as she had made an end of speaking, +and the pirates set sail from Marblehead at morning dawn; but the folk +there hear the cry still, shrill and pitiful, from the waste marshes, +"Lord Jesu! have mercy on me! Save me from the power of man, O Lord +Jesu!"' + +'And by token,' said Elder Hawkins's deep bass voice, speaking with the +strong nasal twang of the Puritans (who, says Butler, + + "Blasphemed custard through the nose"), + +'godly Mr. Noyes ordained a fast at Marblehead, and preached a +soul-stirring discourse on the words; "Inasmuch as ye did it not unto +one of the least of these, my brethren, ye did it not unto me." But it +has been borne in upon me at times, whether the whole vision of the +pirates and the cry of the woman was not a device of Satan's to sift +the Marblehead folk, and see what fruit their doctrine bore, and so to +condemn them in the sight of the Lord. If it were so, the enemy had a +great triumph, for assuredly it was no part of Christian men to leave a +helpless woman unaided in her sore distress.' + +'But, Elder,' said Widow Smith, 'it was no vision; they were real +living men who went ashore, men who broke down branches and left their +footmarks on the ground.' + +'As for that matter, Satan hath many powers, and if it be the day when +he is permitted to go about like a roaring lion, he will not stick at +trifles, but make his work complete. I tell you, many men are spiritual +enemies in visible forms, permitted to roam about the waste places of +the earth. I myself believe that these Red Indians are indeed the evil +creatures of whom we read in Holy Scripture; and there is no doubt that +they are in league with those abominable Papists, the French people in +Canada. I have heard tell, that the French pay the Indians so much gold +for every dozen scalps off Englishmen's heads.' + +'Pretty cheerful talk this,' said Captain Holdernesse to Lois, +perceiving her blanched cheek and terror-stricken mien. 'Thou art +thinking that thou hadst better have stayed at Barford, I'll answer for +it, wench. But the devil is not so black as he is painted.' + +'Ho! there again!' said Elder Hawkins. 'The devil is painted, it hath +been said so from old times; and are not these Indians painted, even +like unto their father?' + +'But is it all true?' asked Lois, aside, of Captain Holdernesse, +letting the elder hold forth unheeded by her, though listened to, +however, with the utmost reverence by the two daughters of the house. + +'My wench,' said the old sailor, 'thou hast come to a country where +there are many perils, both from land and from sea. The Indians hate +the white men. Whether other white men' (meaning the French away to the +north) 'have hounded on the savages, or whether the English have taken +their lands and hunting-grounds without due recompense, and so raised +the cruel vengeance of the wild creatures--who knows? But it is true +that it is not safe to go far into the woods, for fear of the lurking +painted savages; nor has it been safe to build a dwelling far from a +settlement; and it takes a brave heart to make a journey from one town +to another, and folk do say the Indian creatures rise up out of the +very ground to waylay the English; and then offers affirm they are all +in league with Satan to affright the Christians out of the heathen +country over which he has reigned so long. Then, again, the seashore is +infested by pirates, the scum of all nations: they land, and plunder, +and ravage, and burn, and destroy. Folk get affrighted of the real +dangers, and in their fright imagine, perchance, dangers that are not. +But who knows? Holy Scripture speaks of witches and wizards, and of the +power of the Evil One in desert places; and even in the old country we +have heard tell of those who have sold their souls for ever for the +little power they get for a few years on earth.' + +By this time the whole table was silent, listening to the captain; it +was just one of those chance silences that sometimes occur, without any +apparent reason, and often without any apparent consequence. But all +present had reason, before many months had-passed over, to remember the +words which Lois spoke in answer, although her voice was low, and she +only thought, in the interest of the moment, of being heard by her old +friend the captain. + +'They are fearful creatures, the witches! and yet I am sorry for the +poor old women, whilst I dread them. We had one in Barford, when I was +a little child. No one knew whence she came, but she settled herself +down in a mud hut by the common side; and there she lived, she and her +cat.' (At the mention of the cat, Elder Hawkins shook his head long and +gloomily.) 'No one knew how she lived, if it were not on nettles and +scraps of oatmeal and such-like food given her more for fear than for +pity. She went double, always talking and muttering to herself. Folk +said she snared birds and rabbits, in the thicket that came down to her +hovel. How it came to pass I cannot say, but many a one fell sick in +the village, and much cattle died one spring, when I was near four +years old. I never heard much about it, for my father said it was ill +talking about such things; I only know I got a sick fright one +afternoon, when the maid had gone out for milk and had taken me with +her, and we were passing a meadow where the Avon, circling, makes a +deep round pool, and there was a crowd of folk, all still--and a still, +breathless crowd makes the heart beat worse than a shouting, noisy one. +They were all gazing towards the water, and the maid held me up in her +arms to see the sight above the shoulders of the people; and I saw old +Hannah in the water, her grey hair all streaming down her shoulders, +and her face bloody and black with the stones and the mud they had been +throwing at her, and her cat tied round her neck. I hid my face, I +know, as soon as I saw the fearsome sight, for her eyes met mine as +they were glaring with fury--poor, helpless, baited creature!--and she +caught the sight of me, and cried out, "Parson's wench, parson's wench, +yonder, in thy nurse's arms, thy dad hath never tried for to save me, +and none shall save thee when thou art brought up for a witch." Oh! the +words rang in my ears, when I was dropping asleep, for years after. I +used to dream that I was in that pond, all men hating me with their +eyes because I was a witch; and, at times, her black cat used to seem +living again, and say over those dreadful words.' + +Lois stopped: the two daughters looked at her excitement with a kind of +shrinking surprise, for the tears were in her eyes. Elder Hawkins shook +his head, and muttered texts from Scripture; but cheerful Widow Smith, +not liking the gloomy turn of the conversation, tried to give it a +lighter cast by saying, 'And I don't doubt but what the parson's bonny +lass has bewitched many a one since, with her dimples and her pleasant +ways--eh, Captain Holdernesse? It's you must tell us tales of this +young lass' doings in England.' + +'Ay, ay,' said the captain, 'there's one under her charms in +Warwickshire who will never get the better of it, I'm thinking.' + +Elder Hawkins rose to speak; he stood leaning on his hands, which were +placed on the table: 'Brethren,' said he, 'I must upbraid you if ye +speak lightly; charms and witchcraft are evil things. I trust this +maiden hath had nothing to do with them, even in thought. But my mind +misgives me at her story. The hellish witch might have power from Satan +to infect her mind, she being yet a child, with the deadly sin. Instead +of vain talking, I call upon you all to join with me in prayer for this +stranger in our land, that her heart may be purged from all iniquity. +Let us pray.' + +'Come, there's no harm in that,' said the captain; 'but, Elder Hawkins, +when you are at work, just pray for us all, for I am afeard there be +some of us need purging from iniquity a good deal more than Lois +Barclay, and a prayer for a man never does mischief.' + +Captain Holdernesse had business in Boston which detained him there for +a couple of days, and during that time Lois remained with the Widow +Smith, seeing what was to be seen of the new land that contained her +future home. The letter of her dying mother was sent off to Salem, +meanwhile, by a lad going thither, in order to prepare her Uncle Ralph +Hickson for his niece's coming, as soon as Captain Holdernesse could +find leisure to take her; for he considered her given into his own +personal charge, until he could consign her to her uncle's care. When +the time came for going to Salem, Lois felt very sad at leaving the +kindly woman under whose roof she had been staying, and looked back as +long as she could see anything of Widow Smith's dwelling. She was +packed into a rough kind of country cart, which just held her and +Captain Holdernesse, beside the driver. There was a basket of +provisions under their feet, and behind them hung a bag of provender +for the horse; for it was a good day's journey to Salem, and the road +was reputed so dangerous that it was ill tarrying a minute longer than +necessary for refreshment. English roads were bad enough at that period +and for long after, but in America the way was simply the cleared +ground of the forest; the stumps of the felled trees still remaining in +the direct line, forming obstacles, which it required the most careful +driving to avoid; and in the hollows, where the ground was swampy, the +pulpy nature of it was obviated by logs of wood laid across the boggy +part. The deep green forest, tangled into heavy darkness even thus +early in the year, came within a few yards of the road all the way, +though efforts were regularly made by the inhabitants of the +neighbouring settlements to keep a certain space clear on each side, +for fear of the lurking Indians, who might otherwise come upon them +unawares. The cries of strange birds, the unwonted colour of some of +them, all suggested to the imaginative or unaccustomed traveller the +idea of war-whoops and painted deadly enemies. But at last they drew +near to Salem, which rivalled Boston in size in those days, and boasted +the name of one or two streets, although to an English eye they looked +rather more like irregularly built houses, clustered round the +meeting-house, or rather one of the meeting-houses, for a second was in +process of building. The whole place was surrounded with two circles of +stockades; between the two were the gardens and grazing ground for +those who dreaded their cattle straying into the woods, and the +consequent danger of reclaiming them. + +The lad who drove them flogged his spent horse into a trot, as they +went through Salem to Ralph Hickson's house. It was evening, the +leisure time for the inhabitants, and their children were at play +before the houses. Lois was struck by the beauty of one wee toddling +child, and turned to look after it; it caught its little foot in a +stump of wood, and fell with a cry that brought the mother out in +affright. As she ran out, her eye caught Lois's anxious gaze, although +the noise of the heavy wheels drowned the sound of her words of inquiry +as to the nature of the hurt the child had received. Nor had Lois time +to think long upon the matter, for the instant after, the horse was +pulled up at the door of a good, square, substantial wooden house, +plastered over into a creamy white, perhaps as handsome a house as any +in Salem; and there she was told by the driver that her uncle, Ralph +Hickson, lived. In the flurry of the moment she did not notice, but +Captain Holdernesse did, that no one came out at the unwonted sound of +wheels, to receive and welcome her. She was lifted down by the old +sailor, and led into a large room, almost like the hall of some English +manor-house as to size. A tall, gaunt young man of three or four and +twenty, sat on a bench by one of the windows, reading a great folio by +the fading light of day. He did not rise when they came in, but looked +at them with surprise, no gleam of intelligence coming into his stern, +dark face. There was no woman in the house-place. Captain Holdernesse +paused a moment, and then said: + +'Is this house Ralph Hickson's?' + +'It is,' said the young man, in a slow, deep voice. But he added no +word further. + +'This is his niece, Lois Barclay,' said the captain, taking the girl's +arm, and pushing her forwards. The young man looked at her steadily and +gravely for a minute; then rose, and carefully marking the page in the +folio which hitherto had lain open upon his knee, said, still in the +same heavy, indifferent manner, 'I will call my mother, she will know.' + +He opened a door which looked into a warm bright kitchen, ruddy with +the light of the fire over which three women were apparently engaged +in cooking something, while a fourth, an old Indian woman, of a +greenish-brown colour, shrivelled up and bent with apparent age, moved +backwards and forwards, evidently fetching the others the articles they +required. + +'Mother,' said the young man; and having arrested her attention, he +pointed over his shoulder to the newly-arrived strangers, and returned +to the study of his book, from time to time, however, furtively +examining Lois from beneath his dark shaggy eyebrows. + +A tall, largely made woman, past middle life, came in from the kitchen, +and stood reconnoitring the strangers. + +Captain Holdernesse spoke. + +'This is Lois Barclay, Master Ralph Hickson's niece.' + +'I know nothing of her,' said the mistress of the house, in a deep +voice, almost as masculine as her son's. + +'Master Hickson received his sister's letter, did he not? I sent it off +myself by a lad named Elias Wellcome, who left Boston for this place +yester morning.' + +'Ralph Hickson has received no such letter. He lies bedridden in the +chamber beyond. Any letters for him must come through my hands; +wherefore I can affirm with certainty that no such letter has been +delivered here. His sister Barclay, she that was Henrietta Hickson, and +whose husband took the oaths to Charles Stuart, and stuck by his living +when all godly men left theirs----' + +Lois, who had thought her heart was dead and cold a minute before at +the ungracious reception she had met with, felt words come up into her +mouth at the implied insult to her father, and spoke out, to her own +and the captain's astonishment: + +'They might be godly men who left their churches on that day of which +you speak, madam; but they alone were not the godly men, and no one has +a right to limit true godliness for mere opinion's sake.' + +'Well said, lass,' spoke out the captain, looking round upon her with a +kind of admiring wonder, and patting her on the back. + +Lois and her aunt gazed into each other's eyes unflinchingly, for a +minute or two of silence; but the girl felt her colour coming and +going, while the elder woman's never varied; and the eyes of the young +maiden were filling fast with tears, while those of Grate Hickson kept +on their stare, dry and unwavering. + +'Mother!' said the young man, rising up with a quicker motion than any +one had yet used in this house, 'it is ill speaking of such matters +when my cousin comes first among us. The Lord may give her grace +hereafter, but she has travelled from Boston city to-day, and she and +this seafaring man must need rest and food.' + +He did not attend to see the effect of his words, but sat down again, +and seemed to be absorbed in his book in an instant. Perhaps he knew +that his word was law with his grim mother, for he had hardly ceased +speaking before she had pointed to a wooden settle; and smoothing the +lines on her countenance, she said, 'What Manasseh says is true. Sit +down here, while I bid Faith and Nattee get food ready; and meanwhile I +will go tell my husband, that one who calls herself his sister's child +is come over to pay him a visit.' + +She went to the door leading into the kitchen, and gave some directions +to the elder girl, whom Lois now knew to be the daughter of the house. +Faith stood impassive, while her mother spoke, scarcely caring to look +at the newly-arrived strangers. She was like her brother Manasseh in +complexion, but had handsomer features, and large, mysterious-looking +eyes, as Lois saw, when once she lifted them up, and took in, as it +were, the aspect of the sea-captain and her cousin with one swift +searching look. About the stiff, tall, angular mother, and the scarce +less pliant figure of the daughter, a girl of twelve years old, or +thereabouts, played all manner of impish antics, unheeded by them, as +if it were her accustomed habit to peep about, now under their arms, +now at this side, now at that, making grimaces all the while at Lois +and Captain Holdernesse, who sat facing the door, weary, and somewhat +disheartened by their reception. The captain pulled out tobacco, and +began to chew it by way of consolation; but in a moment or two, his +usual elasticity of spirit came to his rescue, and he said in a low +voice to Lois: + +'That scoundrel Elias, I will give it him! If the letter had but been +delivered, thou wouldst have had a different kind of welcome; but as +soon as I have had some victuals, I will go out and find the lad, and +bring back the letter, and that will make all right, my wench. Nay, +don't be downhearted, for I cannot stand women's tears. Thou'rt just +worn out with the shaking and the want of food.' + +Lois brushed away her tears, and looking round to try and divert her +thoughts by fixing them on present object, she caught her cousin +Manasseh's deep-set eyes furtively watching her. It was with no +unfriendly gaze, yet it made Lois uncomfortable, particularly as he did +not withdraw his looks after he must have seen that she observed him. +She was glad when her aunt called her into an inner room to see her +uncle, and she escaped from the steady observance of her gloomy, silent +cousin. + +Ralph Hickson was much older than his wife, and his illness made him +look older still. He had never had the force of character that Grace, +his spouse, possessed, and age and sickness had now rendered him almost +childish at times. But his nature was affectionate, and stretching out +his trembling arms from where he lay bedridden, he gave Lois an +unhesitating welcome, never waiting for the confirmation of the missing +letter before he acknowledged her to be his niece. + +'Oh! 'tis kind in thee to come all across the sea to make acquaintance +with thine uncle; kind in Sister Barclay to spare thee!' + +Lois had to tell him that there was no one living to miss her at home +in England; that in fact she had no home in England, no father nor +mother left upon earth; and that she had been bidden by her mother's +last words to seek him out, and ask him for a home. Her words came up, +half choked from a heavy heart, and his dulled wits could not take +their meaning in without several repetitions; and then he cried like a +child, rather at his own loss of a sister, whom he had not seen for +more than twenty years, than at that of the orphan's standing before +him, trying hard not to cry, but to start bravely in this new strange +home. What most of all helped Lois in her self-restraint was her aunt's +unsympathetic look. Born and bred in New England, Grace Hickson had a +kind of jealous dislike to her husband's English relations, which had +increased since of late years his weakened mind yearned after them, and +he forgot the good reason he had had for his self-exile, and moaned +over the decision which had led to it as the great mistake of his life. +'Come,' said she, 'it strikes me that, in all this sorrow for the loss +of one who died full of years, ye are forgetting in Whose hands life +and death are!' + +True words, but ill-spoken at that time. Lois looked up at her with a +scarcely disguised indignation; which increased as she heard the +contemptuous tone in which her aunt went on talking to Ralph Hickson, +even while she was arranging his bed with a regard to his greater +comfort. + +'One would think thou wert a godless man, by the moan thou art always +making over spilt milk; and truth is, thou art but childish in thine +old age. When we were wed, thou left all things to the Lord; I would +never have married thee else. Nay, lass,' said she, catching the +expression on Lois's face, 'thou art never going to browbeat me with +thine angry looks. I do my duty as I read it, and there is never a man +in Salem that dare speak a word to Grace Hickson about either her works +or her faith. Godly Mr. Cotton Mather hath said, that even he might +learn of me; and I would advise thee rather to humble thyself, and see +if the Lord may not convert thee from thy ways, since he has sent thee +to dwell, as it were, in Zion, where the precious dew falls daily on +Aaron's beard.' + +Lois felt ashamed and sorry to find that her aunt had so truly +interpreted the momentary expression of her features; she blamed +herself a little for the feeling that had caused that expression, +trying to think how much her aunt might have been troubled with +something before the unexpected irruption of the strangers, and again +hoping that the remembrance of this little misunderstanding would soon +pass away. So she endeavoured to reassure herself, and not to give way +to her uncle's tender trembling pressure of her hand, as, at her aunt's +bidding, she wished him good night, and returned into the outer, or +'keeping'-room, where all the family were now assembled, ready for the +meal of flour cakes and venison-steaks which Nattee, the Indian +servant, was bringing in from the kitchen. No one seemed to have been +speaking to Captain Holdernesse while Lois had been away. Manasseh sat +quiet and silent where he did, with the book open upon his knee, his +eyes thoughtfully fixed on vacancy, as if he saw a vision, or dreamed +dreams. Faith stood by the table, lazily directing Nattee in her +preparations; and Prudence lolled against the door-frame, between +kitchen and keeping-room, playing tricks on the old Indian woman as she +passed backwards and forwards, till Nattee appeared to be in a strong +state of expressed irritation, which he tried in vain to repress, as +whenever she showed any sign of it, Prudence only seemed excited to +greater mischief. When all was ready, Manasseh lifted his right hand, +and 'asked a blessing,' as it was termed; but the grace became a long +prayer for abstract spiritual blessings, for strength to combat Satan, +and to quench his fiery darts, and at length assumed, so Lois thought, +a purely personal character, as if the young man had forgotten the +occasion, and even the people present, but was searching into the +nature of the diseases that beset his own sick soul, and spreading them +out before the Lord. He was brought back by a pluck at the coat from +Prudence; he opened his shut eyes, cast an angry glance at the child, +who made a face at him for sole reply, and then he sat down, and they +all fell to. Grace Hickson would have thought her hospitality sadly at +fault, if she had allowed Captain Holdernesse to go out in search of a +bed. Skins were spread for him on the floor of the keeping-room; a +Bible, and a square bottle of spirits were placed on the table, to +supply his wants during the night; and in spite of all the cares and +troubles, temptations, or sins of the members of that household, they +were all asleep before the town clock struck ten. + +In the morning, the captain's first care was to go out in search of the +boy Elias, and the missing letter. He met him bringing it with an easy +conscience, for, thought Elias, a few hours sooner or later will make +no difference; to-night or the morrow morning will be all the same. But +he was startled into a sense of wrong-doing by a sound box on the ear, +from the very man who had charged him to deliver it speedily, and whom +he believed to be at that very moment in Boston city. + +The letter delivered, all possible proof being given that Lois had a +right to claim a home from her nearest relations, Captain Holdernesse +thought it best to take leave. + +'Thou'lt take to them, lass, maybe, when there is no one here to make +thee think on the old country. Nay, nay! parting is hard work at all +times, and best get hard work done out of hand. Keep up thine heart, my +wench, and I'll come back and see thee next spring, if we are all +spared till then; and who knows what fine young miller mayn't come with +me? Don't go and get wed to a praying Puritan, meanwhile. There, +there--I'm off! God bless thee!' + +And Lois was left alone in New England. + + + + +Chapter 2 + + +It was hard up-hill work for Lois to win herself a place in this +family. Her aunt was a woman of narrow, strong affections. Her love for +her husband, if ever she had any, was burnt out and dead long ago. What +she did for him she did from duty; but duty was not strong enough to +restrain that little member the tongue; and Lois's heart often bled at +the continual flow of contemptuous reproof which Grace constantly +addressed to her husband, even while she was sparing no pains or +trouble to minister to his bodily ease and comfort. It was more as a +relief to herself that she spoke in this way, than with any desire that +her speeches should affect him; and he was too deadened by illness to +feel hurt by them; or, it may be, the constant repetition of her +sarcasms had made him indifferent; at any rate, so that he had his food +and his state of bodily warmth attended to, he very seldom seemed to +care much for anything else. Even his first flow of affection towards +Lois was soon exhausted; he cared for her because she arranged his +pillows well and skilfully, and because she could prepare new and +dainty kinds of food for his sick appetite, but no longer for her as +his dead sister's child. Still he did care for her, and Lois was too +glad of this little hoard of affection to examine how or why it was +given. To him she could give pleasure, but apparently to no one else in +that household. Her aunt looked askance at her for many reasons: the +first coming of Lois to Salem was inopportune, the expression of +disapprobation on her face on that evening still lingered and rankled +in Grace's memory, early prejudices, and feelings, and prepossessions +of the English girl were all on the side of what would now be called +Church and State, what was then esteemed in that country a +superstitious observance of the directions of a Popish rubric, and a +servile regard for the family of an oppressing and irreligious king. +Nor is it to be supposed that Lois did not feel, and feel acutely, the +want of sympathy that all those with whom she was now living manifested +towards the old hereditary loyalty (religious as well as political +loyalty) in which she had been brought up. With her aunt and Manasseh +it was more than want of sympathy; it was positive, active antipathy to +all the ideas Lois held most dear. The very allusion, however +incidentally made, to the little old grey church at Barford, where her +father had preached so long,--the occasional reference to the troubles +in which her own country had been distracted when she left,--and the +adherence, in which she had been brought up, to the notion that the +king could do no wrong, seemed to irritate Manasseh past endurance. He +would get up from his reading, his constant employment when at home, +and walk angrily about the room after Lois had said anything of this +kind, muttering to himself; and once he had even stopped before her, +and in a passionate tone bade her not talk so like a fool. Now this was +very different to his mother's sarcastic, contemptuous way of treating +all poor Lois's little loyal speeches. Grace would lead her on--at +least she did at first, till experience made Lois wiser--to express her +thoughts on such subjects, till, just when the girl's heart was +opening, her aunt would turn round upon her with some bitter sneer that +roused all the evil feelings in Lois's disposition by its sting. Now +Manasseh seemed, through all his anger, to be so really grieved by what +he considered her error, that he went much nearer to convincing her +that there might be two sides to a question. Only this was a view, that +it appeared like treachery to her dead father's memory to entertain. + +Somehow, Lois felt instinctively that Manasseh was really friendly +towards her. He was little in the house; there was farming, and some +kind of mercantile business to be transacted by him, as real head of +the house; and as the season drew on, he went shooting and hunting in +the surrounding forests, with a daring which caused his mother to warn +and reprove him in private, although to the neighbours she boasted +largely of her son's courage and disregard of danger. Lois did not +often walk out for the mere sake of walking, there was generally some +household errand to be transacted when any of the women of the family +went abroad; but once or twice she had caught glimpses of the dreary, +dark wood, hemming in the cleared land on all sides,--the great wood +with its perpetual movement of branch and bough, and its solemn wail, +that came into the very streets of Salem when certain winds blew, +bearing the sound of the pine-trees clear upon the ears that had +leisure to listen. And from all accounts, this old forest, girdling +round the settlement, was full of dreaded and mysterious beasts, and +still more to be dreaded Indians, stealing in and out among the +shadows, intent on bloody schemes against the Christian people; +panther-streaked, shaven Indians, in league by their own confession, as +well as by the popular belief, with evil powers. + +Nattee, the old Indian servant, would occasionally make Lois's blood +run cold as she and Faith and Prudence listened to the wild stories she +told them of the wizards of her race. It was often in the kitchen, in +the darkening evening, while some cooking process was going on, that +the old Indian crone, sitting on her haunches by the bright red wood +embers which sent up no flame, but a lurid light reversing the shadows +of all the faces around, told her weird stories while they were +awaiting the rising of the dough, perchance, out of which the household +bread had to be made. There ran through these stories always a ghastly, +unexpressed suggestion of some human sacrifice being needed to complete +the success of any incantation to the Evil One; and the poor old +creature, herself believing and shuddering as she narrated her tale in +broken English, took a strange, unconscious pleasure in her power over +her hearers--young girls of the oppressing race, which had brought her +down into a state little differing from slavery, and reduced her people +to outcasts on the hunting-grounds which had belonged to her fathers. +After such tales, it required no small effort on Lois's part to go out, +at her aunt's command, into the common pasture round the town, and +bring the cattle home at night. Who knew but what the double-headed +snake might start up from each blackberry-bush--that wicked, cunning, +accursed creature in the service of the Indian wizards, that had such +power over all those white maidens who met the eyes placed at either +end of his long, sinuous, creeping body, so that loathe him, loathe the +Indian race as they would, off they must go into the forest to seek but +some Indian man, and must beg to be taken into his wigwam, abjuring +faith and race for ever? Or there were spells--so Nattee said--hidden +about the ground by the wizards, which changed that person's nature who +found them; so that, gentle and loving as they might have been before, +thereafter they took no pleasure but in the cruel torments of others, +and had a strange power given to them of causing such torments at their +will. Once Nattee, speaking low to Lois, who was alone with her in the +kitchen, whispered out her terrified belief that such a spell had +Prudence found; and when the Indian showed her arms to Lois, all +pinched and black and blue by the impish child, the English girl began +to be afraid of her cousin as of one possessed. But it was not Nattee +alone, nor young imaginative girls alone, that believed in these +stories. We can afford to smile at them now; but our English ancestors +entertained superstitions of much the same character at the same +period, and with less excuse, as the circumstances surrounding them +were better known, and consequently more explicable by common sense +than the real mysteries of the deep, untrodden forests of New England. +The gravest divines not only believed stories similar to that of the +double-headed serpent, and other tales of witchcraft, but they made +such narrations the subjects of preaching and prayer; and as cowardice +makes us all cruel, men who were blameless in many of the relations of +life, and even praiseworthy in some, became, from superstition, cruel +persecutors about this time, showing no mercy towards any one whom they +believed to be in league with the Evil One. + +Faith was the person with whom the English girl was the most intimately +associated in her uncle's house. The two were about the same age, and +certain household employments were shared between them. They took it in +turns to call in the cows, to make up the butter which had been churned +by Hosea, a stiff old out-door servant, in whom Grace Hickson placed +great confidence; and each lassie had her great spinning-wheel for +wool, and her lesser for flax, before a month had elapsed after Lois's +coming. Faith was a grave, silent person, never merry, sometimes very +sad, though Lois was a long time in even guessing why. She would try in +her sweet, simple fashion to cheer her cousin up, when the latter was +depressed, by telling her old stories of English ways and life. +Occasionally, Faith seemed to care to listen, occasionally she did not +heed one word, but dreamed on. Whether of the past or of the future, +who could tell? + +Stern old ministers came in to pay their pastoral visits. On such +occasions, Grace Hickson would put on clean apron and clean cap, and +make them more welcome than she was ever seen to do no one else, +bringing out the best provisions of her store, and setting of all +before them. Also, the great Bible was brought forth, and Hosea and +Nattee summoned from their work to listen while the minister read a +chapter, and, as he read, expounded it at considerable length. After +this all knelt, while he, standing, lifted up his right hand, and +prayed for all possible combinations of Christian men, for all possible +cases of spiritual need; and lastly, taking the individuals before him, +he would put up a very personal supplication for each, according to his +notion of their wants. At first Lois wondered at the aptitude of one or +two prayers of this description to the outward circumstances of each +case; but when she perceived that her aunt had usually a pretty long +confidential conversation with the minister in the early part of his +visit, she became aware that he received both his impressions and his +knowledge through the medium of 'that godly woman, Grace Hickson;' and +I am afraid she paid less regard to the prayer 'for the maiden from +another land, who hath brought the errors of that land as a seed with +her, even across the great ocean, and who is letting even now the +little seeds shoot up into an evil tree, in which all unclean creatures +may find shelter.' + +'I like the prayers of our Church better,' said Lois, one day to Faith. +'No clergyman in England can pray his own words, and therefore it is +that he cannot judge of others so as to fit his prayers to what he +esteems to be their case, as Mr. Tappau did this morning.' + +'I hate Mr. Tappau!' said Faith, shortly, a passionate flash of light +coming out of her dark, heavy eyes. + +'Why so cousin? It seems to me as if he were a good man, although I +like not his prayers.' + +Faith only repeated her words, 'I hate him.' + +Lois was sorry for this strong bad feeling; instinctively sorry, for +she was loving herself, delighted in being loved, and felt a jar run +through her at every sign of want of love in others. But she did not +know what to say, and was silent at the time. Faith, too, went on +turning her wheel with vehemence, but spoke never a word until her +thread snapped, and then she pushed the wheel away hastily and left the +room. + +Then Prudence crept softly up to Lois's side. This strange child seemed +to be tossed about by varying moods: to-day she was caressing and +communicative, to-morrow she might be deceitful, mocking, and so +indifferent to the pain or sorrows of others that you could call her +almost inhuman. + +'So thou dost not like Pastor Tappau's prayers?' she whispered. + +Lois was sorry to have been overheard, but she neither would nor could +take back her words. + +'I like them not so well as the prayers I used to hear at home.' + +'Mother says thy home was with the ungodly. Nay, don't look at me +so--it was not I that said it. I'm none so fond of praying myself, nor +of Pastor Tappau for that matter. But Faith cannot abide him, and I +know why. Shall I tell thee, cousin Lois?' + +'No! Faith did not tell me, and she was the right person to give her +own reasons.' + +'Ask her where young Mr. Nolan is gone to, and thou wilt hear. I have +seen Faith cry by the hour together about Mr. Nolan.' + +'Hush, child, hush!' said Lois, for she heard Faith's approaching step, +and feared lest she should overhear what they were saying. + +The truth was that, a year or two before, there had been a great +struggle in Salem village, a great division in the religious body, and +Pastor Tappau had been the leader of the more violent, and, ultimately, +the successful party. In consequence of this, the less popular +minister, Mr. Nolan, had had to leave the place. And him Faith Hickson +loved with all the strength of her passionate heart, although he never +was aware of the attachment he had excited, and her own family were too +regardless of manifestations of mere feeling to ever observe the signs +of any emotion on her part. But the old Indian servant Nattee saw and +observed them all. She knew, as well as if she had been told the +reason, why Faith had lost all care about father or mother, brother and +sister, about household work and daily occupation, nay, about the +observances of religion as well. Nattee read the meaning of the deep +smouldering of Faith's dislike to Pastor Tappau aright; the Indian +woman understood why the girl (whom alone of all the white people she +loved) avoided the old minister,--would hide in the wood-stack sooner +than be called in to listen to his exhortations and prayers. With +savage, untutored people, it is not 'Love me, love my dog,' they are +often jealous of the creature beloved; but it is, 'Whom thou hatest I +will hate;' and Nattee's feeling towards Pastor Tappau was even an +exaggeration of the mute unspoken hatred of Faith. + +For a long time, the cause of her cousin's dislike and avoidance of the +minister was a mystery to Lois; but the name of Nolan remained in her +memory whether she would or no, and it was more from girlish interest +in a suspected love affair, than from any indifferent and heartless +curiosity, that she could not help piecing together little speeches and +actions, with Faith's interest in the absent banished minister, for an +explanatory clue, till not a doubt remained in her mind. And this +without any further communication with Prudence, for Lois declined +hearing any more on the subject from her, and so gave deep offence. + +Faith grew sadder and duller as the autumn drew on. She lost her +appetite, her brown complexion became sallow and colourless, her dark +eyes looked hollow and wild. The first of November was near at hand. +Lois, in her instinctive, well-intentioned efforts to bring some life +and cheerfulness into the monotonous household, had been telling Faith +of many English customs, silly enough, no doubt, and which scarcely +lighted up a flicker of interest in the American girl's mind. The +cousins were lying awake in their bed in the great unplastered room, +which was in part store-room, in part bedroom. Lois was full of +sympathy for Faith that night. For long she had listened to her +cousin's heavy, irrepressible sighs, in silence. Faith sighed because +her grief was of too old a date for violent emotion or crying. Lois +listened without speaking in the dark, quiet night hours, for a long, +long time. She kept quite still, because she thought such vent for +sorrow might relieve her cousin's weary heart. But when at length, +instead of lying motionless, Faith seemed to be growing restless even +to convulsive motions of her limbs, Lois began to speak, to talk about +England, and the dear old ways at home, without exciting much attention +on Faith's part, until at length she fell upon the subject of +Hallow-e'en, and told about customs then and long afterwards practised +in England, and that have scarcely yet died out in Scotland. As she +told of tricks she had often played, of the apple eaten facing a +mirror, of the dripping sheet, of the basins of water, of the nuts +burning side by side, and many other such innocent ways of divination, +by which laughing, trembling English maidens sought to see the form of +their future husbands, if husbands they were to have, then Faith +listened breathlessly, asking short, eager questions, as if some ray of +hope had entered into her gloomy heart. Lois went on speaking, telling +her of all the stories that would confirm the truth of the second sight +vouchsafed to all seekers in the accustomed methods, half believing, +half incredulous herself, but desiring, above all things, to cheer up +poor Faith. + +Suddenly, Prudence rose up from her truckle-bed in the dim corner of +the room. They had not thought that she was awake, but she had been +listening long. + +'Cousin Lois may go out and meet Satan by the brook-side if she will, +but if thou goest, Faith, I will tell mother--ay, and I will tell +Pastor Tappau, too. Hold thy stories, Cousin Lois, I am afeard of my +very life. I would rather never be wed at all, than feel the touch of +the creature that would take the apple out of my hand, as I held it +over my left shoulder.' The excited girl gave a loud scream of terror +at the image her fancy had conjured up. Faith and Lois sprang out +towards her, flying across the moonlit room in their white nightgowns. +At the same instant, summoned by the same cry, Grace Hickson came to +her child. + +'Hush! hush!' said Faith, authoritatively. + +'What is it, my wench?' asked Grace. While Lois, feeling as if she had +done all the mischief, kept silence. + +'Take her away, take her away!' screamed Prudence. 'Look over her +shoulder--her left shoulder--the Evil One is there now, I see him +stretching over for the half-bitten apple.' + +'What is this she says?' said Grace, austerely. + +'She is dreaming,' said Faith; 'Prudence, hold thy tongue.' And she +pinched the child severely, while Lois more tenderly tried to soothe +the alarms she felt that she had conjured up. + +'Be quiet, Prudence,' said she, 'and go to sleep. I will stay by thee +till thou hast gone off into slumber.' + +'No, go! go away,' sobbed Prudence, who was really terrified at first, +but was now assuming more alarm: than she felt, if from the pleasure +she received at perceiving herself the centre of attention. 'Faith +shall stay by me, not you, wicked English witch!' + +So Faith sat by her sister; and Grace, displeased and perplexed, +withdrew to her own bed, purposing to inquire more into the matter in +the morning. Lois only hoped it might all be forgotten by that time, +and resolved never to talk again of such things. But an event happened +in the remaining hours of the night to change the current of affairs. +While Grace had been absent from her room, her husband had had another +paralytic stroke: whether he, too, had been alarmed by that eldritch +scream no one could ever know. By the faint light of the rush candle +burning at the bedside, his wife perceived that a great change had +taken place in his aspect on her return: the irregular breathing came +almost like snorts--the end was drawing near. The family were roused, +and all help given that either the doctor or experience could suggest. +But before the late November morning light, all was ended for Ralph +Hickson. + +The whole of the ensuing day, they sat or moved in darkened rooms, and +spoke few words, and those below their breath. Manasseh kept at home, +regretting his father, no doubt, but showing little emotion. Faith was +the child that bewailed her loss most grievously; she had a warm heart, +hidden away somewhere under her moody exterior, and her father had +shown her far more passive kindness than ever her mother had done, for +Grace made distinct favourites of Manasseh, her only son, and Prudence, +her youngest child. Lois was about as unhappy as any of them, for she +had felt strongly drawn towards her uncle as her kindest friend, and +the sense of his loss renewed the old sorrow she had experienced at her +own parents' death. But she had no time and no place to cry in. On her +devolved many of the cares, which it would have seemed indecorous in +the nearer relatives to interest themselves in enough to take an active +part: the change required in their dress, the household preparations +for the sad feast of the funeral--Lois had to arrange all under her +aunt's stern direction. + +But a day or two afterwards--the last day before the funeral--she went +into the yard to fetch in some fagots for the oven; it was a solemn, +beautiful, starlit evening, and some sudden sense of desolation in the +midst of the vast universe thus revealed touched Lois's heart, and she +sat down behind the woodstack, and cried very plentiful tears. + +She was startled by Manasseh, who suddenly turned the corner of the +stack, and stood before her. + +'Lois crying!' + +'Only a little,' she said, rising up, and gathering her bundle of +fagots, for she dreaded being questioned by her grim, impassive cousin. +To her surprise, he laid his hand on her arm, and said: + +'Stop one minute. Why art thou crying, cousin?' + +'I don't know,' she said, just like a child questioned in like manner; +and she was again on the point of weeping. + +'My father was very kind to thee, Lois; I do not wonder that thou +grievest after him. But the Lord who taketh away can restore tenfold. I +will be as kind as my father--yea, kinder. This is not a time to talk +of marriage and giving in marriage. But after we have buried our dead, +I wish to speak to thee.' + +Lois did not cry now, but she shrank with affright. What did her cousin +mean? She would far rather that he had been angry with her for +unreasonable grieving, for folly. + +She avoided him carefully--as carefully as she could, without seeming +to dread him--for the next few days. Sometimes she thought it must have +been a bad dream; for if there had been no English lover in the case, +no other man in the whole world, she could never have thought of +Manasseh as her husband; indeed, till now, there had been nothing in +his words or actions to suggest such an idea. Now it had been +suggested, there was no telling how much she loathed him. He might be +good, and pious--he doubtless was--but his dark fixed eyes, moving so +slowly and heavily, his lank black hair, his grey coarse skin, all made +her dislike him now--all his personal ugliness and ungainliness struck +on her senses with a jar, since those few words spoken behind the +haystack. + +She knew that sooner or later the time must come for further discussion +of this subject; but, like a coward, she tried to put it off, by +clinging to her aunt's apron-string, for she was sure that Grace +Hickson had far different views for her only son. As, indeed, she had, +for she was an ambitious, as well as a religious woman; and by an early +purchase of land in Salem village, the Hicksons had become wealthy +people, without any great exertions of their own; partly, also, by the +silent process of accumulation, for they had never cared to change +their manner of living from the time when it had been suitable to a far +smaller income than that which they at present enjoyed. So much for +worldly circumstances. As for their worldly character, it stood as +high. No one could say a word against any of their habits or actions. +The righteousness and godliness were patent to every one's eyes. So +Grace Hickson thought herself entitled to pick and choose among the +maidens, before she should meet with one fitted to be Manasseh's wife. +None in Salem came up to her imaginary standard. She had it in her mind +even at this very time--so soon after her husband's death--to go to +Boston, and take counsel with the leading ministers there, with worthy +Mr. Cotton Mather at their head, and see if they could tell her of a +well-favoured and godly young maiden in their congregations worthy of +being the wife of her son. But, besides good looks and godliness, the +wench must have good birth, and good wealth, or Grace Hickson would +have put her contemptuously on one side. When once this paragon was +found, the ministers had approved, Grace anticipated no difficulty on +her son's part. So Lois was right in feeling that her aunt would +dislike any speech of marriage between Manasseh and herself. + +But the girl was brought to bay one day in this wise. Manasseh had +ridden forth on some business, which every one said would occupy him +the whole day; but, meeting the man with whom he had to transact his +affairs, he returned earlier than any one expected. He missed Lois from +the keeping-room where his sisters were spinning, almost immediately. +His mother sat by at her knitting--he could see Nattee in the kitchen +through the open door. He was too reserved to ask where Lois was, but +he quietly sought till he found her--in the great loft, already piled +with winter stores of fruit and vegetables. Her aunt had sent her there +to examine the apples one by one, and pick out such as were unsound, +for immediate use. She was stooping down, and intent upon this work, +and was hardly aware of his approach, until she lifted up her head and +saw him standing close before her. She dropped the apple she was +holding, went a little paler than her wont, and faced him in silence. + +'Lois,' he said, 'thou rememberest the words that I spoke while we yet +mourned over my father. I think that I am called to marriage now, as +the head of this household. And I have seen no maiden so pleasant in my +sight as thou art, Lois!' He tried to take her hand. But she put it +behind her with a childish shake of her head, and, half-crying, said: + +'Please, Cousin Manasseh, do not say this to me. I dare say you ought +to be married, being the head of the household now; but I don't want to +be married. I would rather not.' + +'That is well spoken,' replied he, frowning a little, nevertheless. 'I +should not like to take to wife an over-forward maiden, ready to jump +at wedlock. Besides, the congregation might talk, if we were to be +married too soon after my father's death. We have, perchance, said +enough, even now. But I wished thee to have thy mind set at ease as to +thy future well-doing. Thou wilt have leisure to think of it, and to +bring thy mind more fully round to it.' Again he held out his hand. +This time she took hold of it with a free, frank gesture. + +'I owe you somewhat for your kindness to me ever since I came, Cousin +Manasseh; and I have no way of paying you but by telling you truly I +can love you as a dear friend, if you will let me, but never as a +wife.' + +He flung her hand away, but did not take his eyes off her face, though +his glance was lowering and gloomy. He muttered something which she did +not quite hear, and so she went on bravely although she kept trembling +a little, and had much ado to keep from crying. + +'Please let me tell you all. There was a young man in Barford--nay, +Manasseh, I cannot speak if you are so angry; it is hard work to tell +you any how--he said that he wanted to marry me; but I was poor, and +his father would have none of it, and I do not want to marry any one; +but if I did, it would be--' Her voice dropped, and her blushes told +the rest. Manasseh stood looking at her with sullen, hollow eyes, that +had a glittering touch of wilderness in them, and then he said: + +'It is borne in upon me--verily I see it as in a vision--that thou must +be my spouse, and no other man's. Thou canst not escape what is +foredoomed. Months ago, when I set myself to read the old godly books +in which my soul used to delight until thy coming, I saw no letters of +printers' ink marked on the page, but I saw a gold and ruddy type of +some unknown language, the meaning whereof was whispered into my soul; +it was, "Marry Lois! marry Lois!" And when my father died, I knew it +was the beginning of the end. It is the Lord's will, Lois, and thou +canst not escape from it.' And again he would have taken her hand and +drawn her towards him. But this time she eluded him with ready +movement. + +'I do not acknowledge it be the Lord's will, Manasseh,' said she. 'It +is not "borne in upon me," as you Puritans call it, that I am to be +your wife. I am none so set upon wedlock as to take you, even though +there be no other chance for me. For I do not care for you as I ought +to care for my husband. But I could have cared for you very much as a +cousin--as a kind cousin.' + +She stopped speaking; she could not choose the right words with which +to speak to him of her gratitude and friendliness, which yet could +never be any feeling nearer and dearer, no more than two parallel lines +can ever meet. + +But he was so convinced, by what he considered the spirit of prophecy, +that Lois was to be his wife, that he felt rather more indignant at +what he considered to be her resistance to the preordained decree, than +really anxious as to the result. Again he tried to convince her that +neither he nor she had any choice in the matter, by saying: + +'The voice said unto me "Marry Lois," and I said, "I will, Lord."' + +'But,' Lois replied, 'the voice, as you call it, has never spoken such +a word to me.' + +'Lois,' he answered, solemnly, 'it will speak. And then wilt thou obey, +even as Samuel did?' + +'No, indeed I cannot!' she answered, briskly. 'I may take a dream to be +truth, and hear my own fancies, if I think about them too long. But I +cannot marry any one from obedience.' + +'Lois, Lois, thou art as yet unregenerate; but I have seen thee in a +vision as one of the elect, robed in white. As yet thy faith is too +weak for thee to obey meekly, but it shall not always be so. I will +pray that thou mayest see thy preordained course. Meanwhile, I will +smooth away all worldly obstacles.' + +'Cousin Manasseh! Cousin Manasseh!' cried Lois after him, as he was +leaving the room, 'come back. I cannot put it in strong enough words. +Manasseh, there is no power in heaven or earth that can make me love +thee enough to marry thee, or to wed thee without such love. And this I +say solemnly, because it is better that this should end at once.' + +For a moment he was staggered; then he lifted up his hands, and said, + +'God forgive thee thy blasphemy! Remember Hazael, who said, "Is thy +servant a dog, that he should do this great thing?" and went straight +and did it, because his evil courses were fixed and appointed for him +from before the foundation of the world. And shall not thy paths be +laid out among the godly as it hath been foretold to me?' + +He went away; and for a minute or two Lois felt as if his words must +come true, and that, struggle as she would, hate her doom as she would, +she must become his wife; and, under the circumstances, many a girl +would have succumbed to her apparent fate. Isolated from all previous +connections, hearing no word from England, living in the heavy, +monotonous routine of a family with one man for head, and this man +esteemed a hero by most of those around him, simply because he was the +only man in the family,--these facts alone would have formed strong +presumptions that most girls would have yielded to the offers of such a +one. But, besides this, there was much to tell upon the imagination in +those days, in that place, and time. It was prevalently believed that +there were manifestations of spiritual influence--of the direct +influence both of good and bad spirits--constantly to be perceived in +the course of men's lives. Lots were drawn, as guidance from the Lord; +the Bible was opened, and the leaves allowed to fall apart, and the +first text the eye fell upon was supposed to be appointed from above a +direction. Sounds were heard that could not be accounted for; they were +made by the evil spirits not yet banished from the desert places of +which they had so long held possession. Sights, inexplicable and +mysterious, were dimly seen--Satan, in some shape, seeking whom he +might devour. And at the beginning of the long winter season, such +whispered tales, such old temptations and hauntings, and devilish +terrors, were supposed to be peculiarly rife. Salem was, as it were, +snowed up, and left to prey upon itself. The long, dark evenings, the +dimly-lighted rooms, the creaking passages, where heterogeneous +articles were piled away out of reach of the keen-piercing frost, and +where occasionally, in the dead of night, a sound was heard, as of some +heavy falling body, when, next morning, everything appeared to be in +its right place--so accustomed are we to measure noises by comparison +with themselves, and not with the absolute stillness of the +night-season--the white mist, coming nearer and nearer to the windows +every evening in strange shapes, like phantoms,--all these, and many +other circumstances, such as the distant fall of mighty trees in the +mysterious forests girdling them round, the faint whoop and cry of some +Indian seeking his camp, and unwittingly nearer to the white men's +settlement than either he or they would have liked could they have +chosen, the hungry yells of the wild beasts approaching the +cattle-pens,--these were the things which made that winter life in +Salem, in the memorable time of 1691-2, seem strange, and haunted, and +terrific to many: peculiarly weird and awful to the English girl in her +first year's sojourn in America. + +And now imagine Lois worked upon perpetually by Manasseh's conviction +that it was decreed that she should be his wife, and you will see that +she was not without courage and spirit to resist as she did, steadily, +firmly, and yet sweetly. Take one instance out of many, when her nerves +were subjected to a shock, slight in relation it is true, but then +remember that she had been all day, and for many days, shut up within +doors, in a dull light, that at mid-day was almost dark with a +long-continued snow-storm. Evening was coming on, and the wood fire was +more cheerful than any of the human beings surrounding it; the +monotonous whirr of the smaller spinning-wheels had been going on all +day, and the store of flax down stairs was nearly exhausted, when Grace +Hickson bade Lois fetch down some more from the store-room, before the +light so entirely waned away that it could not be found without a +candle, and a candle it would be dangerous to carry into that apartment +full of combustible materials, especially at this time of hard frost, +when every drop of water was locked up and bound in icy hardness. So +Lois went, half-shrinking from the long passage that led to the stairs +leading up into the storeroom, for it was in this passage that the +strange night sounds were heard, which every one had begun to notice, +and speak about in lowered tones. She sang, however, as she went, 'to +keep her courage up'--sang, however, in a subdued voice, the evening +hymn she had so often sung in Barford church: + + 'Glory to Thee, my God, this night--' + +and so it was, I suppose, that she never heard the breathing or motion +of any creature near her till, just as she was loading herself with +flax to carry down, she heard some one--it was Manasseh--say close to +her ear: + +'Has the voice spoken yet? Speak, Lois! Has the voice spoken yet to +thee--that speaketh to me day and night, "Marry Lois?"' + +She started and turned a little sick, but spoke almost directly in a +brave, clear manner: + +'No! Cousin Manasseh. And it never will.' + +'Then I must wait yet longer,' he replied, hoarsely, as if to himself. +'But all submission--all submission.' + +At last a break came upon the monotony of the long, dark winter. The +parishioners once more raised the discussion whether--the parish +extending as it did--it was not absolutely necessary for Pastor Tappau +to have help. This question had been mooted once before; and then +Pastor Tappau had acquiesced in the necessity, and all had gone on +smoothly for some months after the appointment of his assistant, until +a feeling had sprung up on the part of the elder minister, which might +have been called jealousy of the younger, if so godly a man as Pastor +Tappau could have been supposed to entertain so evil a passion. However +that might be, two parties were speedily formed, the younger and more +ardent being in favour of Mr. Nolan, the elder and more +persistent--and, at the time, the more numerous--clinging to the old +grey-headed, dogmatic Mr. Tappau, who had married them, baptized their +children, and was to them literally as a 'pillar of the church.' So Mr. +Nolan left Salem, carrying away with him, possibly, more hearts than +that of Faith Hickson's; but certainly she had never been the same +creature since. + +But now--Christmas, 1691--one or two of the older members of the +congregation being dead, and some who were younger men having come to +settle in Salem--Mr. Tappau being also older, and, some charitably +supposed, wiser--a fresh effort had been made, and Mr. Nolan was +returning to labour in ground apparently smoothed over. Lois had taken +a keen interest in all the proceedings for Faith's sake,--far more than +the latter did for herself, any spectator would have said. Faith's +wheel never went faster or slower, her thread never broke, her colour +never came, her eyes were never uplifted with sudden interest, all the +time these discussions respecting Mr. Nolan's return were going on. But +Lois, after the hint given by Prudence, had found a clue to many a sigh +and look of despairing sorrow, even without the help of Nattee's +improvised songs, in which, under strange allegories, the helpless love +of her favourite was told to ears heedless of all meaning, except those +of the tender-hearted and sympathetic Lois. Occasionally, she heard a +strange chant of the old Indian woman's--half in her own language, half +in broken English--droned over some simmering pipkin, from which the +smell was, to say the least, unearthly. Once, on perceiving this odour +in the keeping-room, Grace Hickson suddenly exclaimed: + +'Nattee is at her heathen ways again; we shall have some mischief +unless she is stayed.' + +But Faith, moving quicker than ordinary, said something about putting a +stop to it, and so forestalled her mother's evident intention of going +into the kitchen. Faith shut the door between the two rooms, and +entered upon some remonstrance with Nattee; but no one could hear the +words used. Faith and Nattee seemed more bound together by love and +common interest, than any other two among the self-contained +individuals comprising this household. Lois sometimes felt as if her +presence as a third interrupted some confidential talk between her +cousin and the old servant. And yet she was fond of Faith, and could +almost think that Faith liked her more than she did either mother, +brother, or sister; for the first two were indifferent as to any +unspoken feelings, while Prudence delighted in discovering them only to +make an amusement to herself out of them. + +One day Lois was sitting by herself at her sewing table, while Faith +and Nattee were holding one of the secret conclaves from which Lois +felt herself to be tacitly excluded, when the outer door opened, and a +tall, pale young man, in the strict professional habit of a minister, +entered. Lois sprang up with a smile and a look of welcome for Faith's +sake, for this must be the Mr. Nolan whose name had been on the tongue +of every one for days, and who was, as Lois knew, expected to arrive +the day before. + +He seemed half surprised at the glad alacrity with which he was +received by this stranger: possibly he had not heard of the English +girl, who was an inmate in the house where formerly he had seen only +grave, solemn, rigid, or heavy faces, and had been received with a +stiff form of welcome, very different from the blushing, smiling, +dimpled looks that innocently met him with the greeting almost of an +old acquaintance. Lois having placed a chair for him, hastened out to +call Faith, never doubting but that the feeling which her cousin +entertained for the young pastor was mutual, although it might be +unrecognised in its full depth by either. + +'Faith!' said she, bright and breathless. 'Guess--no,' checking herself +to an assumed unconsciousness of any particular importance likely to be +affixed to her words, 'Mr. Nolan, the new pastor, is in the +keeping-room. He has asked for my aunt and Manasseh. My aunt is gone to +the prayer meeting at Pastor Tappau's, and Manasseh is away.' Lois went +on speaking to give Faith time, for the girl had become deadly white at +the intelligence, while, at the same time, her eyes met the keen, +cunning eyes of the old Indian with a peculiar look of half-wondering +awe, while Nattee's looks expressed triumphant satisfaction. + +'Go,' said Lois, smoothing Faith's hair, and kissing the white, cold +cheek, 'or he will wonder why no one comes to see him, and perhaps +think he is not welcome.' Faith went without another word into the +keeping-room, and shut the door of communication. Nattee and Lois were +left together. Lois felt as happy as if some piece of good fortune had +befallen herself. For the time, her growing dread of Manasseh's wild, +ominous persistence in his suit, her aunt's coldness, her own +loneliness, were all forgotten, and she could almost have danced with +joy. Nattee laughed aloud, and talked and chuckled to herself: 'Old +Indian woman great mystery. Old Indian woman sent hither and thither; +go where she is told, where she hears with her ears. But old Indian +woman'--and here she drew herself up, and the expression of her face +quite changed--'know how to call, and then white man must come; and old +Indian have spoken never a word, and white man have hear nothing with +his ears.' So, the old crone muttered. + +All this time, things were going on very differently in the +keeping-room to what Lois imagined. Faith sat stiller even than usual; +her eyes downcast, her words few. A quick observer might have noticed a +certain tremulousness about her hands, and an occasional twitching +throughout all her frame. But Pastor Nolan was not a keen observer upon +this occasion; he was absorbed with his own little wonders and +perplexities. His wonder was that of a carnal man--who that pretty +stranger might be, who had seemed, on his first coming, so glad to see +him, but had vanished instantly, apparently not to reappear. And, +indeed, I am not sure if his perplexity was not that of a carnal man +rather than that of a godly minister, for this was his dilemma. It was +the custom of Salem (as we have already seen) for the minister, on +entering a household for the visit which, among other people and in +other times, would have been termed a 'morning call,' to put up a +prayer for the eternal welfare of the family under whose roof-tree he +was. Now this prayer was expected to be adapted to the individual +character, joys, sorrows, wants, and failings of every member present; +and here was he, a young pastor, alone with a young woman, and he +thought--vain thoughts, perhaps, but still very natural--that the +implied guesses at her character, involved in the minute supplications +above described, would be very awkward in a tête-à-tête prayer; so, +whether it was his wonder or his perplexity, I do not know, but he did +not contribute much to the conversation for some time, and at last, by +a sudden burst of courage and impromptu hit, he cut the Gordian knot by +making the usual proposal for prayer, and adding to it a request that +the household might be summoned. In came Lois, quiet and decorous; in +came Nattee, all one impassive, stiff piece of wood,--no look of +intelligence or trace of giggling near her countenance. Solemnly +recalling each wandering thought, Pastor Nolan knelt in the midst of +these three to pray. He was a good and truly religious man, whose name +here is the only thing disguised, and played his part bravely in the +awful trial to which he was afterwards subjected; and if at the time, +before he went through his fiery persecutions, the human fancies which +beset all young hearts came across his, we at this day know that these +fancies are no sin. But now he prays in earnest, prays so heartily for +himself, with such a sense of his own spiritual need and spiritual +failings, that each one of his hearers feels as if a prayer and a +supplication had gone up for each of them. Even Nattee muttered the few +words she knew of the Lord's Prayer; gibberish though the disjointed +nouns and verbs might be, the poor creature said them because she was +stirred to unwonted reverence. As for Lois, she rose up comforted and +strengthened, as no special prayers of Pastor Tappau had ever made her +feel. But Faith was sobbing, sobbing aloud, almost hysterically, and +made no effort to rise, but lay on her outstretched arms spread out +upon the settle. Lois and Pastor Nolan looked at each other for an +instant. Then Lois said: + +'Sir, you must go. My cousin has not been strong for some time, and +doubtless she needs more quiet than she has had to-day.' + +Pastor Nolan bowed, and left the house; but in a moment he returned. +Half opening the door, but without entering, he said: + +'I come back to ask, if perchance I may call this evening to inquire +how young Mistress Hickson finds herself?' + +But Faith did not hear this; she was sobbing louder than ever. + +'Why did you send him away, Lois? I should have been better directly, +and it is so long since I have seen him.' + +She had her face hidden as she uttered these words, and Lois could not +hear them distinctly. She bent her head down by her cousin's on the +settle, meaning to ask her to repeat what she had said. But in the +irritation of the moment, and prompted possibly by some incipient +jealousy, Faith pushed Lois away so violently that the latter was hurt +against the hard, sharp corner of the wooden settle. Tears came into +her eyes; not so much because her cheek was bruised, as because of the +surprised pain she felt at this repulse from the cousin towards whom +she was feeling so warmly and kindly. Just for the moment, Lois was as +angry as any child could have been; but some of the words of Pastor +Nolan's prayer yet rang in her ears, and she thought it would be a +shame if she did not let them sink into her heart. She dared not, +however, stoop again to caress Faith, but stood quietly by her, +sorrowfully waiting, until a step at the outer door caused Faith to +rise quickly, and rush into the kitchen, leaving Lois to bear the brunt +of the new-comer. It was Manasseh, returned from hunting. He had been +two days away, in company with other young men belonging to Salem. It +was almost the only occupation which could draw him out of his secluded +habits. He stopped suddenly at the door on seeing Lois, and alone, for +she had avoided him of late in every possible way. + +'Where is my mother?' + +'At a prayer meeting at Pastor Tappau's. She has taken Prudence. Faith +has left the room this minute. I will call her.' And Lois was going +towards the kitchen, when he placed himself between her and the door. + +'Lois,' said he, 'the time is going by, and I cannot wait much longer. +The visions come thick upon me, and my sight grows clearer and clearer. +Only this last night, camping out in the woods, I saw in my soul, +between sleeping and waking, the spirit come and offer thee two lots, +and the colour of the one was white, like a bride's, and the other was +black and red, which is, being interpreted, a violent death. And when +thou didst choose the latter the spirit said unto me, 'Come!' and I +came, and did as I was bidden. I put it on thee with mine own hands, as +it is preordained, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice and be my +wife. And when the black and red dress fell to the ground, thou wert +even as a corpse three days old. Now, be advised, Lois, in time. Lois, +my cousin, I have seen it in a vision, and my soul cleaveth unto +thee--I would fain spare thee.' + +He was really in earnest--in passionate earnest; whatever his visions, +as he called them, might be, he believed in them, and this belief gave +something of unselfishness to his love for Lois. This she felt at this +moment, if she had never done so before, and it seemed like a contrast +to the repulse she had just met with from his sister. He had drawn near +her, and now he took hold of her hand, repeating in his wild, pathetic, +dreamy way: + +'And the voice said unto me, "Marry Lois!"' And Lois was more inclined +to soothe and reason with him than she had ever been before, since the +first time of his speaking to her on the subject,--when Grace +Hickson--and Prudence entered the room from the passage. They had +returned from the prayer meeting by the back way, which had prevented +the sound of their approach from being heard. + +But Manasseh did not stir or look round; he kept his eyes fixed on +Lois, as if to note the effect of his words. Grace came hastily +forwards, and lifting up her strong right arm, smote their joined hands +in twain, in spite of the fervour of Manasseh's grasp. + +'What means this?' said she, addressing herself more to Lois than to +her son, anger flashing out of her deep-set eyes. + +Lois waited for Manasseh to speak. He seemed, but a few minutes before, +to be more gentle and less threatening than he had been of late on this +subject, and she did not wish to irritate him. But he did not speak, +and her aunt stood angrily waiting for an answer. + +'At any rate,' thought Lois, 'it will put an end to the thought in his +mind when my aunt speaks out about it.' + +'My cousin seeks me in marriage,' said Lois. + +'Thee!' and Grace struck out in the direction of her niece with a +gesture of supreme contempt. But now Manasseh spoke forth: + +'Yea! it is preordained. The voice has said it, and the spirit has +brought her to me as my bride.' + +'Spirit! an evil spirit then. A good spirit would have chosen out for +thee a godly maiden of thine own people, and not a prelatist and a +stranger like this girl. A pretty return, Mistress Lois, for all our +kindness.' + +'Indeed, Aunt Hickson, I have done all I could--Cousin Manasseh knows +it--to show him I can be none of his. I have told him,' said she, +blushing, but determined to say the whole out at once, 'that I am all +but troth-plight to a young man of our own village at home; and, even +putting all that on one side, I wish not for marriage at present.' + +'Wish rather for conversion and regeneration. Marriage is an unseemly +word in the mouth of a maiden. As for Manasseh, I will take reason with +him in private; and, meanwhile, if thou hast spoken truly, throw not +thyself in his path, as I have noticed thou hast done but too often of +late.' + +Lois's heart burnt within her at this unjust accusation, for she knew +how much she had dreaded and avoided her cousin, and she almost looked +to him to give evidence that her aunt's last words were not true. But, +instead, he recurred to his one fixed idea, and said: + +'Mother, listen! If I wed not Lois, both she and I die within the year. +I care not for life; before this, as you know, I have sought for death' +(Grace shuddered, and was for a moment subdued by some recollection of +past horror); 'but if Lois were my wife I should live, and she would be +spared from what is the other lot. That whole vision grows clearer to +me day by day. Yet, when I try to know whether I am one of the elect, +all is dark. The mystery of Free-Will and Fore-Knowledge is a mystery +of Satan's devising, not of God's.' + +'Alas, my son! Satan is abroad among the brethren even now; but let the +old vexed topics rest. Sooner than fret thyself again, thou shalt have +Lois to be thy wife, though my heart was set far differently for thee.' + +'No, Manasseh,' said Lois. 'I love you well as a cousin, but wife of +yours I can never be. Aunt Hickson, it is not well to delude him so. I +say, if ever I marry man, I am troth-plight to one in England.' + +'Tush, child! I am your guardian in my dead husband's place. Thou +thinkest thyself so great a prize that I would clutch at thee whether +or no, I doubt not. I value thee not, save as a medicine for Manasseh, +if his mind get disturbed again, as I have noted signs of late.' + +This, then, was the secret explanation of much that had alarmed her in +her cousin's manner: and if Lois had been a physician of modern times, +she might have traced somewhat of the same temperament in his sisters +as well--in Prudence's lack of natural feeling and impish delight in +mischief, in Faith's vehemence of unrequited love. But as yet Lois did +not know, any more than Faith, that the attachment of the latter to Mr. +Nolan was not merely unreturned, but even unperceived, by the young +minister. + +He came, it is true--came often to the house, sat long with the family, +and watched them narrowly, but took no especial notice of Faith. Lois +perceived this, and grieved over it; Nattee perceived it, and was +indignant at it, long before Faith slowly acknowledged it to herself, +and went to Nattee the Indian woman, rather than to Lois her cousin, +for sympathy and counsel. + +'He cares not for me,' said Faith. 'He cares more for Lois's little +finger than for my whole body,' the girl moaned out in the bitter pain +of jealousy. + +'Hush thee, hush thee, prairie bird! How can he build a nest, when the +old bird has got all the moss and the feathers? Wait till the Indian +has found means to send the old bird flying far away.' This was the +mysterious comfort Nattee gave. + +Grace Hickson took some kind of charge over Manasseh that relieved Lois +of much of her distress at his strange behaviour. Yet at times he +escaped from his mother's watchfulness, and in such opportunities he +would always seek Lois, entreating her, as of old, to marry +him--sometimes pleading his love for her, oftener speaking wildly of +his visions and the voices which he heard foretelling a terrible +futurity. + +We have now to do with events which were taking place in Salem, beyond +the narrow circle of the Hickson family; but as they only concern us in +as far as they bore down in their consequences on the future of those +who formed part of it, I shall go over the narrative very briefly. The +town of Salem had lost by death, within a very short time preceding the +commencement of my story, nearly all its venerable men and leading +citizens--men of ripe wisdom and sound counsel. The people had hardly +yet recovered from the shock of their loss, as one by one the +patriarchs of the primitive little community had rapidly followed each +other to the grave. They had been beloved as fathers, and looked up to +as judges in the land. The first bad effect of their loss was seen in +the heated dissension which sprang up between Pastor Tappau and the +candidate Nolan. It had been apparently healed over; but Mr. Nolan had +not been many weeks in Salem, after his second coming, before the +strife broke out afresh, and alienated many for life who had till then +been bound together by the ties of friendship or relationship. Even in +the Hickson family something of this feeling soon sprang up; Grace +being a vehement partisan of the elder pastor's more gloomy doctrines, +while Faith was a passionate, if a powerless, advocate of Mr. Nolan. +Manasseh's growing absorption in his own fancies, and imagined gift of +prophecy, making him comparatively indifferent to all outward events, +did not tend to either the fulfilment of his visions, or the +elucidation of the dark mysterious doctrines over which he had pondered +too long for the health either of his mind or body; while Prudence +delighted in irritating every one by her advocacy of the views of +thinking to which they were most opposed, and retailing every gossiping +story to the person most likely to disbelieve, and be indignant at what +she told, with an assumed unconsciousness of any such effect to be +produced. There was much talk of the congregational difficulties and +dissensions being carried up to the general court, and each party +naturally hoped that, if such were the course of events, the opposing +pastor and that portion of the congregation which adhered to him might +be worsted in the struggle. + +Such was the state of things in the township when, one day towards the +end of the month of February, Grace Hickson returned from the weekly +prayer meeting; which it was her custom to attend at Pastor Tappau's +house, in a state of extreme excitement. On her entrance into her own +house she sat down, rocking her body backwards and forwards, and +praying to herself: both Faith and Lois stopped their spinning, in +wonder at her agitation, before either of them ventured to address her. +At length Faith rose, and spoke: + +'Mother, what is it? Hath anything happened of an evil nature?' + +The brave, stern, old woman's face was blenched, and her eyes were +almost set in horror, as she prayed; the great drops running down her +cheeks. + +It seemed almost as if she had to make a struggle to recover her sense +of the present homely accustomed life, before she could find words to +answer: + +'Evil nature! Daughters, Satan is abroad,--is close to us. I have this +very hour seen him afflict two innocent children, as of old he troubled +those who were possessed by him in Judea. Hester and Abigail Tappau +have been contorted and convulsed by him and his servants into such +shapes as I am afeard to think on; and when their father, godly Mr. +Tappau, began to exhort and to pray, their howlings were like the wild +beasts of the field. Satan is of a truth let loose amongst us. The +girls kept calling upon him as if he were even then present among us. +Abigail screeched out that he stood at my very back in the guise of a +black man; and truly, as I turned round at her words, I saw a creature +like a shadow vanishing, and turned all of a cold sweat. Who knows +where he is now? Faith, lay straws across on the door-sill.' + +'But if he be already entered in,' asked Prudence, 'may not that make +it difficult for him to depart?' + +Her mother, taking no notice of her question, went on rocking herself, +and praying, till again she broke out into narration: + +'Reverend Mr. Tappau says, that only last night he heard a sound as of +a heavy body dragged all through the house by some strong power; once +it was thrown against his bedroom door, and would, doubtless, have +broken it in, if he had not prayed fervently and aloud at that very +time; and a shriek went up at his prayer that made his hair stand on +end; and this morning all the crockery in the house was found broken +and piled up in the middle of the kitchen floor; and Pastor Tappau +says, that as soon as he began to ask a blessing on the morning's meal, +Abigail and Hester cried out, as if some one was pinching them. Lord, +have mercy upon us all! Satan is of a truth let loose.' + +'They sound like the old stories I used to hear in Barford,' said Lois, +breathless with affright. + +Faith seemed less alarmed; but then her dislike to Pastor Tappau was so +great, that she could hardly sympathise with any misfortunes that +befell him or his family. + +Towards evening Mr. Nolan came in. In general, so high did party spirit +run, Grace Hickson only tolerated his visits, finding herself often +engaged at such hours, and being too much abstracted in thought to show +him the ready hospitality which was one of her most prominent virtues. +But to-day, both as bringing the latest intelligence of the new horrors +sprung up in Salem, and as being one of the Church militant (or what +the Puritans considered as equivalent to the Church militant) against +Satan, he was welcomed by her in an unusual manner. + +He seemed oppressed with the occurrences of the day: at first it +appeared to be almost a relief to him to sit still, and cogitate upon +them, and his hosts were becoming almost impatient for him to say +something more than mere monosyllables, when he began: + +'Such a day as this, I pray that I may never see again. It is as if the +devils whom our Lord banished into the herd of swine, had been +permitted to come again upon the earth. And I would it were only the +lost spirits who were tormenting us; but I much fear, that certain of +those whom we have esteemed as God's people have sold their souls to +Satan, for the sake of a little of his evil power, whereby they may +afflict others for a time. Elder Sherringham hath lost this very day a +good and valuable horse, wherewith he used to drive his family to +meeting, his wife being bedridden.' + +'Perchance,' said Lois, 'the horse died of some natural disease.' + +'True,' said Pastor Nolan; 'but I was going on to say, that as he +entered into his house, full of dolour at the loss of his beast, a +mouse ran in before him so sudden that it almost tripped him up, though +an instant before there was no such thing to be seen; and he caught at +it with his shoe and hit it, and it cried out like a human creature in +pain, and straight ran up the chimney, caring nothing for the hot flame +and smoke.' + +Manasseh listened greedily to all this story, and when it was ended he +smote upon his breast, and prayed aloud for deliverance from the power +of the Evil One; and he continually went on praying at intervals +through the evening, with every mark of abject terror on his face and +in his manner--he, the bravest, most daring hunter in all the +settlement. Indeed, all the family huddled together in silent fear, +scarcely finding any interest in the usual household occupations. Faith +and Lois sat with arms entwined, as in days before the former had +become jealous of the latter; Prudence asked low, fearful questions of +her mother and of the pastor as to the creatures that were abroad, and +the ways in which they afflicted others; and when Grace besought the +minister to pray for her and her household, he made a long and +passionate supplication that none of that little flock might ever so +far fall away into hopeless perdition as to be guilty of the sin +without forgiveness--the sin of Witchcraft. + + + + +Chapter 3 + + +'The sin of witchcraft.' We read about it, we look on it from the +outside; but we can hardly realize the terror it induced. Every +impulsive or unaccustomed action, every little nervous affection, every +ache or pain was noticed, not merely by those around the sufferer, but +by the person himself, whoever he might be, that was acting, or being +acted upon, in any but the most simple and ordinary manner. He or she +(for it was most frequently a woman or girl that was the supposed +subject) felt a desire for some unusual kind of food--some unusual +motion or rest her hand twitched, her foot was asleep, or her leg had +the cramp; and the dreadful question immediately suggested itself, 'Is +any one possessing an evil power over me, by the help of Satan?' and +perhaps they went on to think, 'It is bad enough to feel that my body +can be made to suffer through the power of some unknown evil-wisher to +me, but what if Satan gives them still further power, and they can +touch my soul, and inspire me with loathful thoughts leading me into +crimes which at present I abhor?' and so on, till the very dread of +what might happen, and the constant dwelling of the thoughts, even with +horror, upon certain possibilities, or what were esteemed such, really +brought about the corruption of imagination at least, which at first +they had shuddered at. Moreover, there was a sort of uncertainty as to +who might be infected--not unlike the overpowering dread of the plague, +which made some shrink from their best-beloved with irrepressible fear. +The brother or sister, who was the dearest friend of their childhood +and youth, might now be bound in some mysterious deadly pact with evil +spirits of the most horrible kind--who could tell? And in such a case +it became a duty, a sacred duty, to give up the earthly body which had +been once so loved, but which was now the habitation of a soul corrupt +and horrible in its evil inclinations. Possibly, terror of death might +bring on confession and repentance, and purification. Or if it did not, +why away with the evil creature, the witch, out of the world, down to +the kingdom of the master, whose bidding was done on earth in all +manner of corruption and torture of God's creatures! There were others +who, to these more simple, if more ignorant, feelings of horror at +witches and witchcraft, added the desire, conscious or unconscious, of +revenge on those whose conduct had been in any way displeasing to them. +Where evidence takes a supernatural character, there is no disproving +it. This argument comes up: 'You have only the natural powers; I have +supernatural. You admit the existence of the supernatural by the +condemnation of this very crime of witchcraft. You hardly know the +limits of the natural powers; how then can you define the supernatural? +I say that in the dead of night, when my body seemed to all present to +be lying in quiet sleep, I was, in the most complete and wakeful +consciousness, present in my body at an assembly of witches and wizards +with Satan at their head; that I was by them tortured in my body, +because my soul would not acknowledge him as its king; and that I +witnessed such and such deeds. What the nature of the appearance was +that took the semblance of myself, sleeping quietly in my bed, I know +not; but admitting, as you do, the possibility of witchcraft, you +cannot disprove my evidence.' This evidence might be given truly or +falsely, as the person witnessing believed it or not; but every one +must see what immense and terrible power was abroad for revenge. Then, +again, the accused themselves ministered to the horrible panic abroad. +Some, in dread of death, confessed from cowardice to the imaginary +crimes of which they were accused, and of which they were promised a +pardon on confession. Some, weak and terrified, came honestly to +believe in their own guilt, through the diseases of imagination which +were sure to be engendered at such a time as this. + +Lois sat spinning with Faith. Both were silent, pondering over the +stories that were abroad. Lois spoke first. + +'Oh, Faith! this country is worse than ever England was, even in the +days of Master Matthew Hopkins, the witch-finder. I grow frightened of +every one, I think. I even get afeard sometimes of Nattee!' + +Faith coloured a little. Then she asked, + +'Why? What should make you distrust the Indian woman?' + +'Oh! I am ashamed of my fear as soon as it arises in my mind. But, you +know, her look and colour were strange to me when first I came; and she +is not a christened woman; and they tell stories of Indian wizards; and +I know not what the mixtures are which she is sometimes stirring over +the fire, nor the meaning of the strange chants she sings to herself. +And once I met her in the dusk, just close by Pastor Tappau's house, in +company with Hota, his servant--it was just before we heard of the sore +disturbance in his house--and I have wondered if she had aught to do +with it.' + +Faith sat very still, as if thinking. At last she said: + +'If Nattee has powers beyond what you and I have, she will not use them +for evil; at least not evil to those whom she loves.' + +'That comforts me but little,' said Lois. 'If she has powers beyond +what she ought to have, I dread her, though I have done her no evil; +nay, though I could almost say she bore me a kindly feeling. But such +powers are only given by the Evil One; and the proof thereof is, that, +as you imply, Nattee would use them on those who offend her.' + +'And why should she not?' asked Faith, lifting her eyes, and flashing +heavy fire out of them at the question. + +'Because,' said Lois, not seeing Faith's glance, 'we are told to pray +for them that despitefully use us, and to do good to them that +persecute us. But poor Nattee is not a christened woman. I would that +Mr. Nolan would baptize her; it would, maybe, take her out of the power +of Satan's temptations.' + +'Are you never tempted?' asked Faith, half scornfully; 'and yet I doubt +not you were well baptized!' + +'True,' said Lois, sadly; 'I often do very wrong, but, perhaps, I might +have done worse, if the holy form had not been observed.' + +They were again silent for a time. + +'Lois,' said Faith, 'I did not mean any offence. But do you never feel +as if you would give up all that future life, of which the parsons +talk, and which seems so vague and so distant, for a few years of real, +vivid blessedness to begin to-morrow--this hour, this minute? Oh! I +could think of happiness for which I would willingly give up all those +misty chances of heaven----' + +'Faith, Faith!' cried Lois, in terror, holding her hand before her +cousin's mouth, and looking around in fright. 'Hush! you know not who +may be listening; you are putting yourself in his power.' + +But Faith pushed her hand away, and said, 'Lois, I believe in him no +more than I believe in heaven. Both may exist, but they are so far away +that I defy them. Why, all this ado about Mr. Tappau's house--promise +me never to tell living creature, and I will tell you a secret.' + +'No!' said Lois, terrified. 'I dread all secrets. I will hear none. I +will do all that I can for you, cousin Faith, in any way; but just at +this time, I strive to keep my life and thoughts within the strictest +bounds of godly simplicity, and I dread pledging myself to aught that +is hidden and secret.' + +'As you will, cowardly girl, full of terrors, which, if you had +listened to me, might have been lessened, if not entirely done away +with.' And Faith would not utter another word, though Lois tried meekly +to entice her into conversation on some other subject. + +The rumour of witchcraft was like the echo of thunder among the hills. +It had broken out in Mr. Tappau's house, and his two little daughters +were the first supposed to be bewitched; but round about, from every +quarter of the town, came in accounts of sufferers by witchcraft. There +was hardly a family without one of these supposed victims. Then arose a +growl and menaces of vengeance from many a household--menaces deepened, +not daunted by the terror and mystery of the suffering that gave rise +to them. + +At length a day was appointed when, after solemn fasting and prayer, +Mr. Tappau invited the neighbouring ministers and all godly people to +assemble at his house, and unite with him in devoting a day to solemn +religious services, and to supplication for the deliverance of his +children, and those similarly afflicted, from the power of the Evil +One. All Salem poured out towards the house of the minister. There was +a look of excitement on all their faces; eagerness and horror were +depicted on many, while stern resolution, amounting to determined +cruelty, if the occasion arose, was seen on others. + +In the midst of the prayer, Hester Tappau, the younger girl, fell into +convulsions; fit after fit came on, and her screams mingled with the +shrieks and cries of the assembled congregation. In the first pause, +when the child was partially recovered, when the people stood around +exhausted and breathless, her father, the Pastor Tappau, lifted his +right hand, and adjured her, in the name of the Trinity, to say who +tormented her. There was a dead silence; not a creature stirred of all +those hundreds. Hester turned wearily and uneasily, and moaned out the +name of Hota, her father's Indian servant. Hota was present, apparently +as much interested as any one; indeed, she had been busying herself +much in bringing remedies to the suffering child. But now she stood +aghast, transfixed, while her name was caught up and shouted out in +tones of reprobation and hatred by all the crowd around her. Another +moment and they would have fallen upon the trembling creature and torn +her limb from limb--pale, dusky, shivering Hota, half guilty-looking +from her very bewilderment. But Pastor Tappau, that gaunt, grey man, +lifting himself to his utmost height, signed to them to go back, to +keep still while he addressed them; and then he told them, that instant +vengeance was not just, deliberate punishment; that there would be need +of conviction, perchance of confession--he hoped for some redress for +his suffering children from her revelations, if she were brought to +confession. They must leave the culprit in his hands, and in those of +his brother ministers, that they might wrestle with Satan before +delivering her up to the civil power. He spoke well, for he spoke from +the heart of a father seeing his children exposed to dreadful and +mysterious suffering, and firmly believing that he now held the clue in +his hand which should ultimately release them and their +fellow-sufferers. And the congregation moaned themselves into +unsatisfied submission, and listened to his long, passionate prayer, +which he uplifted even while the hapless Hota stood there, guarded and +bound by two men, who glared at her like bloodhounds ready to slip, +even while the prayer ended in the words of the merciful Saviour. + +Lois sickened and shuddered at the whole scene; and this was no +intellectual shuddering at the folly and superstition of the people, +but tender moral shuddering at the sight of guilt which she believed +in, and at the evidence of men's hatred and abhorrence, which, when +shown even to the guilty, troubled and distressed her merciful heart. +She followed her aunt and cousins out into the open air, with downcast +eyes and pale face. Grace Hickson was going home with a feeling of +triumphant relief at the detection of the guilty one. Faith alone +seemed uneasy and disturbed beyond her wont, for Manasseh received the +whole transaction as the fulfilment of a prophecy, and Prudence was +excited by the novel scene into a state of discordant high spirits. + +'I am quite as old as Hester Tappau,' said she; 'her birthday is in +September and mine in October.' + +'What has that to do with it?' said Faith, sharply. + +'Nothing, only she seemed such a little thing for all those grave +ministers to be praying for, and so many folk come from a +distance--some from Boston they said--all for her sake, as it were. +Why, didst thou see, it was godly Mr. Henwick that held her head when +he wriggled so, and old Madam Holbrook had herself helped upon a chair +to see the better. I wonder how long I might wriggle, before great and +godly folk would take so much notice of me? But, I suppose, that comes +of being a pastor's daughter. She'll be so set up there'll be no +speaking to her now. Faith! thinkest thou that Hota really had +bewitched her? She gave me corn-cakes, the last time I was at Pastor +Tappau's, just like any other woman, only, perchance, a trifle more +good-natured; and to think of her being a witch after all!' + +But Faith seemed in a hurry to reach home, paid no attention to +Prudence's talking. Lois hastened on with Faith, for Manasseh was +walking alongside of his mother, and she kept steady to her plan of +avoiding him, even though she pressed her company upon Faith, who had +seemed of late desirous of avoiding her. + +That evening the news spread through Salem, that Hota had confessed her +sin--had acknowledged that she was a witch. Nattee was the first to +hear the intelligence. She broke into the room where the girls were +sitting with Grace Hickson, solemnly doing nothing, because of the +great prayer-meeting in the morning, and cried out, 'Mercy, mercy, +mistress, everybody! take care of poor Indian Nattee, who never do +wrong, but for mistress and the family! Hota one bad wicked witch, she +say so herself; oh, me! oh me!' and stooping over Faith, she said +something in a low, miserable tone of voice, of which Lois only heard +the word 'torture.' But Faith heard all, and turning very pale, half +accompanied, half led Nattee back to her kitchen. + +Presently, Grace Hickson came in. She had been out to see a neighbour; +it will not do to say that so godly a woman had been gossiping; and, +indeed, the subject of the conversation she had held was of too serious +and momentous a nature for me to employ a light word to designate it. +There was all the listening to and repeating of small details and +rumours, in which the speakers have no concern, that constitutes +gossiping; but in this instance, all trivial facts and speeches might +be considered to bear such dreadful significance, and might have so +ghastly an ending, that such whispers were occasionally raised to a +tragic importance. Every fragment of intelligence that related to Mr. +Tappau's household was eagerly snatched at; how his dog howled all one +long night through, and could not be stilled; how his cow suddenly +failed in her milk only two months after she had calved; how his memory +had forsaken him one morning, for a minute or two, in repeating the +Lord's Prayer, and he had even omitted a clause thereof in his sudden +perturbation; and how all these forerunners of his children's strange +illness might now be interpreted and understood--this had formed the +staple of the conversation between Grace Hickson and her friends. There +had arisen a dispute among them at last, as to how far these +subjections to the power of the Evil One were to be considered as a +judgment upon Pastor Tappau for some sin on his part; and if so, what? +It was not an unpleasant discussion, although there was considerable +difference of opinion; for as none of the speakers had had their +families so troubled, it was rather a proof that they had none of them +committed any sin. In the midst of this talk, one, entering in from the +street, brought the news that Hota had confessed all--had owned to +signing a certain little red book which Satan had presented to her--had +been present at impious sacraments--had ridden through the air to +Newbury Falls--and, in fact, had assented to all the questions which +the elders and magistrates, carefully reading over the confessions of +the witches who had formerly been tried in England, in order that they +might not omit a single inquiry, had asked of her. More she had owned +to, but things of inferior importance, and partaking more of the nature +of earthly tricks than of spiritual power. She had spoken of carefully +adjusted strings, by which all the crockery in Pastor Tappau's house +could be pulled down or disturbed; but of such intelligible +malpractices the gossips of Salem took little heed. One of them said +that such an action showed Satan's prompting, but they all preferred to +listen to the grander guilt of the blasphemous sacraments and +supernatural rides. The narrator ended with saying that Hota was to be +hung the next morning, in spite of her confession, even although her +life had been promised to her if she acknowledged her sin; for it was +well to make an example of the first-discovered witch, and it was also +well that she was an Indian, a heathen, whose life would be no great +loss to the community. Grace Hickson on this spoke out. It was well +that witches should perish off the face of the earth, Indian or +English, heathen or, worse, a baptized Christian who had betrayed the +Lord, even as Judas did, and had gone over to Satan. For her part, she +wished that the first-discovered witch had been a member of a godly +English household, that it might be seen of all men that religious folk +were willing to cut off the right hand, and pluck out the right eye, if +tainted with this devilish sin. She spoke sternly and well. The last +comer said, that her words might be brought to the proof, for it had +been whispered that Hota had named others, and some from the most +religious families of Salem, whom she had seen among the unholy +communicants at the sacrament of the Evil One. And Grace replied that +she would answer for it, all godly folk would stand the proof, and +quench all natural affection rather than that such a sin should grow +and spread among them. She herself had a weak bodily dread of +witnessing the violent death even of an animal; but she would not let +that deter her from standing amidst those who cast the accursed +creature out from among them on the morrow morning. + +Contrary to her wont, Grace Hickson told her family much of this +conversation. It was a sign of her excitement on the subject that she +thus spoke, and the excitement spread in different forms through her +family. Faith was flushed and restless, wandering between the +keeping-room and the kitchen, and questioning her mother particularly +as to the more extraordinary parts of Hota's confession, as if she +wished to satisfy herself that the Indian witch had really done those +horrible and mysterious deeds. + +Lois shivered and trembled with affright at the narration, and the idea +that such things were possible. Occasionally she found herself +wandering off into sympathetic thought for the woman who was to die, +abhorred of all men, and unpardoned by God, to whom she had been so +fearful a traitor, and who was now, at this very time--when Lois sat +among her kindred by the warm and cheerful firelight, anticipating many +peaceful, perchance happy, morrows--solitary, shivering, +panic-stricken, guilty, with none to stand by her and exhort her, shut +up in darkness between the cold walls of the town prison. But Lois +almost shrank from sympathising with so loathsome an accomplice of +Satan, and prayed for forgiveness for her charitable thought; and yet, +again, she remembered the tender spirit of the Saviour, and allowed +herself to fall into pity, till at last her sense of right and wrong +became so bewildered that she could only leave all to God's disposal, +and just ask that He would take all creatures and all events into His +hands. + +Prudence was as bright as if she were listening to some merry +story--curious as to more than her mother would tell her--seeming to +have no particular terror of witches or witchcraft, and yet to be +especially desirous to accompany her mother the next morning to the +hanging. Lois shrank from the cruel, eager face of the young girl as +she begged her mother to allow her to go. Even Grace was disturbed and +perplexed by her daughter's pertinacity. + +'No!' said she. 'Ask me no more. Thou shalt not go. Such sights are not +for the young. I go, and I sicken at the thoughts of it. But I go to +show that I, a Christian woman, take God's part against the devil's. +Thou shalt not go, I tell thee. I could whip thee for thinking of it.' + +'Manasseh says Hota was well whipped by Pastor Tappau ere she was +brought to confession,' said Prudence, as if anxious to change the +subject of discussion. + +Manasseh lifted up his head from the great folio Bible, brought by his +father from England, which he was studying. He had not heard what +Prudence said, but he looked up at the sound of his name. All present +were startled at his wild eyes, his bloodless face. But he was +evidently annoyed at the expression of their countenances. + +'Why look ye at me in that manner?' asked he. And his manner was +anxious and agitated. His mother made haste to speak: + +'It was but that Prudence said something that thou hast told her--that +Pastor Tappau defiled his hands by whipping the witch Hota. What evil +thought has got hold of thee? Talk to us, and crack not thy skull +against the learning of man.' + +'It is not the learning of man that I study: it is the word of God. I +would fain know more of the nature of this sin of witchcraft, and +whether it be, indeed, the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost. At +times I feel a creeping influence coming over me, prompting all evil +thoughts and unheard-of deeds, and I question within myself, "Is not +this the power of witchcraft?" and I sicken, and loathe all that I do +or say, and yet some evil creature hath the mastery over me, and I must +needs do and say what I loathe and dread. Why wonder you, mother, that +I, of all men, strive to learn the exact nature of witchcraft, and for +that end study the word of God? Have you not seen me when I was, as it +were, possessed with a devil?' + +He spoke calmly, sadly, but as under deep conviction. His mother rose +to comfort him. + +'My son,' she said, 'no one ever saw thee do deeds, or heard thee utter +words, which any one could say were prompted by devils. We have seen +thee, poor lad, with thy wits gone astray for a time, but all thy +thoughts sought rather God's will in forbidden places, than lost the +clue to them for one moment in hankering after the powers of darkness. +Those days are long past; a future lies before thee. Think not of +witches or of being subject to the power of witchcraft. I did evil to +speak of it before thee. Let Lois come and sit by thee, and talk to +thee.' + +Lois went to her cousin, grieved at heart for his depressed state of +mind, anxious to soothe and comfort him, and yet recoiling more than +ever from the idea of ultimately becoming his wife--an idea to which +she saw her aunt reconciling herself unconsciously day by day, as she +perceived the English girl's power of soothing and comforting her +cousin, even by the very tones of her sweet cooing voice. + +He took Lois's hand. + +'Let me hold it. It does me good,' said he. 'Ah, Lois, when I am by you +I forget all my troubles--will the day never come when you will listen +to the voice that speaks to me continually?' + +'I never hear it, Cousin Manasseh,' she said, softly; 'but do not think +of the voices. Tell me of the land you hope to enclose from the +forest--what manner of trees grow on it?' + +Thus, by simple questions on practical affairs, she led him back, in +her unconscious wisdom, to the subjects on which he had always shown +strong practical sense. He talked on these with all due discretion till +the hour for family prayer came round, which was early in those days. +It was Manasseh's place to conduct it, as head of the family; a post +which his mother had always been anxious to assign to him since her +husband's death. He prayed extempore; and to-night his supplications +wandered off into wild, unconnected fragments of prayer, which all +those kneeling around began, each according to her anxiety for the +speaker, to think would never end. Minutes elapsed, and grew to +quarters of an hour, and his words only became more emphatic and +wilder, praying for himself alone, and laying bare the recesses of his +heart. At length his mother rose, and took Lois by the hand, for she +had faith in Lois's power over her son, as being akin to that which the +shepherd David, playing on his harp, had over king Saul sitting on his +throne. She drew her towards him, where he knelt facing into the +circle, with his eyes upturned, and the tranced agony of his face +depicting the struggle of the troubled soul within. + +'Here is Lois,' said Grace, almost tenderly; 'she would fain go to her +chamber.' (Down the girl's face the tears were streaming.) 'Rise, and +finish thy prayer in thy closet.' + +But at Lois's approach he sprang to his feet,--sprang aside. + +'Take her away, mother! Lead me not into temptation. She brings me evil +and sinful thoughts. She overshadows me, even in the presence of my +God. She is no angel of light, or she would not do this. She troubles +me with the sound of a voice bidding me marry her, even when I am at my +prayers. Avaunt! Take her away!' + +He would have struck at Lois if she had not shrunk back, dismayed and +affrighted. His mother, although equally dismayed, was not affrighted. +She had seen him thus before; and understood the management of his +paroxysm. + +'Go, Lois! the sight of thee irritates him, as once that of Faith did. +Leave him to me.' + +And Lois rushed away to her room, and threw herself on her bed, like a +panting, hunted creature. Faith came after her slowly and heavily. + +'Lois,' said she, 'wilt thou do me a favour? It is not much to ask. +Wilt thou arise before daylight, and bear this letter from me to Pastor +Nolan's lodgings? I would have done it myself, but mother has bidden me +to come to her, and I may be detained until the time when Hota is to be +hung; and the letter tells of matters pertaining to life and death. +Seek out Pastor Nolan wherever he may be, and have speech of him after +he has read the letter.' + +'Cannot Nattee take it?' asked Lois. + +'No!' Faith answered, fiercely. 'Why should she?' + +But Lois did not reply. A quick suspicion darted through Faith's mind, +sudden as lightning. It had never entered there before. + +'Speak, Lois. I read thy thoughts. Thou wouldst fain not be the bearer +of this letter?' + +'I will take it,' said Lois, meekly. 'It concerns life and death, you +say?' + +'Yes!' said Faith, in quite a different tone of voice. But, after a +pause of thought, she added: 'Then, as soon as the house is still, I +will write what I have to say, and leave it here, on this chest; and +thou wilt promise me to take it before the day is fully up, while there +is yet time for action.' + +'Yes! I promise,' said Lois. And Faith knew enough of her to feel sure +that the deed would be done, however reluctantly. + +The letter was written--laid on the chest; and, ere day dawned, Lois +was astir, Faith watching her from between her half-closed +eyelids--eyelids that had never been fully closed in sleep the livelong +night. The instant Lois, cloaked and hooded, left the room, Faith +sprang up, and prepared to go to her mother, whom she heard already +stirring. Nearly every one in Salem was awake and up on this awful +morning, though few were out of doors, as Lois passed along the +streets. Here was the hastily erected gallows, the black shadow of +which fell across the street with ghastly significance; now she had to +pass the iron-barred gaol, through the unglazed windows of which she +heard the fearful cry of a woman, and the sound of many footsteps. On +she sped, sick almost to faintness, to the widow woman's where Mr. +Nolan lodged. He was already up and abroad, gone, his hostess believed, +to the gaol. Thither Lois, repeating the words 'for life and for +death!' was forced to go. Retracing her steps, she was thankful to see +him come out of those dismal portals, rendered more dismal for being in +heavy shadow, just as she approached. What his errand had been she knew +not; but he looked grave and sad, as she put Faith's letter into his +hands, and stood before him quietly waiting, until he should read it, +and deliver the expected answer. But, instead of opening it, he held it +in his hand, apparently absorbed in thought. At last he spoke aloud, +but more to himself than to her: + +'My God! and is she then to die in this fearful delirium? It must +be--can be--only delirium, that prompts such wild and horrible +confessions. Mistress Barclay, I come from the presence of the Indian +woman appointed to die. It seems, she considered herself betrayed last +evening by her sentence not being respited, even after she had made +confession of sin enough to bring down fire from heaven; and, it seems +to me, the passionate, impotent anger of this helpless creature has +turned to madness, for she appalls me by the additional revelations she +has made to the keepers during the night--to me this morning. I could +almost fancy that she thinks, by deepening the guilt she confesses, to +escape this last dread punishment of all, as if, were a tithe of what +she say true, one could suffer such a sinner to live. Yet to send her +to death in such a state of mad terror! What is to be done?' + +'Yet Scripture says that we are not to suffer witches in the land,' +said Lois, slowly. + +'True; I would but ask for a respite till the prayers of God's people +had gone up for His mercy. Some would pray for her, poor wretch as she +is. You would, Mistress Barclay, I am sure?' But he said it in a +questioning tone. + +'I have been praying for her in the night many a time,' said Lois, in a +low voice. 'I pray for her in my heart at this moment; I suppose; they +are bidden to put her out of the land, but I would not have her +entirely God-forsaken. But, sir, you have not read my cousin's letter. +And she bade me bring back an answer with much urgency.' + +Still he delayed. He was thinking of the dreadful confession he came +from hearing. If it were true, the beautiful earth was a polluted +place, and he almost wished to die, to escape from such pollution, into +the white innocence of those who stood in the presence of God. + +Suddenly his eyes fell on Lois's pure, grave face, upturned and +watching his. Faith in earthly goodness came over his soul in that +instant, 'and he blessed her unaware.' + +He put his hand on her shoulder, with an action half paternal--although +the difference in their ages was not above a dozen years--and, bending +a little towards her, whispered, half to himself, 'Mistress Barclay, +you have done me good.' + +'I!' said Lois, half affrighted--'I done you good! How?' + +'By being what you are. But, perhaps, I should rather thank God, who +sent you at the very moment when my soul was so disquieted.' + +At this instant, they were aware of Faith standing in front of them, +with a countenance of thunder. Her angry look made Lois feel guilty. +She had not enough urged the pastor to read his letter, she thought; +and it was indignation at this delay in what she had been commissioned +to do with the urgency of life or death, that made her cousin lower at +her so from beneath her straight black brows. Lois explained how she +had not found Mr. Nolan at his lodgings, and had had to follow him to +the door of the gaol. But Faith replied, with obdurate contempt: + +'Spare thy breath, cousin Lois. It is easy seeing on what pleasant +matters thou and the Pastor Nolan were talking. I marvel not at thy +forgetfulness. My mind is changed. Give me back my letter, sir; it was +about a poor matter--an old woman's life. And what is that compared to +a young girl's love?' + +Lois heard but for an instant; did not understand that her cousin, in +her jealous anger, could suspect the existence of such a feeling as +love between her and Mr. Nolan. No imagination as to its possibility +had ever entered her mind; she had respected him, almost revered +him--nay, had liked him as the probable husband of Faith. At the +thought that her cousin could believe her guilty of such treachery, her +grave eyes dilated, and fixed themselves on the flaming countenance of +Faith. That serious, unprotesting manner of perfect innocence must have +told on her accuser, had it not been that, at the same instant, the +latter caught sight of the crimsoned and disturbed countenance of the +pastor, who felt the veil rent off the unconscious secret of his heart. +Faith snatched her letter out of his hands, and said: + +'Let the witch hang! What care I? She has done harm enough with her +charms and her sorcery on Pastor Tappau's girls. Let her die, and let +all other witches look to themselves; for there be many kinds of +witchcraft abroad. Cousin Lois, thou wilt like best to stop with Pastor +Nolan, or I would pray thee to come back with me to breakfast.' + +Lois was not to be daunted by jealous sarcasm. She held out her hand to +Pastor Nolan, determined to take no heed of her cousin's mad words, but +to bid him farewell in her accustomed manner. He hesitated before +taking it, and when he did, it was with a convulsive squeeze that +almost made her start. Faith waited and watched all, with set lips and +vengeful eyes. She bade no farewell; she spake no word; but grasping +Lois tightly by the back of the arm, she almost drove her before her +down the street till they reached their home. + +The arrangement for the morning was this: Grace Hickson and her son +Manasseh were to be present at the hanging of the first witch executed +in Salem, as pious and godly heads of a family. All the other members +were strictly forbidden to stir out, until such time as the low-tolling +bell announced that all was over in this world for Hota, the Indian +witch. When the execution was ended, there was to be a solemn +prayer-meeting of all the inhabitants of Salem; ministers had come from +a distance to aid by the efficacy of their prayers in these efforts to +purge the land of the devil and his servants. There was reason to think +that the great old meeting-house would be crowded, and when Faith and +Lois reached home, Grace Hickson was giving her directions to Prudence, +urging her to be ready for an early start to that place. The stern old +woman was troubled in her mind at the anticipation of the sight she was +to see, before many minutes were over, and spoke in a more hurried and +incoherent manner than was her wont. She was dressed in her Sunday +best; but her face was very grey and colourless, and she seemed afraid +to cease speaking about household affairs, for fear she should have +time to think. Manasseh stood by her, perfectly, rigidly still; he also +was in his Sunday clothes. His face, too, was paler than its wont, but +it wore a kind of absent, rapt expression, almost like that of a man +who sees a vision. As Faith entered, still holding Lois in her fierce +grasp, Manasseh started and smiled; but still dreamily. His manner was +so peculiar, that even his mother stayed her talking to observe him +more closely; he was in that state of excitement which usually ended in +what his mother and certain of her friends esteemed a prophetic +revelation. He began to speak, at first very low, and then his voice +increased in power: + +'How beautiful is the land of Beulah, far over the sea, beyond the +mountains! Thither the angels carry her, lying back in their arms like +one fainting. They shall kiss away the black circle of death, and lay +her down at the feet of the Lamb. I hear her pleading there for those +on earth who consented to her death. O Lois! pray also for me, pray for +me, miserable!' + +When he uttered his cousin's name all their eyes turned towards her. It +was to her that his vision related! She stood among them, amazed, +awe-stricken, but not like one affrighted or dismayed. She was the +first to speak: + +'Dear friends, do not think of me; his words may or may not be true. I +am in God's hands all the same, whether he have the gift of prophecy or +not. Besides, hear you not that I end where all would fain end? Think +of him, and of his needs. Such times as these always leave him +exhausted and weary, when he comes out of them.' + +And she busied herself in cares for his refreshment, aiding her aunt's +trembling hands to set before him the requisite food, as he now sat +tired and bewildered, gathering together with difficulty his scattered +senses. + +Prudence did all she could to assist and speed their departure. But +Faith stood apart, watching in silence with her passionate, angry eyes. + +As soon as they had set out on their solemn, fatal errand, Faith left +the room. She had not tasted food or touched drink. Indeed, they all +felt sick at heart. The moment her sister had gone up stairs, Prudence +sprang to the settle on which Lois had thrown down her cloak and hood: + +'Lend me your muffles and mantle, Cousin Lois. I never yet saw a woman +hanged, and I see not why I should not go. I will stand on the edge of +the crowd; no one will know me, and I will be home long before my +mother.' + +'No!' said Lois, 'that may not be. My aunt would be sore displeased. I +wonder at you, Prudence, seeking to witness such a sight.' And as she +spoke she held fast her cloak, which Prudence vehemently struggled for. + +Faith returned, brought back possibly by the sound of the struggle. She +smiled--a deadly smile. + +'Give it up, Prudence. Strive no more with her. She has bought success +in this world, and we are but her slaves.' + +'Oh, Faith!' said Lois, relinquishing her hold of the cloak, and +turning round with passionate reproach in her look and voice, 'what +have I done that you should speak so of me; you, that have loved as I +think one love a sister?' + +Prudence did not lose her opportunity, but hastily arrayed herself in +the mantle, which was too large for her, and which she had, therefore, +considered as well adapted for concealment; but, as she went towards +the door, her feet became entangled in the unusual length, and she +fell, bruising her arm pretty sharply. + +'Take care, another time, how you meddle with a witch's things,' said +Faith, as one scarcely believing her own words, but at enmity with all +the world in her bitter jealousy of heart. Prudence rubbed her arm and +looked stealthily at Lois. + +'Witch Lois! Witch Lois!' said she at last, softly, pulling a childish +face of spite at her. + +'Oh, hush, Prudence! Do not bandy such terrible words. Let me look at +thine arm. I am sorry for thy hurt, only glad that it has kept thee +from disobeying thy mother.' + +'Away, away!' said Prudence, springing from her. 'I am afeard of her in +very truth, Faith. Keep between me and the witch, or I will throw a +stool at her.' + +Faith smiled--it was a bad and wicked smile--but she did not stir to +calm the fears she had called up in her young sister. Just at this +moment, the bell began to toll. Hota, the Indian witch, was dead. Lois +covered her face with her hands. Even Faith went a deadlier pale than +she had been, and said, sighing, 'Poor Hota! But death is best.' + +Prudence alone seemed unmoved by any thoughts connected with the +solemn, monotonous sound. Her only consideration was, that now she +might go out into the street and see the sights, and hear the news, and +escape from the terror which she felt at the presence of her cousin. +She flew up stairs to find her own mantle, ran down again, and past +Lois, before the English girl had finished her prayer, and was speedily +mingled among the crowd going to the meetinghouse. There also Faith and +Lois came in due course of time, but separately, not together. Faith so +evidently avoided Lois, that she, humbled and grieved, could not force +her company upon her cousin, but loitered a little behind,--the quiet +tears stealing down her face, shed for the many causes that had +occurred this morning. + +The meeting-house was full to suffocation; and, as it sometimes happens +on such occasions, the greatest crowd was close about the doors, from +the fact that few saw, on their first entrance, where there might be +possible spaces into which they could wedge themselves. Yet they were +impatient of any arrivals from the outside, and pushed and hustled +Faith, and after her Lois, till the two were forced on to a conspicuous +place in the very centre of the building, where there was no chance of +a seat, but still space to stand in. Several stood around, the pulpit +being in the middle, and already occupied by two ministers in Geneva +bands and gowns, while other ministers, similarly attired, stood +holding on to it, almost as if they were giving support instead of +receiving it. Grace Hickson and her son sat decorously in their own +pew, thereby showing that they had arrived early from the execution. +You might almost have traced out the number of those who had been at +the hanging of the Indian witch, by the expression of their +countenances. They were awestricken into terrible repose; while the +crowd pouring in, still pouring in, of those who had not attended the +execution, looked all restless, and excited, and fierce. A buzz went +round the meeting, that the stranger minister who stood along with +Pastor Tappau in the pulpit was no other than Dr. Cotton Mather +himself, come all the way from Boston to assist in purging Salem of +witches. + +And now Pastor Tappau began his prayer, extempore, as was the custom. +His words were wild and incoherent, as might be expected from a man who +had just been consenting to the bloody death of one who was, but a few +days ago, a member of his own family; violent and passionate, as was to +be looked for in the father of children, whom he believed to suffer so +fearfully from the crime he would denounce before the Lord. He sat down +at length from pure exhaustion. Then Dr. Cotton Mather stood forward: +he did not utter more than a few words of prayer, calm in comparison +with what had gone before, and then he went on to address the great +crowd before him in a quiet, argumentative way, but arranging what he +had to say with something of the same kind of skill which Antony used +in his speech to the Romans after Cæsar's murder. Some of Dr. Mather's +words have been preserved to us, as he afterwards wrote them down in +one of his works. Speaking of those 'unbelieving Sadducees' who doubted +the existence of such a crime, he said: 'Instead of their apish shouts +and jeers at blessed Scripture, and histories which have such undoubted +confirmation as that no man that has breeding enough to regard the +common laws of human society will offer to doubt of them, it becomes us +rather to adore the goodness of God, who from the mouths of babes and +sucklings has ordained truth, and by the means of the sore-afflicted +children of your godly pastor, has revealed the fact that the devils +have with most horrid operations broken in upon your neighbourhood. Let +us beseech Him that their power may be restrained, and that they go not +so far in their evil machinations as they did but four years ago in the +city of Boston, where I was the humble means, under God, of loosing +from the power of Satan the four children of that religious and blessed +man, Mr. Goodwin. These four babes of grace were bewitched by an Irish +witch; there is no end to the narration of the torments they had to +submit to. At one time they would bark like dogs, at another purr like +cats; yea, they would fly like geese, and be carried with an incredible +swiftness, having but just their toes now and then upon the ground, +sometimes not once in twenty feet, and their arms waved like those of a +bird. Yet at other times, by the hellish devices of the woman who had +bewitched them, they could not stir without limping, for, by means of +an invisible chain, she hampered their limbs, or, sometimes, by means +of a noose, almost choked them. One in especial was subjected by this +woman of Satan to such heat as of an oven, that I myself have seen the +sweat drop from off her, while all around were moderately cold and well +at ease. But not to trouble you with more of my stories, I will go on +to prove that it was Satan himself that held power over her. For a very +remarkable thing it was, that she was not permitted by that evil spirit +to read any godly or religious book, speaking the truth as it is in +Jesus. She could read Popish books well enough, while both sight and +speech seemed to fail her when I gave her the Assembly's Catechism. +Again, she was fond of that prelatical Book of Common Prayer, which is +but the Roman mass-book in an English and ungodly shape. In the midst +of her sufferings, if one put the Prayer-book into her hands it +relieved her. Yet mark you, she could never be brought to read the +Lord's Prayer, whatever book she met with it in, proving thereby +distinctly that she was in league with the devil. I took her into my +own house, that I, even as Dr. Martin Luther did, might wrestle with +the devil and have my fling at him. But when I called my household to +prayer, the devils that possessed her caused her to whistle, and sing, +and yell in a discordant and hellish fashion.' + +At this very instant, a shrill, clear whistle pierced all ears. Dr. +Mather stopped for a moment: + +'Satan is among you!' he cried. 'Look to yourselves!' And he prayed +with fervour, as if against a present and threatening enemy; but no one +heeded him. Whence came that ominous, unearthly whistle? Every man +watched his neighbour. Again the whistle, out of their very midst! And +then a bustle in a corner of the building, three or four people +stirring, without any cause immediately perceptible to those at a +distance, the movement spread, and, directly after, a passage even in +that dense mass of people was cleared for two men, who bore forwards +Prudence Hickson, lying rigid as a log of wood, in the convulsive +position of one who suffered from an epileptic fit. They laid her down +among the ministers who were gathered round the pulpit. Her mother came +to her, sending up a wailing cry at the sight of her distorted child. +Dr. Mather came down from the pulpit and stood over her, exorcising the +devil in possession, as one accustomed to such scenes. The crowd +pressed forward in mute horror. At length, her rigidity of form and +feature gave way, and she was terribly convulsed--torn by the devil, as +they called it. By-and-by the violence of the attack was over, and the +spectators began to breathe once more, though still the former horror +brooded over them, and they listened as if for the sudden ominous +whistle again, and glanced fearfully around, as if Satan were at their +backs picking out his next victim. + +Meanwhile, Dr. Mather, Pastor Tappau, and one or two others were +exhorting Prudence to reveal, if she could, the name of the person, the +witch, who, by influence over Satan, had subjected the child to such +torture as that which they had just witnessed. They bade her speak in +the name of the Lord. She whispered a name in the low voice of +exhaustion. None of the congregation could hear what it was. But the +Pastor Tappau, when he heard it, drew back in dismay, while Dr. Mather, +knowing not to whom the name belonged, cried out, in a clear, cold +voice, + +'Know ye one Lois Barclay; for it is she who hath bewitched this poor +child?' + +The answer was given rather by action than by word, although a low +murmur went up from many. But all fell back, as far as falling back in +such a crowd was possible, from Lois Barclay, where she stood,--and +looked on her with surprise and horror. A space of some feet, where no +possibility of space had seemed to be not a minute before, left Lois +standing alone, with every eye fixed upon her in hatred and dread. She +stood like one speechless, tongue-tied, as if in a dream. She a witch! +accursed as witches were in the sight of God and man! Her smooth, +healthy face became contracted into shrivel and pallor, but she uttered +not a word, only looked at Dr. Mather with her dilated, terrified eyes. + +Some one said, 'She is of the household of Grace Hickson, a God-fearing +woman.' Lois did not know if the words were in her favour or not. She +did not think about them, even; they told less on her than on any +person present. She a witch! and the silver glittering Avon, and the +drowning woman she had seen in her childhood at Barford,--at home in +England,--were before her, and her eyes fell before her doom. There was +some commotion--some rustling of papers; the magistrates of the town +were drawing near the pulpit and consulting with the ministers. Dr. +Mather spoke again: + +'The Indian woman, who was hung this morning, named certain people, +whom she deposed to having seen at the horrible meetings for the +worship of Satan; but there is no name of Lois Barclay down upon the +paper, although we are stricken at the sight of the names of some----' + +An interruption--a consultation. Again Dr. Mather spoke: + +'Bring the accused witch, Lois Barclay, near to this poor suffering +child of Christ.' + +They rushed forward to force Lois to the place where Prudence lay. But +Lois walked forward of herself. + +'Prudence,' she said, in such a sweet, touching voice, that, long +afterwards, those who heard it that day, spoke of it to their children, +'have I ever said an unkind word to you, much less done you an ill +turn? Speak, dear child. You did not know what you said just now, did +you?' + +But Prudence writhed away from her approach, and screamed out, as if +stricken with fresh agony. + +'Take her away! take her away! Witch Lois, witch Lois, who threw me +down only this morning, and turned my arm black and blue.' And she +bared her arm, as if in confirmation of her words. It was sorely +bruised. + +'I was not near you, Prudence!' said Lois, sadly. But that was only +reckoned fresh evidence of her diabolical power. + +Lois's brain began to get bewildered. Witch Lois! she a witch, abhorred +of all men! Yet she would try to think, and make one more effort. + +'Aunt Hickson,' she said, and Grace came forwards--'am I a witch, Aunt +Hickson?' she asked; for her aunt, stern, harsh, unloving as she might +be, was truth itself, and Lois thought--so near to delirium had she +come--if her aunt condemned her, it was possible she might indeed be a +witch. + +Grace Hickson faced her unwillingly. + +'It is a stain upon our family for ever,' was the thought in her mind. + +'It is for God to judge whether thou art a witch, or not. Not for me.' + +'Alas, alas!' moaned Lois; for she had looked at Faith, and learnt that +no good word was to be expected from her gloomy face and averted eyes. +The meeting-house was full of eager voices, repressed, out of reverence +for the place, into tones of earnest murmuring that seemed to fill the +air with gathering sounds of anger, and those who had at first fallen +back from the place where Lois stood were now pressing forwards and +round about her, ready to seize the young friendless girl, and bear her +off to prison. Those who might have been, who ought to have been, her +friends, were either averse or indifferent to her; though only Prudence +made any open outcry upon her. That evil child cried out perpetually +that Lois had cast a devilish spell upon her, and bade them keep the +witch away from her; and, indeed, Prudence was strangely convulsed when +once or twice Lois's perplexed and wistful eyes were turned in her +direction. Here and there girls, women uttering strange cries, and +apparently suffering from the same kind of convulsive fit as that which +had attacked Prudence, were centres of a group of agitated friends, who +muttered much and savagely of witchcraft, and the list which had been +taken down only the night before from Hota's own lips. They demanded to +have it made public, and objected to the slow forms of the law. Others, +not so much or so immediately interested in the sufferers, were +kneeling around, and praying aloud for themselves and their own safety, +until the excitement should be so much quelled as to enable Dr. Cotton +Mather to be again heard in prayer and exhortation. + +And where was Manasseh? What said he? You must remember, that the stir +of the outcry, the accusation, the appeals of the accused, all seemed +to go on at once amid the buzz and din of the people who had come to +worship God, but remained to judge and upbraid their fellow-creature. +Till now Lois had only caught a glimpse of Manasseh, who was apparently +trying to push forwards, but whom his mother was holding back with word +and action, as Lois knew she would hold him back; for it was not for +the first time that she was made aware how carefully her aunt had +always shrouded his decent reputation among his fellow-citizens from +the least suspicion of his seasons of excitement and incipient +insanity. On such days, when he himself imagined that he heard +prophetic voices, and saw prophetic visions, his mother would do much +to prevent any besides his own family from seeing him; and now Lois, by +a process swifter than reasoning, felt certain, from her one look at +his face, when she saw it, colourless and deformed by intensity of +expression, among a number of others all simply ruddy and angry, that +he was in such a state that his mother would in vain do her utmost to +prevent his making himself conspicuous. Whatever force or argument +Grace used, it was of no avail. In another moment he was by Lois's +side, stammering with excitement, and giving vague testimony, which +would have been of little value in a calm court of justice, and was +only oil to the smouldering fire of that audience. + +'Away with her to gaol!' 'Seek out the witches!' 'The sin has spread +into all households!' 'Satan is in the very midst of us!' 'Strike and +spare not!' In vain Dr. Cotton Mather raised his voice in loud prayers, +in which he assumed the guilt of the accused girl; no one listened, all +were anxious to secure Lois, as if they feared she would vanish from +before their very eyes; she, white, trembling, standing quite still in +the tight grasp of strange, fierce men, her dilated eyes only wandering +a little now and then in search of some pitiful face--some pitiful face +that among all those hundreds was not to be found. While some fetched +cords to bind her, and others, by low questions, suggested new +accusations to the distempered brain of Prudence, Manasseh obtained a +hearing once more. Addressing Dr. Cotton Mather, he said, evidently +anxious to make clear some new argument that had just suggested itself +to him: 'Sir, in this matter, be she witch or not, the end has been +foreshown to me by the spirit of prophecy. Now, reverend sir, if the +event be known to the spirit, it must have been foredoomed in the +councils of God. If so, why punish her for doing that in which she had +no free will?' + +'Young man,' said Dr. Mather, bending down from the pulpit and looking +very severely upon Manasseh, 'take care! you are trenching on +blasphemy.' + +'I do not care. I say it again. Either Lois Barclay is a witch, or she +is not. If she is, it has been foredoomed for her, for I have seen a +vision of her death as a condemned witch for many months past--and the +voice has told me there was but one escape for her, Lois--the voice you +know--' In his excitement he began to wander a little, but it was +touching to see how conscious he was that by giving way he would lose +the thread of the logical argument by which he hoped to prove that Lois +ought not to be punished, and with what an effort he wrenched his +imagination away from the old ideas, and strove to concentrate all his +mind upon the plea that, if Lois was a witch, it had been shown him by +prophecy; and if there was prophecy there must be foreknowledge; if +foreknowledge, foredoom; if foredoom, no exercise of free will, and, +therefore, that Lois was not justly amenable to punishment. + +On he went, plunging into heresy, caring not--growing more and more +passionate every instant, but directing his passion into keen argument, +desperate sarcasm, instead of allowing it to excite his imagination. +Even Dr. Mather felt himself on the point of being worsted in the very +presence of this congregation, who, but a short half-hour ago, looked +upon him as all but infallible. Keep a good heart, Cotton Mather! your +opponent's eye begins to glare and flicker with a terrible yet +uncertain light--his speech grows less coherent, and his arguments are +mixed up with wild glimpses at wilder revelations made to himself +alone. He has touched on the limits,--he has entered the borders of +blasphemy, and with an awful cry of horror and reprobation the +congregation rise up, as one man, against the blasphemer. Dr. Mather +smiled a grim smile, and the people were ready to stone Manasseh, who +went on, regardless, talking and raving. + +'Stay, stay!' said Grace Hickson--all the decent family shame which +prompted her to conceal the mysterious misfortune of her only son from +public knowledge done away with by the sense of the immediate danger to +his life. 'Touch him not. He knows not what he is saying. The fit is +upon him. I tell you the truth before God. My son, my only son, is +mad.' + +They stood aghast at the intelligence. The grave young citizen, who had +silently taken his part in life close by them in their daily lives--not +mixing much with them, it was true, but looked up to, perhaps, all the +more--the student of abstruse books on theology, fit to converse with +the most learned ministers that ever came about those parts--was he the +same with the man now pouring out wild words to Lois the witch, as if +he and she were the only two present! A solution of it all occurred to +them. He was another victim. Great was the power of Satan! Through the +arts of the devil, that white statue of a girl had mastered the soul of +Manasseh Hickson. So the word spread from mouth to mouth. And Grace +heard it. It seemed a healing balsam for her shame. With wilful, +dishonest blindness, she would not see--not even in her secret heart +would she acknowledge, that Manasseh had been strange, and moody, and +violent long before the English girl had reached Salem. She even found +some specious reason for his attempt at suicide long ago. He was +recovering from a fever--and though tolerably well in health, the +delirium had not finally left him. But since Lois came, how headstrong +he had been at times! how unreasonable! how moody! What a strange +delusion was that which he was under, of being bidden by some voice to +marry her! How he followed her about, and clung to her, as under some +compulsion of affection! And over all reigned the idea that, if he were +indeed suffering from being bewitched, he was not mad, and might again +assume the honourable position he had held in the congregation and in +the town, when the spell by which he was held was destroyed. So Grace +yielded to the notion herself, and encouraged it in others, that Lois +Barclay had bewitched both Manasseh and Prudence. And the consequence +of this belief was, that Lois was to be tried, with little chance in +her favour, to see whether she was a witch or no; and if a witch, +whether she would confess, implicate others, repent, and live a life of +bitter shame, avoided by all men, and cruelly treated by most; or die +impenitent, hardened, denying her crime upon the gallows. + +And so they dragged Lois away from the congregation of Christians to +the gaol, to await her trial. I say 'dragged her,' because, although +she was docile enough to have followed them whither they would, she was +now so faint as to require extraneous force--poor Lois! who should have +been carried and tended lovingly in her state of exhaustion, but, +instead, was so detested by the multitude, who looked upon her as an +accomplice of Satan in all his evil doings, that they cared no more how +they treated her than a careless boy minds how he handles the toad that +he is going to throw over the wall. + +When Lois came to her full senses, she found herself lying on a short +hard bed in a dark square room, which she at once knew must be a part +of the city gaol. It was about eight feet square, it had stone walls on +every side, and a grated opening high above her head, letting in all +the light and air that could enter through about a square foot of +aperture. It was so lonely, so dark to that poor girl, when she came +slowly and painfully out of her long faint. She did so want human help +in that struggle which always supervenes after a swoon; when the effort +is to clutch at life, and the effort seems too much for the will. She +did not at first understand where she was; did not understand how she +came to be there, nor did she care to understand. Her physical instinct +was to lie still and let the hurrying pulses have time to calm. So she +shut her eyes once more. Slowly, slowly the recollection of the scene +in the meeting-house shaped itself into a kind of picture before her. +She saw within her eyelids, as it were, that sea of loathing faces all +turned towards her, as towards something unclean and hateful. And you +must remember, you who in the nineteenth century read this account, +that witchcraft was a real terrible sin to her, Lois Barclay, two +hundred years ago. The look on their faces, stamped on heart and brain, +excited in her a sort of strange sympathy. Could it, oh God!--could it +be true, that Satan had obtained the terrific power over her and her +will, of which she had heard and read? Could she indeed be possessed by +a demon and be indeed a witch, and yet till now have been unconscious +of it? And her excited imagination recalled, with singular vividness, +all she had ever heard on the subject--the horrible midnight sacrament, +the very presence and power of Satan. Then remembering every angry +thought against her neighbour, against the impertinences of Prudence, +against the overbearing authority of her aunt, against the persevering +crazy suit of Manasseh, the indignation--only that morning, but such +ages off in real time--at Faith's injustice; oh, could such evil +thoughts have had devilish power given to them by the father of evil, +and, all unconsciously to herself, have gone forth as active curses +into the world? And so, on the ideas went careering wildly through the +poor girl's brain--the girl thrown inward upon herself. At length, the +sting of her imagination forced her to start up impatiently. What was +this? A weight of iron on her legs--a weight stated afterwards, by the +gaoler of Salem prison, to have been 'not more than eight pounds.' It +was well for Lois it was a tangible ill, bringing her back from the +wild illimitable desert in which her imagination was wandering. She +took hold of the iron, and saw her torn stocking,--her bruised ankle, +and began to cry pitifully, out of strange compassion with herself. +They feared, then, that even in that cell she would find a way to +escape. Why, the utter, ridiculous impossibility of the thing convinced +her of her own innocence, and ignorance of all supernatural power; and +the heavy iron brought her strangely round from the delusions that +seemed to be gathering about her. + +No! she never could fly out of that deep dungeon; there was no escape, +natural or supernatural, for her, unless by man's mercy. And what was +man's mercy in such times of panic? Lois knew that it was nothing; +instinct more than reason taught her, that panic calls out cowardice, +and cowardice cruelty. Yet she cried, cried freely, and for the first +time, when she found herself ironed and chained. It seemed so cruel, so +much as if her fellow-creatures had really learnt to hate and dread +her--her, who had had a few angry thoughts, which God forgive! but +whose thoughts had never gone into words, far less into actions. Why, +even now she could love all the household at home, if they would but +let her; yes, even yet, though she felt that it was the open accusation +of Prudence and the withheld justifications of her aunt and Faith that +had brought her to her present strait. Would they ever come and see +her? Would kinder thoughts of her,--who had shared their daily bread +for months and months,--bring them to see her, and ask her whether it +were really she who had brought on the illness of Prudence, the +derangement of Manasseh's mind? + +No one came. Bread and water were pushed in by some one, who hastily +locked and unlocked the door, and cared not to see if he put them +within his prisoner's reach, or perhaps thought that physical fact +mattered little to a witch. It was long before Lois could reach them; +and she had something of the natural hunger of youth left in her still, +which prompted her, lying her length on the floor, to weary herself +with efforts to obtain the bread. After she had eaten some of it, the +day began to wane, and she thought she would lay her down and try to +sleep. But before she did so, the gaoler heard her singing the Evening +Hymn: + + Glory to thee, my God, this night, + For all the blessings of the light. + +And a dull thought came into his dull mind, that she was thankful for +few blessings, if she could tune up her voice to sing praises after +this day of what, if she were a witch, was shameful detection in +abominable practices, and if not--. Well, his mind stopped short at +this point in his wondering contemplation. Lois knelt down and said the +Lord's Prayer, pausing just a little before one clause, that she might +be sure that in her heart of hearts she did forgive. Then she looked at +her ankle, and the tears came into her eyes once again, but not so much +because she was hurt, as because men must have hated her so bitterly +before they could have treated her thus. Then she lay down, and fell +asleep. + +The next day, she was led before Mr. Hathorn and Mr. Curwin, justices +of Salem, to be accused legally and publicly of witchcraft. Others were +with her, under the same charge. And when the prisoners were brought +in, they were cried out at by the abhorrent crowd. The two Tappaus, +Prudence, and one or two other girls of the same age were there, in the +character of victims of the spells of the accused. The prisoners were +placed about seven or eight feet from the justices and the accusers +between the justices and them; the former were then ordered to stand +right before the justices. All this Lois did at their bidding, with +something of the wondering docility of a child, but not with any hope +of softening the hard, stony look of detestation that was on all the +countenances around her, save those that were distorted by more +passionate anger. Then an officer was bidden to hold each of her hands, +and Justice Hathorn bade her keep her eyes continually fixed on him, +for this reason--which, however, was not told to her--lest, if she +looked on Prudence, the girl might either fall into a fit, or cry out +that she was suddenly and violently hurt. If any heart could have been +touched of that cruel multitude, they would have felt some compassion +for the sweet young face of the English girl, trying so meekly to do +all that she was ordered, her face quite white, yet so full of sad +gentleness, her grey eyes, a little dilated by the very solemnity of +her position, fixed with the intent look of innocent maidenhood on the +stern face of Justice Hathorn. And thus they stood in silence, one +breathless minute. Then they were bidden to say the Lord's Prayer. Lois +went through it as if alone in her cell; but, as she had done alone in +her cell the night before, she made a little pause, before the prayer +to be forgiven as she forgave. And at this instant of hesitation--as if +they had been on the watch for it--they all cried out upon her for a +witch, and when the clamour ended the justices bade Prudence Hickson +come forwards. Then Lois turned a little to one side, wishing to see at +least one familiar face; but when her eyes fell upon Prudence, the girl +stood stock-still, and answered no questions, nor spoke a word, and the +justices declared that she was struck dumb by witchcraft. Then some +behind took Prudence under the arms, and would have forced her forwards +to touch Lois, possibly esteeming that as a cure for her being +bewitched. But Prudence had hardly been made to take three steps before +she struggled out of their arms, and fell down writhing as in a fit, +calling out with shrieks, and entreating Lois to help her, and save her +from her torment. Then all the girls began 'to tumble down like swine' +(to use the words of an eye-witness) and to cry out upon Lois and her +fellow-prisoners. These last were now ordered to stand with their hands +stretched out, it being imagined that if the bodies of the witches were +arranged in the form of a cross they would lose their evil power. +By-and-by Lois felt her strength going, from the unwonted fatigue of +such a position, which she had borne patiently until the pain and +weariness had forced both tears and sweat down her face, and she asked +in a low, plaintive voice, if she might not rest her head for a few +moments against the wooden partition. But Justice Hathorn told her she +had strength enough to torment others, and should have strength enough +to stand. She sighed a little, and bore on, the clamour against her and +the other accused increasing every moment; the only way she could keep +herself from utterly losing consciousness was by distracting herself +from present pain and danger, and saying to herself verses of the +Psalms as she could remember them, expressive of trust in God. At +length she was ordered back to gaol, and dimly understood that she and +others were sentenced to be hanged for witchcraft. Many people now +looked eagerly at Lois, to see if she would weep at this doom. If she +had had strength to cry, it might--it was just possible that it +might--have been considered a plea in her favour, for witches could not +shed tears, but she was too exhausted and dead. All she wanted was to +lie down once more on her prison-bed, out of the reach of men's cries +of abhorrence, and out of shot of their cruel eyes. So they led her +back to prison, speechless and tearless. + +But rest gave her back her power of thought and suffering. Was it, +indeed, true that she was to die? She, Lois Barclay, only eighteen, so +well, so young, so full of love and hope as she had been, till but +these little days past! What would they think of it at home--real, dear +home at Barford, in England? There they had loved her; there she had +gone about, singing and rejoicing all the day long in the pleasant +meadows by the Avon side. Oh, why did father and mother die, and leave +her their bidding to come here to this cruel New England shore, where +no one had wanted her, no one had cared for her, and where now they +were going to put her to a shameful death as a witch? And there would +be no one to send kindly messages by to those she should never see +more. Never more! Young Lucy was living, and joyful--probably thinking +of her, and of his declared intention of coming to fetch her home to be +his wife this very spring. Possibly he had forgotten her; no one knew. +A week before, she would have been indignant at her own distrust in +thinking for a minute that he could forget. Now, she doubted all men's +goodness for a time; for those around her were deadly, and cruel, and +relentless. + +Then she turned round, and beat herself with angry blows (to speak in +images), for ever doubting her lover. Oh! if she were but with him! Oh! +if she might but be with him! He would not let her die; but would hide +her in his bosom from the wrath of this people, and carry her back to +the old home at Barford. And he might even now be sailing on the wide +blue sea, coming nearer, nearer every moment, and yet be too late after +all. + +So the thoughts chased each other through her head all that feverish +night, till she clung almost deliriously to life, and wildly prayed +that she might not die; at least, not just yet, and she so young! + +Pastor Tappau and certain elders roused her up from a heavy sleep, late +on the morning of the following day. All night long she had trembled +and cried, till morning had come peering in through the square grating +up above. It soothed her, and she fell asleep, to be awakened, as I +have said, by Pastor Tappau. + +'Arise!' said he, scrupling to touch her, from his superstitious idea +of her evil powers. 'It is noonday.' + +'Where am I?' said she, bewildered at this unusual wakening, and the +array of severe faces all gazing upon her with reprobation. + +'You are in Salem gaol, condemned for a witch.' + +'Alas! I had forgotten for an instant,' said she, dropping her head +upon her breast. + +'She has been out on a devilish ride all night long, doubtless, and is +weary and perplexed this morning,' whispered one, in so low a voice +that he did not think she could hear; but she lifted up her eyes, and +looked at him, with mute reproach. + +'We are come' said Pastor Tappau, 'to exhort you to confess your great +and manifold sin.' + +'My great and manifold sin!' repeated Lois to herself, shaking her +head. + +'Yea, your sin of witchcraft. If you will confess, there may yet be +balm in Gilead.' + +One of the elders, struck with pity at the young girl's wan, shrunken +look, said, that if she confessed, and repented, and did penance, +possibly her life might yet be spared. + +A sudden flash of light came into her sunk, dulled eye. Might she yet +live? Was it yet in her power? + +Why, no one knew how soon Ralph Lucy might be here, to take her away +for ever into the peace of a new home! Life! Oh, then, all hope was not +over--perhaps she might still live, and not die. Yet the truth came +once more out of her lips, almost without any exercise of her will. + +'I am not a witch,' she said. + +Then Pastor Tappau blindfolded her, all unresisting, but with languid +wonder in her heart as to what was to come next. She heard people enter +the dungeon softly, and heard whispering voices; then her hands were +lifted up and made to touch some one near, and in an instant she heard +a noise of struggling, and the well-known voice of Prudence shrieking +out in one of her hysterical fits, and screaming to be taken away and +out of that place. It seemed to Lois as if some of her judges must have +doubted of her guilt, and demanded yet another test. She sat down +heavily on her bed, thinking she must be in a horrible dream, so +compassed about with dangers and enemies did she seem. Those in the +dungeon--and by the oppression of the air she perceived that they were +many--kept on eager talking in low voices. She did not try to make out +the sense of the fragments of sentences that reached her dulled brain, +till, all at once, a word or two made her understand they were +discussing the desirableness of applying the whip or the torture to +make her confess, and reveal by what means the spell she had cast upon +those whom she had bewitched could be dissolved. A thrill of affright +ran through her; and she cried out, beseechingly: + +'I beg you, sirs, for God's mercy sake, that you do not use such awful +means. I may say anything--nay, I may accuse any one if I am subjected +to such torment as I have heard tell about. For I am but a young girl, +and not very brave, or very good, as some are.' + +It touched the hearts of one or two to see her standing there; the +tears streaming down from below the coarse handkerchief tightly bound +over her eyes; the clanking chain fastening the heavy weight to the +slight ankle; the two hands held together as if to keep down a +convulsive motion. + +'Look!' said one of these. 'She is weeping. They say no witch can weep +tears.' + +But another scoffed at this test, and bade the first remember how those +of her own family, the Hicksons even, bore witness against her. + +Once more she was bidden to confess. The charges, esteemed by all men +(as they said) to have been proven against her, were read over to her, +with all the testimony borne against her in proof thereof. They told +her that, considering the godly family to which she belonged, it had +been decided by the magistrates and ministers of Salem that he should +have her life spared, if she would own her guilt, make reparation, and +submit to penance; but that if not, she, and others convicted of +witchcraft along with her, were to be hung in Salem market-place on the +next Thursday morning (Thursday being market day). And when they had +thus spoken, they waited silently for her answer. It was a minute or +two before she spoke. She had sat down again upon the bed meanwhile, +for indeed she was very weak. She asked, 'May I have this handkerchief +unbound from my eyes, for indeed, sirs, it hurts me?' + +The occasion for which she was blindfolded being over, the bandage was +taken off, and she was allowed to see. She looked pitifully at the +stern faces around her, in grim suspense as to what her answer would +be. Then she spoke: + +'Sirs, I must choose death with a quiet conscience, rather than life to +be gained by a lie. I am not a witch. I know not hardly what you mean +when you say I am. I have done many, many things very wrong in my life; +but I think God will forgive me them for my Saviour's sake.' + +'Take not His name on your wicked lips,' said Pastor Tappau, enraged at +her resolution of not confessing, and scarcely able to keep himself +from striking her. She saw the desire he had, and shrank away in timid +fear. Then Justice Hathorn solemnly read the legal condemnation of Lois +Barclay to death by hanging, as a convicted witch. She murmured +something which nobody heard fully, but which sounded like a prayer for +pity and compassion on her tender years and friendless estate. Then +they left her to all the horrors of that solitary, loathsome dungeon, +and the strange terror of approaching death. + +Outside the prison walls, the dread of the witches, and the excitement +against witchcraft, grew with fearful rapidity. Numbers of women, and +men, too, were accused, no matter what their station of life and their +former character had been. On the other side, it is alleged that +upwards of fifty persons were grievously vexed by the devil, and those +to whom he had imparted of his power for vile and wicked +considerations. How much of malice, distinct, unmistakable personal +malice, was mixed up with these accusations, no one can now tell. The +dire statistics of this time tell us, that fifty-five escaped death by +confessing themselves guilty, one hundred and fifty were in prison, +more than two hundred accused, and upwards of twenty suffered death, +among whom was the minister I have called Nolan, who was traditionally +esteemed to have suffered through hatred of his co-pastor. One old man, +scorning the accusation, and refusing to plead at his trial, was, +according to the law, pressed to death for his contumacy. Nay, even +dogs were accused of witchcraft, suffered the legal penalties, and are +recorded among the subjects of capital punishment. One young man found +means to effect his mother's escape from confinement, fled with her on +horseback, and secreted her in the Blueberry Swamp, not far from +Taplay's Brook, in the Great Pasture; he concealed her here in a wigwam +which he built for her shelter, provided her with food and clothing, +and comforted and sustained her until after the delusion had passed +away. The poor creature must, however, have suffered dreadfully, for +one of her arms was fractured in the all but desperate effort of +getting her out of prison. + +But there was no one to try and save Lois. Grace Hickson would fain +have ignored her altogether. Such a taint did witchcraft bring upon a +whole family, that generations of blameless life were not at that day +esteemed sufficient to wash it out. Besides, you must remember that +Grace, along with most people of her time, believed most firmly in the +reality of the crime of witchcraft. Poor, forsaken Lois, believed in it +herself, and it added to her terror, for the gaoler, in an unusually +communicative mood, told her that nearly every cell was now full of +witches; and it was possible he might have to put one, if more came, in +with her. Lois knew that she was no witch herself; but not the less did +she believe that the crime was abroad, and largely shared in by +evil-minded persons who had chosen to give up their souls to Satan; and +she shuddered with terror at what the gaoler said, and would have asked +him to spare her this companionship if it were possible. But, somehow, +her senses were leaving her, and she could not remember the right words +in which to form her request, until he had left the place. + +The only person who yearned after Lois--who would have befriended her +if he could--was Manasseh: poor, mad Manasseh. But he was so wild and +outrageous in his talk, that it was all his mother could do to keep his +state concealed from public observation. She had for this purpose given +him a sleeping potion; and, while he lay heavy and inert under the +influence of the poppy-tea, his mother bound him with cords to the +ponderous, antique bed in which he slept. She looked broken-hearted +while she did this office, and thus acknowledged the degradation of her +first-born--him of whom she had ever been so proud. + +Late that evening, Grace Hickson stood in Lois's cell, hooded and +cloaked up to her eyes. Lois was sitting quite still, playing idly with +a bit of string which one of the magistrates had dropped out of his +pocket that morning. Her aunt was standing by her for an instant or two +in silence, before Lois seemed aware of her presence. Suddenly she +looked up, and uttered a little cry, shrinking away from the dark +figure. Then, as if her cry had loosened Grace's tongue, she began: + +'Lois Barclay, did I ever do you any harm?' Grace did not know how +often her want of loving-kindness had pierced the tender heart of the +stranger under her roof; nor did Lois remember it against her now. +Instead, Lois's memory was filled with grateful thoughts of how much +that might have been left undone, by a less conscientious person, her +aunt had done for her, and she half stretched out her arms as to a +friend in that desolate place, while she answered: + +'Oh no, no you were very good! very kind!' + +But Grace stood immovable. + +'I did you no harm, although I never rightly knew why you came to us.' + +'I was sent by my mother on her death-bed,' moaned Lois, covering her +face. It grew darker every instant. Her aunt stood, still and silent. + +'Did any of mine ever wrong you?' she asked, after a time. + +'No, no; never, till Prudence said--Oh, aunt, do you think I am a +witch?' And now Lois was standing up, holding by Grace's cloak, and +trying to read her face. Grace drew herself, ever so little, away from +the girl, whom she dreaded, and yet sought to propitiate. + +'Wiser than I, godlier than I, have said it. But oh, Lois, Lois! he was +my first-born. Loose him from the demon, for the sake of Him whose name +I dare not name in this terrible building, filled with them who have +renounced the hopes of their baptism; loose Manasseh from his awful +state, if ever I or mine did you a kindness!' + +'You ask me for Christ's sake,' said Lois. 'I can name that holy +name--for oh, aunt! indeed, and in holy truth, I am no witch; and yet I +am to die--to be hanged! Aunt, do not let them kill me! I am so young, +and I never did any one any harm that I know of.' + +'Hush! for very shame! This afternoon I have bound my first-born with +strong cords, to keep him from doing himself or us a mischief--he is so +frenzied. Lois Barclay, look here!' and Grace knelt down at her niece's +feet, and joined her hands as if in prayer--'I am a proud woman, God +forgive me! and I never thought to kneel to any save to Him. And now I +kneel at your feet, to pray you to release my children, more especially +my son Manasseh, from the spells you have put upon them. Lois, hearken +to me, and I will pray to the Almighty for you, if yet there may be +mercy.' + +'I cannot do it; I never did you or yours any wrong. How can I undo it? +How can I?' And she wrung her hands in intensity of conviction of the +inutility of aught she could do. + +Here Grace got up, slowly, stiffly, and sternly. She stood aloof from +the chained girl, in the remote corner of the prison cell near the +door, ready to make her escape as soon as she had cursed the witch, who +would not, or could not, undo the evil she had wrought. Grace lifted up +her right hand, and held it up on high, as she doomed Lois to be +accursed for ever, for her deadly sin, and her want of mercy even at +this final hour. And, lastly, she summoned her to meet her at the +judgment-seat, and answer for this deadly injury done to both souls and +bodies of those who had taken her in, and received her when she came to +them an orphan and a stranger. + +Until this last summons, Lois had stood as one who hears her sentence +and can say nothing against it, for she knows all would be in vain. But +she raised her head when she heard her aunt speak of the judgment-seat, +and at the end of Grace's speech she, too, lifted up her right hand, as +if solemnly pledging herself by that action, and replied: + +'Aunt! I will meet you there. And there you will know my innocence of +this deadly thing. God have mercy on you and yours!' + +Her calm voice maddened Grace, and making a gesture as if she plucked +up a handful of dust of the floor, and threw it at Lois, she cried: + +'Witch! witch! ask mercy for thyself--I need not your prayers. Witches' +prayers are read backwards. I spit at thee, and defy thee!' And so she +went away. + +Lois sat moaning that whole night through. 'God comfort me! God +strengthen me!' was all she could remember to say. She just felt that +want, nothing more,--all other fears and wants seemed dead within her. +And when the gaoler brought in her breakfast the next morning, he +reported her as 'gone silly;' for, indeed, she did not seem to know +him, but kept rocking herself to and fro, and whispering softly to +herself, smiling a little from time to time. + +But God did comfort her, and strengthen her too late on that Wednesday +afternoon, they thrust another 'witch' into her cell, bidding the two, +with opprobrious words, keep company together. The new comer fell +prostrate with the push given her from without; and Lois, not +recognizing anything but an old ragged woman lying helpless on her face +on the ground, lifted her up; and lo! it was Nattee--dirty, filthy +indeed, mud-pelted, stone-bruised, beaten, and all astray in her wits +with the treatment she had received from the mob outside. Lois held her +in her arms, and softly wiped the old brown wrinkled face with her +apron, crying over it, as she had hardly yet cried over her own +sorrows. For hours she tended the old Indian woman--tended her bodily +woes; and as the poor scattered senses of the savage creature came +slowly back, Lois gathered her infinite dread of the morrow, when she +too, as well as Lois, was to be led out to die, in face of all that +infuriated crowd. Lois sought in her own mind for some source of +comfort for the old woman, who shook like one in the shaking palsy at +the dread of death--and such a death. + +When all was quiet through the prison, in the deep dead midnight, the +gaoler outside the door heard Lois telling, as if to a young child, the +marvellous and sorrowful story of one who died on the cross for us and +for our sakes. As long as she spoke, the Indian woman's terror seemed +lulled; but the instant she paused, for weariness, Nattee cried out +afresh, as if some wild beast were following her close through the +dense forests in which she had dwelt in her youth. And then Lois went +on, saying all the blessed words she could remember, and comforting the +helpless Indian woman with the sense of the presence of a Heavenly +Friend. And in comforting her, Lois was comforted; in strengthening +her, Lois was strengthened. + +The morning came, and the summons to come forth and die came. They who +entered the cell found Lois asleep, her face resting on the slumbering +old woman, whose head she still held in her lap. She did not seem +clearly to recognize where she was, when she awakened; the 'silly' look +had returned to her wan face; all she appeared to know was, that +somehow or another, through some peril or another, she had to protect +the poor Indian woman. She smiled faintly when she saw the bright light +of the April day; and put her arm round Nattee, and tried to keep the +Indian quiet with hushing, soothing words of broken meaning, and holy +fragments of the Psalms. Nattee tightened her hold upon Lois as they +drew near the gallows, and the outrageous crowd below began to hoot and +yell. Lois redoubled her efforts to calm and encourage Nattee, +apparently unconscious that any of the opprobrium, the hootings, the +stones, the mud, was directed towards her herself. But when they took +Nattee from her arms, and led her out to suffer first, Lois seemed all +at once to recover her sense of the present terror. She gazed wildly +around, stretched out her arms as if to some person in the distance, +who was yet visible to her, and cried out once with a voice that +thrilled through all who heard it, 'Mother!' Directly afterwards, the +body of Lois the Witch swung in the air, and every one stood, with +hushed breath, with a sudden wonder, like a fear of deadly crime, +fallen upon them. + +The stillness and the silence were broken by one crazed and mad, who +came rushing up the steps of the ladder, and caught Lois's body in his +arms, and kissed her lips with wild passion. And then, as if it were +true what the people believed, that he was possessed by a demon, he +sprang down, and rushed through the crowd, out of the bounds of the +city, and into the dark dense forest, and Manasseh Hickson was no more +seen of Christian man. + +The people of Salem had awakened from their frightful delusion before +the autumn, when Captain Holdernesse and Ralph Lucy came to find out +Lois, and bring her home to peaceful Barford, in the pleasant country +of England. Instead, they led them to the grassy grave where she lay at +rest, done to death by mistaken men. Ralph Lucy shook the dust off his +feet in quitting Salem, with a heavy, heavy heart; and lived a bachelor +all his life long for her sake. + +Long years afterwards, Captain Holdernesse sought him out, to tell him +some news that he thought might interest the grave miller of the +Avonside. Captain Holdernesse told him that in the previous year, it +was then 1713, the sentence of excommunication against the witches of +Salem was ordered, in godly sacramental meeting of the church, to be +erased and blotted out, and that those who met together for this +purpose 'humbly requested the merciful God would pardon whatsoever sin, +error, or mistake was in the application of justice, through our +merciful High Priest, who knoweth how to have compassion on the +ignorant, and those that are out of the way.' He also said that +Prudence Hickson--now woman grown--had made a most touching and pungent +declaration of sorrow and repentance before the whole church, for the +false and mistaken testimony she had given in several instances, among +which she particularly mentioned that of her cousin Lois Barclay. To +all which Ralph Lucy only answered: + +'No repentance of theirs can bring her back to life.' + +Then Captain Holdernesse took out a paper, and read the following +humble and solemn declaration of regret on the part of those who signed +it, among whom Grace Hickson was one: + + 'We, whose names are undersigned, being, in the year 1692, called + to serve as jurors in court of Salem, on trial of many who were by + some suspected guilty of doing acts of witchcraft upon the bodies + of sundry persons; we confess that we ourselves were not capable to + understand, nor able to withstand, the mysterious delusions of the + powers of darkness, and prince of the air, but were, for want of + knowledge in ourselves, and better information from others, + prevailed with to take up with such evidence against the accused, + as, on further consideration, and better information, we justly + fear was insufficient for the touching the lives of any (Deut. + xvii. 6), whereby we fear we have been instrumental, with others, + though ignorantly and unwittingly, to bring upon ourselves and this + people of the Lord the guilt of innocent blood; which sin, the Lord + saith in Scripture, he would not pardon (2 Kings, xxiv. 4), that + is, we suppose, in regard of his temporal judgments. We do, + therefore, signify to all in general (and to the surviving + sufferers in special) our deep sense of, and sorrow for, our + errors, in acting on such evidence to the condemning of any person; + and do hereby declare, that we justly fear that we were sadly + deluded and mistaken, for which we are much disquieted and + distressed in our minds, and do therefore humbly beg forgiveness, + first of God for Christ's sake, for this our error; and pray that + God would not impute the guilt of it to ourselves nor others; and + we also pray that we may be considered candidly and aright by the + living sufferers, as being then under the power of a strong and + general delusion, utterly unacquainted with, and not experienced + in, matters of that nature. + + 'We do heartily ask forgiveness of you all, whom we have justly + offended; and do declare, according to our present minds, we would + none of us do such things again on such grounds for the whole + world; praying you to accept of this in way of satisfaction for our + offence, and that you would bless the inheritance of the Lord, that + he may be entreated for the land. + + 'FOREMAN, THOMAS FISK, &C.' + +To the reading of this paper Ralph Lucy made no reply save this, even +more gloomily than before: + +'All their repentance will avail nothing to my Lois, nor will it bring +back her life.' + +Then Captain Holdernesse spoke once more, and said that on the day of +the general fast, appointed to be held all through New England, when +the meeting-houses were crowded, an old, old man with white hair had +stood up in the place in which he was accustomed to worship, and had +handed up into the pulpit a written confession, which he had once or +twice essayed to read for himself, acknowledging his great and grievous +error in the matter of the witches of Salem, and praying for the +forgiveness of God and of his people, ending with an entreaty that all +then present would join with him in prayer that his past conduct might +not bring down the displeasure of the Most High upon his country, his +family, or himself. That old man, who was no other than Justice Sewall, +remained standing all the time that his confession was read; and at the +end he said, 'The good and gracious God be pleased to save New England +and me and my family.' And then it came out that, for years past, Judge +Sewall had set apart a day for humiliation and prayer, to keep fresh in +his mind a sense of repentance and sorrow for the part he had borne in +these trials, and that this solemn anniversary he was pledged to keep +as long as he lived, to show his feeling of deep humiliation. + +Ralph Lucy's voice trembled as he spoke: + +'All this will not bring my Lois to life again, or give me back the +hope of my youth.' + +But--as Captain Holdernesse shook his head (for what word could he say, +or how dispute what was so evidently true?)--Ralph added, 'What is the +day, know you, that this justice has set apart?' + +'The twenty-ninth of April.' + +'Then on that day will I, here at Barford in England, join my prayer as +long as I live with the repentant judge, that his sin may be blotted +out and no more had in remembrance. She would have willed it so.' + + + + +THE GREY WOMAN + +Portion 1 + + +There is a mill by the Neckar-side, to which many people resort for +coffee, according to the fashion which is almost national in Germany. +There is nothing particularly attractive in the situation of this mill; +it is on the Mannheim (the flat and unromantic) side of Heidelberg. The +river turns the mill-wheel with a plenteous gushing sound; the +out-buildings and the dwelling-house of the miller form a well-kept +dusty quadrangle. Again, further from the river, there is a garden full +of willows, and arbours, and flower-beds not well kept, but very +profuse in flowers and luxuriant creepers, knotting and looping the +arbours together. In each of these arbours is a stationary table of +white painted wood, and light moveable chairs of the same colour and +material. + +I went to drink coffee there with some friends in 184--. The stately +old miller came out to greet us, as some of the party were known to him +of old. He was of a grand build of a man, and his loud musical voice, +with its tone friendly and familiar, his rolling laugh of welcome, went +well with the keen bright eye, the fine cloth of his coat, and the +general look of substance about the place. Poultry of all kinds +abounded in the mill-yard, where there were ample means of livelihood +for them strewed on the ground; but not content with this, the miller +took out handfuls of corn from the sacks, and threw liberally to the +cocks and hens that ran almost under his feet in their eagerness. And +all the time he was doing this, as it were habitually, he was talking +to us, and ever and anon calling to his daughter and the serving-maids, +to bid them hasten the coffee we had ordered. He followed us to an +arbour, and saw us served to his satisfaction with the best of +everything we could ask for; and then left us to go round to the +different arbours and see that each party was properly attended to; +and, as he went, this great, prosperous, happy-looking man whistled +softly one of the most plaintive airs I ever heard. + +'His family have held this mill ever since the old Palatinate days; or +rather, I should say, have possessed the ground ever since then, for +two successive mills of theirs have been burnt down by the French. If +you want to see Scherer in a passion, just talk to him of the +possibility of a French invasion.' + +But at this moment, still whistling that mournful air, we saw the +miller going down the steps that led from the somewhat raised garden +into the mill-yard; and so I seemed to have lost my chance of putting +him in a passion. + +We had nearly finished our coffee, and our 'kucken,' and our cinnamon +cake, when heavy splashes fell on our thick leafy covering; quicker and +quicker they came, coming through the tender leaves as if they were +tearing them asunder; all the people in the garden were hurrying under +shelter, or seeking for their carriages standing outside. Up the steps +the miller came hastening, with a crimson umbrella, fit to cover every +one left in the garden, and followed by his daughter, and one or two +maidens, each bearing an umbrella. + +'Come into the house--come in, I say. It is a summer-storm, and will +flood the place for an hour or two, till the river carries it away. +Here, here.' + +And we followed him back into his own house. We went into the kitchen +first. Such an array of bright copper and tin vessels I never saw; and +all the wooden things were as thoroughly scoured. The red tile floor +was spotless when we went in, but in two minutes it was all over slop +and dirt with the tread of many feet; for the kitchen was filled, and +still the worthy miller kept bringing in more people under his great +crimson umbrella. He even called the dogs in, and made them lie down +under the tables. + +His daughter said something to him in German, and he shook his head +merrily at her. Everybody laughed. + +'What did she say?' I asked. + +'She told him to bring the ducks in next; but indeed if more people +come we shall be suffocated. What with the thundery weather, and the +stove, and all these steaming clothes, I really think we must ask leave +to pass on. Perhaps we might go in and see Frau Scherer.' + +My friend asked the daughter of the house for permission to go into an +inner chamber and see her mother. It was granted, and we went into a +sort of saloon, over-looking the Neckar; very small, very bright, and +very close. The floor was slippery with polish; long narrow pieces of +looking-glass against the walls reflected the perpetual motion of the +river opposite; a white porcelain stove, with some old-fashioned +ornaments of brass about it; a sofa, covered with Utrecht velvet, a +table before it, and a piece of worsted-worked carpet under it; a vase +of artificial flowers; and, lastly, an alcove with a bed in it, on +which lay the paralysed wife of the good miller, knitting busily, +formed the furniture. I spoke as if this was all that was to be seen in +the room; but, sitting quietly, while my friend kept up a brisk +conversation in a language which I but half understood, my eye was +caught by a picture in a dark corner of the room, and I got up to +examine it more nearly. + +It was that of a young girl of extreme beauty; evidently of middle +rank. There was a sensitive refinement in her face, as if she almost +shrank from the gaze which, of necessity, the painter must have fixed +upon her. It was not over-well painted, but I felt that it must have +been a good likeness, from this strong impress of peculiar character +which I have tried to describe. From the dress, I should guess it to +have been painted in the latter half of the last century. And I +afterwards heard that I was right. + +There was a little pause in the conversation. + +'Will you ask Frau Scherer who this is?' + +My friend repeated my question, and received a long reply in German. +Then she turned round and translated it to me. + +'It is the likeness of a great-aunt of her husband's.' (My friend was +standing by me, and looking at the picture with sympathetic curiosity.) +'See! here is the name on the open page of this Bible, "Anna Scherer, +1778." Frau Scherer says there is a tradition in the family that this +pretty girl, with her complexion of lilies and roses, lost her colour +so entirely through fright, that she was known by the name of the Grey +Woman. She speaks as if this Anna Scherer lived in some state of +life-long terror. But she does not know details; refers me to her +husband for them. She thinks he has some papers which were written by +the original of that picture for her daughter, who died in this very +house not long after our friend there was married. We can ask Herr +Scherer for the whole story if you like.' + +'Oh yes, pray do!' said I. And, as our host came in at this moment to +ask how we were faring, and to tell us that he had sent to Heidelberg +for carriages to convey us home, seeing no chance of the heavy rain +abating, my friend, after thanking him, passed on to my request. + +'Ah!' said he, his face changing, 'the aunt Anna had a sad history. It +was all owing to one of those hellish Frenchmen; and her daughter +suffered for it--the cousin Ursula, as we all called her when I was a +child. To be sure, the good cousin Ursula was his child as well. The +sins of the fathers are visited on their children. The lady would like +to know all about it, would she? Well, there are papers--a kind of +apology the aunt Anna wrote for putting an end to her daughter's +engagement--or rather facts which she revealed, that prevented cousin +Ursula from marrying the man she loved; and so she would never have any +other good fellow, else I have heard say my father would have been +thankful to have made her his wife.' All this time he was rummaging in +the drawer of an old-fashioned bureau, and now he turned round, with a +bundle of yellow MSS. in his hand, which he gave to my friend, saying, +'Take it home, take it home, and if you care to make out our crabbed +German writing, you may keep it as long as you like, and read it at +your leisure. Only I must have it back again when you have done with +it, that's all.' + +And so we became possessed of the manuscript of the following letter, +which it was our employment, during many a long evening that ensuing +winter, to translate, and in some parts to abbreviate. The letter began +with some reference to the pain which she had already inflicted upon +her daughter by some unexplained opposition to a project of marriage; +but I doubt if, without the clue with which the good miller had +furnished us, we could have made out even this much from the +passionate, broken sentences that made us fancy that some scene between +the mother and daughter--and possibly a third person--had occurred just +before the mother had begun to write. + + * * * * * + +'Thou dost not love thy child, mother! Thou dost not care if her heart +is broken!' Ah, God! and these words of my heart-beloved Ursula ring in +my ears as if the sound of them would fill them when I lie a-dying. And +her poor tear-stained face comes between me and everything else. Child! +hearts do not break; life is very tough as well as very terrible. But I +will not decide for thee. I will tell thee all; and thou shalt bear the +burden of choice. I may be wrong; I have little wit left, and never had +much, I think; but an instinct serves me in place of judgement, and +that instinct tells me that thou and thy Henri must never be married. +Yet I may be in error. I would fain make my child happy. Lay this paper +before the good priest Schriesheim; if, after reading it, thou hast +doubts which make thee uncertain. Only I will tell thee all now, on +condition that no spoken word ever passes between us on the subject. It +would kill me to be questioned. I should have to see all present again. + +My father held, as thou knowest, the mill on the Neckar, where thy +new-found uncle, Scherer, now lives. Thou rememberest the surprise with +which we were received there last vintage twelvemonth. How thy uncle +disbelieved me when I said that I was his sister Anna, whom he had long +believed to be dead, and how I had to lead thee underneath the picture, +painted of me long ago, and point out, feature by feature, the likeness +between it and thee; and how, as I spoke, I recalled first to my own +mind, and then by speech to his, the details of the time when it was +painted; the merry words that passed between us then, a happy boy and +girl; the position of the articles of furniture in the room; our +father's habits; the cherry-tree, now cut down, that shaded the window +of my bedroom, through which my brother was wont to squeeze himself, in +order to spring on to the topmost bough that would bear his weight; and +thence would pass me back his cap laden with fruit to where I sat on +the window-sill, too sick with fright for him to care much for eating +the cherries. + +And at length Fritz gave way, and believed me to be his sister Anna, +even as though I were risen from the dead. And thou rememberest how he +fetched in his wife, and told her that I was not dead, but was come +back to the old home once more, changed as I was. And she would scarce +believe him, and scanned me with a cold, distrustful eye, till at +length--for I knew her of old as Babette Müller--I said that I was +well-to-do, and needed not to seek out friends for what they had to +give. And then she asked--not me, but her husband--why I had kept +silent so long, leading all--father, brother, every one that loved me +in my own dear home--to esteem me dead. And then thine uncle (thou +rememberest?) said he cared not to know more than I cared to tell; that +I was his Anna, found again, to be a blessing to him in his old age, as +I had been in his boyhood. I thanked him in my heart for his trust; for +were the need for telling all less than it seems to me now I could not +speak of my past life. But she, who was my sister-in-law still, held +back her welcome, and, for want of that, I did not go to live in +Heidelberg as I had planned beforehand, in order to be near my brother +Fritz, but contented myself with his promise to be a father to my +Ursula when I should die and leave this weary world. + +That Babette Müller was, as I may say, the cause of all my life's +suffering. She was a baker's daughter in Heidelberg--a great beauty, as +people said, and, indeed, as I could see for myself I, too--thou sawest +my picture--was reckoned a beauty, and I believe I was so. Babette +Müller looked upon me as a rival. She liked to be admired, and had no +one much to love her. I had several people to love me--thy grandfather, +Fritz, the old servant Kätchen, Karl, the head apprentice at the +mill--and I feared admiration and notice, and the being stared at as +the 'Schöne Müllerin,' whenever I went to make my purchases in +Heidelberg. + +Those were happy, peaceful days. I had Kätchen to help me in the +housework, and whatever we did pleased my brave old father, who was +always gentle and indulgent towards us women, though he was stern +enough with the apprentices in the mill. Karl, the oldest of these, was +his favourite; and I can see now that my father wished him to marry me, +and that Karl himself was desirous to do so. But Karl was rough-spoken, +and passionate--not with me, but with the others--and I shrank from him +in a way which, I fear, gave him pain. And then came thy uncle Fritz's +marriage; and Babette was brought to the mill to be its mistress. Not +that I cared much for giving up my post, for, in spite of my father's +great kindness, I always feared that I did not manage well for so large +a family (with the men, and a girl under Kätchen, we sat down eleven +each night to supper). But when Babette began to find fault with +Kätchen, I was unhappy at the blame that fell on faithful servants; and +by-and-by I began to see that Babette was egging on Karl to make more +open love to me, and, as she once said, to get done with it, and take +me off to a home of my own. My father was growing old, and did not +perceive all my daily discomfort. The more Karl advanced, the more I +disliked him. He was good in the main, but I had no notion of being +married, and could not bear any one who talked to me about it. + +Things were in this way when I had an invitation to go to Carlsruhe to +visit a schoolfellow, of whom I had been very fond. Babette was all for +my going; I don't think I wanted to leave home, and yet I had been very +fond of Sophie Rupprecht. But I was always shy among strangers. Somehow +the affair was settled for me, but not until both Fritz and my father +had made inquiries as to the character and position of the Rupprechts. +They learned that the father had held some kind of inferior position +about the Grand-duke's court, and was now dead, leaving a widow, a +noble lady, and two daughters, the elder of whom was Sophie, my friend. +Madame Rupprecht was not rich, but more than respectable--genteel. When +this was ascertained, my father made no opposition to my going; Babette +forwarded it by all the means in her power, and even my dear Fritz had +his word to say in its favour. Only Kätchen was against it--Kätchen and +Karl. The opposition of Karl did more to send me to Carlsruhe than +anything. For I could have objected to go; but when he took upon +himself to ask what was the good of going a-gadding, visiting strangers +of whom no one knew anything, I yielded to circumstances--to the +pulling of Sophie and the pushing of Babette. I was silently vexed, I +remember, at Babette's inspection of my clothes; at the way in which +she settled that this gown was too old-fashioned, or that too common, +to go with me on my visit to a noble lady; and at the way in which she +took upon herself to spend the money my father had given me to buy what +was requisite for the occasion. And yet I blamed myself, for every one +else thought her so kind for doing all this; and she herself meant +kindly, too. + +At last I quitted the mill by the Neckar-side. It was a long day's +journey, and Fritz went with me to Carlsruhe. The Rupprechts lived on +the third floor of a house a little behind one of the principal +streets, in a cramped-up court, to which we gained admittance through a +doorway in the street. I remember how pinched their rooms looked after +the large space we had at the mill, and yet they had an air of grandeur +about them which was new to me, and which gave me pleasure, faded as +some of it was. Madame Rupprecht was too formal a lady for me; I was +never at my ease with her; but Sophie was all that I had recollected +her at school: kind, affectionate, and only rather too ready with her +expressions of admiration and regard. The little sister kept out of our +way; and that was all we needed, in the first enthusiastic renewal of +our early friendship. The one great object of Madame Rupprecht's life +was to retain her position in society; and as her means were much +diminished since her husband's death, there was not much comfort, +though there was a great deal of show, in their way of living; just the +opposite of what it was at my father's house. I believe that my coming +was not too much desired by Madame Rupprecht, as I brought with me +another mouth to be fed; but Sophie had spent a year or more in +entreating for permission to invite me, and her mother, having once +consented, was too well bred not to give me a stately welcome. + +The life in Carlsruhe was very different from what it was at home. The +hours were later, the coffee was weaker in the morning, the pottage was +weaker, the boiled beef less relieved by other diet, the dresses finer, +the evening engagements constant. I did not find these visits pleasant. +We might not knit, which would have relieved the tedium a little; but +we sat in a circle, talking together, only interrupted occasionally by +a gentleman, who, breaking out of the knot of men who stood near the +door, talking eagerly together, stole across the room on tiptoe, his +hat under his arm, and, bringing his feet together in the position we +called the first at the dancing-school, made a low bow to the lady he +was going to address. The first time I saw these manners I could not +help smiling; but Madame Rupprecht saw me, and spoke to me next morning +rather severely, telling me that, of course, in my country breeding I +could have seen nothing of court manners, or French fashions, but that +that was no reason for my laughing at them. Of course I tried never to +smile again in company. This visit to Carlsruhe took place in '89, just +when every one was full of the events taking place at Paris; and yet at +Carlsruhe French fashions were more talked of than French politics. +Madame Rupprecht, especially, thought a great deal of all French +people. And this again was quite different to us at home. Fritz could +hardly bear the name of a Frenchman; and it had nearly been an obstacle +to my visit to Sophie that her mother preferred being called Madame to +her proper title of Frau. + +One night I was sitting next to Sophie, and longing for the time when +we might have supper and go home, so as to be able to speak together, a +thing forbidden by Madame Rupprecht's rules of etiquette, which +strictly prohibited any but the most necessary conversation passing +between members of the same family when in society. I was sitting, I +say, scarcely keeping back my inclination to yawn, when two gentlemen +came in, one of whom was evidently a stranger to the whole party, from +the formal manner in which the host led him up, and presented him to +the hostess. I thought I had never seen any one so handsome or so +elegant. His hair was powdered, of course, but one could see from his +complexion that it was fair in its natural state. His features were as +delicate as a girl's, and set off by two little 'mouches,' as we called +patches in those days, one at the left corner of his mouth, the other +prolonging, as it were, the right eye. His dress was blue and silver. I +was so lost in admiration of this beautiful young man, that I was as +much surprised as if the angel Gabriel had spoken to me, when the lady +of the house brought him forward to present him to me. She called him +Monsieur de la Tourelle, and he began to speak to me in French; but +though I understood him perfectly, I dared not trust myself to reply to +him in that language. Then he tried German, speaking it with a kind of +soft lisp that I thought charming. But, before the end of the evening, +I became a little tired of the affected softness and effeminacy of his +manners, and the exaggerated compliments he paid me, which had the +effect of making all the company turn round and look at me. Madame +Rupprecht was, however, pleased with the precise thing that displeased +me. She liked either Sophie or me to create a sensation; of course she +would have preferred that it should have been her daughter, but her +daughter's friend was next best. As we went away, I heard Madame +Rupprecht and Monsieur de la Tourelle reciprocating civil speeches with +might and main, from which I found out that the French gentleman was +coming to call on us the next day. I do not know whether I was more +glad or frightened, for I had been kept upon stilts of good manners all +the evening. But still I was flattered when Madame Rupprecht spoke as +if she had invited him, because he had shown pleasure in my society, +and even more gratified by Sophie's ungrudging delight at the evident +interest I had excited in so fine and agreeable a gentleman. Yet, with +all this, they had hard work to keep me from running out of the salon +the next day, when we heard his voice inquiring at the gate on the +stairs for Madame Rupprecht. They had made me put on my Sunday gown, +and they themselves were dressed as for a reception. + +When he was gone away, Madame Rupprecht congratulated me on the +conquest I had made; for, indeed, he had scarcely spoken to anyone +else, beyond what mere civility required, and had almost invited +himself to come in the evening to bring some new song, which was all +the fashion in Paris, he said. Madame Rupprecht had been out all +morning, as she told me, to glean information about Monsieur de la +Tourelle. He was a propriétaire, had a small château on the Vosges +mountains; he owned land there, but had a large income from some +sources quite independent of this property. Altogether, he was a good +match, as she emphatically observed. She never seemed to think that I +could refuse him after this account of his wealth, nor do I believe she +would have allowed Sophie a choice, even had he been as old and ugly as +he was young and handsome. I do not quite know--so many events have +come to pass since then, and blurred the clearness of my +recollections--if I loved him or not. He was very much devoted to me; +he almost frightened me by the excess of his demonstrations of love. +And he was very charming to everybody around me, who all spoke of him +as the most fascinating of men, and of me as the most fortunate of +girls. And yet I never felt quite at my ease with him. I was always +relieved when his visits were over, although I missed his presence when +he did not come. He prolonged his visit to the friend with whom he was +staying at Carlsruhe, on purpose to woo me. He loaded me with presents, +which I was unwilling to take, only Madame Rupprecht seemed to consider +me an affected prude if I refused them. Many of these presents +consisted of articles of valuable old jewellery, evidently belonging to +his family; by accepting these I doubled the ties which were formed +around me by circumstances even more than by my own consent. In those +days we did not write letters to absent friends as frequently as is +done now, and I had been unwilling to name him in the few letters that +I wrote home. At length, however, I learned from Madame Rupprecht that +she had written to my father to announce the splendid conquest I had +made, and to request his presence at my betrothal. I started with +astonishment. I had not realized that affairs had gone so far as this. +But when she asked me, in a stern, offended manner, what I had meant by +my conduct if I did not intend to marry Monsieur de la Tourelle--I had +received his visits, his presents, all his various advances without +showing any unwillingness or repugnance--(and it was all true; I had +shown no repugnance, though I did not wish to be married to him,--at +least, not so soon)--what could I do but hang my head, and silently +consent to the rapid enunciation of the only course which now remained +for me if I would not be esteemed a heartless coquette all the rest of +my days? + +There was some difficulty, which I afterwards learnt that my +sister-in-law had obviated, about my betrothal taking place from home. +My father, and Fritz especially, were for having me return to the mill, +and there be betrothed, and from thence be married. But the Rupprechts +and Monsieur de la Tourelle were equally urgent on the other side; and +Babette was unwilling to have the trouble of the commotion at the mill; +and also, I think, a little disliked the idea of the contrast of my +grander marriage with her own. + +So my father and Fritz came over to the betrothal. They were to stay at +an inn in Carlsruhe for a fortnight, at the end of which time the +marriage was to take place. Monsieur de la Tourelle told me he had +business at home, which would oblige him to be absent during the +interval between the two events; and I was very glad of it, for I did +not think that he valued my father and my brother as I could have +wished him to do. He was very polite to them; put on all the soft, +grand manner, which he had rather dropped with me; and complimented us +all round, beginning with my father and Madame Rupprecht, and ending +with little Alwina. But he a little scoffed at the old-fashioned church +ceremonies which my father insisted on; and I fancy Fritz must have +taken some of his compliments as satire, for I saw certain signs of +manner by which I knew that my future husband, for all his civil words, +had irritated and annoyed my brother. But all the money arrangements +were liberal in the extreme, and more than satisfied, almost surprised, +my father. Even Fritz lifted up his eyebrows and whistled. I alone did +not care about anything. I was bewitched,--in a dream,--a kind of +despair. I had got into a net through my own timidity and weakness, and +I did not see how to get out of it. I clung to my own home-people that +fortnight as I had never done before. Their voices, their ways were all +so pleasant and familiar to me, after the constraint in which I had +been living. I might speak and do as I liked without being corrected by +Madame Rupprecht, or reproved in a delicate, complimentary way by +Monsieur de la Tourelle. One day I said to my father that I did not +want to be married, that I would rather go back to the dear old mill; +but he seemed to feel this speech of mine as a dereliction of duty as +great as if I had committed perjury; as if, after the ceremony of +betrothal, no one had any right over me but my future husband. And yet +he asked me some solemn questions; but my answers were not such as to +do me any good. + +'Dost thou know any fault or crime in this man that should prevent +God's blessing from resting on thy marriage with him? Dost thou feel +aversion or repugnance to him in any way?' + +And to all this what could I say? I could only stammer out that I did +not think I loved him enough; and my poor old father saw in this +reluctance only the fancy of a silly girl who did not know her own +mind, but who had now gone too far to recede. + +So we were married, in the Court chapel, a privilege which Madame +Rupprecht had used no end of efforts to obtain for us, and which she +must have thought was to secure us all possible happiness, both at the +time and in recollection afterwards. + +We were married; and after two days spent in festivity at Carlsruhe, +among all our new fashionable friends there, I bade good-by for ever to +my dear old father. I had begged my husband to take me by way of +Heidelberg to his old castle in the Vosges; but I found an amount of +determination, under that effeminate appearance and manner, for which I +was not prepared, and he refused my first request so decidedly that I +dared not urge it. 'Henceforth, Anna,' said he, 'you will move in a +different sphere of life; and though it is possible that you may have +the power of showing favour to your relations from time to time, yet +much or familiar intercourse will be undesirable, and is what I cannot +allow.' I felt almost afraid, after this formal speech, of asking my +father and Fritz to come and see me; but, when the agony of bidding +them farewell overcame all my prudence, I did beg them to pay me a +visit ere long. But they shook their heads, and spoke of business at +home, of different kinds of life, of my being a Frenchwoman now. Only +my father broke out at last with a blessing, and said, 'If my child is +unhappy--which God forbid--let her remember that her father's house is +ever open to her.' I was on the point of crying out, 'Oh! take me back +then now, my father! oh, my father!' when I felt, rather than saw, my +husband present near me. He looked on with a slightly contemptuous air; +and, taking my hand in his, he led me weeping away, saying that short +farewells were always the best when they were inevitable. + +It took us two days to reach his château in the Vosges, for the roads +were bad and the way difficult to ascertain. Nothing could be more +devoted than he was all the time of the journey. It seemed as if he +were trying in every way to make up for the separation which every hour +made me feel the more complete between my present and my former life. I +seemed as if I were only now wakening up to a full sense of what +marriage was, and I dare say I was not a cheerful companion on the +tedious journey. At length, jealousy of my regret for my father and +brother got the better of M. de la Tourelle, and he became so much +displeased with me that I thought my heart would break with the sense +of desolation. So it was in no cheerful frame of mind that we +approached Les Rochers, and I thought that perhaps it was because I was +so unhappy that the place looked so dreary. On one side, the château +looked like a raw new building, hastily run up for some immediate +purpose, without any growth of trees or underwood near it, only the +remains of the stone used for building, not yet cleared away from the +immediate neighbourhood, although weeds and lichens had been suffered +to grow near and over the heaps of rubbish; on the other, were the +great rocks from which the place took its name, and rising close +against them, as if almost a natural formation, was the old castle, +whose building dated many centuries back. + +It was not large nor grand, but it was strong and picturesque, and I +used to wish that we lived in it rather than in the smart, +half-furnished apartment in the new edifice, which had been hastily got +ready for my reception. Incongruous as the two parts were, they were +joined into a whole by means of intricate passages and unexpected +doors, the exact positions of which I never fully understood. M. de la +Tourelle led me to a suite of rooms set apart for me, and formally +installed me in them, as in a domain of which I was sovereign. He +apologised for the hasty preparation which was all he had been able to +make for me, but promised, before I asked, or even thought of +complaining, that they should be made as luxurious as heart could wish +before many weeks had elapsed. But when, in the gloom of an autumnal +evening, I caught my own face and figure reflected in all the mirrors, +which showed only a mysterious background in the dim light of the many +candles which failed to illuminate the great proportions of the +half-furnished salon, I clung to M. de la Tourelle, and begged to be +taken to the rooms he had occupied before his marriage, he seemed angry +with me, although he affected to laugh, and so decidedly put aside the +notion of my having any other rooms but these, that I trembled in +silence at the fantastic figures and shapes which my imagination called +up as peopling the background of those gloomy mirrors. There was my +boudoir, a little less dreary--my bedroom, with its grand and tarnished +furniture, which I commonly made into my sitting-room, locking up the +various doors which led into the boudoir, the salon, the passages--all +but one, through which M. de la Tourelle always entered from his own +apartments in the older part of the castle. But this preference of mine +for occupying my bedroom annoyed M. de la Tourelle, I am sure, though +he did not care to express his displeasure. He would always allure me +back into the salon, which I disliked more and more from its complete +separation from the rest of the building by the long passage into which +all the doors of my apartment opened. This passage was closed by heavy +doors and portières, through which I could not hear a sound from the +other parts of the house, and, of course, the servants could not hear +any movement or cry of mine unless expressly summoned. To a girl +brought up as I had been in a household where every individual lived +all day in the sight of every other member of the family, never wanted +either cheerful words or the sense of silent companionship, this grand +isolation of mine was very formidable; and the more so, because M. de +la Tourelle, as landed proprietor, sportsman, and what not, was +generally out of doors the greater part of every day, and sometimes for +two or three days at a time. I had no pride to keep me from associating +with the domestics; it would have been natural to me in many ways to +have sought them out for a word of sympathy in those dreary days when I +was left so entirely to myself, had they been like our kindly German +servants. But I disliked them, one and all; I could not tell why. Some +were civil, but there was a familiarity in their civility which +repelled me; others were rude, and treated me more as if I were an +intruder than their master's chosen wife; and yet of the two sets I +liked these last the best. + +The principal male servant belonged to this latter class. I was very +much afraid of him, he had such an air of suspicious surliness about +him in all he did for me; and yet M. de la Tourelle spoke of him as +most valuable and faithful. Indeed, it sometimes struck me that +Lefebvre ruled his master in some things; and this I could not make +out. For, while M. de la Tourelle behaved towards me as if I were some +precious toy or idol, to be cherished, and fostered, and petted, and +indulged, I soon found out how little I, or, apparently, any one else, +could bend the terrible will of the man who had on first acquaintance +appeared to me too effeminate and languid to exert his will in the +slightest particular. I had learnt to know his face better now; and to +see that some vehement depth of feeling, the cause of which I could not +fathom, made his grey eye glitter with pale light, and his lips +contract, and his delicate cheek whiten on certain occasions. But all +had been so open and above board at home, that I had no experience to +help me to unravel any mysteries among those who lived under the same +roof. I understood that I had made what Madame Rupprecht and her set +would have called a great marriage, because I lived in château with +many servants, bound ostensibly to obey me as a mistress. I understood +that M. de la Tourelle was fond enough of me in his way--proud of my +beauty, I dare say (for he often enough spoke about it to me)--but he +was also jealous, and suspicious, and uninfluenced by my wishes, unless +they tallied with his own. I felt at this time as if I could have been +fond of him too, if he would have let me; but I was timid from my +childhood, and before long my dread of his displeasure (coming down +like thunder into the midst of his love, for such slight causes as a +hesitation in reply, a wrong word, or a sigh for my father), conquered +my humorous inclination to love one who was so handsome, so +accomplished, so indulgent and devoted. But if I could not please him +when indeed I loved him, you may imagine how often I did wrong when I +was so much afraid of him as to quietly avoid his company for fear of +his outbursts of passion. One thing I remember noticing, that the more +M. de la Tourelle was displeased with me, the more Lefebvre seemed to +chuckle; and when I was restored to favour, sometimes on as sudden an +impulse as that which occasioned my disgrace, Lefebvre would look +askance at me with his cold, malicious eyes, and once or twice at such +times he spoke most disrespectfully to M. de la Tourelle. + +I have almost forgotten to say that, in the early days of my life at +Les Rochers, M. de la Tourelle, in contemptuous indulgent pity at my +weakness in disliking the dreary grandeur of the salon, wrote up to the +milliner in Paris from whom my corbeille de mariage had come, to desire +her to look out for me a maid of middle age, experienced in the +toilette, and with so much refinement that she might on occasion serve +as companion to me. + + + + +Portion 2 + + +A Norman woman, Amante by name, was sent to Les Rochers by the Paris +milliner, to become my maid. She was tall and handsome, though upwards +of forty, and somewhat gaunt. But, on first seeing her, I liked her; +she was neither rude nor familiar in her manners, and had a pleasant +look of straightforwardness about her that I had missed in all the +inhabitants of the château, and had foolishly set down in my own mind +as a national want. Amante was directed by M. de la Tourelle to sit in +my boudoir, and to be always within call. He also gave her many +instructions as to her duties in matters which, perhaps, strictly +belonged to my department of management. But I was young and +inexperienced, and thankful to be spared any responsibility. + +I daresay it was true what M. de la Tourelle said--before many weeks +had elapsed--that, for a great lady, a lady of a castle, I became sadly +too familiar with my Norman waiting-maid. But you know that by birth we +were not very far apart in rank: Amante was the daughter of a Norman +farmer, I of a German miller; and besides that, my life was so lonely! +It almost seemed as if I could not please my husband. He had written +for some one capable of being my companion at times, and now he was +jealous of my free regard for her--angry because I could sometimes +laugh at her original tunes and amusing proverbs, while when with him I +was too much frightened to smile. + +From time to time families from a distance of some leagues drove +through the bad roads in their heavy carriages to pay us a visit, and +there was an occasional talk of our going to Paris when public affairs +should be a little more settled. These little events and plans were the +only variations in my life for the first twelve months, if I except the +alternations in M. de la Tourelle's temper, his unreasonable anger, and +his passionate fondness. + +Perhaps one of the reasons that made me take pleasure and comfort in +Amante's society was, that whereas I was afraid of everybody (I do not +think I was half as much afraid of things as of persons), Amante feared +no one. She would quietly beard Lefebvre, and he respected her all the +more for it; she had a knack of putting questions to M. de la Tourelle, +which respectfully informed him that she had detected the weak point, +but forebore to press him too closely upon it out of deference to his +position as her master. And with all her shrewdness to others, she had +quite tender ways with me; all the more so at this time because she +knew, what I had not yet ventured to tell M. de la Tourelle, that +by-and-by I might become a mother--that wonderful object of mysterious +interest to single women, who no longer hope to enjoy such blessedness +themselves. + +It was once more autumn; late in October. But I was reconciled to my +habitation; the walls of the new part of the building no longer looked +bare and desolate; the _débris_ had been so far cleared away by M. de +la Tourelle's desire as to make me a little flower-garden, in which I +tried to cultivate those plants that I remembered as growing at home. +Amante and I had moved the furniture in the rooms, and adjusted it to +our liking; my husband had ordered many an article from time to time +that he thought would give me pleasure, and I was becoming tame to my +apparent imprisonment in a certain part of the great building, the +whole of which I had never yet explored. It was October, as I say, once +more. The days were lovely, though short in duration, and M. de la +Tourelle had occasion, so he said, to go to that distant estate the +superintendence of which so frequently took him away from home. He took +Lefebvre with him, and possibly some more of the lacqueys; he often +did. And my spirits rose a little at the thought of his absence; and +then the new sensation that he was the father of my unborn babe came +over me, and I tried to invest him with this fresh character. I tried +to believe that it was his passionate love for me that made him so +jealous and tyrannical, imposing, as he did, restrictions on my very +intercourse with my dear father, from whom I was so entirely separated, +as far as personal intercourse was concerned. + +I had, it is true, let myself go into a sorrowful review of all the +troubles which lay hidden beneath the seeming luxury of my life. I knew +that no one cared for me except my husband and Amante; for it was clear +enough to see that I, as his wife, and also as a _parvenue_, was not +popular among the few neighbours who surrounded us; and as for the +servants; the women were all hard and impudent-looking, treating me +with a semblance of respect that had more of mockery than reality in +it; while the men had a lurking kind of fierceness about them, +sometimes displayed even to M. de la Tourelle, who on his part, it must +be confessed, was often severe even to cruelty in his management of +them. My husband loved me, I said to myself, but I said it almost in +the form of a question. His love was shown fitfully, and more in ways +calculated to please himself than to please me. I felt that for no wish +of mine would he deviate one tittle from any predetermined course of +action. I had learnt the inflexibility of those thin delicate lips; I +knew how anger would turn his fair complexion to deadly white, and +bring the cruel light into his pale blue eyes. The love I bore to any +one seemed to be a reason for his hating them, and so I went on pitying +myself one long dreary afternoon during that absence of his of which I +have spoken, only sometimes remembering to check myself in my +murmurings by thinking of the new unseen link between us, and then +crying afresh to think how wicked I was. Oh, how well I remember that +long October evening! Amante came in from time to time, talking away to +cheer me--talking about dress and Paris, and I hardly know what, but +from time to time looking at me keenly with her friendly dark eyes, and +with serious interest, too, though all her words were about frivolity. +At length she heaped the fire with wood, drew the heavy silken curtains +close; for I had been anxious hitherto to keep them open, so that I +might see the pale moon mounting the skies, as I used to see her--the +same moon--rise from behind the Kaiser Stuhl at Heidelberg; but the +sight made me cry, so Amante shut it out. She dictated to me as a nurse +does to a child. + +'Now, madame must have the little kitten to keep her company,' she +said, 'while I go and ask Marthon for a cup of coffee.' I remember that +speech, and the way it roused me, for I did not like Amante to think I +wanted amusing by a kitten. It might be my petulance, but this +speech--such as she might have made to a child--annoyed me, and I said +that I had reason for my lowness of spirits--meaning that they were not +of so imaginary a nature that I could be diverted from them by the +gambols of a kitten. So, though I did not choose to tell her all, I +told her a part; and as I spoke, I began to suspect that the good +creature knew much of what I withheld, and that the little speech about +the kitten was more thoughtfully kind than it had seemed at first. I +said that it was so long since I had heard from my father; that he was +an old man, and so many things might happen--I might never see him +again--and I so seldom heard from him or my brother. It was a more +complete and total separation than I had ever anticipated when I +married, and something of my home and of my life previous to my +marriage I told the good Amante; for I had not been brought up as a +great lady, and the sympathy of any human being was precious to me. + +Amante listened with interest, and in return told me some of the events +and sorrows of her own life. Then, remembering her purpose, she set out +in search of the coffee, which ought to have been brought to me an hour +before; but, in my husband's absence, my wishes were but seldom +attended to, and I never dared to give orders. + +Presently she returned, bringing the coffee and a great large cake. + +'See!' said she, setting it down. 'Look at my plunder. Madame must eat. +Those who eat always laugh. And, besides, I have a little news that +will please madame.' Then she told me that, lying on a table in the +great kitchen, was a bundle of letters, come by the courier from +Strasburg that very afternoon: then, fresh from her conversation with +me, she had hastily untied the string that bound them, but had only +just traced out one that she thought was from Germany, when a +servant-man came in, and, with the start he gave her, she dropped the +letters, which he picked up, swearing at her for having untied and +disarranged them. She told him that she believed there was a letter +there for her mistress; but he only swore the more, saying, that if +there was it was no business of hers, or of his either, for that he had +the strictest orders always to take all letters that arrived during his +master's absence into the private sitting-room of the latter--a room +into which I had never entered, although it opened out of my husband's +dressing-room. + +I asked Amante if she had not conquered and brought me this letter. No, +indeed, she replied, it was almost as much as her life was worth to +live among such a set of servants: it was only a month ago that Jacques +had stabbed Valentin for some jesting talk. Had I never missed +Valentin--that handsome young lad who carried up the wood into my +salon? Poor fellow! he lies dead and cold now, and they said in the +village he had put an end to himself, but those of the household knew +better. Oh! I need not be afraid; Jacques was gone, no one knew where; +but with such people it was not safe to upbraid or insist. Monsieur +would be at home the next day, and it would not be long to wait. + +But I felt as if I could not exist till the next day, without the +letter. It might be to say that my father was ill, dying--he might cry +for his daughter from his death-bed! In short, there was no end to the +thoughts and fancies that haunted me. It was of no use for Amante to +say that, after all, she might be mistaken--that she did not read +writing well--that she had but a glimpse of the address; I let my +coffee cool, my food all became distasteful, and I wrung my hands with +impatience to get at the letter, and have some news of my dear ones at +home. All the time, Amante kept her imperturbable good temper, first +reasoning, then scolding. At last she said, as if wearied out, that if +I would consent to make a good supper, she would see what could be done +as to our going to monsieur's room in search of the letter, after the +servants were all gone to bed. We agreed to go together when all was +still, and look over the letters; there could be no harm in that; and +yet, somehow, we were such cowards we dared not do it openly and in the +face of the household. + +Presently my supper came up--partridges, bread, fruits, and cream. How +well I remember that supper! We put the untouched cake away in a sort +of buffet, and poured the cold coffee out of the window, in order that +the servants might not take offence at the apparent fancifulness of +sending down for food I could not eat. I was so anxious for all to be +in bed, that I told the footman who served that he need not wait to +take away the plates and dishes, but might go to bed. Long after I +thought the house was quiet, Amante, in her caution, made me wait. It +was past eleven before we set out, with cat-like steps and veiled +light, along the passages, to go to my husband's room and steal my own +letter, if it was indeed there; a fact about which Amante had become +very uncertain in the progress of our discussion. + +To make you understand my story, I must now try to explain to you the +plan of the château. It had been at one time a fortified place of some +strength, perched on the summit of a rock, which projected from the +side of the mountain. But additions had been made to the old building +(which must have borne a strong resemblance to the castles overhanging +the Rhine), and these new buildings were placed so as to command a +magnificent view, being on the steepest side of the rock, from which +the mountain fell away, as it were, leaving the great plain of France +in full survey. The ground-plan was something of the shape of three +sides of an oblong; my apartments in the modern edifice occupied the +narrow end, and had this grand prospect. The front of the castle was +old, and ran parallel to the road far below. In this were contained the +offices and public rooms of various descriptions, into which I never +penetrated. The back wing (considering the new building, in which my +apartments were, as the centre) consisted of many rooms, of a dark and +gloomy character, as the mountain-side shut out much of the sun, and +heavy pine woods came down within a few yards of the windows. Yet on +this side--on a projecting plateau of the rock--my husband had formed +the flower-garden of which I have spoken; for he was a great cultivator +of flowers in his leisure moments. + +Now my bedroom was the corner room of the new buildings on the part +next to the mountains. Hence I could have let myself down into the +flower-garden by my hands on the window-sill on one side, without +danger of hurting myself; while the windows at right angles with these +looked sheer down a descent of a hundred feet at least. Going still +farther along this wing, you came to the old building; in fact, these +two fragments of the ancient castle had formerly been attached by some +such connecting apartments as my husband had rebuilt. These rooms +belonged to M. de la Tourelle. His bedroom opened into mine, his +dressing-room lay beyond; and that was pretty nearly all I knew, for +the servants, as well as he himself, had a knack of turning me back, +under some pretence, if ever they found me walking about alone, as I +was inclined to do, when first I came, from a sort of curiosity to see +the whole of the place of which I found myself mistress. M. de la +Tourelle never encouraged me to go out alone, either in a carriage or +for a walk, saying always that the roads were unsafe in those disturbed +times; indeed, I have sometimes fancied since that the flower-garden, +to which the only access from the castle was through his rooms, was +designed in order to give me exercise and employment under his own eye. + +But to return to that night. I knew, as I have said, that M. de la +Tourelle's private room opened out of his dressing-room, and this out +of his bedroom, which again opened into mine, the corner-room. But +there were other doors into all these rooms, and these doors led into a +long gallery, lighted by windows, looking into the inner court. I do +not remember our consulting much about it; we went through my room into +my husband's apartment through the dressing-room, but the door of +communication into his study was locked, so there was nothing for it +but to turn back and go by the gallery to the other door. I recollect +noticing one or two things in these rooms, then seen by me for the +first time. I remember the sweet perfume that hung in the air, the +scent bottles of silver that decked his toilet-table, and the whole +apparatus for bathing and dressing, more luxurious even than those +which he had provided for me. But the room itself was less splendid in +its proportions than mine. In truth, the new buildings ended at the +entrance to my husband's dressing-room. There were deep window recesses +in walls eight or nine feet thick, and even the partitions between the +chambers were three feet deep; but over all these doors or windows +there fell thick, heavy draperies, so that I should think no one could +have heard in one room what passed in another. We went back into my +room, and out into the gallery. We had to shade our candle, from a fear +that possessed us, I don't know why, lest some of the servants in the +opposite wing might trace our progress towards the part of the castle +unused by any one except my husband. Somehow, I had always the feeling +that all the domestics, except Amante, were spies upon me, and that I +was trammelled in a web of observation and unspoken limitation +extending over all my actions. + +There was a light in the upper room; we paused, and Amante would have +again retreated, but I was chafing under the delays. What was the harm +of my seeking my father's unopened letter to me in my husband's study? +I, generally the coward, now blamed Amante for her unusual timidity. +But the truth was, she had far more reason for suspicion as to the +proceedings of that terrible household than I had ever known of. I +urged her on, I pressed on myself; we came to the door, locked, but +with the key in it; we turned it, we entered; the letters lay on the +table, their white oblongs catching the light in an instant, and +revealing themselves to my eager eyes, hungering after the words of +love from my peaceful, distant home. But just as I pressed forward to +examine the letters, the candle which Amante held, caught in some +draught, went out, and we were in darkness. Amante proposed that we +should carry the letters back to my salon, collecting them as well as +we could in the dark, and returning all but the expected one for me; +but I begged her to return to my room, where I kept tinder and flint, +and to strike a fresh light; and I remained alone in the room, of which +I could only just distinguish the size, and the principal articles of +furniture: a large table, with a deep, overhanging cloth, in the +middle, escritoires and other heavy articles against the walls; all +this I could see as I stood there, my hand on the table close by the +letters, my face towards the window, which, both from the darkness of +the wood growing high up the mountain-side and the faint light of the +declining moon, seemed only like an oblong of paler purpler black than +the shadowy room. How much I remembered from my one instantaneous +glance before the candle went out, how much I saw as my eyes became +accustomed to the darkness, I do not know, but even now, in my dreams, +comes up that room of horror, distinct in its profound shadow. Amante +could hardly have been gone a minute before I felt an additional gloom +before the window, and heard soft movements outside--soft, but +resolute, and continued until the end was accomplished, and the window +raised. + +In mortal terror of people forcing an entrance at such an hour, and in +such a manner as to leave no doubt of their purpose, I would have +turned to fly when first I heard the noise, only that I feared by any +quick motion to catch their attention, as I also ran the danger of +doing by opening the door, which was all but closed and to whose +handlings I was unaccustomed. Again, quick as lightning, I bethought me +of the hiding-place between the locked door to my husband's +dressing-room and the portière which covered it; but I gave that up, I +felt as if I could not reach it without screaming or fainting. So I +sank down softly, and crept under the table, hidden as I hoped, by the +great, deep table-cover, with its heavy fringe. I had not recovered my +swooning senses fully, and was trying to reassure myself as to my being +in a place of comparative safety, for, above all things, I dreaded the +betrayal of fainting, and struggled hard for such courage as I might +attain by deadening myself to the danger I was in by inflicting intense +pain on myself. You have often asked me the reason of that mark on my +hand; it was there, in my agony, I bit out a piece of flesh with my +relentless teeth, thankful for the pain, which helped to numb my +terror. I say, I was but just concealed within I heard the window +lifted, and one after another stepped over the sill, and stood by me so +close that I could have touched their feet. Then they laughed and +whispered; my brain swam so that I could not tell the meaning of their +words, but I heard my husband's laughter among the rest--low, hissing, +scornful--as he kicked something heavy that they had dragged in over +the floor, and which layed near me; so near, that my husband's kick, in +touching it, touched me too. I don't know why--I can't tell how--but +some feeling, and not curiosity, prompted me to put out my hand, ever +so softly, ever so little, and feel in the darkness for what lay +spurned beside me. I stole my groping palm upon the clenched and chilly +hand of a corpse! + +Strange to say, this roused me to instant vividness of thought. Till +this moment I had almost forgotten Amante; now I planned with feverish +rapidity how I could give her a warning not to return; or rather, I +should say, I tried to plan, for all my projects were utterly futile, +as I might have seen from the first. I could only hope she would hear +the voices of those who were now busy in trying to kindle a light, +swearing awful oaths at the mislaid articles which would have enabled +them to strike fire. I heard her step outside coming nearer and nearer; +I saw from my hiding-place the line of light beneath the door more and +more distinctly; close to it her footstep paused; the men inside--at +the time I thought they had been only two, but I found out afterwards +there were three--paused in their endeavours, and were quite still, as +breathless as myself, I suppose. Then she slowly pushed the door open +with gentle motion, to save her flickering candle from being again +extinguished. For a moment all was still. Then I heard my husband say, +as he advanced towards her (he wore riding-boots, the shape of which I +knew well, as I could see them in the light): + +'Amante, may I ask what brings you here into my private room?' + +He stood between her and the dead body of a man, from which ghastly +heap I shrank away as it almost touched me, so close were we all +together. I could not tell whether she saw it or not; I could give her +no warning, nor make any dumb utterance of signs to bid her what to +say--if, indeed, I knew myself what would be best for her to say. + +Her voice was quite changed when she spoke; quite hoarse, and very low; +yet it was steady enough as she said, what was the truth, that she had +come to look for a letter which she believed had arrived for me from +Germany. Good, brave Amante! Not a word about me. M. de la Tourelle +answered with a grim blasphemy and a fearful threat. He would have no +one prying into his premises; madame should have her letters, if there +were any, when he chose to give them to her, if, indeed, he thought it +well to give them to her at all. As for Amante, this was her first +warning, but it was also her last; and, taking the candle out of her +hand, he turned her out of the room, his companions discreetly making a +screen, so as to throw the corpse into deep shadow. I heard the key +turn in the door after her--if I had ever had any thought of escape it +was gone now. I only hoped that whatever was to befall me might soon be +over, for the tension of nerve was growing more than I could bear. The +instant she could be supposed to be out of hearing, two voices began +speaking in the most angry terms to my husband, upbraiding him for not +having detained her, gagged her--nay, one was for killing her, saying +he had seen her eye fall on the face of the dead man, whom he now +kicked in his passion. Though the form of their speech was as if they +were speaking to equals, yet in their tone there was something of fear. +I am sure my husband was their superior, or captain, or somewhat. He +replied to them almost as if he were scoffing at them, saying it was +such an expenditure of labour having to do with fools; that, ten to +one, the woman was only telling the simple truth, and that she was +frightened enough by discovering her master in his room to be thankful +to escape and return to her mistress, to whom he could easily explain +on the morrow how he happened to return in the dead of night. But his +companions fell to cursing me, and saying that since M. de la Tourelle +had been married he was fit for nothing but to dress himself fine and +scent himself with perfume; that, as for me, they could have got him +twenty girls prettier, and with far more spirit in them. He quietly +answered that I suited him, and that was enough. All this time they +were doing something--I could not see what--to the corpse; sometimes +they were too busy rifling the dead body, I believe, to talk; again +they let it fall with a heavy, resistless thud, and took to +quarrelling. They taunted my husband with angry vehemence, enraged at +his scoffing and scornful replies, his mocking laughter. Yes, holding +up his poor dead victim, the better to strip him of whatever he wore +that was valuable, I heard my husband laugh just as he had done when +exchanging repartees in the little salon of the Rupprechts at +Carlsruhe. I hated and dreaded him from that moment. At length, as if +to make an end of the subject, he said, with cool determination in his +voice: + +'Now, my good friends, what is the use of all this talking, when you +know in your hearts that, if I suspected my wife of knowing more than I +chose of my affairs, she would not outlive the day? Remember Victorine. +Because she merely joked about my affairs in an imprudent manner, and +rejected my advice to keep a prudent tongue--to see what she liked, but +ask nothing and say nothing--she has gone a long journey--longer than +to Paris.' + +'But this one is different to her; we knew all that Madame Victorine +knew, she was such a chatterbox; but this one may find out a vast deal, +and never breathe a word about it, she is so sly. Some fine day we may +have the country raised, and the gendarmes down upon us from Strasburg, +and all owing to your pretty doll, with her cunning ways of coming over +you.' + +I think this roused M. de la Tourelle a little from his contemptuous +indifference, for he ground an oath through his teeth, and said, 'Feel! +this dagger is sharp, Henri. If my wife breathes a word, and I am such +a fool as not to have stopped her mouth effectually before she can +bring down gendarmes upon us, just let that good steel find its way to +my heart. Let her guess but one tittle, let her have but one slight +suspicion that I am not a "grand propriétaire," much less imagine that +I am a chief of chauffeurs, and she follows Victorine on the long +journey beyond Paris that very day.' + +'She'll outwit you yet; or I never judged women well. Those still +silent ones are the devil. She'll be off during some of your absences, +having picked out some secret that will break us all on the wheel.' + +'Bah!' said his voice; and then in a minute he added, 'Let her go if +she will. But, where she goes, I will follow; so don't cry before +you're hurt.' + +By this time, they had nearly stripped the body; and the conversation +turned on what they should do with it. I learnt that the dead man was +the Sieur de Poissy, a neighbouring gentleman, whom I had often heard +of as hunting with my husband. I had never seen him, but they spoke as +if he had come upon them while they were robbing some Cologne merchant, +torturing him after the cruel practice of the chauffeurs, by roasting +the feet of their victims in order to compel them to reveal any hidden +circumstances connected with their wealth, of which the chauffeurs +afterwards made use; and this Sieur de Poissy coming down upon them, +and recognising M. de la Tourelle, they had killed him, and brought him +thither after nightfall. I heard him whom I called my husband, laugh +his little light laugh as he spoke of the way in which the dead body +had been strapped before one of the riders, in such a way that it +appeared to any passer-by as if, in truth, the murderer were tenderly +supporting some sick person. He repeated some mocking reply of double +meaning, which he himself had given to some one who made inquiry. He +enjoyed the play upon words, softly applauding his own wit. And all the +time the poor helpless outstretched arms of the dead lay close to his +dainty boot! Then another stooped (my heart stopped beating), and +picked up a letter lying on the ground--a letter that had dropped out +of M. de Poissy's pocket--a letter from his wife, full of tender words +of endearment and pretty babblings of love. This was read aloud, with +coarse ribald comments on every sentence, each trying to outdo the +previous speaker. When they came to some pretty words about a sweet +Maurice, their little child away with its mother on some visit, they +laughed at M. de la Tourelle, and told him that he would be hearing +such woman's drivelling some day. Up to that moment, I think, I had +only feared him, but his unnatural, half-ferocious reply made me hate +even more than I dreaded him. But now they grew weary of their savage +merriment; the jewels and watch had been apprised, the money and papers +examined; and apparently there was some necessity for the body being +interred quietly and before daybreak. They had not dared to leave him +where he was slain for fear lest people should come and recognise him, +and raise the hue and cry upon them. For they all along spoke as if it +was their constant endeavour to keep the immediate neighbourhood of Les +Rochers in the most orderly and tranquil condition, so as never to give +cause for visits from the gendarmes. They disputed a little as to +whether they should make their way into the castle larder through the +gallery, and satisfy their hunger before the hasty interment, or +afterwards. I listened with eager feverish interest as soon as this +meaning of their speeches reached my hot and troubled brain, for at the +time the words they uttered seemed only to stamp themselves with +terrible force on my memory, so that I could hardly keep from repeating +them aloud like a dull, miserable, unconscious echo; but my brain was +numb to the sense of what they said, unless I myself were named, and +then, I suppose, some instinct of self-preservation stirred within me, +and quickened my sense. And how I strained my ears, and nerved my hands +and limbs, beginning to twitch with convulsive movements, which I +feared might betray me! I gathered every word they spoke, not knowing +which proposal to wish for, but feeling that whatever was finally +decided upon, my only chance of escape was drawing near. I once feared +lest my husband should go to his bedroom before I had had that one +chance, in which case he would most likely have perceived my absence. +He said that his hands were soiled (I shuddered, for it might be with +life-blood), and he would go and cleanse them; but some bitter jest +turned his purpose, and he left the room with the other two--left it by +the gallery door. Left me alone in the dark with the stiffening corpse! + +Now, now was my time, if ever; and yet I could not move. It was not my +cramped and stiffened joints that crippled me, it was the sensation of +that dead man's close presence. I almost fancied--I almost fancy +still--I heard the arm nearest to me move; lift itself up, as if once +more imploring, and fall in dead despair. At that fancy--if fancy it +were--I screamed aloud in mad terror, and the sound of my own strange +voice broke the spell. I drew myself to the side of the table farthest +from the corpse, with as much slow caution as if I really could have +feared the clutch of that poor dead arm, powerless for evermore. I +softly raised myself up, and stood sick and trembling, holding by the +table, too dizzy to know what to do next. I nearly fainted, when a low +voice spoke--when Amante, from the outside of the door, whispered, +'Madame!' The faithful creature had been on the watch, had heard my +scream, and having seen the three ruffians troop along the gallery down +the stairs, and across the court to the offices in the other wing of +the castle, she had stolen to the door of the room in which I was. The +sound of her voice gave me strength; I walked straight towards it, as +one benighted on a dreary moor, suddenly perceiving the small steady +light which tells of human dwellings, takes heart, and steers straight +onward. Where I was, where that voice was, I knew not; but go to it I +must, or die. The door once opened--I know not by which of us--I fell +upon her neck, grasping her tight, till my hands ached with the tension +of their hold. Yet she never uttered a word. Only she took me up in her +vigorous arms, and bore me to my room, and laid me on my bed. I do not +know more; as soon as I was placed there I lost sense; I came to myself +with a horrible dread lest my husband was by me, with a belief that he +was in the room, in hiding, waiting to hear my first words, watching +for the least sign of the terrible knowledge I possessed to murder me. +I dared not breathe quicker, I measured and timed each heavy +inspiration; I did not speak, nor move, nor even open my eyes, for long +after I was in my full, my miserable senses. I heard some one treading +softly about the room, as if with a purpose, not as if for curiosity, +or merely to beguile the time; some one passed in and out of the salon; +and I still lay quiet, feeling as if death were inevitable, but wishing +that the agony of death were past. Again faintness stole over me; but +just as I was sinking into the horrible feeling of nothingness, I heard +Amante's voice close to me, saying: + +'Drink this, madame, and let us begone. All is ready.' + +I let her put her arm under my head and raise me, and pour something +down my throat. All the time she kept talking in a quiet, measured +voice, unlike her own, so dry and authoritative; she told me that a +suit of her clothes lay ready for me, that she herself was as much +disguised as the circumstances permitted her to be, that what +provisions I had left from my supper were stowed away in her pockets, +and so she went on, dwelling on little details of the most commonplace +description, but never alluding for an instant to the fearful cause why +flight was necessary. I made no inquiry as to how she knew, or what she +knew. I never asked her either then or afterwards, I could not bear +it--we kept our dreadful secret close. But I suppose she must have been +in the dressing-room adjoining, and heard all. + +In fact, I dared not speak even to her, as if there were anything +beyond the most common event in life in our preparing thus to leave the +house of blood by stealth in the dead of night. She gave me +directions--short condensed directions, without reasons--just as you do +to a child; and like a child I obeyed her. She went often to the door +and listened; and often, too, she went to the window, and looked +anxiously out. For me, I saw nothing but her, and I dared not let my +eyes wander from her for a minute; and I heard nothing in the deep +midnight silence but her soft movements, and the heavy beating of my +own heart. At last she took my hand, and led me in the dark, through +the salon, once more into the terrible gallery, where across the black +darkness the windows admitted pale sheeted ghosts of light upon the +floor. Clinging to her I went; unquestioning--for she was human +sympathy to me after the isolation of my unspeakable terror. On we +went, turning to the left instead of to the right, past my suite of +sitting-rooms where the gilding was red with blood, into that unknown +wing of the castle that fronted the main road lying parallel far below. +She guided me along the basement passages to which we had now +descended, until we came to a little open door, through which the air +blew chill and cold, bringing for the first time a sensation of life to +me. The door led into a kind of cellar, through which we groped our way +to an opening like window, but which, instead of being glazed, was only +fenced with iron bars, two of which were loose, as Amante evidently +knew, for she took them out with the ease of one who had performed the +action often before, and then helped me to follow her out into the +free, open air. + +We stole round the end of the building, and on turning the corner--she +first--I felt her hold on me tighten for an instant, and the next step +I, too, heard distant voices, and the blows of a spade upon the heavy +soil, for the night was very warm and still. + +We had not spoken a word; we did not speak now. Touch was safer and as +expressive. She turned down towards the high road; I followed. I did +not know the path; we stumbled again and again, and I was much bruised; +so doubtless was she; but bodily pain did me good. At last, we were on +the plainer path of the high road. + +I had such faith in her that I did not venture to speak, even when she +paused, as wondering to which hand she should turn. But now, for the +first time, she spoke: + +'Which way did you come when he brought you here first?' + +I pointed, I could not speak. + +We turned in the opposite direction; still going along the high road. +In about an hour, we struck up to the mountainside, scrambling far up +before we even dared to rest; far up and away again before day had +fully dawned. Then we looked about for some place of rest and +concealment: and now we dared to speak in whispers. Amante told me that +she had locked the door of communication between his bedroom and mine, +and, as in a dream, I was aware that she had also locked and brought +away the key of the door between the latter and the salon. + +'He will have been too busy this night to think much about you--he will +suppose you are asleep--I shall be the first to be missed; but they +will only just now be discovering our loss.' + +I remember those last words of hers made me pray to go on; I felt as if +we were losing precious time in thinking either of rest or concealment; +but she hardly replied to me, so busy was she in seeking out some +hiding-place. At length, giving it up in despair, we proceeded onwards +a little way; the mountain-side sloped downwards rapidly, and in the +full morning light we saw ourselves in a narrow valley, made by a +stream which forced its way along it. About a mile lower down there +rose the pale blue smoke of a village, a mill-wheel was lashing up the +water close at hand, though out of sight. Keeping under the cover of +every sheltering tree or bush, we worked our way down past the mill, +down to a one-arched bridge, which doubtless formed part of the road +between the village and the mill. + +'This will do,' said she; and we crept under the space, and climbing a +little way up the rough stonework, we seated ourselves on a projecting +ledge, and crouched in the deep damp shadow. Amante sat a little above +me, and made me lay my head on her lap. Then she fed me, and took some +food herself; and opening out her great dark cloak, she covered up +every light-coloured speck about us; and thus we sat, shivering and +shuddering, yet feeling a kind of rest through it all, simply from the +fact that motion was no longer imperative, and that during the daylight +our only chance of safety was to be still. But the damp shadow in which +we were sitting was blighting, from the circumstance of the sunlight +never penetrating there; and I dreaded lest, before night and the time +for exertion again came on, I should feel illness creeping all over me. +To add to our discomfort, it had rained the whole day long, and the +stream, fed by a thousand little mountain brooklets, began to swell +into a torrent, rushing over the stones with a perpetual and dizzying +noise. + +Every now and then I was wakened from the painful doze into which I +continually fell, by a sound of horses' feet over our head: sometimes +lumbering heavily as if dragging a burden, sometimes rattling and +galloping; and with the sharper cry of men's voices coming cutting +through the roar of the waters. At length, day fell. We had to drop +into the stream, which came above our knees as we waded to the bank. +There we stood, stiff and shivering. Even Amante's courage seemed to +fail. + +'We must pass this night in shelter, somehow,' said she. For indeed the +rain was coming down pitilessly. I said nothing. I thought that surely +the end must be death in some shape; and I only hoped that to death +might not be added the terror of the cruelty of men. In a minute or so +she had resolved on her course of action. We went up the stream to the +mill. The familiar sounds, the scent of the wheat, the flour whitening +the walls--all reminded me of home, and it seemed to me as if I must +struggle out of this nightmare and waken, and find myself once more a +happy girl by the Neckar side. They were long in unbarring the door at +which Amante had knocked: at length, an old feeble voice inquired who +was there, and what was sought? Amante answered shelter from the storm +for two women; but the old woman replied, with suspicious hesitation, +that she was sure it was a man who was asking for shelter, and that she +could not let us in. But at length she satisfied herself, and unbarred +the heavy door, and admitted us. She was not an unkindly woman; but her +thoughts all travelled in one circle, and that was, that her master, +the miller, had told her on no account to let any man into the place +during his absence, and that she did not know if he would not think two +women as bad; and yet that as we were not men, no one could say she had +disobeyed him, for it was a shame to let a dog be out such a night as +this. Amante, with ready wit, told her to let no one know that we had +taken shelter there that night, and that then her master could not +blame her; and while she was thus enjoining secrecy as the wisest +course, with a view to far other people than the miller, she was +hastily helping me to take off my wet clothes, and spreading them, as +well as the brown mantle that had covered us both, before the great +stove which warmed the room with the effectual heat that the old +woman's failing vitality required. All this time the poor creature was +discussing with herself as to whether she had disobeyed orders, in a +kind of garrulous way that made me fear much for her capability of +retaining anything secret if she was questioned. By-and-by, she +wandered away to an unnecessary revelation of her master's whereabouts: +gone to help in the search for his landlord, the Sieur de Poissy, who +lived at the chateau just above, and who had not returned from his +chase the day before; so the intendant imagined he might have met with +some accident, and had summoned the neighbours to beat the forest and +the hill-side. She told us much besides, giving us to understand that +she would fain meet with a place as housekeeper where there were more +servants and less to do, as her life here was very lonely and dull, +especially since her master's son had gone away--gone to the wars. She +then took her supper, which was evidently apportioned out to her with a +sparing hand, as, even if the idea had come into her head, she had not +enough to offer us any. Fortunately, warmth was all that we required, +and that, thanks to Amante's cares, was returning to our chilled +bodies. After supper, the old woman grew drowsy; but she seemed +uncomfortable at the idea of going to sleep and leaving us still in the +house. Indeed, she gave us pretty broad hints as to the propriety of +our going once more out into the bleak and stormy night; but we begged +to be allowed to stay under shelter of some kind; and, at last, a +bright idea came over her, and she bade us mount by a ladder to a kind +of loft, which went half over the lofty mill-kitchen in which we were +sitting. We obeyed her--what else could we do?--and found ourselves in +a spacious floor, without any safeguard or wall, boarding, or railing, +to keep us from falling over into the kitchen in case we went too near +the edge. It was, in fact, the store-room or garret for the household. +There was bedding piled up, boxes and chests, mill sacks, the winter +store of apples and nuts, bundles of old clothes, broken furniture, and +many other things. No sooner were we up there, than the old woman +dragged the ladder, by which we had ascended, away with a chuckle, as +if she was now secure that we could do no mischief, and sat herself +down again once more, to doze and await her master's return. We pulled +out some bedding, and gladly laid ourselves down in our dried clothes +and in some warmth, hoping to have the sleep we so much needed to +refresh us and prepare us for the next day. But I could not sleep, and +I was aware, from her breathing, that Amante was equally wakeful. We +could both see through the crevices between the boards that formed the +flooring into the kitchen below, very partially lighted by the common +lamp that hung against the wall near the stove on the opposite side to +that on which we were. + + + + +Portion 3 + + +Far on in the night there were voices outside reached us in our +hiding-place; an angry knocking at the door, and we saw through the +chinks the old woman rouse herself up to go and open it for her master, +who came in, evidently half drunk. To my sick horror, he was followed +by Lefebvre, apparently as sober and wily as ever. They were talking +together as they came in, disputing about something; but the miller +stopped the conversation to swear at the old woman for having fallen +asleep, and, with tipsy anger, and even with blows, drove the poor old +creature out of the kitchen to bed. Then he and Lefebvre went on +talking--about the Sieur de Poissy's disappearance. It seemed that +Lefebvre had been out all day, along with other of my husband's men, +ostensibly assisting in the search; in all probability trying to blind +the Sieur de Poissy's followers by putting them on a wrong scent, and +also, I fancied, from one or two of Lefebvre's sly questions, combining +the hidden purpose of discovering us. + +Although the miller was tenant and vassal to the Sieur de Poissy, he +seemed to me to be much more in league with the people of M. de la +Tourelle. He was evidently aware, in part, of the life which Lefebvre +and the others led; although, again, I do not suppose he knew or +imagined one-half of their crimes; and also, I think, he was seriously +interested in discovering the fate of his master, little suspecting +Lefebvre of murder or violence. He kept talking himself, and letting +out all sorts of thoughts and opinions; watched by the keen eyes of +Lefebvre gleaming out below his shaggy eyebrows. It was evidently not +the cue of the latter to let out that his master's wife had escaped +from that vile and terrible den; but though he never breathed a word +relating to us, not the less was I certain he was thirsting for our +blood, and lying in wait for us at every turn of events. Presently he +got up and took his leave; and the miller bolted him out, and stumbled +off to bed. Then we fell asleep, and slept sound and long. + +The next morning, when I awoke, I saw Amante, half raised, resting on +one hand, and eagerly gazing, with straining eyes, into the kitchen +below. I looked too, and both heard and saw the miller and two of his +men eagerly and loudly talking about the old woman, who had not +appeared as usual to make the fire in the stove, and prepare her +master's breakfast, and who now, late on in the morning, had been found +dead in her bed; whether from the effect of her master's blows the +night before, or from natural causes, who can tell? The miller's +conscience upbraided him a little, I should say, for he was eagerly +declaring his value for his housekeeper, and repeating how often she +had spoken of the happy life she led with him. The men might have their +doubts, but they did not wish to offend the miller, and all agreed that +the necessary steps should be taken for a speedy funeral. And so they +went out, leaving us in our loft, but so much alone, that, for the +first time almost, we ventured to speak freely, though still in hushed +voice, pausing to listen continually. Amante took a more cheerful view +of the whole occurrence than I did. She said that, had the old woman +lived, we should have had to depart that morning, and that this quiet +departure would have been the best thing we could have had to hope for, +as, in all probability, the housekeeper would have told her master of +us and of our resting-place, and this fact would, sooner or later, have +been brought to the knowledge of those from whom we most desired to +keep it concealed; but that now we had time to rest, and a shelter to +rest in, during the first hot pursuit, which we knew to a fatal +certainty was being carried on. The remnants of our food, and the +stored-up fruit, would supply us with provision; the only thing to be +feared was, that something might be required from the loft, and the +miller or someone else mount up in search of it. But even then, with a +little arrangement of boxes and chests, one part might be so kept in +shadow that we might yet escape observation. All this comforted me a +little; but, I asked, how were we ever to escape? The ladder was taken +away, which was our only means of descent. But Amante replied that she +could make a sufficient ladder of the rope lying coiled among other +things, to drop us down the ten feet or so--with the advantage of its +being portable, so that we might carry it away, and thus avoid all +betrayal of the fact that any one had ever been hidden in the loft. + +During the two days that intervened before we did escape, Amante made +good use of her time. She looked into every box and chest during the +man's absence at his mill; and finding in one box an old suit of man's +clothes, which had probably belonged to the miller's absent son, she +put them on to see if they would fit her; and, when she found that they +did, she cut her own hair to the shortness of a man's, made me clip her +black eyebrows as close as though they had been shaved, and by cutting +up old corks into pieces such as would go into her cheeks, she altered +both the shape of her face and her voice to a degree which I should not +have believed possible. + +All this time I lay like one stunned; my body resting, and renewing its +strength, but I myself in an almost idiotic state--else surely I could +not have taken the stupid interest which I remember I did in all +Amante's energetic preparations for disguise. I absolutely recollect +once the feeling of a smile coming over my stiff face as some new +exercise of her cleverness proved a success. + +But towards the second day, she required me, too, to exert myself; and +then all my heavy despair returned. I let her dye my fair hair and +complexion with the decaying shells of the stored-up walnuts, I let her +blacken my teeth, and even voluntarily broke a front tooth the better +to effect my disguise. But through it all I had no hope of evading my +terrible husband. The third night the funeral was over, the drinking +ended, the guests gone; the miller put to bed by his men, being too +drunk to help himself. They stopped a little while in the kitchen, +talking and laughing about the new housekeeper likely to come; and +they, too, went off, shutting, but not locking the door. Everything +favoured us. Amante had tried her ladder on one of the two previous +nights, and could, by a dexterous throw from beneath, unfasten it from +the hook to which it was fixed, when it had served its office; she made +up a bundle of worthless old clothes in order that we might the better +preserve our characters of a travelling pedlar and his wife; she +stuffed a hump on her back, she thickened my figure, she left her own +clothes deep down beneath a heap of others in the chest from which she +had taken the man's dress which she wore; and with a few francs in her +pocket--the sole money we had either of us had about us when we +escaped--we let ourselves down the ladder, unhooked it, and passed into +the cold darkness of night again. + +We had discussed the route which it would be well for us to take while +we lay perdues in our loft. Amante had told me then that her reason for +inquiring, when we first left Les Rochers, by which way I had first +been brought to it, was to avoid the pursuit which she was sure would +first be made in the direction of Germany; but that now she thought we +might return to that district of country where my German fashion of +speaking French would excite least observation. I thought that Amante +herself had something peculiar in her accent, which I had heard M. de +la Tourelle sneer at as Norman patois; but I said not a word beyond +agreeing to her proposal that we should bend our steps towards Germany. +Once there, we should, I thought, be safe. Alas! I forgot the unruly +time that was overspreading all Europe, overturning all law, and all +the protection which law gives. + +How we wandered--not daring to ask our way--how we lived, how we +struggled through many a danger and still more terrors of danger, I +shall not tell you now. I will only relate two of our adventures before +we reached Frankfort. The first, although fatal to an innocent lady, +was yet, I believe, the cause of my safety; the second I shall tell +you, that you may understand why I did not return to my former home, as +I had hoped to do when we lay in the miller's loft, and I first became +capable of groping after an idea of what my future life might be. I +cannot tell you how much in these doubtings and wanderings I became +attached to Amante. I have sometimes feared since, lest I cared for her +only because she was so necessary to my own safety; but, no! it was not +so; or not so only, or principally. She said once that she was flying +for her own life as well as for mine; but we dared not speak much on +our danger, or on the horrors that had gone before. We planned a little +what was to be our future course; but even for that we did not look +forward long; how could we, when every day we scarcely knew if we +should see the sun go down? For Amante knew or conjectured far more +than I did of the atrocity of the gang to which M. de la Tourelle +belonged; and every now and then, just as we seemed to be sinking into +the calm of security, we fell upon traces of a pursuit after us in all +directions. Once I remember--we must have been nearly three weeks +wearily walking through unfrequented ways, day after day, not daring to +make inquiry as to our whereabouts, nor yet to seem purposeless in our +wanderings--we came to a kind of lonely roadside farrier's and +blacksmith's. I was so tired, that Amante declared that, come what +might, we would stay there all night; and accordingly she entered the +house, and boldly announced herself as a travelling tailor, ready to do +any odd jobs of work that might be required, for a night's lodging and +food for herself and wife. She had adopted this plan once or twice +before, and with good success; for her father had been a tailor in +Rouen, and as a girl she had often helped him with his work, and knew +the tailors' slang and habits, down to the particular whistle and cry +which in France tells so much to those of a trade. At this +blacksmith's, as at most other solitary houses far away from a town, +there was not only a store of men's clothes laid by as wanting mending +when the housewife could afford time, but there was a natural craving +after news from a distance, such news as a wandering tailor is bound to +furnish. The early November afternoon was closing into evening, as we +sat down, she cross-legged on the great table in the blacksmith's +kitchen, drawn close to the window, I close behind her, sewing at +another part of the same garment, and from time to time well scolded by +my seeming husband. All at once she turned round to speak to me. It was +only one word, 'Courage!' I had seen nothing; I sat out of the light; +but I turned sick for an instant, and then I braced myself up into a +strange strength of endurance to go through I knew not what. + +The blacksmith's forge was in a shed beside the house, and fronting the +road. I heard the hammers stop plying their continual rhythmical beat. +She had seen why they ceased. A rider had come up to the forge and +dismounted, leading his horse in to be re-shod. The broad red light of +the forge-fire had revealed the face of the rider to Amante, and she +apprehended the consequence that really ensued. + +The rider, after some words with the blacksmith, was ushered in by him +into the house-place where we sat. + +'Here, good wife, a cup of wine and some galette for this gentleman.' + +'Anything, anything, madame, that I can eat and drink in my hand while +my horse is being shod. I am in haste, and must get on to Forbach +to-night.' + +The blacksmith's wife lighted her lamp; Amante had asked her for it +five minutes before. How thankful we were that she had not more +speedily complied with our request! As it was, we sat in dusk shadow, +pretending to stitch away, but scarcely able to see. The lamp was +placed on the stove, near which my husband, for it was he, stood and +warmed himself. By-and-by he turned round, and looked all over the room, +taking us in with about the same degree of interest as the inanimate +furniture. Amante, cross-legged, fronting him, stooped over her work, +whistling softly all the while. He turned again to the stove, +impatiently rubbing his hands. He had finished his wine and galette, +and wanted to be off. + +'I am in haste, my good woman. Ask thy husband to get on more quickly. +I will pay him double if he makes haste.' + +The woman went out to do his bidding; and he once more turned round to +face us. Amante went on to the second part of the tune. He took it up, +whistled a second for an instant or so, and then the blacksmith's wife +re-entering, he moved towards her, as if to receive her answer the more +speedily. + +'One moment, monsieur--only one moment. There was a nail out of the +off-foreshoe which my husband is replacing; it would delay monsieur +again if that shoe also came off.' + +'Madame is right,' said he, 'but my haste is urgent. If madame knew my +reasons, she would pardon my impatience. Once a happy husband, now a +deserted and betrayed man, I pursue a wife on whom I lavished all my +love, but who has abused my confidence, and fled from my house, +doubtless to some paramour; carrying off with her all the jewels and +money on which she could lay her hands. It is possible madame may have +heard or seen something of her; she was accompanied in her flight by a +base, profligate woman from Paris, whom I, unhappy man, had myself +engaged for my wife's waiting-maid, little dreaming what corruption I +was bringing into my house!' + +'Is it possible?' said the good woman, throwing up her hands. + +Amante went on whistling a little lower, out of respect to the +conversation. + +'However, I am tracing the wicked fugitives; I am on their track' (and +the handsome, effeminate face looked as ferocious as any demon's). +'They will not escape me; but every minute is a minute of misery to me, +till I meet my wife. Madame has sympathy, has she not?' + +He drew his face into a hard, unnatural smile, and then both went out +to the forge, as if once more to hasten the blacksmith over his work. + +Amante stopped her whistling for one instant. + +'Go on as you are, without change of an eyelid even; in a few minutes +he will be gone, and it will be over!' + +It was a necessary caution, for I was on the point of giving way, and +throwing myself weakly upon her neck. We went on; she whistling and +stitching, I making semblance to sew. And it was well we did so; for +almost directly he came back for his whip, which he had laid down and +forgotten; and again I felt one of those sharp, quick-scanning glances, +sent all round the room, and taking in all. + +Then we heard him ride away; and then, it had been long too dark to see +well, I dropped my work, and gave way to my trembling and shuddering. +The blacksmith's wife returned. She was a good creature. Amante told +her I was cold and weary, and she insisted on my stopping my work, and +going to sit near the stove; hastening, at the same time, her +preparations for supper, which, in honour of us, and of monsieur's +liberal payment, was to be a little less frugal than ordinary. It was +well for me that she made me taste a little of the cider-soup she was +preparing, or I could not have held up, in spite of Amante's warning +look, and the remembrance of her frequent exhortations to act +resolutely up to the characters we had assumed, whatever befell. To +cover my agitation, Amante stopped her whistling, and began to talk; +and, by the time the blacksmith came in, she and the good woman of the +house were in full flow. He began at once upon the handsome gentleman, +who had paid him so well; all his sympathy was with him, and both he +and his wife only wished he might overtake his wicked wife, and punish +her as she deserved. And then the conversation took a turn, not +uncommon to those whose lives are quiet and monotonous; every one +seemed to vie with each other in telling about some horror; and the +savage and mysterious band of robbers called the Chauffeurs, who +infested all the roads leading to the Rhine, with Schinderhannes at +their head, furnished many a tale which made the very marrow of my +bones run cold, and quenched even Amante's power of talking. Her eyes +grew large and wild, her cheeks blanched, and for once she sought by +her looks help from me. The new call upon me roused me. I rose and +said, with their permission my husband and I would seek our bed, for +that we had travelled far and were early risers. I added that we would +get up betimes, and finish our piece of work. The blacksmith said we +should be early birds if we rose before him; and the good wife seconded +my proposal with kindly bustle. One other such story as those they had +been relating, and I do believe Amante would have fainted. + +As it was, a night's rest set her up; we arose and finished our work +betimes, and shared the plentiful breakfast of the family. Then we had +to set forth again; only knowing that to Forbach we must not go, yet +believing, as was indeed the case, that Forbach lay between us and that +Germany to which we were directing our course. Two days more we +wandered on, making a round, I suspect, and returning upon the road to +Forbach, a league or two nearer to that town than the blacksmith's +house. But as we never made inquiries I hardly knew where we were, when +we came one night to a small town, with a good large rambling inn in +the very centre of the principal street. We had begun to feel as if +there were more safety in towns than in the loneliness of the country. +As we had parted with a ring of mine not many days before to a +travelling jeweller, who was too glad to purchase it far below its real +value to make many inquiries as to how it came into the possession of a +poor working tailor, such as Amante seemed to be, we resolved to stay +at this inn all night, and gather such particulars and information as +we could by which to direct our onward course. + +We took our supper in the darkest corner of the salle-à-manger, having +previously bargained for a small bedroom across the court, and over the +stables. We needed food sorely; but we hurried on our meal from dread +of any one entering that public room who might recognize us. Just in +the middle of our meal, the public diligence drove lumbering up under +the _porte-cochère_, and disgorged its passengers. Most of them turned +into the room where we sat, cowering and fearful, for the door was +opposite to the porter's lodge, and both opened on to the wide-covered +entrance from the street. Among the passengers came in a young, +fair-haired lady, attended by an elderly French maid. The poor young +creature tossed her head, and shrank away from the common room, full of +evil smells and promiscuous company, and demanded, in German French, to +be taken to some private apartment. We heard that she and her maid had +come in the coupé, and, probably from pride, poor young lady! she had +avoided all association with her fellow-passengers, thereby exciting +their dislike and ridicule. All these little pieces of hearsay had a +significance to us afterwards, though, at the time, the only remark +made that bore upon the future was Amante's whisper to me that the +young lady's hair was exactly the colour of mine, which she had cut off +and burnt in the stove in the miller's kitchen in one of her descents +from our hiding-place in the loft. + +As soon as we could, we struck round in the shadow, leaving the +boisterous and merry fellow-passengers to their supper. We crossed the +court, borrowed a lantern from the ostler, and scrambled up the rude +step to our chamber above the stable. There was no door into it; the +entrance was the hole into which the ladder fitted. The window looked +into the court. We were tired and soon fell asleep. I was wakened by a +noise in the stable below. One instant of listening, and I wakened +Amante, placing my hand on her mouth, to prevent any exclamation in her +half-roused state. We heard my husband speaking about his horse to the +ostler. It was his voice. I am sure of it. Amante said so too. We durst +not move to rise and satisfy ourselves. For five minutes or so he went +on giving directions. Then he left the stable, and, softly stealing to +our window, we saw him cross the court and re-enter the inn. We +consulted as to what we should do. We feared to excite remark or +suspicion by descending and leaving our chamber, or else immediate +escape was our strongest idea. Then the ostler left the stable, locking +the door on the outside. + +'We must try and drop through the window--if, indeed, it is well to go +at all,' said Amante. + +With reflection came wisdom. We should excite suspicion by leaving +without paying our bill. We were on foot, and might easily be pursued. +So we sat on our bed's edge, talking and shivering, while from across +the court the laughter rang merrily, and the company slowly dispersed +one by one, their lights flitting past the windows as they went +upstairs and settled each one to his rest. + +We crept into our bed, holding each other tight, and listening to every +sound, as if we thought we were tracked, and might meet our death at +any moment. In the dead of night, just at the profound stillness +preceding the turn into another day, we heard a soft, cautious step +crossing the yard. The key into the stable was turned--some one came +into the stable--we felt rather than heard him there. A horse started a +little, and made a restless movement with his feet, then whinnied +recognition. He who had entered made two or three low sounds to the +animal, and then led him into the court. Amante sprang to the window +with the noiseless activity of a cat. She looked out, but dared not +speak a word. We heard the great door into the street open--a pause for +mounting, and the horse's footsteps were lost in distance. + +Then Amante came back to me. 'It was he! he is gone!' said she, and +once more we lay down, trembling and shaking. + +This time we fell sound asleep. We slept long and late. We were wakened +by many hurrying feet, and many confused voices; all the world seemed +awake and astir. We rose and dressed ourselves, and coming down we +looked around among the crowd collected in the court-yard, in order to +assure ourselves _he_ was not there before we left the shelter of the +stable. + +The instant we were seen, two or three people rushed to us. + +'Have you heard?--Do you know?--That poor young lady--oh, come and +see!' and so we were hurried, almost in spite of ourselves, across the +court, and up the great open stairs of the main building of the inn, +into a bed-chamber, where lay the beautiful young German lady, so full +of graceful pride the night before, now white and still in death. By +her stood the French maid, crying and gesticulating. + +'Oh, madame! if you had but suffered me to stay with you! Oh! the +baron, what will he say?' and so she went on. Her state had but just +been discovered; it had been supposed that she was fatigued, and was +sleeping late, until a few minutes before. The surgeon of the town had +been sent for, and the landlord of the inn was trying vainly to enforce +order until he came, and, from time to time, drinking little cups of +brandy, and offering them to the guests, who were all assembled there, +pretty much as the servants were doing in the court-yard. + +At last the surgeon came. All fell back, and hung on the words that +were to fall from his lips. + +'See!' said the landlord. 'This lady came last night by the diligence +with her maid. Doubtless, a great lady, for she must have a private +sitting-room--' + +'She was Madame the Baroness de Roeder,' said the French maid. + +--'And was difficult to please in the matter of supper, and a +sleeping-room. She went to bed well, though fatigued. Her maid left +her--' + +'I begged to be allowed to sleep in her room, as we were in a strange +inn, of the character of which we knew nothing; but she would not let +me, my mistress was such a great lady.' + +--'And slept with my servants,' continued the landlord. 'This morning +we thought madame was still slumbering; but when eight, nine, ten, and +near eleven o'clock came, I bade her maid use my pass-key, and enter +her room----' + +'The door was not locked, only closed. And here she was found--dead is +she not, monsieur?--with her face down on her pillow, and her beautiful +hair all scattered wild; she never would let me tie it up, saying it +made her head ache. Such hair!' said the waiting-maid, lifting up a +long golden tress, and letting it fall again. + +I remembered Amante's words the night before, and crept close up to +her. + +Meanwhile, the doctor was examining the body underneath the +bed-clothes, which the landlord, until now, had not allowed to be +disarranged. The surgeon drew out his hand, all bathed and stained with +blood; and holding up a short, sharp knife, with a piece of paper +fastened round it. + +'Here has been foul play,' he said. 'The deceased lady has been +murdered. This dagger was aimed straight at her heart.' Then putting on +his spectacles, he read the writing on the bloody paper, dimmed and +horribly obscured as it was: + + NUMÉRO UN. + Ainsi les Chauffeurs se vengent. + +'Let us go!' said I to Amante. 'Oh, let us leave this horrible place!' + +'Wait a little,' said she. 'Only a few minutes more. It will be +better.' + +Immediately the voices of all proclaimed their suspicions of the +cavalier who had arrived last the night before. He had, they said, made +so many inquiries about the young lady, whose supercilious conduct all +in the _salle-à-manger_ had been discussing on his entrance. They were +talking about her as we left the room; he must have come in directly +afterwards, and not until he had learnt all about her, had he spoken of +the business which necessitated his departure at dawn of day, and made +his arrangements with both landlord and ostler for the possession of +the keys of the stable and _porte-cochère_. In short, there was no +doubt as to the murderer, even before the arrival of the legal +functionary who had been sent for by the surgeon; but the word on the +paper chilled every one with terror. Les Chauffeurs, who were they? No +one knew, some of the gang might even then be in the room overhearing, +and noting down fresh objects for vengeance. In Germany, I had heard +little of this terrible gang, and I had paid no greater heed to the +stories related once or twice about them in Carlsruhe than one does to +tales about ogres. But here in their very haunts, I learnt the full +amount of the terror they inspired. No one would be legally responsible +for any evidence criminating the murderer. The public prosecutor shrank +from the duties of his office. What do I say? Neither Amante nor I, +knowing far more of the actual guilt of the man who had killed that +poor sleeping young lady, durst breathe a word. We appeared to be +wholly ignorant of everything: we, who might have told so much. But how +could we? we were broken down with terrific anxiety and fatigue, with +the knowledge that we, above all, were doomed victims; and that the +blood, heavily dripping from the bed-clothes on to the floor, was +dripping thus out of the poor dead body, because, when living, she had +been mistaken for me. + +At length Amante went up to the landlord, and asked permission to leave +his inn, doing all openly and humbly, so as to excite neither ill-will +nor suspicion. Indeed, suspicion was otherwise directed, and he +willingly gave us leave to depart. A few days afterwards we were across +the Rhine, in Germany, making our way towards Frankfort, but still +keeping our disguises, and Amante still working at her trade. + +On the way, we met a young man, a wandering journeyman from Heidelberg. +I knew him, although I did not choose that he should know me. I asked +him, as carelessly as I could, how the old miller was now? He told me +he was dead. This realization of the worst apprehensions caused by his +long silence shocked me inexpressibly. It seemed as though every prop +gave way from under me. I had been talking to Amante only that very day +of the safety and comfort of the home that awaited her in my father's +house; of the gratitude which the old man would feel towards her; and +how there, in that peaceful dwelling, far away from the terrible land +of France, she should find ease and security for all the rest of her +life. All this I thought I had to promise, and even yet more had I +looked for, for myself. I looked to the unburdening of my heart and +conscience by telling all I knew to my best and wisest friend. I looked +to his love as a sure guidance as well as a comforting stay, and, +behold, he was gone away from me for ever! + +I had left the room hastily on hearing of this sad news from the +Heidelberger. Presently, Amante followed. + +'Poor madame,' said she, consoling me to the best of her ability. And +then she told me by degrees what more she had learned respecting my +home, about which she knew almost as much as I did, from my frequent +talks on the subject both at Les Rochers and on the dreary, doleful +road we had come along. She had continued the conversation after I +left, by asking about my brother and his wife. Of course, they lived on +at the mill, but the man said (with what truth I know not, but I +believed it firmly at the time) that Babette had completely got the +upper hand of my brother, who only saw through her eyes and heard with +her ears. That there had been much Heidelberg gossip of late days about +her sudden intimacy with a grand French gentleman who had appeared at +the mill--a relation, by marriage--married, in fact, to the miller's +sister, who, by all accounts, had behaved abominably and ungratefully. +But that was no reason for Babette's extreme and sudden intimacy with +him, going about everywhere with the French gentleman; and since he +left (as the Heidelberger said he knew for a fact) corresponding with +him constantly. Yet her husband saw no harm in it all, seemingly; +though, to be sure, he was so out of spirits, what with his father's +death and the news of his sister's infamy, that he hardly knew how to +hold up his head. + +'Now,' said Amante, 'all this proves that M. de la Tourelle has +suspected that you would go back to the nest in which you were reared, +and that he has been there, and found that you have not yet returned; +but probably he still imagines that you will do so, and has accordingly +engaged your sister-in-law as a kind of informant. Madame has said that +her sister-in-law bore her no extreme good-will; and the defamatory +story he has got the start of us in spreading, will not tend to +increase the favour in which your sister-in-law holds you. No doubt the +assassin was retracing his steps when we met him near Forbach, and +having heard of the poor German lady, with her French maid, and her +pretty blonde complexion, he followed her. If madame will still be +guided by me--and, my child, I beg of you still to trust me,' said +Amante, breaking out of her respectful formality into the way of +talking more natural to those who had shared and escaped from common +dangers--more natural, too, where the speaker was conscious of a power +of protection which the other did not possess--'we will go on to +Frankfort, and lose ourselves, for a time, at least, in the numbers of +people who throng a great town; and you have told me that Frankfort is +a great town. We will still be husband and wife; we will take a small +lodging, and you shall house-keep and live in-doors. I, as the rougher +and the more alert, will continue my father's trade, and seek work at +the tailors' shops.' + +I could think of no better plan, so we followed this out. In a back +street at Frankfort we found two furnished rooms to let on a sixth +story. The one we entered had no light from day; a dingy lamp swung +perpetually from the ceiling, and from that, or from the open door +leading into the bedroom beyond, came our only light. The bedroom was +more cheerful, but very small. Such as it was, it almost exceeded our +possible means. The money from the sale of my ring was almost +exhausted, and Amante was a stranger in the place, speaking only +French, moreover, and the good Germans were hating the French people +right heartily. However, we succeeded better than our hopes, and even +laid by a little against the time of my confinement. I never stirred +abroad, and saw no one, and Amante's want of knowledge of German kept +her in a state of comparative isolation. + +At length my child was born--my poor worse than fatherless child. It +was a girl, as I had prayed for. I had feared lest a boy might have +something of the tiger nature of its father, but a girl seemed all my +own. And yet not all my own, for the faithful Amante's delight and +glory in the babe almost exceeded mine; in outward show it certainly +did. + +We had not been able to afford any attendance beyond what a +neighbouring sage-femme could give, and she came frequently, bringing +in with her a little store of gossip, and wonderful tales culled out of +her own experience, every time. One day she began to tell me about a +great lady in whose service her daughter had lived as scullion, or some +such thing. Such a beautiful lady! with such a handsome husband. But +grief comes to the palace as well as to the garret, and why or +wherefore no one knew, but somehow the Baron de Roeder must have +incurred the vengeance of the terrible Chauffeurs; for not many months +ago, as madame was going to see her relations in Alsace, she was +stabbed dead as she lay in bed at some hotel on the road. Had I not +seen it in the _Gazette_? Had I not heard? Why, she had been told that +as far off as Lyons there were placards offering a heavy reward on the +part of the Baron de Roeder for information respecting the murderer of +his wife. But no one could help him, for all who could bear evidence +were in such terror of the Chauffeurs; there were hundreds of them she +had been told, rich and poor, great gentlemen and peasants, all leagued +together by most frightful oaths to hunt to the death any one who bore +witness against them; so that even they who survived the tortures to +which the Chauffeurs subjected many of the people whom they plundered, +dared not to recognise them again, would not dare, even did they see +them at the bar of a court of justice; for, if one were condemned, were +there not hundreds sworn to avenge his death? + +I told all this to Amante, and we began to fear that if M. de la +Tourelle, or Lefebvre, or any of the gang at Les Rochers, had seen +these placards, they would know that the poor lady stabbed by the +former was the Baroness de Roeder, and that they would set forth again +in search of me. + +This fresh apprehension told on my health and impeded my recovery. We +had so little money we could not call in a physician, at least, not one +in established practice. But Amante found out a young doctor for whom, +indeed, she had sometimes worked; and offering to pay him in kind, she +brought him to see me, her sick wife. He was very gentle and +thoughtful, though, like ourselves, very poor. But he gave much time +and consideration to the case, saying once to Amante that he saw my +constitution had experienced some severe shock from which it was +probable that my nerves would never entirely recover. By-and-by I shall +name this doctor, and then you will know, better than I can describe, +his character. + +I grew strong in time--stronger, at least. I was able to work a little +at home, and to sun myself and my baby at the garret-window in the +roof. It was all the air I dared to take. I constantly wore the +disguise I had first set out with; as constantly had I renewed the +disfiguring dye which changed my hair and complexion. But the perpetual +state of terror in which I had been during the whole months succeeding +my escape from Les Rochers made me loathe the idea of ever again +walking in the open daylight, exposed to the sight and recognition of +every passer-by. In vain Amante reasoned--in vain the doctor urged. +Docile in every other thing, in this I was obstinate. I would not stir +out. One day Amante returned from her work, full of news--some of it +good, some such as to cause us apprehension. The good news was this; +the master for whom she worked as journeyman was going to send her with +some others to a great house at the other side of Frankfort, where +there were to be private theatricals, and where many new dresses and +much alteration of old ones would be required. The tailors employed +were all to stay at this house until the day of representation was +over, as it was at some distance from the town, and no one could tell +when their work would be ended. But the pay was to be proportionately +good. + +The other thing she had to say was this: she had that day met the +travelling jeweller to whom she and I had sold my ring. It was rather a +peculiar one, given to me by my husband; we had felt at the time that +it might be the means of tracing us, but we were penniless and +starving, and what else could we do? She had seen that this Frenchman +had recognised her at the same instant that she did him, and she +thought at the same time that there was a gleam of more than common +intelligence on his face as he did so. This idea had been confirmed by +his following her for some way on the other side of the street; but she +had evaded him with her better knowledge of the town, and the +increasing darkness of the night. Still it was well that she was going +to such a distance from our dwelling on the next day; and she had +brought me in a stock of provisions, begging me to keep within doors, +with a strange kind of fearful oblivion of the fact that I had never +set foot beyond the threshold of the house since I had first entered +it--scarce ever ventured down the stairs. But, although my poor, my +dear, very faithful Amante was like one possessed that last night, she +spoke continually of the dead, which is a bad sign for the living. She +kissed you--yes! it was you, my daughter, my darling, whom I bore +beneath my bosom away from the fearful castle of your father--I call +him so for the first time, I must call him so once again before I have +done--Amante kissed you, sweet baby, blessed little comforter, as if +she never could leave off. And then she went away, alive. + +Two days, three days passed away. That third evening I was sitting +within my bolted doors--you asleep on your pillow by my side--when a +step came up the stair, and I knew it must be for me; for ours were the +top-most rooms. Some one knocked; I held my very breath. But some one +spoke, and I knew it was the good Doctor Voss. Then I crept to the +door, and answered. + +'Are you alone?' asked I. + +'Yes,' said he, in a still lower voice. 'Let me in.' I let him in, and +he was as alert as I in bolting and barring the door. Then he came and +whispered to me his doleful tale. He had come from the hospital in the +opposite quarter of the town, the hospital which he visited; he should +have been with me sooner, but he had feared lest he should be watched. +He had come from Amante's death-bed. Her fears of the jeweller were too +well founded. She had left the house where she was employed that +morning, to transact some errand connected with her work in the town; +she must have been followed, and dogged on her way back through +solitary wood-paths, for some of the wood-rangers belonging to the +great house had found her lying there, stabbed to death, but not dead; +with the poniard again plunged through the fatal writing, once more; +but this time with the word 'un' underlined, so as to show that the +assassin was aware of his precious mistake. + + Numéro _Un_. + Ainsi les Chauffeurs se vengent. + +They had carried her to the house, and given her restoratives till she +had recovered the feeble use of her speech. But, oh, faithful, dear +friend and sister! even then she remembered me, and refused to tell +(what no one else among her fellow workmen knew), where she lived or +with whom. Life was ebbing away fast, and they had no resource but to +carry her to the nearest hospital, where, of course, the fact of her +sex was made known. Fortunately both for her and for me, the doctor in +attendance was the very Doctor Voss whom we already knew. To him, while +awaiting her confessor, she told enough to enable him to understand the +position in which I was left; before the priest had heard half her tale +Amante was dead. + +Doctor Voss told me he had made all sorts of _détours_, and waited +thus, late at night, for fear of being watched and followed. But I do +not think he was. At any rate, as I afterwards learnt from him, the +Baron Roeder, on hearing of the similitude of this murder with that of +his wife in every particular, made such a search after the assassins, +that, although they were not discovered, they were compelled to take to +flight for the time. + +I can hardly tell you now by what arguments Dr. Voss, at first merely +my benefactor, sparing me a portion of his small modicum, at length +persuaded me to become his wife. His wife he called it, I called it; +for we went through the religious ceremony too much slighted at the +time, and as we were both Lutherans, and M. de la Tourelle had +pretended to be of the reformed religion, a divorce from the latter +would have been easily procurable by German law both ecclesiastical and +legal, could we have summoned so fearful a man into any court. + +The good doctor took me and my child by stealth to his modest dwelling; +and there I lived in the same deep refinement, never seeing the full +light of day, although when the dye had once passed away from my face +my husband did not wish me to renew it. There was no need; my yellow +hair was grey, my complexion was ashen-coloured, no creature could have +recognized the fresh-coloured, bright-haired young woman of eighteen +months before. The few people whom I saw knew me only as Madame Voss; a +widow much older than himself, whom Dr. Voss had secretly married. They +called me the Grey Woman. + +He made me give you his surname. Till now you have known no other +father--while he lived you needed no father's love. Once only, only +once more, did the old terror come upon me. For some reason which I +forget, I broke through my usual custom, and went to the window of my +room for some purpose, either to shut or to open it. Looking out into +the street for an instant, I was fascinated by the sight of M. de la +Tourelle, gay, young, elegant as ever, walking along on the opposite +side of the street. The noise I had made with the window caused him to +look up; he saw me, an old grey woman, and he did not recognize me! Yet +it was not three years since we had parted, and his eyes were keen and +dreadful like those of the lynx. + +I told M. Voss, on his return home, and he tried to cheer me, but the +shock of seeing M. de la Tourelle had been too terrible for me. I was +ill for long months afterwards. + +Once again I saw him. Dead. He and Lefebvre were at last caught; hunted +down by the Baron de Roeder in some of their crimes. Dr. Voss had heard +of their arrest; their condemnation, their death; but he never said a +word to me, until one day he bade me show him that I loved him by my +obedience and my trust. He took me a long carriage journey, where to I +know not, for we never spoke of that day again; I was led through a +prison, into a closed court-yard, where, decently draped in the last +robes of death, concealing the marks of decapitation, lay M. de la +Tourelle, and two or three others, whom I had known at Les Rochers. + +After that conviction Dr. Voss tried to persuade me to return to a more +natural mode of life, and to go out more. But although I sometimes +complied with his wish, yet the old terror was ever strong upon me, and +he, seeing what an effort it was, gave up urging me at last. + +You know all the rest. How we both mourned bitterly the loss of that +dear husband and father--for such I will call him ever--and as such you +must consider him, my child, after this one revelation is over. + +Why has it been made, you ask. For this reason, my child. The lover, +whom you have only known as M. Lebrun, a French artist, told me but +yesterday his real name, dropped because the blood-thirsty republicans +might consider it as too aristocratic. It is Maurice de Poissy. + + + + +CURIOUS, IF TRUE + +(EXTRACT FROM A LETTER FROM RICHARD WHITTINGHAM, ESQ.) + + +You were formerly so much amused at my pride in my descent from that +sister of Calvin's, who married a Whittingham, Dean of Durham, that I +doubt if you will be able to enter into the regard for my distinguished +relation that has led me to France, in order to examine registers and +archives, which, I thought, might enable me to discover collateral +descendants of the great reformer, with whom I might call cousins. I +shall not tell you of my troubles and adventures in this research; you +are not worthy to hear of them; but something so curious befell me one +evening last August, that if I had not been perfectly certain I was +wide awake, I might have taken it for a dream. + +For the purpose I have named, it was necessary that I should make Tours +my head-quarters for a time. I had traced descendants of the Calvin +family out of Normandy into the centre of France; but I found it was +necessary to have a kind of permission from the bishop of the diocese +before I could see certain family papers, which had fallen into the +possession of the Church; and, as I had several English friends at +Tours, I awaited the answer to my request to Monseigneur de----, at +that town. I was ready to accept any invitation; but I received very +few; and was sometimes a little at a loss what to do with my evenings. +The _table d'hôte_ was at five o'clock; I did not wish to go to the +expense of a private sitting-room, disliked the dinnery atmosphere of +the _salle à manger_, could not play either at pool or billiards, and +the aspect of my fellow guests was unprepossessing enough to make me +unwilling to enter into any _tête-à-tête_ gamblings with them. So I +usually rose from table early, and tried to make the most of the +remaining light of the August evenings in walking briskly off to +explore the surrounding country; the middle of the day was too hot for +this purpose, and better employed in lounging on a bench in the +Boulevards, lazily listening to the distant band, and noticing with +equal laziness the faces and figures of the women who passed by. + +One Thursday evening, the 18th of August it was, I think, I had gone +further than usual in my walk, and I found that it was later than I had +imagined when I paused to turn back. I fancied I could make a round; I +had enough notion of the direction in which I was, to see that by +turning up a narrow straight lane to my left I should shorten my way +back to Tours. And so I believe I should have done, could I have found +an outlet at the right place, but field-paths are almost unknown in +that part of France, and my lane, stiff and straight as any street, and +marked into terribly vanishing perspective by the regular row of +poplars on each side, seemed interminable. Of course night came on, and +I was in darkness. In England I might have had a chance of seeing a +light in some cottage only a field or two off, and asking my way from +the inhabitants; but here I could see no such welcome sight; indeed, I +believe French peasants go to bed with the summer daylight, so if there +were any habitations in the neighbourhood I never saw them. At last--I +believe I must have walked two hours in the darkness,--I saw the dusky +outline of a wood on one side of the weariful lane, and, impatiently +careless of all forest laws and penalties for trespassers, I made my +way to it, thinking that if the worst came to the worst, I could find +some covert--some shelter where I could lie down and rest, until the +morning light gave me a chance of finding my way back to Tours. But the +plantation, on the outskirts of what appeared to me a dense wood, was +of young trees, too closely planted to be more than slender stems +growing up to a good height, with scanty foliage on their summits. On I +went towards the thicker forest, and once there I slackened my pace, +and began to look about me for a good lair. I was as dainty as +Lochiel's grandchild, who made his grandsire indignant at the luxury of +his pillow of snow: this brake was too full of brambles, that felt damp +with dew; there was no hurry, since I had given up all hope of passing +the night between four walls; and I went leisurely groping about, and +trusting that there were no wolves to be poked up out of their summer +drowsiness by my stick, when all at once I saw a château before me, not +a quarter of a mile off, at the end of what seemed to be an ancient +avenue (now overgrown and irregular), which I happened to be crossing, +when I looked to my right, and saw the welcome sight. Large, stately, +and dark was its outline against the dusky night-sky; there were +pepper-boxes and tourelles and what-not fantastically going up into the +dim starlight. And more to the purpose still, though I could not see +the details of the building that I was now facing, it was plain enough +that there were lights in many windows, as if some great entertainment +was going on. + +'They are hospitable people, at any rate,' thought I. 'Perhaps they +will give me a bed. I don't suppose French propriétaires have traps and +horses quite as plentiful as English gentlemen; but they are evidently +having a large party, and some of their guests may be from Tours, and +will give me a cast back to the Lion d'Or. I am not proud, and I am +dog-tired. I am not above hanging on behind, if need be.' + +So, putting a little briskness and spirit into my walk, I went up to +the door, which was standing open, most hospitably, and showing a large +lighted hall, all hung round with spoils of the chase, armour, &c., the +details of which I had not time to notice, for the instant I stood on +the threshold a huge porter appeared, in a strange, old-fashioned +dress, a kind of livery which well befitted the general appearance of +the house. He asked me, in French (so curiously pronounced that I +thought I had hit upon a new kind of patois), my name, and whence I +came. I thought he would not be much the wiser, still it was but civil +to give it before I made my request for assistance; so, in reply, I +said: + +'My name is Whittingham--Richard Whittingham, an English gentleman, +staying at ----.' To my infinite surprise, a light of pleased +intelligence came over the giant's face; he made me a low bow, and said +(still in the same curious dialect) that I was welcome, that I was long +expected. + +'Long expected!' What could the fellow mean? Had I stumbled on a nest +of relations by John Calvin's side, who had heard of my genealogical +inquiries, and were gratified and interested by them? But I was too +much pleased to be under shelter for the night to think it necessary to +account for my agreeable reception before I enjoyed it. Just as he was +opening the great heavy _battants_ of the door that led from the hall +to the interior, he turned round and said: + +'Apparently Monsieur le Géanquilleur is not come with you.' + +'No! I am all alone; I have lost my way,'--and I was going on with my +explanation, when he, as if quite indifferent to it, led the way up a +great stone staircase, as wide as many rooms, and having on each +landing-place massive iron wickets, in a heavy framework; these the +porter unlocked with the solemn slowness of age. Indeed, a strange, +mysterious awe of the centuries that had passed away since this château +was built, came over me as I waited for the turning of the ponderous +keys in the ancient locks. I could almost have fancied that I heard a +mighty rushing murmur (like the ceaseless sound of a distant sea, +ebbing and flowing for ever and for ever), coming forth from the great +vacant galleries that opened out on each side of the broad staircase, +and were to be dimly perceived in the darkness above us. It was as if +the voices of generations of men yet echoed and eddied in the silent +air. It was strange, too, that my friend the porter going before me, +ponderously infirm, with his feeble old hands striving in vain to keep +the tall flambeau he held steadily before him,--strange, I say, that he +was the only domestic I saw in the vast halls and passages, or met with +on the grand staircase. At length we stood before the gilded doors that +led into the saloon where the family--or it might be the company, so +great was the buzz of voices--was assembled. I would have remonstrated +when I found he was going to introduce me, dusty and travel-smeared, in +a morning costume that was not even my best, into this grand _salon_, +with nobody knew how many ladies and gentlemen assembled; but the +obstinate old man was evidently bent upon taking me straight to his +master, and paid no heed to my words. + +The doors flew open, and I was ushered into a saloon curiously full of +pale light, which did not culminate on any spot, nor proceed from any +centre, nor flicker with any motion of the air, but filled every nook +and corner, making all things deliciously distinct; different from our +light of gas or candle, as is the difference between a clear southern +atmosphere and that of our misty England. + +At the first moment, my arrival excited no attention, the apartment was +so full of people, all intent on their own conversation. But my friend +the porter went up to a handsome lady of middle age, richly attired in +that antique manner which fashion has brought round again of late +years, and, waiting first in an attitude of deep respect till her +attention fell upon him, told her my name and something about me, as +far as I could guess from the gestures of the one and the sudden glance +of the eye of the other. + +She immediately came towards me with the most friendly actions of +greeting, even before she had advanced near enough to speak. Then,--and +was it not strange?--her words and accent were that of the commonest +peasant of the country. Yet she herself looked highbred, and would have +been dignified had she been a shade less restless, had her countenance +worn a little less lively and inquisitive expression. I had been poking +a good deal about the old parts of Tours, and had had to understand the +dialect of the people who dwelt in the Marché au Vendredi and similar +places, or I really should not have understood my handsome hostess, as +she offered to present me to her husband, a henpecked, gentlemanly man, +who was more quaintly attired than she in the very extreme of that +style of dress. I thought to myself that in France, as in England, it +is the provincials who carry fashion to such an excess as to become +ridiculous. + +However, he spoke (still in the _patois_) of his pleasure in making my +acquaintance, and led me to a strange uneasy easy-chair, much of a +piece with the rest of the furniture, which might have taken its place +without any anachronism by the side of that in the Hôtel Cluny. Then +again began the clatter of French voices, which my arrival had for an +instant interrupted, and I had leisure to look about me. Opposite to me +sat a very sweet-looking lady, who must have been a great beauty in her +youth, I should think, and would be charming in old age, from the +sweetness of her countenance. She was, however, extremely fat, and on +seeing her feet laid up before her on a cushion, I at once perceived +that they were so swollen as to render her incapable of walking, which +probably brought on her excessive _embonpoint_. Her hands were plump +and small, but rather coarse-grained in texture, not quite so clean as +they might have been, and altogether not so aristocratic-looking as the +charming face. Her dress was of superb black velvet, ermine-trimmed, +with diamonds thrown all abroad over it. + +Not far from her stood the least little man I had ever seen; of such +admirable proportions no one could call him a dwarf, because with that +word we usually associate something of deformity; but yet with an elfin +look of shrewd, hard, worldly wisdom in his face that marred the +impression which his delicate regular little features would otherwise +have conveyed. Indeed, I do not think he was quite of equal rank with +the rest of the company, for his dress was inappropriate to the +occasion (and he apparently was an invited, while I was an involuntary +guest); and one or two of his gestures and actions were more like the +tricks of an uneducated rustic than anything else. To explain what I +mean: his boots had evidently seen much service, and had been +re-topped, re-heeled, re-soled to the extent of cobbler's powers. Why +should he have come in them if they were not his best--his only pair? +And what can be more ungenteel than poverty? Then again he had an +uneasy trick of putting his hand up to his throat, as if he expected to +find something the matter with it; and he had the awkward habit--which +I do not think he could have copied from Dr. Johnson, because most +probably he had never heard of him--of trying always to retrace his +steps on the exact boards on which he had trodden to arrive at any +particular part of the room. Besides, to settle the question, I once +heard him addressed as Monsieur Poucet, without any aristocratic 'de' +for a prefix; and nearly every one else in the room was a marquis, at +any rate. + +I say, 'nearly every one;' for some strange people had the entrée; +unless, indeed, they were, like me, benighted. One of the guests I +should have taken for a servant, but for the extraordinary influence he +seemed to have over the man I took for his master, and who never did +anything without, apparently, being urged thereto by this follower. The +master, magnificently dressed, but ill at ease in his clothes as if +they had been made for some one else, was a weak-looking, handsome man, +continually sauntering about, and I almost guessed an object of +suspicion to some of the gentlemen present, which, perhaps, drove him +on the companionship of his follower, who was dressed something in the +style of an ambassador's chasseur; yet it was not a chasseur's dress +after all; it was something more thoroughly old-world; boots half way +up his ridiculously small legs, which clattered as he walked along, as +if they were too large for his little feet; and a great quantity of +grey fur, as trimming to coat, court mantle, boots, cap--everything. +You know the way in which certain countenances remind you perpetually +of some animal, be it bird or beast! Well, this chasseur (as I will +call him for want of a better name) was exceedingly like the great +Tom-cat that you have seen so often in my chambers, and laughed at +almost as often for his uncanny gravity of demeanour. Grey whiskers has +my Tom--grey whiskers had the chasseur: grey hair overshadows the upper +lip of my Tom--grey mustachios hid that of the chasseur. The pupils of +Tom's eyes dilate and contract as I had thought cats' pupils only could +do, until I saw those of the chasseur. To be sure, canny as Tom is, the +chasseur had the advantage in the more intelligent expression. He +seemed to have obtained most complete sway over his master or patron, +whose looks he watched, and whose steps he followed, with a kind of +distrustful interest that puzzled me greatly. + +There were several other groups in the more distant part of the saloon, +all of the stately old school, all grand and noble, I conjectured from +their bearing. They seemed perfectly well acquainted with each other, +as if they were in the habit of meeting. But I was interrupted in my +observations by the tiny little gentleman on the opposite side of the +room coming across to take a place beside me. It is no difficult matter +to a Frenchman to slide into conversation, and so gracefully did my +pigmy friend keep up the character of the nation, that we were almost +confidential before ten minutes had elapsed. + +Now I was quite aware that the welcome which all had extended to me, +from the porter up to the vivacious lady and meek lord of the castle, +was intended for some other person. But it required either a degree of +moral courage, of which I cannot boast, or the self-reliance and +conversational powers of a bolder and cleverer man than I, to undeceive +people who had fallen into so fortunate a mistake for me. Yet the +little man by my side insinuated himself so much into my confidence, +that I had half a mind to tell him of my exact situation, and to turn +him into a friend and an ally. + +'Madame is perceptibly growing older,' said he, in the midst of my +perplexity, glancing at our hostess. + +'Madame is still a very fine woman,' replied I. + +'Now, is it not strange,' continued he, lowering his voice, 'how women +almost invariably praise the absent, or departed, as if they were +angels of light while as for the present, or the living'--here he +shrugged up his little shoulders, and made an expressive pause. 'Would +you believe it! Madame is always praising her late husband to +monsieur's face; till, in fact, we guests are quite perplexed how to +look: for, you know, the late M. de Retz's character was quite +notorious,--everybody has heard of him.' All the world of Touraine, +thought I, but I made an assenting noise. + +At this instant, monsieur our host came up to me, and with a civil look +of tender interest (such as some people put on when they inquire after +your mother, about whom they do not care one straw), asked if I had +heard lately how my cat was? 'How my cat was!' What could the man mean? +My cat! Could he mean the tailless Tom, born in the Isle of Man, and +now supposed to be keeping guard against the incursions of rats and +mice into my chambers in London? Tom is, as you know, on pretty good +terms with some of my friends, using their legs for rubbing-posts +without scruple, and highly esteemed by them for his gravity of +demeanour, and wise manner of winking his eyes. But could his fame have +reached across the Channel? However, an answer must be returned to the +inquiry, as monsieur's face was bent down to mine with a look of polite +anxiety; so I, in my turn, assumed an expression of gratitude, and +assured him that, to the best of my belief, my cat was in remarkably +good health. + +'And the climate agrees with her?' + +'Perfectly,' said I, in a maze of wonder at this deep solicitude in a +tailless cat who had lost one foot and half an ear in some cruel trap. +My host smiled a sweet smile, and, addressing a few words to my little +neighbour, passed on. + +'How wearisome those aristocrats are!' quoth my neighbour, with a +slight sneer. 'Monsieur's conversation rarely extends to more than two +sentences to any one. By that time his faculties are exhausted, and he +needs the refreshment of silence. You and I, monsieur, are, at any +rate, indebted to our own wits for our rise in the world!' + +Here again I was bewildered! As you know, I am rather proud of my +descent from families which, if not noble themselves, are allied to +nobility,--and as to my 'rise in the world'--if I had risen, it would +have been rather for balloon-like qualities than for mother-wit, to +being unencumbered with heavy ballast either in my head or my pockets. +However, it was my cue to agree: so I smiled again. + +'For my part,' said he, 'if a man does not stick at trifles, if he +knows how to judiciously add to, or withhold facts, and is not +sentimental in his parade of humanity, he is sure to do well; sure to +affix a _de_ or _von_ to his name, and end his days in comfort. There +is an example of what I am saying'--and he glanced furtively at the +weak-looking master of the sharp, intelligent servant, whom I have +called the chasseur. + +'Monsieur le Marquis would never have been anything but a miller's son, +if it had not been for the talents of his servant. Of course you know +his antecedents?' + +I was going to make some remarks on the changes in the order of the +peerage since the days of Louis XVI.--going, in fact, to be very +sensible and historical--when there was a slight commotion among the +people at the other end of the room. Lacqueys in quaint liveries must +have come in from behind the tapestry, I suppose (for I never saw them +enter, though I sate right opposite to the doors), and were handing +about the slight beverages and slighter viands which are considered +sufficient refreshments, but which looked rather meagre to my hungry +appetite. These footmen were standing solemnly opposite to a +lady,--beautiful, splendid as the dawn, but--sound asleep in a +magnificent settee. A gentleman who showed so much irritation at her +ill-timed slumbers, that I think he must have been her husband, was +trying to awaken her with actions not far removed from shakings. All in +vain; she was quite unconscious of his annoyance, or the smiles of the +company, or the automatic solemnity of the waiting footman, or the +perplexed anxiety of monsieur and madame. + +My little friend sat down with a sneer, as if his curiosity was +quenched in contempt. + +'Moralists would make an infinity of wise remarks on that scene,' said +he. 'In the first place, note the ridiculous position into which their +superstitious reverence for rank and title puts all these people. +Because monsieur is a reigning prince over some minute principality, +the exact situation of which no one has as yet discovered, no one must +venture to take their glass of eau sucré till Madame la Princesse +awakens; and, judging from past experience, those poor lacqueys may +have to stand for a century before that happens. Next--always speaking +as a moralist, you will observe--note how difficult it is to break off +bad habits acquired in youth!' + +Just then the prince succeeded, by what means I did not see, in awaking +the beautiful sleeper. But at first she did not remember where she was, +and looking up at her husband with loving eyes, she smiled and said: + +'Is it you, my prince?' + +But he was too conscious of the suppressed amusement of the spectators +and his own consequent annoyance, to be reciprocally tender, and turned +away with some little French expression, best rendered into English by +'Pooh, pooh, my dear!' + +After I had had a glass of delicious wine of some unknown quality, my +courage was in rather better plight than before, and I told my cynical +little neighbour--whom I must say I was beginning to dislike--that I +had lost my way in the wood, and had arrived at the château quite by +mistake. + +He seemed mightily amused at my story; said that the same thing had +happened to himself more than once; and told me that I had better luck +than he had on one of these occasions, when, from his account, he must +have been in considerable danger of his life. He ended his story by +making me admire his boots, which he said he still wore, patched though +they were, and all their excellent quality lost by patching, because +they were of such a first-rate make for long pedestrian excursions. +'Though, indeed,' he wound up by saying, 'the new fashion of railroads +would seem to supersede the necessity for this description of boots.' + +When I consulted him as to whether I ought to make myself known to my +host and hostess as a benighted traveller, instead of the guest whom +they had taken me for, he exclaimed, 'By no means! I hate such +squeamish morality.' And he seemed much offended by my innocent +question, as if it seemed by implication to condemn something in +himself. He was offended and silent; and just at this moment I caught +the sweet, attractive eyes of the lady opposite--that lady whom I named +at first as being no longer in the bloom of youth, but as being +somewhat infirm about the feet, which were supported on a raised +cushion before her. Her looks seemed to say, 'Come here, and let us +have some conversation together;' and, with a bow of silent excuse to +my little companion, I went across to the lame old lady. She +acknowledged my coming with the prettiest gesture of thanks possible; +and, half apologetically, said, 'It is a little dull to be unable to +move about on such evenings as this; but it is a just punishment to me +for my early vanities. My poor feet, that were by nature so small, are +now taking their revenge for my cruelty in forcing them into such +little slippers ... Besides, monsieur,' with a pleasant smile, 'I +thought it was possible you might be weary of the malicious sayings of +your little neighbour. He has not borne the best character in his +youth, and such men are sure to be cynical in their old age.' + +'Who is he?' asked I, with English abruptness. + +'His name is Poucet, and his father was, I believe, a woodcutter, or +charcoal burner, or something of the sort. They do tell sad stories of +connivance at murder, ingratitude, and obtaining money on false +pretences--but you will think me as bad as he if I go on with my +slanders. Rather let us admire the lovely lady coming up towards us, +with the roses in her hand--I never see her without roses, they are so +closely connected with her past history, as you are doubtless aware. +Ah, beauty!' said my companion to the lady drawing near to us, 'it is +like you to come to me, now that I can no longer go to you.' Then +turning to me, and gracefully drawing me into the conversation, she +said, 'You must know that, although we never met until we were both +married, we have been almost like sisters ever since. There have been +so many points of resemblance in our circumstances, and I think I may +say in our characters. We had each two elder sisters--mine were but +half-sisters, though--who were not so kind to us as they might have +been.' + +'But have been sorry for it since,' put in the other lady. + +'Since we have married princes,' continued the same lady, with an arch +smile that had nothing of unkindness in it, 'for we both have married +far above our original stations in life; we are both unpunctual in our +habits, and, in consequence of this failing of ours, we have both had +to suffer mortification and pain.' + +'And both are charming,' said a whisper close behind me. 'My lord the +marquis, say it--say, "And both are charming."' + +'And both are charming,' was spoken aloud by another voice. I turned, +and saw the wily cat-like chasseur, prompting his master to make civil +speeches. + +The ladies bowed with that kind of haughty acknowledgement which shows +that compliments from such a source are distasteful. But our trio of +conversation was broken up, and I was sorry for it. The marquis looked +as if he had been stirred up to make that one speech, and hoped that he +would not be expected to say more; while behind him stood the chasseur, +half impertinent and half servile in his ways and attitudes. The +ladies, who were real ladies, seemed to be sorry for the awkwardness of +the marquis, and addressed some trifling questions to him, adapting +themselves to the subjects on which he could have no trouble in +answering. The chasseur, meanwhile, was talking to himself in a +growling tone of voice. I had fallen a little into the background at +this interruption in a conversation which promised to be so pleasant, +and I could not help hearing his words. + +'Really, De Carabas grows more stupid every day. I have a great mind to +throw off his boots, and leave him to his fate. I was intended for a +court, and to a court I will go, and make my own fortune as I have made +his. The emperor will appreciate my talents.' + +And such are the habits of the French, or such his forgetfulness of +good manners in his anger, that he spat right and left on the +parquetted floor. + +Just then a very ugly, very pleasant-looking man, came towards the two +ladies to whom I had lately been speaking, leading up to them a +delicate, fair woman, dressed all in the softest white, as if she were +_vouée au blanc_. I do not think there was a bit of colour about her. I +thought I heard her making, as she came along, a little noise of +pleasure, not exactly like the singing of a tea-kettle, nor yet like +the cooing of a dove, but reminding me of each sound. + +'Madame de Mioumiou was anxious to see you,' said he, addressing the +lady with the roses, 'so I have brought her across to give you a +pleasure!' What an honest, good face! but oh! how ugly! And yet I liked +his ugliness better than most persons' beauty. There was a look of +pathetic acknowledgement of his ugliness, and a deprecation of your too +hasty judgement, in his countenance that was positively winning. The +soft, white lady kept glancing at my neighbour the chasseur, as if they +had had some former acquaintance, which puzzled me very much, as they +were of such different rank. However, their nerves were evidently +strung to the same tune, for at a sound behind the tapestry, which was +more like the scuttering of rats and mice than anything else, both +Madame de Mioumiou and the chasseur started with the most eager look of +anxiety on their countenances, and by their restless movements--madame's +panting, and the fiery dilation of his eyes--one might see that +commonplace sounds affected them both in a manner very different to the +rest of the company. The ugly husband of the lovely lady with the roses +now addressed himself to me. + +'We are much disappointed,' he said, 'in finding that monsieur is not +accompanied by his countryman--le grand Jean d'Angleterre; I cannot +pronounce his name rightly'--and he looked at me to help him out. + +'Le grand Jean d'Angleterre!' now who was le grand Jean d'Angleterre? +John Bull? John Russell? John Bright? + +'Jean--Jean'--continued the gentleman, seeing my embarrassment. 'Ah, +these terrible English names--"Jean de Géanquilleur!"' + +I was as wise as ever. And yet the name struck me as familiar, but +slightly disguised. I repeated it to myself. It was mighty like John +the Giant-killer, only his friends always call that worthy 'Jack'. I +said the name aloud. + +'Ah, that is it!' said he. 'But why has he not accompanied you to our +little reunion to-night?' + +I had been rather puzzled once or twice before, but this serious +question added considerably to my perplexity. Jack the Giant-killer had +once, it is true, been rather an intimate friend of mine, as far as +(printer's) ink and paper can keep up a friendship, but I had not heard +his name mentioned for years; and for aught I knew he lay enchanted +with King Arthur's knights, who lie entranced until the blast of the +trumpets of four mighty kings shall call them to help at England's +need. But the question had been asked in serious earnest by that +gentleman, whom I more wished to think well of me than I did any other +person in the room. So I answered respectfully that it was long since I +had heard anything of my countryman; but that I was sure it would have +given him as much pleasure as it was doing myself to have been present +at such an agreeable gathering of friends. He bowed, and then the lame +lady took up the word. + +'To-night is the night when, of all the year, this great old forest +surrounding the castle is said to be haunted by the phantom of a little +peasant girl who once lived hereabouts; the tradition is that she was +devoured by a wolf. In former days I have seen her on this night out of +yonder window at the end of the gallery. Will you, ma belle, take +monsieur to see the view outside by the moonlight (you may possibly see +the phantom-child); and leave me to a little _tête-à-tête_ with your +husband?' + +With a gentle movement the lady with the roses complied with the +other's request, and we went to a great window, looking down on the +forest, in which I had lost my way. The tops of the far-spreading and +leafy trees lay motionless beneath us in the pale, wan light, which +shows objects almost as distinct in form, though not in colour, as by +day. We looked down on the countless avenues, which seemed to converge +from all quarters to the great old castle; and suddenly across one, +quite near to us, there passed the figure of a little girl, with the +'capuchon' on, that takes the place of a peasant girl's bonnet in +France. She had a basket on one arm, and by her, on the side to which +her head was turned, there went a wolf. I could almost have said it was +licking her hand, as if in penitent love, if either penitence or love +had ever been a quality of wolves,--but though not of living, perhaps +it may be of phantom wolves. + +'There, we have seen her!' exclaimed my beautiful companion. 'Though so +long dead, her simple story of household goodness and trustful +simplicity still lingers in the hearts of all who have ever heard of +her; and the country-people about here say that seeing that +phantom-child on this anniversary brings good luck for the year. Let us +hope that we shall share in the traditionary good fortune. Ah! here is +Madame de Retz--she retains the name of her first husband, you know, as +he was of higher rank than the present.' We were joined by our hostess. + +'If monsieur is fond of the beauties of nature and art,' said she, +perceiving that I had been looking at the view from the great window, +'he will perhaps take pleasure in seeing the picture.' Here she sighed, +with a little affectation of grief. 'You know the picture I allude to,' +addressing my companion, who bowed assent, and smiled a little +maliciously, as I followed the lead of madame. + +I went after her to the other end of the saloon, noting by the way with +what keen curiosity she caught up what was passing either in word or +action on each side of her. When we stood opposite to the end wall, I +perceived a full-length picture of a handsome, peculiar-looking man, +with--in spite of his good looks--a very fierce and scowling +expression. My hostess clasped her hands together as her arms hung down +in front, and sighed once more. Then, half in soliloquy, she said: + +'He was the love of my youth; his stern yet manly character first +touched this heart of mine. When--when shall I cease to deplore his +loss!' + +Not being acquainted with her enough to answer this question (if, +indeed, it were not sufficiently answered by the fact of her second +marriage), I felt awkward; and, by way of saying something, I remarked: + +'The countenance strikes me as resembling something I have seen +before--in an engraving from an historical picture, I think; only, it +is there the principal figure in a group: he is holding a lady by her +hair, and threatening her with his scimitar, while two cavaliers are +rushing up the stairs, apparently only just in time to save her life.' + +'Alas, alas!' said she, 'you too accurately describe a miserable +passage in my life, which has often been represented in a false light. +The best of husbands'--here she sobbed, and became slightly +inarticulate with her grief--'will sometimes be displeased. I was young +and curious, he was justly angry with my disobedience--my brothers were +too hasty--the consequence is, I became a widow!' + +After due respect for her tears, I ventured to suggest some commonplace +consolation. She turned round sharply:-- + +'No, monsieur: my only comfort is that I have never forgiven the +brothers who interfered so cruelly, in such an uncalled-for manner, +between my dear husband and myself. To quote my friend Monsieur +Sganarelle--"Ce sont petites choses qui sont de temps en temps +nécessaires dans l'amitié; et cinq ou six coups d'épée entre gens qui +s'aiment ne font que ragaillardir l'affection." You observe the +colouring is not quite what it should be?' + +'In this light the beard is of rather a peculiar tint,' said I. + +'Yes: the painter did not do it justice. It was most lovely, and gave +him such a distinguished air, quite different from the common herd. +Stay, I will show you the exact colour, if you will come near this +flambeau!' And going near the light, she took off a bracelet of hair, +with a magnificent clasp of pearls. It was peculiar, certainly. I did +not know what to say. 'His precious lovely beard!' said she. 'And the +pearls go so well with the delicate blue!' + +Her husband, who had come up to us, and waited till her eye fell upon +him before venturing to speak, now said, 'It is strange Monsieur Ogre +is not yet arrived!' + +'Not at all strange,' said she, tartly. 'He was always very stupid, and +constantly falls into mistakes, in which he comes worse off; and it is +very well he does, for he is credulous and cowardly fellow. Not at all +strange! If you will'--turning to her husband, so that I hardly heard +her words, until I caught--'Then everybody would have their rights, and +we should have no more trouble. Is it not, monsieur?' addressing me. + +'If I were in England, I should imagine madame was speaking of the +reform bill, or the millennium,--but I am in ignorance.' + +And just as I spoke, the great folding-doors were thrown open wide, and +every one started to their feet to greet a little old lady, leaning on +a thin black wand--and-- + +'Madame la Féemarraine,' was announced by a chorus of sweet shrill +voices. + +And in a moment I was lying in the grass close by a hollow oak-tree, +with the slanting glory of the dawning day shining full in my face, and +thousands of little birds and delicate insects piping and warbling out +their welcome to the ruddy splendour. + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 24879 *** |