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diff --git a/26451.txt b/26451.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8791f5d --- /dev/null +++ b/26451.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6642 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Stable for Nightmares, by +J. Sheridan Le Fanu and Charles Young and and Others + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Stable for Nightmares + or Weird Tales + +Author: J. Sheridan Le Fanu + Charles Young + and Others + +Release Date: August 28, 2008 [EBook #26451] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STABLE FOR NIGHTMARES *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Jacqueline Jeremy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + + + + A STABLE FOR NIGHTMARES + + [Illustration: A STABLE FOR NIGHTMARES] + + A STABLE FOR NIGHTMARES + + OR + + WEIRD TALES + + BY + + J. SHERIDAN LE FANU + AUTHOR OF "UNCLE SILAS," "HOUSE BY THE CHURCHYARD," + + SIR CHARLES YOUNG, BART. + + AND OTHERS + + Illustrated + + NEW YORK NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY + 156 FIFTH AVENUE + 1896 + + + Copyright, 1896, + by + NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY + + + + + TABLE OF CONTENTS + + PAGE + + DICKON THE DEVIL, 9 + + A DEBT OF HONOR, 27 + + DEVEREUX'S DREAM, 59 + + CATHERINE'S QUEST, 89 + + HAUNTED, 115 + + PICHON AND SONS, OF THE CROIX ROUSSE, 135 + + THE PHANTOM FOURTH, 163 + + THE SPIRIT'S WHISPER, 185 + + DR. FEVERSHAM'S STORY, 209 + + THE SECRET OF THE TWO PLASTER CASTS, 229 + + WHAT WAS IT? 241 + + + + +DICKON THE DEVIL. + + +About thirty years ago I was selected by two rich old maids to visit a +property in that part of Lancashire which lies near the famous forest of +Pendle, with which Mr. Ainsworth's "Lancashire Witches" has made us so +pleasantly familiar. My business was to make partition of a small +property, including a house and demesne to which they had, a long time +before, succeeded as coheiresses. + +The last forty miles of my journey I was obliged to post, chiefly by +cross-roads, little known, and less frequented, and presenting scenery +often extremely interesting and pretty. The picturesqueness of the +landscape was enhanced by the season, the beginning of September, at +which I was travelling. + +I had never been in this part of the world before; I am told it is now a +great deal less wild, and, consequently, less beautiful. + +At the inn where I had stopped for a relay of horses and some +dinner--for it was then past five o'clock--I found the host, a hale old +fellow of five-and-sixty, as he told me, a man of easy and garrulous +benevolence, willing to accommodate his guests with any amount of talk, +which the slightest tap sufficed to set flowing, on any subject you +pleased. + +I was curious to learn something about Barwyke, which was the name of +the demesne and house I was going to. As there was no inn within some +miles of it, I had written to the steward to put me up there, the best +way he could, for a night. + +The host of the "Three Nuns," which was the sign under which he +entertained wayfarers, had not a great deal to tell. It was twenty +years, or more, since old Squire Bowes died, and no one had lived in the +Hall ever since, except the gardener and his wife. + +"Tom Wyndsour will be as old a man as myself; but he's a bit taller, and +not so much in flesh, quite," said the fat innkeeper. + +"But there were stories about the house," I repeated, "that, they said, +prevented tenants from coming into it?" + +"Old wives' tales; many years ago, that will be, sir; I forget 'em; I +forget 'em all. Oh yes, there always will be, when a house is left so; +foolish folk will always be talkin'; but I han't heard a word about it +this twenty year." + +It was vain trying to pump him; the old landlord of the "Three Nuns," +for some reason, did not choose to tell tales of Barwyke Hall, if he +really did, as I suspected, remember them. + +I paid my reckoning, and resumed my journey, well pleased with the good +cheer of that old-world inn, but a little disappointed. + +We had been driving for more than an hour, when we began to cross a wild +common; and I knew that, this passed, a quarter of an hour would bring +me to the door of Barwyke Hall. + +The peat and furze were pretty soon left behind; we were again in the +wooded scenery that I enjoyed so much, so entirely natural and pretty, +and so little disturbed by traffic of any kind. I was looking from the +chaise-window, and soon detected the object of which, for some time, my +eye had been in search. Barwyke Hall was a large, quaint house, of that +cage-work fashion known as "black-and-white," in which the bars and +angles of an oak framework contrast, black as ebony, with the white +plaster that overspreads the masonry built into its interstices. This +steep-roofed Elizabethan house stood in the midst of park-like grounds +of no great extent, but rendered imposing by the noble stature of the +old trees that now cast their lengthening shadows eastward over the +sward, from the declining sun. + +The park-wall was gray with age, and in many places laden with ivy. In +deep gray shadow, that contrasted with the dim fires of evening +reflected on the foliage above it, in a gentle hollow, stretched a lake +that looked cold and black, and seemed, as it were, to skulk from +observation with a guilty knowledge. + +I had forgot that there was a lake at Barwyke; but the moment this +caught my eye, like the cold polish of a snake in the shadow, my +instinct seemed to recognize something dangerous, and I knew that the +lake was connected, I could not remember how, with the story I had heard +of this place in my boyhood. + +I drove up a grass-grown avenue, under the boughs of these noble trees, +whose foliage, dyed in autumnal red and yellow, returned the beams of +the western sun gorgeously. + +We drew up at the door. I got out, and had a good look at the front of +the house; it was a large and melancholy mansion, with signs of long +neglect upon it; great wooden shutters, in the old fashion, were barred, +outside, across the windows; grass, and even nettles, were growing thick +on the courtyard, and a thin moss streaked the timber beams; the plaster +was discolored by time and weather, and bore great russet and yellow +stains. The gloom was increased by several grand old trees that crowded +close about the house. + +I mounted the steps, and looked round; the dark lake lay near me now, a +little to the left. It was not large; it may have covered some ten or +twelve acres; but it added to the melancholy of the scene. Near the +centre of it was a small island, with two old ash-trees, leaning toward +each other, their pensive images reflected in the stirless water. The +only cheery influence of this scene of antiquity, solitude, and neglect +was that the house and landscape were warmed with the ruddy western +beams. I knocked, and my summons resounded hollow and ungenial in my +ear; and the bell, from far away, returned a deep-mouthed and surly +ring, as if it resented being roused from a score years' slumber. + +A light-limbed, jolly-looking old fellow, in a barracan jacket and +gaiters, with a smirk of welcome, and a very sharp, red nose, that +seemed to promise good cheer, opened the door with a promptitude that +indicated a hospitable expectation of my arrival. + +There was but little light in the hall, and that little lost itself in +darkness in the background. It was very spacious and lofty, with a +gallery running round it, which, when the door was open, was visible at +two or three points. Almost in the dark my new acquaintance led me +across this wide hall into the room destined for my reception. It was +spacious, and wainscoted up to the ceiling. The furniture of this +capacious chamber was old-fashioned and clumsy. There were curtains +still to the windows, and a piece of Turkey carpet lay upon the floor; +those windows were two in number, looking out, through the trunks of the +trees close to the house, upon the lake. It needed all the fire, and all +the pleasant associations of my entertainer's red nose, to light up this +melancholy chamber. A door at its farther end admitted to the room that +was prepared for my sleeping apartment. It was wainscoted, like the +other. It had a four-post bed, with heavy tapestry curtains, and in +other respects was furnished in the same old-world and ponderous style +as the other room. Its window, like those of that apartment, looked out +upon the lake. + +Sombre and sad as these rooms were, they were yet scrupulously clean. I +had nothing to complain of; but the effect was rather dispiriting. +Having given some directions about supper--a pleasant incident to look +forward to--and made a rapid toilet, I called on my friend with the +gaiters and red nose (Tom Wyndsour), whose occupation was that of a +"bailiff," or under-steward, of the property, to accompany me, as we had +still an hour or so of sun and twilight, in a walk over the grounds. + +It was a sweet autumn evening, and my guide, a hardy old fellow, strode +at a pace that tasked me to keep up with. + +Among clumps of trees at the northern boundary of the demesne we lighted +upon the little antique parish church. I was looking down upon it, from +an eminence, and the park-wall interposed; but a little way down was a +stile affording access to the road, and by this we approached the iron +gate of the churchyard. I saw the church door open; the sexton was +replacing his pick, shovel, and spade, with which he had just been +digging a grave in the churchyard, in their little repository under the +stone stair of the tower. He was a polite, shrewd little hunchback, who +was very happy to show me over the church. Among the monuments was one +that interested me; it was erected to commemorate the very Squire Bowes +from whom my two old maids had inherited the house and estate of +Barwyke. It spoke of him in terms of grandiloquent eulogy, and informed +the Christian reader that he had died, in the bosom of the Church of +England, at the age of seventy-one. + +I read this inscription by the parting beams of the setting sun, which +disappeared behind the horizon just as we passed out from under the +porch. + +"Twenty years since the Squire died," said I, reflecting, as I loitered +still in the churchyard. + +"Ay, sir; 'twill be twenty year the ninth o' last month." + +"And a very good old gentleman?" + +"Good-natured enough, and an easy gentleman he was, sir; I don't think +while he lived he ever hurt a fly," acquiesced Tom Wyndsour. "It ain't +always easy sayin' what's in 'em, though, and what they may take or turn +to afterward; and some o' them sort, I think, goes mad." + +"You don't think he was out of his mind?" I asked. + +"He? La! no; not he, sir; a bit lazy, mayhap, like other old fellows; +but a knew devilish well what he was about." + +Tom Wyndsour's account was a little enigmatical; but, like old Squire +Bowes, I was "a bit lazy" that evening, and asked no more questions +about him. + +We got over the stile upon the narrow road that skirts the churchyard. +It is overhung by elms more than a hundred years old, and in the +twilight, which now prevailed, was growing very dark. As side-by-side we +walked along this road, hemmed in by two loose stone-like walls, +something running toward us in a zig-zag line passed us at a wild pace, +with a sound like a frightened laugh or a shudder, and I saw, as it +passed, that it was a human figure. I may confess, now, that I was a +little startled. The dress of this figure was, in part, white: I know I +mistook it at first for a white horse coming down the road at a gallop. +Tom Wyndsour turned about and looked after the retreating figure. + +"He'll be on his travels to-night," he said, in a low tone. "Easy served +with a bed, _that_ lad be; six foot o' dry peat or heath, or a nook in a +dry ditch. That lad hasn't slept once in a house this twenty year, and +never will while grass grows." + +"Is he mad?" I asked. + +"Something that way, sir; he's an idiot, an awpy; we call him 'Dickon +the devil,' because the devil's almost the only word that's ever in his +mouth." + +It struck me that this idiot was in some way connected with the story of +old Squire Bowes. + +"Queer things are told of him, I dare say?" I suggested. + +"More or less, sir; more or less. Queer stories, some." + +"Twenty years since he slept in a house? That's about the time the +Squire died," I continued. + +"So it will be, sir; not very long after." + +"You must tell me all about that, Tom, to-night, when I can hear it +comfortably, after supper." + +Tom did not seem to like my invitation; and looking straight before him +as we trudged on, he said: + +"You see, sir, the house has been quiet, and nout's been troubling folk +inside the walls or out, all round the woods of Barwyke, this ten year, +or more; and my old woman, down there, is clear against talking about +such matters, and thinks it best--and so do I--to let sleepin' dogs be." + +He dropped his voice toward the close of the sentence, and nodded +significantly. + +We soon reached a point where he unlocked a wicket in the park wall, by +which we entered the grounds of Barwyke once more. + +The twilight deepening over the landscape, the huge and solemn trees, +and the distant outline of the haunted house, exercised a sombre +influence on me, which, together with the fatigue of a day of travel, +and the brisk walk we had had, disinclined me to interrupt the silence +in which my companion now indulged. + +A certain air of comparative comfort, on our arrival, in great measure +dissipated the gloom that was stealing over me. Although it was by no +means a cold night, I was very glad to see some wood blazing in the +grate; and a pair of candles aiding the light of the fire, made the room +look cheerful. A small table, with a very white cloth, and preparations +for supper, was also a very agreeable object. + +I should have liked very well, under these influences, to have listened +to Tom Wyndsour's story; but after supper I grew too sleepy to attempt +to lead him to the subject; and after yawning for a time, I found there +was no use in contending against my drowsiness, so I betook myself to my +bedroom, and by ten o'clock was fast asleep. + +What interruption I experienced that night I shall tell you presently. +It was not much, but it was very odd. + +By next night I had completed my work at Barwyke. From early morning +till then I was so incessantly occupied and hard-worked, that I had no +time to think over the singular occurrence to which I have just +referred. Behold me, however, at length once more seated at my little +supper-table, having ended a comfortable meal. It had been a sultry day, +and I had thrown one of the large windows up as high as it would go. I +was sitting near it, with my brandy and water at my elbow, looking out +into the dark. There was no moon, and the trees that are grouped about +the house make the darkness round it supernaturally profound on such +nights. + +"Tom," said I, so soon as the jug of hot punch I had supplied him with +began to exercise its genial and communicative influence; "you must tell +me who beside your wife and you and myself slept in the house last +night." + +Tom, sitting near the door, set down his tumbler, and looked at me +askance, while you might count seven, without speaking a word. + +"Who else slept in the house?" he repeated, very deliberately. "Not a +living soul, sir;" and he looked hard at me, still evidently expecting +something more. + +"That _is_ very odd," I said, returning his stare, and feeling really a +little odd. "You are sure _you_ were not in my room last night?" + +"Not till I came to call you, sir, this morning; I can make oath of +that." + +"Well," said I, "there was some one there, _I_ can make oath of that. I +was so tired I could not make up my mind to get up; but I was waked by a +sound that I thought was some one flinging down the two tin boxes in +which my papers were locked up violently on the floor. I heard a slow +step on the ground, and there was light in the room, although I +remembered having put out my candle. I thought it must have been you, +who had come in for my clothes, and upset the boxes by accident. Whoever +it was, he went out, and the light with him. I was about to settle +again, when, the curtain being a little open at the foot of the bed, I +saw a light on the wall opposite; such as a candle from outside would +cast if the door were very cautiously opening. I started up in the bed, +drew the side curtain, and saw that the door _was_ opening, and +admitting light from outside. It is close, you know, to the head of the +bed. A hand was holding on the edge of the door and pushing it open; not +a bit like yours; a very singular hand. Let me look at yours." + +He extended it for my inspection. + +"Oh no; there's nothing wrong with your hand. This was differently +shaped; fatter; and the middle finger was stunted, and shorter than the +rest, looking as if it had once been broken, and the nail was crooked +like a claw. I called out, "Who's there?" and the light and the hand +were withdrawn, and I saw and heard no more of my visitor." + +"So sure as you're a living man, that was him!" exclaimed Tom Wyndsour, +his very nose growing pale, and his eyes almost starting out of his +head. + +"Who?" I asked. + +"Old Squire Bowes; 'twas _his_ hand you saw; the Lord a' mercy on us!" +answered Tom. "The broken finger, and the nail bent like a hoop. Well +for you, sir, he didn't come back when you called, that time. You came +here about them Miss Dymock's business, and he never meant they should +have a foot o' ground in Barwyke; and he was making a will to give it +away quite different, when death took him short. He never was uncivil to +no one; but he couldn't abide them ladies. My mind misgave me when I +heard 'twas about their business you were coming; and now you see how it +is; he'll be at his old tricks again!" + +With some pressure, and a little more punch, I induced Tom Wyndsour to +explain his mysterious allusions by recounting the occurrences which +followed the old Squire's death. + +"Squire Bowes, of Barwyke, died without making a will, as you know," +said Tom. "And all the folk round were sorry; that is to say, sir, as +sorry as folk will be for an old man that has seen a long tale of years, +and has no right to grumble that death has knocked an hour too soon at +his door. The Squire was well liked; he was never in a passion, or said +a hard word; and he would not hurt a fly; and that made what happened +after his decease the more surprising. + +"The first thing these ladies did, when they got the property, was to +buy stock for the park. + +"It was not wise, in any case, to graze the land on their own account. +But they little knew all they had to contend with. + +"Before long something went wrong with the cattle; first one, and then +another, took sick and died, and so on, till the loss began to grow +heavy. Then, queer stories, little by little, began to be told. It was +said, first by one, then by another, that Squire Bowes was seen, about +evening time, walking, just as he used to do when he was alive, among +the old trees, leaning on his stick; and, sometimes, when he came up +with the cattle, he would stop and lay his hand kindly like on the back +of one of them; and that one was sure to fall sick next day, and die +soon after. + +"No one ever met him in the park, or in the woods, or ever saw him, +except a good distance off. But they knew his gait and his figure well, +and the clothes he used to wear; and they could tell the beast he laid +his hand on by its color--white, dun, or black; and that beast was sure +to sicken and die. The neighbors grew shy of taking the path over the +park; and no one liked to walk in the woods, or come inside the bounds +of Barwyke; and the cattle went on sickening and dying, as before. + +"At that time there was one Thomas Pyke; he had been a groom to the old +Squire; and he was in care of the place, and was the only one that used +to sleep in the house. + +"Tom was vexed, hearing these stories; which he did not believe the half +on 'em; and more especial as he could not get man or boy to herd the +cattle; all being afeared. So he wrote to Matlock, in Derbyshire, for +his brother, Richard Pyke, a clever lad, and one that knew nout o' the +story of the old Squire walking. + +"Dick came; and the cattle was better; folk said they could still see +the old Squire, sometimes, walking, as before, in openings of the wood, +with his stick in his hand; but he was shy of coming nigh the cattle, +whatever his reason might be, since Dickon Pyke came; and he used to +stand a long bit off, looking at them, with no more stir in him than a +trunk o' one of the old trees, for an hour at a time, till the shape +melted away, little by little, like the smoke of a fire that burns out. + +"Tom Pyke and his brother Dickon, being the only living souls in the +house, lay in the big bed in the servants' room, the house being fast +barred and locked, one night in November. + +"Tom was lying next the wall, and, he told me, as wide awake as ever he +was at noonday. His brother Dickon lay outside, and was sound asleep. + +"Well, as Tom lay thinking, with his eyes turned toward the door, it +opens slowly, and who should come in but old Squire Bowes, his face +lookin' as dead as he was in his coffin. + +"Tom's very breath left his body; he could not take his eyes off him; +and he felt the hair rising up on his head. + +"The Squire came to the side of the bed, and put his arms under Dickon, +and lifted the boy--in a dead sleep all the time--and carried him out +so, at the door. + +"Such was the appearance, to Tom Pyke's eyes, and he was ready to swear +to it, anywhere. + +"When this happened, the light, wherever it came from, all on a sudden +went out, and Tom could not see his own hand before him. + +"More dead than alive, he lay till daylight. + +"Sure enough his brother Dickon was gone. No sign of him could he +discover about the house; and with some trouble he got a couple of the +neighbors to help him to search the woods and grounds. Not a sign of him +anywhere. + +"At last one of them thought of the island in the lake; the little boat +was moored to the old post at the water's edge. In they got, though with +small hope of finding him there. Find him, nevertheless, they did, +sitting under the big ash-tree, quite out of his wits; and to all their +questions he answered nothing but one cry--'Bowes, the devil! See him; +see him; Bowes, the devil!' An idiot they found him; and so he will be +till God sets all things right. No one could ever get him to sleep under +roof-tree more. He wanders from house to house while daylight lasts; and +no one cares to lock the harmless creature in the workhouse. And folk +would rather not meet him after nightfall, for they think where he is +there may be worse things near." + +A silence followed Tom's story. He and I were alone in that large room; +I was sitting near the open window, looking into the dark night air. I +fancied I saw something white move across it; and I heard a sound like +low talking, that swelled into a discordant shriek--"Hoo-oo-oo! Bowes, +the devil! Over your shoulder. Hoo-oo-oo! ha! ha! ha!" I started up, and +saw, by the light of the candle with which Tom strode to the window, the +wild eyes and blighted face of the idiot, as, with a sudden change of +mood, he drew off, whispering and tittering to himself, and holding up +his long fingers, and looking at them as if they were lighted at the +tips like a "hand of glory." + +Tom pulled down the window. The story and its epilogue were over. I +confessed I was rather glad when I heard the sound of the horses' hoofs +on the courtyard, a few minutes later; and still gladder when, having +bidden Tom a kind farewell, I had left the neglected house of Barwyke a +mile behind me. + + + + +A DEBT OF HONOR. + +A GHOST STORY. + + +Hush! what was that cry, so low but yet so piercing, so strange but yet +so sorrowful? It was not the marmot upon the side of the Righi--it was +not the heron down by the lake; no, it was distinctively human. Hush! +there it is again--from the churchyard which I have just left! + +Not ten minutes have elapsed since I was sitting on the low wall of the +churchyard of Weggis, watching the calm glories of the moonlight +illuminating with silver splendor the lake of Lucerne; and I am certain +there was no one within the inclosure but myself. + +I am mistaken, surely. What a silence there is upon the night! Not a +breath of air now to break up into a thousand brilliant ripples the long +reflection of the August moon, or to stir the foliage of the chestnuts; +not a voice in the village; no splash of oar upon the lake. All life +seems at perfect rest, and the solemn stillness that reigns about the +topmost glaciers of S. Gothard has spread its mantle over the warmer +world below. + +I must not linger; as it is, I shall have to wake up the porter to let +me into the hotel. I hurry on. + +Not ten paces, though. Again I hear the cry. This time it sounds to me +like the long, sad sob of a wearied and broken heart. Without staying to +reason with myself, I quickly retrace my steps. + +I stumble about among the iron crosses and the graves, and displace in +my confusion wreaths of immortelles and fresher flowers. A huge +mausoleum stands between me and the wall upon which I had been sitting +not a quarter of an hour ago. The mausoleum casts a deep shadow upon the +side nearest to me. Ah! something is stirring there. I strain my +eyes--the figure of a man passes slowly out of the shade, and silently +occupies my place upon the wall. It must have been his lips that gave +out that miserable sound. + +What shall I do? Compassion and curiosity are strong. The man whose +heart can be rent so sorely ought not to be allowed to linger here with +his despair. He is gazing, as I did, upon the lake. I mark his +profile--clear-cut and symmetrical; I catch the lustre of large eyes. +The face, as I can see it, seems very still and placid. I may be +mistaken; he may merely be a wanderer like myself; perhaps he heard the +three strange cries, and has also come to seek the cause. I feel +impelled to speak to him. + +I pass from the path by the church to the east side of the mausoleum, +and so come toward him, the moon full upon his features. Great heaven! +how pale his face is! + +"Good-evening, sir. I thought myself alone here, and wondered that no +other travellers had found their way to this lovely spot. Charming, is +it not?" + +For a moment he says nothing, but his eyes are full upon me. At last he +replies: + +"It is charming, as you say, Mr. Reginald Westcar." + +"You know me?" I exclaim, in astonishment. + +"Pardon me, I can scarcely claim a personal acquaintance. But yours is +the only English name entered to-day in the Livre des Etrangers." + +"You are staying at the Hotel de la Concorde, then?" + +An inclination of the head is all the answer vouchsafed. + +"May I ask," I continue, "whether you heard just now a very strange cry +repeated three times?" + +A pause. The lustrous eyes seem to search me through and through--I can +hardly bear their gaze. Then he replies. + +"I fancy I heard the echoes of some such sounds as you describe." + +The _echoes_! Is this, then, the man who gave utterance to those cries +of woe! is it possible? The face seems so passionless; but the pallor of +those features bears witness to some terrible agony within. + +"I thought some one must be in distress," I rejoin, hastily; "and I +hurried back to see if I could be of any service." + +"Very good of you," he answers, coldly; "but surely such a place as this +is not unaccustomed to the voice of sorrow." + +"No doubt. My impulse was a mistaken one." + +"But kindly meant. You will not sleep less soundly for acting on that +impulse, Reginald Westcar." + +He rises as he speaks. He throws his cloak round him, and stands +motionless. I take the hint. My mysterious countryman wishes to be +alone. Some one that he has loved and lost lies buried here. + +"Good-night, sir," I say, as I move in the direction of the little +chapel at the gate. "Neither of us will sleep the less soundly for +thinking of the perfect repose that reigns around this place." + +"What do you mean?" he asks. + +"The dead," I reply, as I stretch my hand toward the graves. "Do you not +remember the lines in 'King Lear'? + + "'After life's fitful fever he sleeps well.'" + +"But _you_ have never died, Reginald Westcar. You know nothing of the +sleep of death." + +For the third time he speaks my name almost familiarly, and--I know not +why--a shudder passes through me. I have no time, in my turn, to ask him +what he means; for he strides silently away into the shadow of the +church, and I, with a strange sense of oppression upon me, returned to +my hotel. + + * * * * * + +The events which I have just related passed in vivid recollection +through my mind as I travelled northward one cold November day in the +year 185--. About six months previously I had taken my degree at Oxford, +and had since been enjoying a trip upon the continent; and on my return +to London I found a letter awaiting me from my lawyers, informing me +somewhat to my astonishment, that I had succeeded to a small estate in +Cumberland. I must tell you exactly how this came about. My mother was a +Miss Ringwood, and she was the youngest of three children: the eldest +was Aldina, the second was Geoffrey, and the third (my mother) Alice. +Their mother (who had been a widow since my mother's birth) lived at +this little place in Cumberland, and which was known as The Shallows; +she died shortly after my mother's marriage with my father, Captain +Westcar. My aunt Aldina and my uncle Geoffrey--the one at that time aged +twenty-eight, and the other twenty-six--continued to reside at The +Shallows. My father and mother had to go to India, where I was born, and +where, when quite a child, I was left an orphan. A few months after my +mother's marriage my aunt disappeared; a few weeks after that event, and +my uncle Geoffrey dropped down dead, as he was playing at cards with Mr. +Maryon, the proprietor of a neighboring mansion known as The Mere. A +fortnight after my uncle's death, my aunt Aldina returned to The +Shallows, and never left it again till she was carried out in her coffin +to her grave in the churchyard. Ever since her return from her +mysterious disappearance she maintained an impenetrable reserve. As a +schoolboy I visited her twice or thrice, but these visits depressed my +youthful spirits to such an extent, that as I grew older I excused +myself from accepting my aunt's not very pressing invitations; and at +the time I am now speaking of I had not seen her for eight or ten years. +I was rather surprised, therefore, when she bequeathed me The Shallows, +which, as the surviving child, she inherited under her mother's +marriage settlement. + +But The Shallows had always exercised a grim influence over me, and the +knowledge that I was now going to it as my home oppressed me. The road +seemed unusually dark, cold, and lonely. At last I passed the lodge, and +two hundred yards more brought me to the porch. Very soon the door was +opened by an elderly female, whom I well remembered as having been my +aunt's housekeeper and cook. I had pleasant recollections of her, and +was glad to see her. To tell the truth, I had not anticipated my visit +to my newly acquired property with any great degree of enthusiasm; but a +very tolerable dinner had an inspiriting effect, and I was pleased to +learn that there was a bin of old Madeira in the cellar. Naturally I +soon grew cheerful, and consequently talkative; and summoned Mrs. Balk +for a little gossip. The substance of what I gathered from her rather +diffusive conversation was as follows: + +My aunt had resided at The Shallows ever since the death of my uncle +Geoffrey, but she had maintained a silent and reserved habit; and Mrs. +Balk was of opinion that she had had some great misfortune. She had +persistently refused all intercourse with the people at The Mere. Squire +Maryon, himself a cold and taciturn man, had once or twice showed a +disposition to be friendly, but she had sternly repulsed all such +overtures. Mrs. Balk was of opinion that Miss Ringwood was not "quite +right," as she expressed it, on some topics; especially did she seem +impressed with the idea that The Mere ought to belong to her. It +appeared that the Ringwoods and Maryons were distant connections; that +The Mere belonged in former times to a certain Sir Henry Benet; that he +was a bachelor, and that Squire Maryon's father and old Mr. Ringwood +were cousins of his, and that there was some doubt as to which was the +real heir; that Sir Henry, who disliked old Maryon, had frequently said +he had set any chance of dispute at rest, by bequeathing the Mere +property by will to Mr. Ringwood, my mother's father; that, on his +death, no such will could be found; and the family lawyers agreed that +Mr. Maryon was the legal inheritor, and my uncle Geoffrey and his +sisters must be content to take the Shallows, or nothing at all. Mr. +Maryon was comparatively rich, and the Ringwoods poor, consequently they +were advised not to enter upon a costly lawsuit. My aunt Aldina +maintained to the last that Sir Henry had made a will, and that Mr. +Maryon knew it, but had destroyed or suppressed the document. I did not +gather from Mrs. Balk's narrative that Miss Ringwood had any foundation +for her belief, and I dismissed the notion at once as baseless. + +"And my uncle Geoffrey died of apoplexy, you say, Mrs. Balk?" + +"_I_ don't say so, sir, no more did Miss Ringwood; but _they_ said so." + +"Whom do you mean by _they_?" + +"The people at The Mere--the young doctor, a friend of Squire Maryon's, +who was brought over from York, and the rest; he fell heavily from his +chair, and his head struck against the fender." + +"Playing at cards with Mr. Maryon, I think you said." + +"Yes, sir; he was too fond of cards, I believe, was Mr. Geoffrey." + +"Is Mr. Maryon seen much in the county--is he hospitable?" + +"Well, sir, he goes up to London a good deal, and has some friends down +from town occasionally; but he does not seem to care much about the +people in the neighborhood." + +"He has some children, Mrs. Balk?" + +"Only one daughter, sir; a sweet pretty thing she is. Her mother died +when Miss Agnes was born." + +"You have no idea, Mrs. Balk, what my aunt Aldina's great misfortune +was?" + +"Well, sir, I can't help thinking it must have been a love affair. She +always hated men so much." + +"Then why did she leave The Shallows to me, Mrs. Balk?" + +"Ah, you are laughing, sir. No doubt she considered that The Mere ought +to belong to you, as the heir of the Ringwoods, and she placed you here, +as near as might be to the place." + +"In hopes that I might marry Miss Maryon, eh, Mrs. Balk?" + +"You are laughing again, sir. I don't imagine she thought so much of +that, as of the possibility of your discovering something about the +missing will." + +I bade the communicative Mrs. Balk good night and retired to my +bedroom--a low, wide, sombre, oak-panelled chamber. I must confess that +family stories had no great interest for me, living apart from them at +school and college as I had done; and as I undressed I thought more of +the probabilities of sport the eight hundred acres of wild shooting +belonging to The Shallows would afford me, than of the supposed will my +poor aunt had evidently worried herself about so much. Thoroughly tired +after my long journey, I soon fell fast asleep amid the deep shadows of +the huge four-poster I mentally resolved to chop up into firewood at an +early date, and substitute for it a more modern iron bedstead. + +How long I had been asleep I do not know, but I suddenly started up, the +echo of a long, sad cry ringing in my ears. + +I listened eagerly--sensitive to the slightest sound--painfully +sensitive as one is only in the deep silence of the night. + +I heard the old-fashioned clock I had noticed on the stairs strike +three. The reverberation seemed to last a long time, then all was silent +again. "A dream," I muttered to myself, as I lay down upon the pillow; +"Madeira is a heating wine. But what can I have been dreaming of?" + +Sleep seemed to have gone altogether, and the busy mind wandered among +the continental scenes I had lately visited. By and by I found myself in +memory once more within the Weggis churchyard. I was satisfied; I had +traced my dream to the cries that I had heard there. I turned round to +sleep again. Perhaps I fell into a doze--I cannot say; but again I +started up at the repetition, as it seemed outside my window, of that +cry of sadness and despair. I hastily drew aside the heavy curtains of +my bed--at that moment the room seemed to be illuminated with a dim, +unearthly light--and I saw, gradually growing into human shape, the +figure of a woman. I recognized in it my aunt, Miss Ringwood. +Horror-struck, I gazed at the apparition; it advanced a little--the lips +moved--I heard it distinctly say: + +"_Reginald Westcar, The Mere belongs to you. Compel John Maryon to pay +the debt of honor!_" + +I fell back senseless. + +When next I returned to consciousness, it was when I was called in the +morning; the shutters were opened, and I saw the red light of the +dawning winter sun. + + * * * * * + +There is a strange sympathy between the night and the mind. All one's +troubles represent themselves as increased a hundredfold if one wakes in +the night, and begins to think about them. A muscular pain becomes the +certainty of an incurable internal disease; and a headache suggests +incipient softening of the brain. But all these horrors are dissipated +with the morning light, and the after-glow of a cold bath turns them +into jokes. So it was with me on the morning after my arrival at The +Shallows. I accounted most satisfactorily for all that had occurred, or +seemed to have occurred, during the night; and resolved that, though the +old Madeira was uncommonly good, I must be careful in future not to +drink more than a couple of glasses after dinner. I need scarcely say +that I said nothing to Mrs. Balk of my bad dreams, and shortly after +breakfast I took my gun, and went out in search of such game as I might +chance to meet with. At three o'clock I sent the keeper home, as his +capacious pockets were pretty well filled, telling him that I thought I +knew the country, and should stroll back leisurely. The gray gloom of +the November evening was spreading over the sky as I came upon a small +plantation which I believed belonged to me. I struck straight across it; +emerging from its shadows, I found myself by a small stream and some +marshy land; on the other side another small plantation. A snipe got up, +I fired, and tailored it. I marked the bird into this other plantation, +and followed. Up got a covey of partridges--bang, bang--one down by the +side of an oak. I was about to enter this covert, when a lady and +gentleman emerged, and, struck with the unpleasant thought that I was +possibly trespassing, I at once went forward to apologize. + +Before I could say a word, the gentleman addressed me. + +"May I ask, sir, if I have given you permission to shoot over my +preserves?" + +"I beg to express my great regret, sir," I replied, as I lifted my hat +in acknowledgment of the lady's presence, "that I should have trespassed +upon your land. I can only plead, as my excuse, that I fully believed I +was still upon the manor belonging to The Shallows." + +"Gentlemen who go out shooting ought to know the limits of their +estates," he answered harshly; "the boundaries of The Shallows are well +defined, nor is the area they contain so very extensive. You have no +right upon this side the stream, sir; oblige me by returning." + +I merely bowed, for I was nettled by his tone, and as I turned away I +noticed that the young lady whispered to him. + +"One moment, sir," he said, "my daughter suggests the possibility of +your being the new owner of The Shallows. May I ask if this is so?" + +It had not occurred to me before, but I understood in a moment to whom I +had been speaking, and I replied: + +"Yes, Mr. Maryon--my name is Westcar." + +Such was my introduction to Mr. and Miss Maryon. The proprietor of The +Mere appeared to be a gentleman, but his manners were cold and reserved, +and a careful observer might have remarked a perpetual restlessness in +the eyes, as if they were physically incapable of regarding the same +object for more than a moment. He was about sixty years of age, +apparently; and though he now and again made an effort to carry himself +upright, the head and shoulders soon drooped again, as if the weight of +years, and, it might be, the memory of the past, were a heavy load to +carry. Of Miss Maryon it is sufficient to say that she was nineteen or +twenty, and it did not need a second glance to satisfy me that her +beauty was of no ordinary kind. + +I must hurry over the records of the next few weeks. I became a frequent +visitor at The Mere. Mr. Maryon's manner never became cordial, but he +did not seem displeased to see me; and as to Agnes,--well, she certainly +was not displeased either. + +I think it was on Christmas Day that I suddenly discovered that I was +desperately in love. Miss Maryon had been for two or three days confined +to her room by a bad cold, and I found myself in a great state of +anxiety to see her again. I am sorry to say that my thoughts wandered a +good deal when I was at church upon that festival, and I could not help +thinking what ample room there was for a bridal procession up the +spacious aisle. Suddenly my eyes rested upon a mural tablet, inscribed, +"To the memory of Aldina Ringwood." Then with a cold thrill there came +back upon me what I had almost forgotten, the dream, or whatever it was, +that had occurred on that first night at The Shallows; and those strange +words--"The Mere belongs to you. Compel John Maryon to pay the debt of +honor!" Nothing but the remembrance of Agnes' sweet face availed for the +time to banish the vision, the statement, and the bidding. + +Miss Maryon was soon down-stairs again. Did I flatter myself too much in +thinking that she was as glad to see me as I was to see her? No--I felt +sure that I did not. Then I began to reflect seriously upon my position. +My fortune was small, quite enough for me, but not enough for two; and +as she was heiress of The Mere and a comfortable rent-roll of some six +or eight thousand a year, was it not natural that Mr. Maryon expected +her to make what is called a "good match"? Still, I could not conceal +from myself the fact, that he evinced no objection whatever to my +frequent visits at his house, nor to my taking walks with his daughter +when he was unable to accompany us. + +One bright, frosty day I had been down to the lake with Miss Maryon, and +had enjoyed the privilege of teaching her to skate; and on returning to +the house, we met Mr. Maryon upon the terrace, He walked with us to the +conservatory; we went in to examine the plants, and he remained outside, +pacing up and down the terrace. Both Agnes and myself were strangely +silent; perhaps my tongue had found an eloquence upon the ice which was +well met by a shy thoughtfulness upon her part. But there was a lovely +color upon her cheeks, and I experienced a very considerable and unusual +fluttering about my heart. It happened as we were standing at the door +of the conservatory, both of us silently looking away from the flowers +upon the frosty view, that our eyes lighted at the same time upon Mr. +Maryon. He, too, was apparently regarding the prospect, when suddenly he +paused and staggered back, as if something unexpected met his gaze. + +"Oh, poor papa! I hope he is not going to have one of his fits!" +exclaimed Agnes. + +"Fits! Is he subject to such attacks?" I inquired. + +"Not ordinary fits," she answered hurriedly; "I hardly know how to +explain them. They come upon him occasionally, and generally at this +period of the year." + +"Shall we go to him?" I suggested. + +"No; you cannot help him; and he cannot bear that they should be +noticed." + +We both watched him. His arms were stretched up above his head, and +again he recoiled a step or two. I sought for an explanation in Agnes' +face. + +"A stranger!" she exclaimed. "Who can it be?" + +I looked toward Mr. Maryon. A tall figure of a man had come from the +farther side of the house; he wore a large, loose coat and a kind of +military cap upon his head. + +"Doubtless you are surprised to see me, John," we heard the new-comer +say, in a confident voice, "but I am not the devil, man, that you should +greet me with such a peculiar attitude." He held out his hand, and +continued, "Come, don't let the warmth of old fellowship be all on one +side, this wintry day." + +We could see that Mr. Maryon took the proffered right hand with his left +for an instant, then seemed to shrink away, but exchanged no word of +this greeting. + +"I don't understand this," said Agnes, and we both hurried forward. The +stranger, seeing Agnes approach, lifted his cap. + +"Ah, your daughter, John, no doubt. I see the likeness to her lamented +mother. Pray introduce me." + +Mr. Maryon's usually pallid features had assumed a still paler hue, and +he said in a low voice: + +"Colonel Bludyer--my daughter." Agnes barely bowed. + +"Charmed to renew your acquaintance, Miss Maryon. When last I saw you, +you were quite a baby; but your father and I are very old friends--are +we not, John?" + +Mr. Maryon vaguely nodded his head. + +"Well, John, you have often pressed your hospitality upon me, but till +now I have never had an opportunity of availing myself of your kind +offers; so I have brought my bag, and intend at last to give you the +pleasure of my company for a few days." + +I certainly should have thought that a man of Mr. Maryon's disposition +would have resented such conduct as this, or, at all events, have given +this self-invited guest a chilling welcome. Mr. Maryon, however, in a +confused and somewhat stammering tone, said that he was glad Colonel +Bludyer had come at last, and bade his daughter go and make the +necessary arrangements. Agnes, in silent astonishment, entered the +house, and then Mr. Maryon turned to me hastily and bade me good-by. In +a by no means comfortable frame of mind I returned to The Shallows. + +The sudden advent of this miscellaneous colonel was naturally somewhat +irritating to me. Not only did I regard the man as an intolerable bore, +but I could not help fancying that he was something more than an old +friend of Mr. Maryon's; in fact, I was led to judge, by Mr. Maryon's +strange conduct, that this Bludyer had some power over him which might +be exercised to the detriment of the Maryon family, and I was convinced +there was some mystery it was my business to penetrate. + +The following day I went up to The Mere to see if Miss Maryon was +desirous of renewing her skating lesson. I found the party in the +billiard-room, Agnes marking for her father and the Colonel. Mr. Maryon, +whom I knew to be an exceptionally good player, seemed incapable of +making a decent stroke; the Colonel, on the other hand, could evidently +give a professional fifteen, and beat him easily. We all went down to +the lake together. I had no chance of any quiet conversation with Agnes; +the Colonel was perpetually beside us. + +I returned home disgusted. For two whole days I did not go near The +Mere. On the third day I went up, hoping that the horrid Colonel would +be gone. It was beginning to snow when I left The Shallows at about two +o'clock in the afternoon, and Mrs. Balk foretold a heavy storm, and bade +me not be late returning. + +The black winter darkness in the sky deepened as I approached The Mere. +I was ushered again into the billiard-room. Agnes was marking, as upon +the previous occasion, but two days had worked a sad difference in her +face. Mr. Maryon hardly noticed my entrance; he was flushed, and playing +eagerly; the Colonel was boisterous, declaring that John had never +played better twenty years ago. I relieved Agnes of the duty of marking. +The snow fell in a thick layer upon the skylight, and the Colonel became +seriously anxious about my return home. As I did not think he was the +proper person to give me hints, I resolutely remained where I was, +encouraged in my behavior by the few words I gained from Agnes, and by +the looks of entreaty she gave me. I had always considered Mr. Maryon to +be an abstemious man, but he drank a good deal of brandy and soda during +the long game of seven hundred up, and when he succeeded in beating the +Colonel by forty-three, he was in roaring spirits, and insisted upon my +staying to dinner. Need I say that I accepted the invitation? + +I made such toilet as I could in a most unattainable chamber that was +allotted to me, and hurried back to the drawing-room in the hope that I +might get a few private words with Agnes. I was not disappointed. She, +too, had hurried down, and in a few words I learned that this +abominable Bludyer was paying her his coarse attentions, and with, +apparently, the full consent of Mr. Maryon. My indignation was +unbounded. Was it possible that Mr. Maryon intended to sacrifice this +fair creature to that repulsive man? + +Mr. Maryon had appeared in excellent spirits when dinner began, and the +first glass or two of champagne made him merrier than I thought it +possible for him to be. But by the time the dessert was on the table he +had grown silent and thoughtful; nor did he respond to the warm +eulogiums the Colonel passed upon the magnum of claret which was set +before us. + +After dinner we sat in the library. The Colonel left the room to fetch +some cigars he had been loudly extolling. Then Agnes had an opportunity +of whispering to me. + +"Look at papa--see how strangely he sits--his hands clenching the arms +of the chair, his eyes fixed upon the blazing coals! How old he seems to +be to-night! His terrible fits are coming on--he is always like this +toward the end of January!" The Colonel's return put an end to any +further confidential talk. + +When we separated for the night, I felt that my going to bed would be +purposeless. I felt most painfully wide awake. I threw myself down upon +my bed, and worried myself by trying to imagine what secret there could +be between Maryon and Bludyer--for that a secret of some kind existed, I +felt certain. I tossed about till I heard the stroke of one. A dreadful +restlessness had come upon me. It seemed as if the solemn night-side of +life was busy waking now, but the silence and solitude of my antique +chamber became too much for me. I rose from my bed, and paced up and +down the room. I raked up the dying embers of the fire, and drew an +arm-chair to the hearth. I fell into a doze. By and by I woke up +suddenly, and I was conscious of stealthy footsteps in the passage. My +sense of hearing became painfully acute. I heard the footsteps +retreating down the corridor, until they were lost in the distance. I +cautiously opened the door, and, shading the candle with my hand, looked +out--there was nothing to be seen; but I felt that I could not remain +quietly in my room, and, closing the door behind me, I went out in +search of I knew not what. + +The sitting-rooms and bedrooms in ordinary use at The Mere were in the +modern part of the house; but there was an old Elizabethan wing which I +had often longed to explore, and in this strange ramble of mine I soon +had reason to be satisfied that I was well within it. At the end of an +oak-panelled narrow passage a door stood open, and I entered a low, +sombre apartment fitted with furniture in the style of two hundred years +ago. There was something awfully ghostly about the look of this room. A +great four-post bedstead, with heavy hangings, stood in a deep recess; a +round oak table and two high-backed chairs were in the centre of the +room. Suddenly, as I gazed on these things, I heard stealthy footsteps +in the passage, and saw a dim light advancing. Acting on a sudden +impulse, I extinguished my candle and withdrew into the shadow of the +recess, watching eagerly. The footsteps came nearer. My heart seemed to +stand still with expectation. They paused outside the door, for a +moment really--for an age it seemed to me. Then, to my astonishment, I +saw Mr. Maryon enter. He carried a small night-lamp in his hand. Another +glance satisfied me that he was walking in his sleep. He came straight +to the round table, and set down the lamp. He seated himself in one of +the high-backed chairs, his vacant eyes staring at the chair opposite; +then his lips began to move quickly, as if he were addressing some one. +Then he rose, went to the bureau, and seemed to take something from it; +then he sat down again. What a strange action of his hands! At first I +could not understand it; then it flashed upon me that in this dream of +his he must be shuffling cards. Yes, he began to deal; then he was +playing with his adversary--his lips moving anxiously at times. + +A look of terrible eagerness came over the sleepwalker's countenance. +With nimble fingers he dealt the cards, and played. Suddenly with a +sweep of his hand he seemed to fling the pack into the fireplace, +started from his seat, grappled with his unseen adversary, raised his +powerful right hand, and struck a tremendous blow. Hush! more footsteps +along the passage! Am I deceived? From my concealment I watch for what +is to follow. Colonel Bludyer comes in, half dressed, but wide awake. + +"You maniac!" I hear him mutter: "I expected you were given to such +tricks as these. Lucky for you no eyes but mine have seen your abject +folly. Come back to your room." + +Mr. Maryon is still gazing, his arms lifted wildly above his head, upon +the imagined foe whom he had felled to the ground. The Colonel touches +him on the shoulder, and leads him away, leaving the lamp. My reasoning +faculties had fully returned to me. I held a clue to the secret, and for +Agnes' sake it must be followed up. I took the lamp away, and placed it +on a table where the chamber candlesticks stood, relit my own candle, +and found my way back to my bedroom. + +The next morning, when I came down to breakfast, I found Colonel Bludyer +warming himself satisfactorily at the blazing fire. I learned from him +that our host was far from well, and that Miss Maryon was in attendance +upon her father; that the Colonel was charged with all kinds of +apologies to me, and good wishes for my safe return home across the +snow. I thanked him for the delivery of the message, while I felt +perfectly convinced that he had never been charged with it. However that +might be, I never saw Mr. Maryon that morning; and I started back to The +Shallows through the snow. + +For the next two or three days the weather was very wild, but I +contrived to get up to The Mere, and ask after Mr. Maryon. Better, I was +told, but unable to see any one. Miss Maryon, too, was fatigued with +nursing her father. So there was nothing to do but to trudge home again. + +"_Reginald Westcar, The Mere is yours. Compel John Maryon to pay the +debt of honor!_" + +Again and again these words forced themselves upon me, as I listlessly +gazed out upon the white landscape. The strange scene that I had +witnessed on that memorable night I passed beneath Mr. Maryon's roof had +brought them back to my memory with redoubled force, and I began to +think that the apparition I had seen--or dreamed of--on my first night +at The Shallows had more of truth in it than I had been willing to +believe. + +Three more days passed away, and a carter-boy from The Mere brought me a +note. It was Agnes' handwriting. It said: + +"DEAR MR. WESTCAR: Pray come up here, if you possibly can. I cannot +understand what is the matter with papa; and he wishes me to do a +dreadful thing. Do come. I feel that I have no friend but you. I am +obliged to send this note privately." + +I need scarcely say that five minutes afterward I was plunging through +the snow toward The Mere. It was already late on that dark February +evening as I gained the shrubbery; and as I was pondering upon the best +method of securing admittance, I became aware that the figure of a man +was hurrying on some yards in front of me. At first I thought it must be +one of the gardeners, but all of a sudden I stood still, and my blood +seemed to freeze with horror, as I remarked that the figure in front of +me _left no trace of footmarks on the snow_! My brain reeled for a +moment, and I thought I should have fallen; but I recovered my nerves, +and when I looked before me again, it had disappeared. I pressed on +eagerly. I arrived at the front door--it was wide open; and I passed +through the hall to the library. I heard Agnes' voice. + +"No, no, papa. You must not force me to this! I cannot--will not--marry +Colonel Bludyer!" + +"You _must_," answered Mr. Maryon, in a hoarse voice; "you _must_ marry +him, and save your father from something worse than disgrace!" + +Not feeling disposed to play the eavesdropper, I entered the room. Mr. +Maryon was standing at the fireplace. Agnes was crouching on the ground +at his feet. I saw at once that it was no use for me to dissemble the +reason of my visit, and, without a word of greeting, I said: + +"Miss Maryon, I have come, in obedience to your summons. If I can +prevent any misfortune from falling upon you I am ready to help you, +with my life. You have guessed that I love you. If my love is returned I +am prepared to dispute my claim with any man." + +Agnes, with a cry of joy, rose from her knees, and rushed toward me. Ah! +how strong I felt as I held her in my arms! + +"I have my answer," I continued. "Mr. Maryon, I have reason to believe +that your daughter is in fear of the future you have forecast for her. I +ask you to regard those fears, and to give her to me, to love and +cherish as my wife." + +Mr. Maryon covered his face with his hands; and I could hear him murmur, +"Too late--too late!" + +"No, not too late," I echoed. "What is this Bludyer to you, that you +should sacrifice your daughter to a man whose very look proclaims him a +villain? Nothing can compel you to such a deed--not even a _debt of +honor_!" + +What it was impelled me to say these last words I know not, but they had +an extraordinary effect upon Mr. Maryon. He started toward me, then +checked himself; his face was livid, his eyeballs glaring, and he threw +up his arms in the strange manner I had already witnessed. + +"What is all this?" exclaimed a harsh voice behind me. "Mr. Westcar +insulting Miss Maryon and her father! it is time for me to interfere." +And Colonel Bludyer approached me menacingly. All his jovial manner and +fulsome courtesy was gone; and in his flushed face and insolent look the +savage rascal was revealed. + +"You will interfere at your peril," I replied. "I am a younger man than +you are, and my strength has not been weakened by drink and dissipation. +Take care." + +The villain drew himself up to his full height; and, though he must have +been at least some sixty years of age, I felt assured that I should meet +no ordinary adversary if a personal struggle should ensue. Agnes +fainted, and I laid her on a sofa. + +"Miss Maryon wants air," said the Colonel, in a calmer voice. "Excuse +me, Mr. Maryon, if I open a window." He tore open the shutters, and +threw up the sash. "And now, Mr. Westcar, unless you are prepared to be +sensible, and make your exit by the door, I shall be under the +unpleasant necessity of throwing you out of the window." + +The ruffian advanced toward me as he spoke. Suddenly he paused. His jaw +dropped; his hair seemed literally to stand on end; his white lips +quivered; he shook, as with an ague; his whole form appeared to shrink. +I stared in amazement at the awful change. A strange thrill shot through +me, as I heard a quiet voice say: + +"Richard Bludyer, your grave is waiting for you. Go." + +The figure of a man passed between me and him. The wretched man shrank +back, and, with a wild cry, leaped from the window he had opened. + +All this time Mr. Maryon was standing like a lifeless statue. + +In helpless wonder I gazed at the figure before me. I saw clearly the +features in profile, and, swift as lightning, my memory was carried back +to the unforgotten scene in the churchyard upon the Lake of Lucerne, and +I recognized the white face of the young man with whom I there had +spoken. + +"John Maryon," said the voice, "this is the night upon which, a quarter +of a century ago, you killed me. It is your last night on earth. You +must go through the tragedy again." + +Mr. Maryon, still statue-like, beckoned to the figure, and opened a +half-concealed door which led into his study. The strange but opportune +visitant seemed to motion to me with a gesture of his hand, which I felt +I must obey, and I followed in this weird procession. From the study we +mounted by a private staircase to a large, well-furnished bed-chamber. +Here we paused. Mr. Maryon looked tremblingly at the stranger, and said, +in a low, stammering voice: + +"This is my room. In this room, on this night, twenty-five years ago, +you told me that you were certain Sir Henry Benet's will was in +existence, and that you had made up your mind to dispute my possession +to this property. You had discovered letters from Sir Henry to your +father which gave you a clue to the spot where that will might be found. +You, Geoffrey Ringwood, of generous and extravagant nature, offered to +find the will in my presence. It was late at night, as now; all the +household slept. I accepted your invitation, and followed you." + +Mr. Maryon ceased; he seemed physically unable to continue. The terrible +stranger, in his low, echoing voice, replied: + +"Go on; confess all." + +"You and I, Geoffrey, had been what the world calls friends. We had been +much in London together; we were both passionately fond of cards. We had +a common acquaintance, Richard Bludyer. He was present on the 2d of +February, when I lost a large sum of money to you at _ecarte_. He hinted +to me that you might possibly use these sums in instituting a lawsuit +against me for the recovery of this estate. Your intimation that you +knew of the existence of the will alarmed me, as it had become necessary +for me to remain owner of The Mere. As I have said, I accepted your +invitation, and followed you to Sir Henry Benet's room; and now I follow +you again." + +As he said these words, Geoffrey Ringwood, or his ghost, passed silently +by Mr. Maryon, and led the way into the corridor. At the end of the +corridor all three paused outside an oak door which I remembered well. A +gesture from the leader made Mr. Maryon continue: + +"On this threshold you told me suddenly that Bludyer was a villain, and +had betrayed your sister Aldina; that she had fled with him that night; +that he could never marry her, as you had reason to know he had a wife +alive. You made me swear to help you in your vengeance against him. We +entered the room, as we enter it now." + +Our leader had opened the door of the room, and we were in the same +chamber I had wandered to when I had slept at The Mere. The figure of +Geoffrey Ringwood paused at the round table, and looked again at Mr. +Maryon, who proceeded: + +"You went straight to the fifth panel from the fireplace, and then +touched a spring, and the panel opened. You said that the will giving +this property to your father and his heirs was to be found there. I was +convinced that you spoke the truth, but, suddenly remembering your love +of gambling, I suggested that we should play for it. You accepted at +once. We searched among the papers, and found the will. We placed the +will upon the table, and began to play. We agreed that we would play up +to ten thousand pounds. Your luck was marvellous. In two hours the limit +was reached. I owed you ten thousand pounds, and had lost The Mere. You +laughed, and said, 'Well, John, you have had a fair chance. At ten +o'clock this morning I shall expect you to pay me _your debt of honor_.' +I rose; the devil of despair strong upon me. With one hand I swept the +cards from the table into the fire, and with the other seized you by the +throat, and dealt you a blow upon the temple. You fell dead upon the +floor." + +Need I say that as I heard this fearful narrative, I recognized the +actions of the sleep-walker, and understood them all? + +"To the end!" said the hollow voice. "Confess to the end!" + +"The doctor who examined your body gave his opinion, at the inquest, +that you had died of apoplexy, caused by strong cerebral excitement. My +evidence was to the effect that I believed you had lost a very large sum +of money to Captain Bludyer, and that you had told me you were utterly +unable to pay it. The jury found their verdict accordingly, and I was +left in undisturbed possession of The Mere. But the memory of my crime +haunted me as only such memories can haunt a criminal, and I became a +morose and miserable man. One thing bound me to life--my daughter. When +Reginald Westcar appeared upon the scene I thought that the debt of +honor would be satisfied if he married Agnes. Then Bludyer reappeared, +and he told me that he knew that I had killed you. He threatened to +revive the story, to exhume your body, and to say that Aldina Ringwood +had told him all about the will. I could purchase his silence only by +giving him my daughter, the heiress of The Mere. To this I consented." + +As he said these last words, Mr. Maryon sunk heavily into the chair. + +The figure of Geoffrey Ringwood placed one ghostly hand upon his left +temple, and then passed silently out of the room. I started up, and +followed the phantom along the corridor--down the staircase--out at the +front door, which still stood open--across the snow-covered lawn--into +the plantation; and then it disappeared as strangely as I first had seen +it; and, hardly knowing whether I was mad or dreaming, I found my way +back to The Shallows. + + * * * * * + +For some weeks I was ill with brain-fever. When I recovered I was told +that terrible things had happened at The Mere. Mr. Maryon had been +found dead in Sir Henry Benet's room--an effusion of blood upon the +brain, the doctors said--and the body of Colonel Bludyer had been +discovered in the snow in an old disused gravel-pit not far from the +house. + + * * * * * + +A year afterward I married Agnes Maryon; and, if all that I had seen and +heard upon that 3d of February was not merely the invention of a fevered +brain, the debt of honor was at last discharged, for I, the nephew of +the murdered Geoffrey Ringwood, became the owner of The Mere. + + + + +DEVEREUX'S DREAM. + + +I give you this story only at second-hand; but you have it in +substance--and he wasted few words over it--as Paul Devereux told it me. + +It was not the only queer story he could have told about himself if he +had chosen, by a good many, I should say. Paul's life had been an +eminently unconventional one: the man's face certified to that--hard, +bronzed, war-worn, seamed and scarred with strange battle-marks--the +face of a man who had dared and done most things. + +It was not his custom to speak much of what he had done, however. +Probably only because he and I were little likely to meet again that he +told me this I am free to tell you now. + +We had come across one another for the first time for years that +afternoon on the Italian Boulevart. Paul had landed a couple of weeks +previously at Marseilles from a long yacht-cruise in southern waters, +the monotony of which we heard had been agreeably diversified by a +little pirate-hunting and slaver-chasing--the evil tongues called it +piracy and slave-running; and certainly Devereux was quite equal to +either _metier_; and he was about starting on a promising little +filibustering expedition across the Atlantic, where the chances were he +would be shot, and the certainty was that he would be starved. So +perhaps he felt inclined to be a trifle more communicative than usual, +as we sat late that night over a blazing pyre of logs and in a cloud of +Cavendish. At all events he was, and after this fashion. + +I forget now exactly how the subject was led up to. Expression of some +philosophic incredulity on my part regarding certain matters, followed +by a ten-minutes' silence on his side pregnant with unwonted words to +come--that was it, perhaps. At last he said, more to himself, it seemed, +than to me: + +"'Such stuff as dreams are made of.' Well, who knows? You're a Sadducee, +Bertie; you call this sort of thing, politely, indigestion. Perhaps +you're right. But yet I had a queer dream once." + +"Not unlikely," I assented. + +"You're wrong; I never dream, as a rule. But, as I say, I had a queer +dream once; and queer because it came literally true three years +afterward." + +"Queer indeed, Paul." + +"Happens to be true. What's queerer still, my dream was the means of my +finding a man I owed a long score, and a heavy one, and of my paying him +in full." + +"Bad for the payee!" I thought. + +Paul's face had grown terribly eloquent as he spoke those last words. On +a sudden the expression of it changed--another memory was stirring in +him. Wonderfully tender the fierce eyes grew; wonderfully tender the +faint, sad smile, that was like sunshine on storm-scathed granite. That +smile transfigured the man before me. + +"Ah, poor child--poor Lucille!" I heard him mutter. + +That was it, was it? So I let him be. Presently he lifted his head. If +he had let himself get the least thing out of hand for a moment, he had +got back his self-mastery the next. + +"I'll tell you that queer story, Bertie, if you like," he said. + +The proposition was flatteringly unusual, but the voice was quite his +own. + +"Somehow I'd sooner talk than think about--_her_," he went on after a +pause. + +I nodded. He might talk about this, you see, but _I_ couldn't. He began +with a question--an odd one: + +"Did you ever hear I'd been married?" + +Paul Devereux and a wife had always seemed and been to me a most +unheard-of conjunction. So I laconically said: + +"No." + +"Well, I was once, years ago. She was my wife--that child--for a week. +And then----" + +I easily filled up the pause; but, as it happened, I filled it up +wrongly; for he added: + +"And then she was murdered." + +I was not unused to our Paul's stony style of talk; but this last +sentence was sufficiently startling. + +"Eh?" + +"Murdered--in her sleep. They never found the man who did it either, +though I had Durbec and all the Rue de Jerusalem at work. But I forgave +them that, for I found the man myself, and killed him." + +He was filling his pipe again as he told me this, and he perhaps rammed +the Cavendish in a little tighter, but that was all. The thing was a +matter of course; I knew my Paul, well enough to know that. Of course he +killed him. + +"Mind you," he continued, kindling the black _brule-gueule_ the +while--"mind you, I'd never seen this man before, never known of his +existence, except in a way that--however, it was this way." + +He let his grizzled head drop back on the cushions of his chair, and his +eyes seemed to see the queer story he was telling enacted once more +before him in the red hollows of the fire. + +"As I said, it was years ago. I was waiting here in Paris for some +fellows who were to join me in a campaign we'd arranged against the +African big game. I never was more fit for anything of that sort than I +was then. I only tell you this to show you that the thing can't be +accounted for by my nerves having been out of order at all. + +"Well: I was dining alone that day, at the Cafe Anglais. It was late +when I sat down to my dinner in the little salon as usual. Only two +other men were still lingering over theirs. All the time they stayed +they bored me so persistently with some confounded story of a murder +they were discussing, that I was once or twice more than half-inclined +to tell them so. At last, though, they went away. + +"But their talk kept buzzing abominably in my head. When the waiter +brought me the evening paper, the first thing that caught my eye was a +circumstantial account of the _probable_ way the fellow did his murder. +I say probable, for they never caught him; and, as you will see +directly, they could only suppose how it occurred. + +"It seemed that a well-known Paris banker, who was ascertained beyond +doubt to have left one station alive and well, and with a couple of +hundred thousand francs in a leathern _sac_ under his seat, arrived at +the next station the train stopped at with his throat cut and _minus_ +all his money, except a few bank-notes to no great amount, which the +assassin had been wise enough to leave behind him. The train was a night +express on one of the southern lines; the banker travelled quite alone, +in a first-class carriage; and the murder must have taken place between +midnight and 1 A.M. next morning. The newspapers supposed--rightly +enough, I think--that the murderer must have entered the carriage _from +without_, stabbed his victim in his sleep--there were no signs of any +struggle--opened the _sac_, taken what he wanted, and retreated, loot +and all, by the way he came. I fully indorsed my particular writer's +opinion that the murderer was an uncommonly cool and clever individual, +especially as I fancy he got clear off and was never afterward laid +hands on. + +"When I had done that I thought I had done with the affair altogether. +Not at all. I was regularly ridden with this confounded murder. You see +the banker was rather a swell; everybody knew him: and that, of course, +made it so shocking. So everybody kept talking about him: they were +talking about him at the Opera, and over the _baccarat_ and _bouillotte_ +at La Topaze's later. To escape him I went to bed and smoked myself to +sleep. And then a queer thing came to pass: I had a dream--I who never +dream; and this is what I dreamed: + +"I saw a wide, rich country that I knew. A starless night hung over it +like a pall. I saw a narrow track running through it, straight, both +ways, for leagues. Something sped along this track with a hurtling rush +and roar. This something that at first had looked like a red-eyed devil, +with dark sides full of dim fire, resolved itself, as I watched it, +presently, into a more conventional night express-train. It flew along, +though, as no express-train ever travelled yet; for all that, I was able +to keep it quite easily in view. I could count the carriages as they +whirled by. One--two--three--four--five--six; but I could only see +distinctly into one. Into that one with perfect distinctness. Into that +one I seemed forced to look. + +"It was the fourth carriage. Two people were in it. They sat in opposite +corners; both were sleeping. The one who sat facing forward was a +woman--a girl, rather. I could see that; but I couldn't see her face. +The blind was drawn across the lamp in the roof, and the light was very +dim; moreover, this girl lay back in the shadow. Yet I seemed to know +her, and I knew that her face was very fair. She wore a cloak that +shrouded her form completely, yet her form was familiar to me. + +"The figure opposite to her was a man's. Strangely familiar to me too +this figure was. But, as he slept, his head had sunk upon his breast, +and the shadow cast upon his face by the low-drawn travelling-cap he +wore hid it from me. Yet if I had seemed to know the girl's face, I was +certain I knew the man's. But as I could see, so I could remember, +neither. And there was an absolute torture in this which I can't explain +to you,--in this inability, and in my inability to wake them from their +sleep. + +"From the first I had been conscious of a desire to do that. This desire +grew stronger every second. I tried to call to them, and my tongue +wouldn't move. I tried to spring toward them, to thrust out my arms and +touch them, and my limbs were paralyzed. And then I tried to shut my +eyes to what I _knew_ must happen, and my eyes were held open and +dragged to look on in spite of me. And I saw this: + +"I saw the door of the carriage where these two sleepers, whose sleep +was so horribly sound, were sitting--I saw this door open, and out of +the thick darkness another face look in. + +"The light, as I have said, was very dim, but I could see his face as +plainly as I can see yours. A large yellow face it was, like a wax mask. +The lips were full, and lustful and cruel. The eyes were little eyes of +an evil gray. Thin yellow streaks marked the absence of the eyebrows; +thin yellow hair showed itself under a huge fur travelling-cap. The +whole face seemed to grow slowly into absolute distinctness as I looked, +by the sort of devilish light that it, as it were, radiated. I had +chanced upon a good many damnable visages before then; but there was a +cold fiendishness about this one such as I had seen on no man's face, +alive or dead, till then. + +"The next moment the man this face belonged to was standing in the +carriage, that seemed to plunge and sway more furiously, as though to +waken them that still slept on. He wore a long fur travelling-robe, girt +about the waist with a fur girdle. Abnormally tall and broad as he was, +he looked in this dress gigantic. Yet there was a marvellous cat-like +lightness and agility about all his movements. + +"He bent over the girl lying there helpless in her sleep. I don't make +rash bargains as a rule, but I felt I would have given years of my life +for five minutes of my lost freedom of limb just then. I tell you the +torture was infernal. + +"The assassin--I knew he was an assassin--bent awhile, gloatingly, over +the girl. His great yellow hands were both bare, and on the forefinger +of the right hand I could see some great stone blazing like an evil eye. +In that right hand there gleamed something else. I saw him draw it +slowly from his sleeve, and, as he drew it, turn round and look at the +other sleeper with an infernal triumphant malignity and hate the Devil +himself might have envied. But the man he looked at slept heavily on. +And then--God! I feel the agony I felt in my dream then now!--then I saw +the great yellow hand, with the great evil eye upon it, lifted +murderously, and the bright steel it held shimmer as the assassin turned +again and bent his yellow face down closer to that other face hidden +from me in the shadow--the girl's face, that I knew was so fair. + +"How can I tell this?... The blade flashed and fell.... There was the +sound of a heavy sigh stifled under a heavy hand.... + +"Then the huge form of the assassin was reared erect, and the bloated +yellow face seemed to laugh silently, while the hand that held the +steel pointed at the sleeping man in diabolical menace. + +"And so the huge form and the bloated yellow face seemed to fade away +while I watched. + +"The express rushed and roared through the blinding darkness without; +the sleeping man slept on still; till suddenly a strong light fell full +upon him, and he woke. + +"And then I saw why I had been so certain that I knew him. For as he +lifted his head, I saw his face in the strong light. + +"_And the face was my own face; and the sleeper was myself!_" + +Paul Devereux made a pause in his queer story here. Except when he had +spoken of the girl, he had spoken in his usual cool, hard way. The pipe +he had been smoking all the time was smoked out. He took time to fill +another before he went on. I said never a word, for I guessed who the +sleeping girl was. + +"Well," Paul remarked presently, "that was a devilish queer dream, +wasn't it? You'll account for it by telling me I'd been so pestered with +the story of the banker's murder that I naturally had nightmare; +perhaps, too, that my digestion was out of order. Call it a nightmare, +call it dyspepsia, if you like. I _don't_, because---- But you'll see +why I don't directly. + +"At the same moment that my dream-self awoke in my dream, my actual self +woke in reality, and with the same ghastly horror. + +"I say the _same_ horror, for neither then nor afterward could I +separate my one self from my other self. They seemed identical; so that +this queer dream made a more lasting impression upon me than you'd +think. However, in the life I led that sort of thing couldn't last very +long. Before I came back from Africa I had utterly forgotten all about +it. Before I left Paris, though, and while it was quite fresh in my +memory, I sketched the big murderer just as I had seen him in my dream. +The great yellow face, the great broad frame in the fur travelling-robe, +the great hand with the great evil eye upon it--everything, carefully +and minutely, as though I had been going to paint a portrait that I +wanted to make lifelike. I think at the time I had some such intention. +If I had, I never fulfilled it. But I made the sketch, as I say, +carefully; and then I forgot all about it. + +"Time passed--three years nearly. I was wintering in the south of France +that year. There it was that I met her--Lucille. Old D'Avray, her +father, and I had met before in Algeria. He was dying now. He left the +child on his death-bed to me. The end was I married her. + +"Poor little thing! I think I might have made her happy--who knows? She +used to tell me often she was happy with me. Poor little thing! + +"Well, we were to come straight to London. That was Lucille's notion. +She wanted to go to my London first--nowhere else. Now I would rather +have gone anywhere else; but, naturally, I let the child have her way. +She seemed nervously eager about it, I remembered afterward; seemed to +have a nervous objection to every other place I proposed. But I saw or +suspected nothing to make me question her very closely, or the reasons +for her preference for our grimy old Pandemonium. What could I suspect? +Not the truth. If I only had! If I had only guessed what it was that +made her, as she said, long to be safe there already. Safe? What had she +to fear with me? Ah, what indeed! + +"So we started on our journey to England. It was a cold, dark night, +early in March. We reached Lyons somewhere about seven. I should have +stayed there that night but for Lucille. She entreated me so earnestly +and with such strange vehemence to go on by the night-mail to Paris, +that at last, to satisfy her, I consented; though it struck me +unpleasantly at the time that I had let her travel too long already, and +that this feverishness was the consequence of over-fatigue. But she +became pacified at once when I told her it should be as she wanted; and +declared she should sleep perfectly well in the carriage with me beside +her. She should feel quite safe then, she said. + +"Safe! Where safer? you might ask. Nowhere, I believe. Alone with +me--surely nowhere safer. The Paris express was a short train that +night; but I managed to secure a compartment for ourselves. I left +Lucille in her corner there while I went across to the _buffet_ to fill +a flask. I was gone barely five minutes; but when I came back the change +in the child's face fairly startled me. I had seen it last with the +smile it always wore for me on it, looking so childishly happy in the +lamp-light. Now it was all gray-pale and distorted; and the great blue +eyes told me directly with what. + +"Fear--sudden, terrible fear--I thought. But _fear_? Fear of what? I +asked her. She clung close to me half-sobbing awhile before she could +answer; and then she told me--nothing. There was nothing the matter; +only she had felt a pain--a cruel pain--at her heart; and it had +frightened her. Yes, that was it; it had frightened her, but it had +passed; and she was well, quite well again now. + +"All this time her eyes seemed to be telling me another story; but I +said nothing; she was obviously too excited already. I did my best to +soothe her, and I succeeded. She told me she felt quite well once more +before we started. No, she had rather, much rather go on to Paris, as I +had promised her she should. She should sleep all the way, if no one +came into the carriage to disturb her. No one could come in? Then +nothing could be better. + +"And so it was that she and I started that night by the Paris mail. + +"I made her up a bed of rugs and wraps upon the cushions; but she had +rather rest her head upon my shoulder, she said, and feel my arm about +her; nothing could hurt her then. Ah, strange how she harped on that. + +"She lay there, then, as she loved best--with her head resting on my +shoulder, not sleeping much or soundly; uneasily, with sudden waking +starts, and with glances round her; till I would speak to her. And then +she would look up into my face and smile; and so drop into that uneasy +sleep again. And I would think she was over-tired, that was all; and +reproach myself with having let her come on. And three or four hours +passed like this; and then we had got as far as Dijon. + +"But the child was fairly worn out now; and she offered no opposition +when I asked her to let me pillow her head on something softer than my +shoulder. So I folded, a great thick shawl she was too well cloaked to +need, and she made that her pillow. + +"We were rushing full swing through the wild, dark night, when she +lifted up her face and bade me kiss her and bid her sleep well. And I +put my arm round her, and kissed the child's loving lips--for the last +time while she lived. Then I flung myself on the seat opposite her; and, +watching her till she slept soundly and peacefully, slept at last myself +also. I had drawn the blind across the lamp in the roof, and the light +in the carriage was very dim. + +"How long I slept I don't know; it couldn't have been more than an hour +and a half, because the express was slackening speed for its first halt +beyond Dijon. I had slept heavily I knew; but I woke with a sudden, +sharp sense of danger that made me broad awake, and strung every nerve +in a moment. The sort of feeling you have when you wake on a prairie, +where you have come across 'Indian sign;' on outpost-duty, when your +_feldwebel_ plucks gently at your cloak. You know what I mean. + +"I was on my feet at once. As I said, the light in the carriage was very +dim, and the shadow was deepest where Lucille lay. I looked there +instinctively. She must have moved in her sleep, for her face was turned +away from me; and the cloak I had put so carefully about her had partly +fallen off. But she slept on still. Only soundly, very soundly; she +scarcely seemed to breathe. And--_did_ she breathe? + +"A ghastly fear ran through my blood, and froze it. I understood why I +had wakened. In my nostrils was an awful odor that I knew well enough. I +bent over her; I touched her. Her face was very cold; her eyes glared +glassily at me; my hands were wet with something. My hands were wet with +blood--her blood! + +"I tore away the blind from the lamp, and then I could see that my wife +of a week lay there stabbed straight to the heart--dead--dead beyond +doubting; murdered in her sleep." + +Devereux's stern, low voice shook ever so little as he spoke those last +words; and we both sat very silent after them for a good while. Only +when he could trust his utterance again he went on. + +"A curious piece of devilry, wasn't it? That child--whom had she ever +harmed? Who could hate her like this? I remember I thought that, in a +dull, confused sort of way, when I found myself alone in that carriage +with her lying dead on the cushions before me. _Alone_ with her--you +understand? It was confusing. + +"I pass over what immediately followed. The express came duly to a halt; +and then I called people to me, and--and the Paris express went on +without that particular carriage. + +"The inquiry began before some local authority next day. Very little +came of it. What could come of it, unless they had convicted _me_ of the +murder of this child I would have given my own life to save? + +"They might have done that at home; but they knew better here, and +didn't. They couldn't find me the actual assassin, however; though I +believe they did their best. All they found was his weapon, which he +most purposely have left behind. I asked for this, and got it. It gave +their police no clue; and it gave me none. But I had a fancy for it. + +"It was a plain, double-edged, admirably-tempered dagger--a very +workmanlike article indeed. On the cross hilt of it I swore one day that +I would live thenceforth for one thing alone--the discovery of the +murderer of old D'Avray's child, whom I had promised him to care for +before all. When I had found this man, whoever he was, I also swore that +I would kill him. Kill him myself, you understand; without any of the +law's delay or uncertainty, without troubling _bourreau_ or hangman. +Kill him as he had killed her--to do this was what I meant to live for. +There was war to the knife between him and me. + +"I started, of course, under one heavy disadvantage. He knew me, +probably, whereas I didn't know him at all. When he found that his +amiable intention of fixing the crime on me had been frustrated, it +must, I imagined, have occurred to him that the said crime might +eventually be fixed by me on him. And he had proved himself to be a +person who didn't stick at trifles. It behooved me, therefore, to go to +work cautiously. But I hadn't fought Indians for nothing; and I _was_ +very cautious. I waited quiet till I got a clue. It was a curious one; +and I got it in this way. It struck me one day, suddenly, that I had +heard of a murder precisely similar to this already. I could not at +first call the thing to mind; but presently I remembered--my dream. And +then I asked myself this: _Had not this murder been done before my eyes +three years ago?_ + +"I came to the conclusion that the circumstances of the murder in my +dream were absolutely identical with the circumstances of the actual +crime. Yes; the girl whose face in that dream I had never been able to +see was Lucille. Yes; the assassin whose face I had seen so plainly in +that dream was the real assassin. In short, I believe that the murder +had been _rehearsed_ before me three years previous to its actual +committal. + +"Now this sounds rather wild. Yet I came to this conviction quite coolly +and deliberately. It _was_ a conviction. Assuming it to be true, the +odds against me grew shorter directly; _for I had the portrait of the +man I wanted drawn by myself the day after I had seen him in my dream_. +And the original of that portrait was a man not to be easily mistaken, +supposing him to exist at all. The day I came across that sketch of him +in that old forgotten sketch-book of mine, I was as sure he did exist as +that I was alive myself. What I had to do was to find this man, and then +I never doubted I should find the man I wanted. You see how the odds had +shortened. If he knew me I knew him now, and he had no notion that I did +know him. It was a good deal fairer fight between us. + +"I fought it out alone. My story was hardly one the Rue de Jerusalem +would have acted upon; and, besides, I wanted no interference. So, with +the portrait before me, I sat down and began to consider who this man +was, and why he had murdered that child. The big, burly frame, the heavy +yellow face, the sandy-yellow hair, the physiognomy generally, was +Teutonic. My man I put down as a North German. Now there were, and are +probably, plenty of men who would have no objection whatever to put a +knife into me, if they got the chance; but this man, whom I had never +met, could have had no such quarrel as theirs with me. His quarrel with +me must have been, then, Lucille. Yes, that was it--Lucille. I began to +see clearly: a thwarted, devilish passion--a cool, infernal revenge. The +child had feared something of this sort; had perhaps seen him that +night. This explained her nervous terror, her nervous anxiety to stop +nowhere, to travel on. In that carriage of that express-train, alone +with me--where could she be safer? This accounted, too, for her anxiety +to reach England. He would not dare follow her there, she had thought, +or, at least, could not without my noticing him. And then she would have +told me. She had not told me before evidently because she had feared for +_me_ too, in a quarrel with this man. She must, innocent child as she +was, have had some instinctive knowledge of what he was capable.... Ay, +a cool, infernal revenge, indeed. To kill her; to fix the murder on me. +That dagger he had left behind.... The apparent impossibility of any +one's entering the carriage as he must have entered it at all, to say +nothing of the almost absolute impossibility of his doing so without +disturbing either of us,--you see it might have gone hard with me if a +British jury had had to decide on the case. + +"Well, to cut this as short as may be, I made up my mind that the man I +wanted was a North German; that he had conceived a hideous passion for +Lucille before I knew her; that she had shrunk from it and him so +unmistakably, that he knew he had no chance; that my taking her away as +my wife, to which he might have been a witness, drove him to as hideous +a revenge; that, hearing we were going to England, and seeing that we +were likely to stop nowhere on the way, and so give him a chance of +doing what he had made up his mind to do, he had decided to do what he +had done as he had done it,--counting on finding us asleep as he had +found us, or on his strength if it came to a fight between him and me; +but coolly reckless enough to brave everything in any case. And the +devil aiding, he had in great part and only too well succeeded. He was +now either so far satisfied that, if I made no move against him--and +how, he might think, could I?--he, feeling himself all safe, would let +me be; or, on the other hand, he did not feel safe, and was not +satisfied, and was arranging for my being disposed of by and by. I +considered the latter frame of mind as his most probable one; I went to +work cautiously, as I say. I ascertained that Lucille had made no +mention of any obnoxious _pretendant_ at any time; I didn't expect to +find she had, her terror of the man was too intense. But this man must +have met her somewhere--where? + +"When old D'Avray came home to die, his daughter was just leaving her +Paris _pensionnat_. All through his last illness he had seen no visitor +but me, and Lucille had never quitted him. Besides, I had been there all +the time. I presumed, then, that this man and she had met in Paris; and +I believe they were only likely to have met at one of the half-dozen +houses where the child would now and again be asked. I got a list of +all these. One name only struck me; it happened to be a German +name--Steinmetz. I wondered if Monsieur Steinmetz was my man. In the +mean time, who was he? I had no trouble in finding that out: Monsieur +Steinmetz was a German banker of good standing and repute, reasonably +well off, and recently left a widower. Personally? _Dame_, personally +Monsieur Steinmetz was a great man and a fat, with a big face and blond +hair, and the appearance of what he really was--a _bon vivant_ and a +_bon enfant_ yet _n'avait jamais fait de mal a personne--allez!_--All, +yes; in effect, Madame had died about a year ago, and Monsieur had been +inconsolable for a long time. He had changed his residence now, and +inhabited a house in one of the new streets off the Champs Elysees. + +"From another source I discovered that in the lifetime of Madame +Steinmetz Lucille was frequently at the house. She had ceased to come +there about the date of the commencement of Madame's sudden illness. I +got this information by degrees, while I lay _perdu_ in an old haunt of +mine in the Pays Latin yonder; for I had always had an idea that I +should find the man I wanted in Paris. When I had got it, I thought I +should like to see Monsieur Steinmetz, the agreeable banker. One night I +strolled up as far as his new residence in the street off the Champs +Elysees. Monsieur Steinmetz lived on the first-floor. There was a +brilliant light there: Monsieur Steinmetz was entertaining friends, it +seemed. + +"It was a fine night; I established myself out of sight under the +doorway of an unfinished house opposite, and waited. I don't know why; +perhaps I fancied that when his friends were gone, the fineness of the +night might induce Monsieur Steinmetz to take a stroll, and that then I +should be able to gratify my curiosity. You see, I knew that if he were +my man, I should know him directly. I waited a good while: shadows +crossed the lighted blinds; once a big, broad shadow appeared there, +that made me fancy I mightn't have been waiting for nothing after all, +somehow. Presently Monsieur Steinmetz's guests departed, and in a little +while after there appeared on the little balcony of Monsieur Steinmetz's +apartment _the man I wanted_. There was a moon that night, and the cold +white light fell on the great yellow face, with the full lustful lips, +and the full cruel chin, just as I had seen the light fall on it in my +dream. It was the same face, Bertie; the same face, the same man. I +couldn't be mistaken. I had no doubt; I _knew_ that the assassin of my +wife, of that tender, innocent, helpless child, stood there, twenty +yards from me, on that balcony. + +"I had got myself pretty well in hand; and it was as well. I never +moved. The face I knew turned presently toward the spot where I stood +hidden,--the face I had seen in my dream, beyond all doubting. The evil +gray eyes glanced carelessly into the shadow, and up and down the quiet +street; and then Monsieur Steinmetz, humming an air, got inside the +window again, and closed it after him. Once more the great burly shadow +that had at first told me I should not wait in that dark doorway in vain +crossed the blinds; and then it disappeared. I saw my man no more that +night; but I had seen enough. I knew who he was now, and where to find +him. + +"As I walked along home I thought what I would do. I quite meant to kill +Monsieur Steinmetz; but I also meant to have no _demeles_ with an +Imperial Procureur and the Cour d'Assizes for doing so. I didn't want to +murder him, either. I thought I would wait a little for the chance of a +suitable opportunity for settling my business satisfactorily. And I did +wait. I turned this delay to account, and got together a case of +circumstantial evidence against my man that, though perhaps it might +have broken down in a law-court, would have been alone amply sufficient +for me. + +"The reason why Lucille's visits to the banker's house ceased was, it +appeared, because Madame Steinmetz had conceived all at once a jealous +dislike to her. How far this was owing to Lucille herself I could well +understand; but I could understand Madame's jealousy equally well. +Madame's illness, strangely sudden, dated from the cessation of +Lucille's visits. Was it hard to find a _cause_ for that illness--a +cause for the wife's subsequent suspected death? I thought not. Then had +followed Lucille's departure from Paris. The child's anxiety for her +father hid her _other fear_ from his eyes and mine; but that fear must +have been on her then. With us she forgot it in time; yet it or another +reason had always prevented all mention of what had occasioned it. She +became my wife. At that very time I easily ascertained that Steinmetz +was absent from Paris; less easily, but indubitably, that he had, at all +events, been as far south as Lyons. At Lyons it must have been that +Lucille first discovered he was dogging us. Hence her alarm, which I had +remembered, and her anxiety to proceed on our journey without stopping +for the night, as I had previously arranged. The morning after the +murder Steinmetz reappeared in Paris. From the hour at which he was seen +at the _gare_, it was certain that he had travelled by the night express +train in which Lucille and I had started from Lyons; and he wore that +morning a travelling-coat of fur in all respects similar to the one I +remembered so well. + +"If I had ever had any doubt of my man after actually seeing him, I +should probably have convinced myself that he was my man by the general +tendency of these facts, which I got at slowly and one by one. But I had +no need of such evidence; and of course no case, even with such +evidence, for a court of law. However, courts of law I had never +intended to trouble in the matter. + +"The opportunity I was waiting was some time before it offered. Monsieur +Steinmetz was a man of regular habits, I found--from his first-floor in +the street off the Champs Elysees, every morning at eleven, to the +Bourse; thence to his bureau hard by till four; from his bureau to his +cafe, where he read papers and played dominoes till six; and then home +slowly by the Boulevarts. He might consider himself tolerably safe from +me while he led this sort of life, even supposing he was aware he was +incurring any danger. I don't think he troubled much about that; till +one night, when, over the count of the beloved domino-points, his eyes +met mine fixed right upon him. I had arranged this little surprise to +see how it would affect him. + +"Perhaps my gaze may have expressed something more than the mere +distraction I intended; but I noticed--though a more indifferent +observer might easily have failed to notice--how the great yellow face, +expanded in childish interest in the childish game, seemed suddenly to +grow gray and harden; how the fat smile became a cruel baring of sharp +white teeth; how the fat chin squared itself. The man knew me, and +scented danger. + +"A moment's reflection convinced Monsieur Steinmetz, though, that it +could be by no means so certain that I knew him; five minutes' +observation of me more than half satisfied him that I did not. Yet what +did I want there? What was I doing in Paris? This might concern him +nearly, he must have thought. + +"I kept my own face in order, and watched his. It wasn't an easy one to +read; but you see I had studied it closely, and in a way he couldn't +have dreamed of. Monsieur Steinmetz was outwardly his wonted self, but +inwardly not quite comfortable when he rose; and I saw the evil eye +gleam on his great yellow finger as he took out his purse to pay the +_garcon_, just as I had seen it when that finger pointed at _myself_ in +my dream. I felt curious sensations, Bertie, as I sat there and looked +abstractedly at Monsieur Steinmetz. I wondered how long it would be +before----But my time hadn't come yet. He went out without another +glance at me. I saw his huge form on the other side of the street when I +left the cafe in my turn. This I had expected. Monsieur Steinmetz was +naturally curious. It was hardly possible that I could know him; but it +was quite certain that he ought to know all about me. So, when I moved +on, he moved on; in short, Monsieur Steinmetz dogged me up one street +and down another, till he finally dogged me home to my hiding-place in +the Pays Latin. He did it very well, too--much better than you would +have expected from so apparently unwieldy a _mouchard_. But I +_remembered_ how lightly he could move. + +"Next day I had, of course, disappeared from my old quarters, and gone +no one knew where. I suppose Monsieur Steinmetz didn't like this fact +when he heard of it. It might have seemed suspicious. Suppose I _had_ +recognized him? In that case I had evidently a little game of my own, +and was as evidently desirous to keep it dark. He was a cool hand; but I +fancy my man began to get a little uneasy. He took some trouble to find +me again. After a while I permitted him to do that. Once found, he +seemed determined that I should not be lost sight of again for want of +watching. I permitted that, too; it helped play my game, and I wanted to +bring it to an end. To which intent, Monsieur Steinmetz got to hear from +sources best known to himself as much of my plans as should bring him to +the state I wanted. That was a murderous state. I wanted to get him to +think that I was dangerous enough to be worth putting out of the way. I +presume he was aware there were, or would be, weak joints in his armor, +impenetrable as it seemed; and he preferred not risking the ordeal of +legal battle if he could help it. At all events, he elected at last to +rid himself of a person who might be dangerous, and was troublesome, by +the shortest and the simplest means. + +"I say so because when, believing my man was ripe for this, I left Paris +about midday for a certain secluded little spot on the sea-coast, I saw +one of Monsieur Steinmetz's employees on the platform; and because, +two days after my arrival in my secluded spot, I met Monsieur Steinmetz +in person, newly arrived also. Now this was exactly what I had intended +and anticipated. Monsieur Steinmetz had come down there to put me out of +his way, if he could. He passed me, leisurely strolling in the opposite +direction, humming his favorite _aria_, bigger and yellower than ever, +the evil eye fiery on his finger. His own eyes shot me as evil fire; but +he said nothing.... I saw he was ripe, though.... My time was close at +hand. + +"It came. Monsieur Steinmetz and I met once more in the very place where +I, knowing my ground, had intended we should meet. It was a dip in the +cliffs like a hollowed palm, and just there the cliff jutted out a good +bit, with a sheer fall on to the rocks below. It was a gray afternoon, +at the end of summer. The wind was rising fast; there was a thunder of +heavy waves already. + +"I think he had been dogging me; but I hadn't chosen to let him get up +to me till now. We were quite out of sight when he had reached the level +bottom of the dip, where I had halted--quite out of sight, and quite +alone. To do him justice, he came on steadily enough. His face was liker +the sketch I had made of it, liker the face I had seen in my dream, than +it had ever looked before. Evidently he had made up his mind.... At +last, then!... Well, I had been waiting long!... He was close beside me. + +"'_Ah! bon jour, cher Monsieur Steinmetz._' + +"'So?' he said, his little eyes contracting like a cobra's. 'Ah! +Monsieur knows my name?' + +"'Among other things about you--yes.' + +"'So!' The yellow face was turning grayer and harder every minute--liker +and liker to my likeness of it. 'And what other things? Has it never +appeared to you that this you do, have been doing--this meddling, may be +dangerous, _hein_?' + +"He had changed his tone, as he had changed the person in which he +addressed me. Yes, he had certainly made up his mind. And his big right +hand was hidden inside his waistcoat, so that I could not see the evil +eye I knew was on his finger. + +"'Dangerous?' he repeated slowly. + +"'Possibly.' + +"'Ay, surely; I shall crush you!' + +"'Try.' + +"'In good time; wait. You plot against me. Take care; I am strong; I +warn you. There must be an end of this, you understand, or----' + +"He nodded his big head significantly. + +"'You are right,' I told him; 'there must be an end. It is coming.' + +"'So?' + +"'Yes; I know you. You know me now.' + +"'I know you. What do you want?' + +"'To kill you.' + +"'So?' + +"'Yes; as you killed her.' + +"'As I killed her? That is it, then? You know that?' + +"'I know that.' + +"'Well, it is true. I killed her. Now you can guess what I am going to +do to you--to you, curse you!--whom she loved.' + +[Illustration: "THE GREAT YELLOW FACE LOOKED SILENTLY UP AT ME; AND +THEN--THEN IT DISAPPEARED."] + +"The very face I had seen in my dream now, Bertie, the very face! There +was something besides the evil eye that gleamed in his right hand when +he drew it from his breast. Once more he spoke. + +"'Yes, I killed her. I meant worse for you. You escaped that; but you +will not escape me now. Fool! were you mad to do this? Did not I hate +you enough? And I would have let you be. Ah, die, then, if you will have +it so!' + +"His heavy right arm swung high as he spoke, and I saw the sharp steel +gleam as it turned to fall. And I twisted from his grip, and caught the +falling arm, and bent it till the dagger dropped to the ground. And +then, for a fierce, desperate, devilish minute, I had him in my clutch, +dragging him nearer the smooth, slippery edge. He was no match for me at +this I knew, and he knew; but he held me with the hold of his despair, +and I could not loose myself. Both of us together, he meant; but not I. +Yet I only freed myself just as he rolled exhausted, but clutching at +the tough, short bushes wildly, toward the brink, and partly over it.... +Only the hold of his hands between him and his death. And I knelt above +him, with the knife in my hand that was stained with _her_ blood. + +"The great yellow face, ashen now in its mortal agony, looked silently +up at me--for three or four awful seconds; and then--then it +disappeared. + +"Bah!" Paul concluded, "that was the end of it." + + + + +CATHERINE'S QUEST. + + +Imagine to yourself an old, rambling, red-brick house, with odd corners +and gables here and there, all bound and clasped together with ivy, and +you have Craymoor Grange. It was built long before Queen Elizabeth's +time, and that illustrious monarch is said to have slept in it in one of +her royal progresses--as where has she not slept? + +There still remain some remnants of bygone ages, although it has been +much modernized and added to in later days. Among these are the +brewhouse and laundry--formerly, it is said, dining-hall and ball-room. +The latter of these is chiefly remarkable for an immense arched window, +such as you see in churches, with five lights. + +When we came to the Grange this window had been partially blocked up, +and in front of it, up to one-third of its height, was a wooden dais, or +platform, on which stood a cumbrous mangle, left there, I suppose, by +the last tenants of the house. + +Of these last tenants we knew very little, for it was so long since it +had been inhabited that the oldest authority in the village could not +remember it. + +There were, however, some half-defaced monuments in the village church +of Craymoor, bearing the figures and escutcheons of knights and dames of +"the old family," as the villagers said; but the inscriptions were worn +and almost illegible, and for some time we none of us took the pains to +decipher them. + +We first came to Craymoor Grange in the summer of 1849, my husband +having discovered the place in one of his rambles, and taken a fancy to +it. At first I certainly thought we could never make it our home, it was +so dilapidated and tumble-down; but by the time winter came on we had +had several repairs done and alterations made, and the rooms really +became quite presentable. + +As our family was small we confined ourselves chiefly to the newest part +of the house, leaving the older rooms to the mice, dust, and darkness. +We made use of two of the old rooms, however, one as a servants' bedroom +and the other as an extra spare chamber, in case of many visitors. For +myself, though I hope I am neither nervous nor superstitious, I confess +that I would rather sleep in "our wing," as we called the part of the +house we inhabited, than in any of the old rooms. + +When Catherine l'Estrange came to us, however, during our first +Christmas at Craymoor, I found that she was troubled with no such +fancies, but declared that she delighted in queer old rooms, with +raftered ceilings and deep window-seats, such as ours, and begged to be +allowed to occupy the spare chamber. This I readily acceded to, as we +had several visitors, and needed all the available rooms. + +As my story has principally to do with Catherine l'Estrange, I suppose I +ought to speak more fully about her. She was an old school-friend of my +daughter Ella, and at the time of which I am speaking was just +one-and-twenty, and the merriest girl I ever knew. She had stayed with +us once or twice before we came to the Grange, but we then knew no other +particulars concerning her family, than that her father had been an +Indian officer, and that he and her mother had both died in India when +she was about six years old, leaving her to the care of an aunt living +in England. + +I now, after a long, and I fear a tedious, preamble, come to my story. + +On the eve of the new year of 1850, Catherine had a very bad sore +throat, and was obliged, though sorely against her inclination, to stay +in bed all day, and forego our small evening gayety. + +At about 6 o'clock P.M., Ella took her some tea, and fearing she would +be dull, offered to stay with her during the evening. This, however, +Catherine would not hear of. "You go and entertain your company," said +she laughingly, "and leave me to my own devices; I feel very lazy, and I +dare say I shall go to sleep." As she had not slept much on the +preceding night, Ella thought it was the best thing she could do; so she +went out by the door leading on to the corridor, first placing the +night-lamp on a table behind the door opening on to the laundry, so that +it might not shine in her face. + +She did not again visit Catherine's room until reminded to do so by my +son George, at about half-past ten. She then rapped at the door, and +receiving no answer, opened it softly, and approached the bed. Catherine +lay quite still, and Ella imagined her to be asleep. She therefore +returned to the drawing-room without disturbing her. + +As it was New Year's eve, we stayed up "to see the old year out and the +new year in," and at a few minutes to twelve we all gathered round the +open window on the stairs to hear the chimes ring out from the village +church. + +We were all listening breathlessly as the hall-clock struck twelve, when +a piercing cry suddenly echoed through the house, causing us all to +start in alarm. I knew that it could only proceed from Catherine's room, +for the servants were all assembled at the window beneath us, listening, +like ourselves, for the chimes. Thither therefore I flew, followed by +Ella, and we found poor Catherine in a truly pitiable state. + +She was deadly pale, in an agony of terror, and the perspiration stood +in large drops upon her forehead. It was some time before we could +succeed at all in composing her, and her first words were to implore us +to take her into another room. + +She was too weak to stand, so we wrapped her in blankets, and carried +her into Ella's bedroom. I noticed that as she was taken through the +laundry she shuddered, and put her hands before her eyes. When she was +laid on Ella's bed she grew calmer, and apologized for the trouble she +had caused, saying that she had had a dreadful dream. + +With this explanation we were fain to be content, though I thought it +hardly accounted for her excessive terror. I had observed, however, that +any allusion to what had passed caused her to tremble and turn pale +again, and I thought it best to refrain from exciting her further. + +When morning came I found Catherine almost her usual self again; but I +persuaded her to remain in bed until the evening, as her cold was not +much better. Ella's curiosity to hear the dream which had so much +excited her friend could now no longer be restrained; but whenever she +asked to hear it, Catherine said, "Not now; another time, perhaps, I may +tell you." + +When she came down to dinner in the evening, we noticed that she was +peculiarly silent, and we endeavored to rally her into her usual +spirits, but in vain. She tried to laugh and to appear merry, poor +child; but there was evidently something on her mind. + +At last, as we all sat round the fire after dinner, she spoke. She +addressed herself to my husband, but the tone of her voice caused us all +to listen. + +"Mr. Fanshawe, I have something to ask of you," said she, and then +paused. + +"Ask on," said Mr. Fanshawe. + +"I know that you will think the request I am going to make a peculiar +one; but I have a particular reason for making it," continued she. "It +is that you will have the wooden dais in front of the laundry window +removed." + +Mr. Fanshawe certainly was taken aback, as were we all. When he had +mastered his bewilderment, and assured himself that he had heard +aright-- + +"It is, indeed, a strange request, my dear Catherine," said he; "what +can be your reason for asking such a thing?" + +"If you will only have it done, and not question me, you will understand +my reason," answered Catherine. + +Mr. Fanshawe demurred, however, thinking it some foolish whim, and at +last Catherine said: + +"I must tell you why I wish it done, then: I am sure we shall discover +something underneath." + +At this we all looked at one another in extreme bewilderment. + +"Discover something underneath? No doubt we should--cobwebs, probably, +and dust and spiders," answered Mr. Fanshawe, much amused. + +But Catherine was not to be laughed down. + +"Only do as I wish," said she beseechingly, "and you will see. If you +find nothing underneath the dais but cobwebs and dust, then you may +laugh at me as much as you like." And I saw that she was serious, for +tears were actually gathering in her eyes. Of course we were all very +anxious to know what Catherine expected to find, and how she came to +suspect that there was anything to be found; but she would not say, and +begged us all not to question her. + +And now George took upon himself to interfere. + +"Let us do as Catherine wishes, father," said he; "the dais spoils the +laundry, and would be much better away." + +"Well, well," said Mr. Fanshawe, "do as you like, only I shall expect my +share of the treasure that is found.--And now," added he, "you must have +a glass of wine to warm you, Catherine, for you look sadly pale, child." + +Here the conversation changed, though we often alluded to the subject +again during the evening. + +The next morning the first thing in all our thoughts was Catherine's +singular request. + +I think Mr. Fanshawe had hoped she would have forgotten it, but such +was not the case; on the contrary, she enlisted George's services the +first thing after breakfast to carry out her design, and they left the +room together, accompanied by Ella. + +It was a snowy morning, and Mr. Fanshawe was obliged to be away from +home all day on business, so I was quite at a loss how to entertain my +numerous guests successfully. Happily for me, however, the mystery +attendant on the removal of the dais in the laundry charmed them all; +and I have to thank Catherine for contributing to their amusement much +better than I could possibly have done. + +Not long after the disappearance of Catherine, Ella, and George, a +message was sent to us in the drawing-room requesting our presence in +the laundry; and on all flocking there with more or less eagerness, we +found a fire burning on the old-fashioned hearth and chairs arranged +round it. + +It appeared that with the help of Sam, our factotum, who was a kind of +Jack-of-all-trades, George had succeeded in loosening the planks of the +dais, which, although strongly put together, were rotten and worm-eaten, +and that we were now summoned to be witnesses of its removal. We found +Catherine trembling with a strange eagerness, and her face quite pale +with excitement. This was shared by Ella and George; and, judging by the +important expression on their faces, I fancied they were let further +into the secret than any one else. + +We all sat down in the chairs placed for our accommodation, and the wild +whistling of the wind in the huge chimney, together with the sheets of +snow which darkened the window-panes, enhanced the mystery of the whole +affair, while George and his coadjutor worked lustily on. + +At length, after a great deal of panting and puffing, George was heard +to exclaim, "Now for the tug of war!" and there followed a minute's +pause, and then a crash as the loosened planks were torn asunder, and a +cloud of dust enveloped both workmen and spectators. + +Involuntarily we all started forward, and a moment of the direst +confusion ensued, during which the boys of our party greatly endangered +their limbs among the broken boards. + +"By George!" exclaimed my son at last--in his eagerness invoking his +patron saint--as he stumbled upon something, "there is something here +and no mistake;" and, hastily clearing away the rubbish and clinging +cobwebs, he disclosed to view what proved on examination to be an +immense oaken chest, about four feet in height, heavily carved, and +ornamented with brass mouldings corroded with age and damp. + +Here was a piece of excitement indeed; never in my most imaginative +moments had I thought of anything so mysterious as this. The most +sceptical among us grew interested. + +"Oh, do open it!" cried Ella, when the first exclamations of surprise +were over. + +"Easier to say than to do, miss," replied Sam, exerting his Herculean +strength in vain. With the aid of a hammer and the kitchen-poker, +however, he at last succeeded in forcing it open. We all pressed forward +eagerly to peer inside. There was something in it certainly, but we none +of us could determine what, until Sam, who was the boldest of us all, +thrust in his hand and brought forth--something which caused the bravest +to start with horror, while poor Catherine sank down, white and +trembling, upon the littered floor. It was a bone, to which adhered +fragments of decaying silk. + +The consternation and conjectures which followed can be better imagined +than described. Seeing the effects of the discovery upon Catherine, and +indeed upon all, I bade Sam replace it in the chest, which George closed +again, to be left until Mr. Fanshawe came home and could investigate the +matter. + +The rest of the day I passed in attending to Catherine, who seemed much +shocked and overcome by what she had seen, and in trying to divert my +guests' thoughts from the subject, and dispel the gloom which had +gathered over all. In this I succeeded only partially, and never did I +welcome my husband's return more gladly than on that evening. + +On his arrival I would not let him be disturbed by the relation of what +had happened until he had finished his dinner, and it was not till we +were gathered as usual round the fire that George related the whole +story to him. + +When he ended the two gentlemen left the room together, in order that +Mr. Fanshawe might verify by his own eyes what he would hardly believe. + +They were some time gone, and on their return I noticed that my husband +held in his hand an old piece of soiled parchment, with mouldy seals +affixed to it. + +"We certainly have discovered much more than I thought for, Catherine," +said he, "and possibly more than you thought for either." Here he paused +for her to reply, but she did not. + +"The bones are most probably those of some animal," added he--I fancied +I could detect a certain anxiety in his tone that belied what he said; +"but in order to quell the active imaginations which I can see are +running away with some of you"--here he looked round with a smile--"I +will send for Dr. Driscoll to come and examine them to-morrow. I have +also found a piece of parchment in the chest," he added; "but I have not +yet looked at its contents." + +"Before you do that, Mr. Fanshawe, and before you send for the surgeon," +interrupted Catherine suddenly in a clear voice, "I think I can tell you +all about the bones found in the chest, and how I guessed them to be +there." + +"I should certainly be very glad to be told," my husband admitted, much +surprised; "though how you can possibly know, I cannot surmise." + +"Listen, and I will tell you," answered Catherine; and feeling very glad +that our curiosity was at last to be gratified, we all "pricked up our +ears," as George would say, to listen. + +I here transcribe Catherine's story word for word, as my son George +subsequently wrote it down from her dictation. + + * * * * * + +"You all remember," she began, "my alarming you on New Year's eve at +midnight, and that I told you I was disturbed by a dreadful dream. + +"I said so because I thought you would make fun of me if I called it a +vision; and yet it was much more like a vision, for I seemed to see it +waking, and it was more vivid and consecutive than any dream I ever had. + +"Before I try to describe it, I want you all to understand that I seemed +intuitively to comprehend what I saw, and to recognize all the figures +which appeared before me, and their relation to one another, though I am +sure I never beheld them before in my life. + +"When Ella left me that night, I lay propped up with pillows, staring +idly at the strange shadows thrown by the hidden lamp across the laundry +ceiling and over the floor. As I looked it seemed to me that a change +came over the room--a most unaccountable change. + +"Instead of the blocked-up window, the rusty mangle, and the dais at the +farther end, I saw the window clear and distinct from top to bottom, and +in front of a deep window-seat at its base stood an oaken chest, exactly +corresponding to the one discovered this morning. The room seemed +brilliantly lighted, and everything was clearly and distinctly visible; +and not only was it changed, but also peopled. + +"Many figures passed up and down; brocaded silks swept the floor, and +old-world forms of men in strange costumes bowed in courtly style to the +dames by their side. Among all these figures I noticed only one couple +particularly, and I knew them to be bride and bridegroom. The man was +tall and broad, with dark hair and eyes, and a sensual and cruel face. +He seemed, however, to be quite enslaved by the woman by his side, whom +I hardly even now like to think of, there was something to me so +repellent in her presence. + +"She was tall and of middle age, and would have been handsome were it +not for a sinister expression in her dark flashing eyes, which was +enhanced by the black eyebrows which met over them. + +"She reminded me irresistibly of the effigy on the stone monument in +Craymoor church, which Ella and I named "the wicked woman." + +"As I gazed on the strange scene before me I presently became aware of +three other figures which I had not noticed before. They were standing +in a small arched doorway in one corner of the room (where the servants' +bedroom now is) furtively watching the gay company. One was a pale, +careworn woman, apparently of about five-and-thirty, still beautiful, +though haggard and mournful-looking, with blue eyes and a fair +complexion. + +"Her hands rested on the shoulders of two children, one a boy and the +other a girl, of about ten and eleven years of age respectively. They +much resembled their mother, and, like her, they were meanly dressed, +though no poverty of attire could hide the nobility of their aspect. I +noticed that the mother's eyes rested chiefly on the face of the tall +stately man before mentioned, who seemed unaware or careless of her +presence; and instinctively I knew him to be the father of her children +and the blighter of her life. + +"As I looked and beheld all this, the lights vanished, the company +disappeared, and the room became dark and deserted. No, not quite +deserted, for I presently distinguished, seated on the window-seat by +the old oaken chest, the fair woman and her children again. + +"The moonlight now streamed through the window upon the woman's face, +making it appear more ghastly and haggard than before. In her long thin +fingers she was holding up to the light a necklace of large pearls, +curiously interwoven in a diamond pattern, and on this the children's +eyes were fixed. + +"She then hung it on the girl's fair neck, who hid it in her bosom. Both +children then twined their arms round their mother and kissed her +repeatedly, while her head sank lower and lower, and the paleness of +death overspread her features. + +"This scene faded away as the other had done, and I saw the fair woman +no more. + +"Then it seemed to me that many figures passed and repassed before the +window--the wicked woman (as I shall call her to distinguish her), +accompanied by a boy the image of herself, whom I knew to be her son. He +was apparently older than the fair-haired children, who also passed to +and fro, attired as servants, and generally employed in some menial +work. + +"At last the wicked woman's son, with haughty gestures, ordered the +other boy to pick up something that lay on the ground, and when he +refused, he raised his cane as though to strike him. Before he could do +so, however, the boy flew at him, and they engaged in a fierce struggle. + +"In the midst of this the wicked woman, whom I had learned to dread, +came forward and separated them; after which she pointed imperiously to +the door, and signed to the younger boy to go out. + +"He obeyed her mandate, but first threw his arms round his sister in a +last embrace, and she detached the pearl necklace from off her neck and +gave it to him. He then went out, waving a last adieu to her, and I saw +him no more. + +"Confused images seemed to crowd before me after this, and I remember +nothing clearly until I beheld an infirm and tottering figure led away +through the arched doorway, in whom I recognized the tall and stately +man I had first seen in company with the wicked woman, but who was now +an old man, apparently being supported to his bed to die. As he passed +out he laid one trembling hand upon the head of the fair girl, now a +blooming woman, and a softer shade came over his face. This the wicked +woman noted, and she marked her disapproval by a vindictive frown. + +"She also was older-looking, but age had in no degree softened her +features; on the contrary, they appeared to me to wear a harsher +expression than before. + +"In the next scene which came before me, the wicked woman's son was +evidently making love to the girl. Both were standing by the old +window-seat, but her face was resolutely turned away from him, and when +she at last looked at him it was with an expression of uncontrollable +horror and dislike. + +"Again this scene changed as those before it had done; the young man was +gone, and only the light of a grated lantern illumined the room, or +rather made darkness visible. The wicked woman was the only occupant of +the laundry; she was kneeling by the oaken chest, trying to raise the +heavy lid. In her left hand she held a piece of parchment, with large +red seals pendent from it. I knew it to be the old man's will which she +was hiding, thus defrauding the just claimants of their rights. + +"Her hands trembled, and her whole appearance denoted guilty +trepidation. At length, however, the lid was raised, but just as she was +about to replace the parchment in the chest, a figure glided silently +from a dark corner of the window-seat and confronted her. It was the +fair girl, pale, resolute, and extending her hand to claim the will. + +"After the first guilty start, which caused her to drop the parchment +into the chest, the wicked woman hurriedly tried to close the lid. Her +efforts were frustrated, however, by the girl, who leaned with all her +force upon it, keeping it back, and still held out her hand as before. + +"There followed a pause, which seemed to me very long, but which could +in reality have only lasted a minute. + +"It was broken by the wicked woman, who, hastily casting a glance behind +her into the gloom of the darkened chamber, then seized the girl by the +arm and dragged her with all her force into the chest. It was but the +work of a moment, for the woman was much the more powerful of the two, +and the poor victim was too much taken by surprise to make much +resistance. I saw one despairing look in her face as her murderess +flashed the lantern before it with a hideous gleam of triumph. + +"Then the lid was pressed down upon her, and I saw no more, only I felt +an unutterable terror, and tried in vain to scream. + +"This was not all the vision, however, for before I had mastered my +terror the scene was superseded by another. + +"This time it was twilight, and the wicked woman and her son were +together. The son seemed to be talking eagerly, and grew more and more +excited, while the mother stood still and erect, with a malicious smile +upon her lips. Presently she moved toward the chest with a fell purpose +in her eyes, unlocked it with a key which hung from her girdle, raised +the lid and disclosed the contents. + +"I understood it all now: the son was asking for the girl whom he had +loved, and whom on his return home he missed, and the wicked woman, +enraged at hearing for the first time that he had loved her, was +determined to have her revenge. + +"He should see her again. + +"On beholding the dread contents of the chest, the man staggered back +horrified; then, doubtless comprehending the case, he turned suddenly +upon the murderess, and threw his arm around her, and there ensued a +struggle terrible to witness. + +"Her proud triumphant glance of malice was now succeeded by one of +abject fear, and, as his strength began to gain the mastery, of despair. + +"His iron frame heaved for a moment with the violence of his efforts, +the next he had forced her down into the chest upon the mouldering body +of her victim. I saw her eyes light up with the terror of death for one +second, and then her screams were stifled forever beneath the massive +lid. + +"The horror of this scene was too much for me; I found voice to scream +at last, and I suppose it was my cry which alarmed you all." + +When Catherine ceased speaking there was a profound silence for a +minute, which Mr. Fanshawe was the first to break as he said with a +peculiar intonation in his voice, "It is very strange, very +unaccountable," reechoing all our thoughts. + +Now it happened that Mr. Fleet, our family lawyer, was among our guests +that Christmas-time, and since the discovery of the chest and bones had +taken a great interest in the whole affair. He now questioned and +cross-questioned Catherine, and seemed quite satisfied with the result. + +"This would have made a fine case," said he, "if only it had been a +question of the right of succession, for any lawyer to make out; but +unfortunately the events are too long past to have any bearing upon the +present." (There Mr. Fleet was wrong, though we none of us knew it at +the time.) + +We now all launched forth into conjectures and opinions, during which +Catherine lay still and weary upon the sofa. I saw this, and thought it +quite time to put an end to the day's adventures by suggesting a +retirement for the night, and we were soon all dispersed to dream of the +mysterious vision and discovery. + + * * * * * + +I think we were none of us sorry when morning dawned without any further +tragedy (by _us_, I mean the female part of the establishment). + +When I came down to breakfast I found Mr. Fleet very active on the +subject of the night before. + +"A surgeon ought to be immediately sent for to pronounce an opinion on +the contents of the chest," he said; and Dr. Driscoll presently came, +and after examining the bones minutely, decided that they were, as we +thought, those of two females, who might have been from one to two +hundred years dead. + +Mr. Fleet next offered to decipher the will, for such he imagined the +parchment to be, and he and Mr. Fanshawe were closeted together for some +time. + +When they at last appeared again, they looked much interested and +excited, and led me away to inform me of the result of their +examination. + +They told me that the document had proved to be a will, but that there +was a circumstance connected with it which greatly added to the mystery +of the whole business. This was the mention of the name of L'Estrange. I +was, of course, as much surprised as they, and heard the will read with +great interest. + +I cannot remember the technical terms in which it was expressed. Mr. +Fleet read me the translation he had made, for the original was in old +English; but it was to this effect: + +It purported to be the will of Reginald, Viscount St. Aubyn, in which he +bequeathed all his inheritance to his lawful son Francis St. +Aubyn--commonly known by the name of Francis l'Estrange--and to his +heirs forever. It was signed Reginald, Viscount St. Aubyn, and the +witnesses were John Murray and Phoebe Brett, who in the old copy had +each affixed their mark. + +Mr. Fleet affirmed that it was a perfectly legal document, but this was +not all it contained. + +There was an appendix which our lawyer translated as follows: + +"In order to avoid all disputes and doubts which might otherwise arise, +I do hereby declare that my lawful wife was Editha, youngest daughter of +Francis l'Estrange, Baronet, and that the register of our marriage may +be seen in the church of St. Andrew, Haslet. By this marriage we had two +children, a son Francis, and a daughter Catherine, commonly called +Francis and Catherine l'Estrange. And I hereby declare that Agatha +Thornhaugh was not legally married to me as she imagined, my lawful wife +being alive at the time; neither do I leave to her son by her first +husband, Ralph Thornhaugh, any part or share in my inheritance." + +Both the will and the writing at the foot of it were dated the 14th of +May, 1668. + +This accumulation of mysteries caused me for a time to feel quite +bewildered and unable to think, but Mr. Fleet was in his element. + +"Here is a case worth entering into," said he, and he further went on to +state that he had no doubt that the L'Estranges mentioned in the will +were our Catherine's ancestors, the Christian names being similar +rendering it more than probable. She was most likely a direct descendant +of Francis l'Estrange, the heir mentioned in the will, who was no doubt +also the fair-haired boy Catherine had seen in her vision. + +The bones were those of his sister, the murdered Catherine l'Estrange, +and of her murderess Agatha Thornhaugh, herself immured by her own son; +but the matter ought not to rest on mere surmise, and the first place to +go to for corroborating evidence was Craymoor church. + +The rapidity with which Mr. Fleet came to his conclusions increased my +bewilderment, and I was at a loss to know what evidence he expected to +gain from Craymoor church. He reminded me, however, of Catherine's +statement that "the wicked woman" of her vision resembled the effigy on +the monument there. + +Thither, then, the lawyer repaired, accompanied by Mr. Fanshawe and +George. It was thought best to keep the sequel of the story from +Catherine and the others until it was explained more fully, as Mr. Fleet +boldly affirmed it should be. I awaited anxiously the result of their +researches, and they exceeded I think even our good investigator's +hopes. + +Not only had they deciphered the inscription round the old monument, but +with leave from the clergyman and the assistance of the sexton they had +disinterred the coffin and found it to be filled with stones. + +I am aware that this was rather an illegal proceeding, but as Mr. Fleet +was only acting _en amateur_ and not professionally, he did not stick at +trifles. + +The inscription was in Latin, and stated that the tomb was erected in +memory of Agatha, wife of Reginald, Viscount St. Aubyn, who was buried +beneath, and who died on the 31st day of December, 1649--exactly two +hundred years before the day on which Catherine had seen the vision. + +I could not help thinking it shocking that the villagers had for two +centuries been worshipping in the presence of a perpetual lie, but Mr. +Fleet thought only of the grand corroboration of his "case." He applied +to Mr. Fanshawe to take the next step, namely, to write to Catherine's +aunt and only living relative, to tell her the whole story, and beg +her to assist in elucidating matters by giving all the information she +could respecting the L'Estrange family. + +This was done, and we anxiously awaited the answer. Meantime, all my +guests were clamorous to hear the contents of the will, and I had to +appease them as best I could, by promising that they should know all +soon. + +In a few days, old Miss l'Estrange's answer came. She said her brother, +father, and grandfather had all served in India, and that she believed +her great-grandfather, who was a Francis l'Estrange, to have passed most +of his life abroad, there having been a cloud over his early youth. What +this was, however, she could not say. She affirmed that the L'Estranges +had in old times resided in ----shire; and she further stated that her +father's family had consisted of herself and her brother, whose only +child Catherine was. + +This was certainly not much information, but it was enough for our +purpose. We no longer remained in doubt as to the truth of Mr. Fleet's +version of the story, and when he himself told it to all our +family-party one evening, every one agreed that he had certainly +succeeded in making out a very clever case. + +As for Catherine, on being told that the figures she had beheld in the +vision were thought to be those of her ancestors, she was not so much +surprised as I expected, but said that she had had a presentiment all +along that the tragedies she had witnessed were in some way connected +with her own family. + +I must not forget to say that on ascertaining that the parish church of +Haslet was still standing, we searched the register, and another link of +evidence was made clear by the finding of the looked-for entry. + +There remains little more to be told. The charge of the old will was +committed to Mr. Fleet, and Catherine's story has been carefully laid up +among the archives of our family. I say advisedly of _our_ family, for +the line of the L'Estranges, alias St. Aubyns, has been united to ours +by the marriage of Catherine to my son George, which took place in 1850. + +I who write this am an old woman now, but I still live with my son and +daughter-in-law. + +George has bought Craymoor Grange, thus rendering justice after the +lapse of two centuries, and restoring the inheritance of her fathers to +the rightful owner. + +I have but one more incident to relate, and I have done. A short time +ago, old Miss l'Estrange died, bequeathing all her worldly possessions +to Catherine. Among these were some old family relics. Catherine was +looking over them as George unpacked them, and she presently came to a +miniature of a young and beautiful girl with fair hair and blue eyes, +and a wistful expression, and with it a necklace of pearls strung in a +diamond pattern. On seeing these she became suddenly grave, and handing +them to me, said: "They are the same; the young girl, and the pearl +necklace I told you of." No more was said at the time, for the children +were present, and we had always avoided alluding to the horrible family +tragedy before them; but if we had still retained any doubt about its +truth--which we had not--this would have set it at rest. + +If you were to visit Craymoor Grange now, you would find no old laundry. +The part of the house containing it has been pulled down, and children +play and chickens peckett on the ground where it once stood. + +The oaken chest has also long since been destroyed. + + + + +HAUNTED. + + +Some few years ago one of those great national conventions which draw +together all ages and conditions of the sovereign people of America was +held in Charleston, South Carolina. + +Colonel Demarion, one of the State Representatives, had attended that +great national convention; and, after an exciting week, was returning +home, having a long and difficult journey before him. + +A pair of magnificent horses, attached to a light buggy, flew merrily +enough over a rough-country for a while; but toward evening stormy +weather reduced the roads to a dangerous condition, and compelled the +Colonel to relinquish his purpose of reaching home that night, and to +stop at a small wayside tavern, whose interior, illuminated by blazing +wood-fires, spread a glowing halo among the dripping trees as he +approached it, and gave promise of warmth and shelter at least. + +Drawing up to this modest dwelling, Colonel Demarion saw through its +uncurtained windows that there was no lack of company within. Beneath +the trees, too, an entanglement of rustic vehicles, giving forth red +gleams from every dripping angle, told him that beasts as well as men +were cared for. At the open door appeared the form of a man, who, at the +sound of wheels, but not seeing in the outside darkness whom he +addressed, called out, "'Tain't no earthly use a-stoppin' here." + +Caring more for his chattels than for himself, the Colonel paid no +further regard to this address than to call loudly for the landlord. + +At the tone of authority, the man in outline more civilly announced +himself to be the host; yet so far from inviting the traveller to +alight, insisted that the house was "as full as it could pack;" but that +there was a place a little farther down the road where the gentleman +would be certain to find excellent accommodation. + +"What stables have you here?" demanded the traveller, giving no more +heed to this than to the former announcement; but bidding his servant to +alight, and preparing to do so himself. + +"Stables!" repeated the baffled host, shading his eyes so as to +scrutinize the newcomer, "_stables_, Cap'n?" + +"Yes, _stables_. I want you to take care of my horses; _I_ can take care +of myself. Some shelter for cattle you must have by the look of these +traps," pointing to the wagons. "I don't want my horses to be kept +standing out in this storm, you know." + +"No, Major. Why no, cert'n'y; Marion's ain't over a mile, and----" + +"Conf--!" muttered the Colonel; "but it's over the _river_, which I +don't intend to ford to-night under any consideration." + +So saying, the Colonel leaped to the ground, directing his servant to +cover the horses and then get out his valise; while the host, thus +defeated, assumed the best grace he could to say that he would see what +could be done "for the _horses_." + +"I am a soldier, my man," added the Colonel in a milder tone, as he +stamped his cold feet on the porch and shook off the rain from his +travelling-gear; "I am used to rough fare and a hard couch: all we want +is shelter. A corner of the floor will suffice for me and my rug; a +private room I can dispense with at such times as these." + +The landlord seemed no less relieved at this assurance than mollified by +the explanation of a traveller whom he now saw was of a very different +stamp from those who usually frequented the tavern. "For the matter of +_stables_, his were newly put up, and first-rate," he said; and +"cert'n'y the Gen'ral was welcome to a seat by the fire while 'twas +a-storming so fierce." + +Colonel Demarion gave orders to his servant regarding the horses, while +the landlord, kicking at what seemed to be a bundle of sacking down +behind the door, shouted--"Jo! Ho, Jo! Wake up, you sleepy-headed +nigger! Be alive, boy, and show this gentleman's horses to the stables." +Upon a repetition of which charges a tall, gaunt, dusky figure lifted +itself from out of the dark corner, and grew taller and more gaunt as it +stretched itself into waking with a grin which was the most visible part +of it, by reason of two long rows of ivory gleaming in the red glare. +The hard words had fallen as harmless on Jo's ear-drum as the kicks upon +his impassive frame. To do Jo's master justice, the kicks were not +vicious kicks, and the rough language was but an intimation that +dispatch was needed. Very much of the spaniel's nature had Jo; and as he +rolled along the passage to fetch a lantern, his mouth expanded into a +still broader grin at the honor of attending so stately a gentleman. +Quick, like his master, too, was Jo to discriminate between "real +gentlefolks" and the "white trash" whose rough-coated, rope-harnessed +mules were the general occupants of his stables. + +"Splendid pair, sir," said the now conciliating landlord. "Shove some o' +them mules out into the shed, Jo (which your horses 'll feel more to hum +in my new stalls, Gen'ral)." + +Again cautioning his man Plato not to leave them one moment, Colonel +Demarion turned to enter the house. + +"You'll find a rough crowd in here, sir," said the host, as he paused on +the threshold; "but a good fire, anyhow. 'Tain't many of these loafers +as understand this convention business--I _pre_sume, Gen'ral, you've +attended the convention--they all on 'em _thinks_ they does, tho'. Fact +most on 'em thinks they'd orter be on the committee theirselves. Good +many on 'em is from Char'ston to-day, but is in the same fix as yerself, +Gen'ral--can't get across the river to-night." + +"I see, I see," cried the statesman, with a gesture toward the +sitting-room. "Now what have you got in your larder, Mr. Landlord? and +send some supper out to my servant; he must make a bed of the +carriage-mats to-night." + +The landlord introduced his guest into a room filled chiefly with that +shiftless and noxious element of Southern society known as "mean +whites." Pipes and drinks, and excited arguments, engaged these people +as they stood or sat in groups. The host addressed those who were +gathered round the log-fire, and they opened a way for the new-comer, +some few, with republican freedom, inviting him to be seated, the rest +giving one furtive glance, and then, in antipathy born of envy, skulking +away. + +The furniture of this comfortless apartment consisted of sloppy, +much-jagged deal tables, dirty whittled benches, and a few uncouth +chairs. The walls were dirty with accumulated tobacco stains, and so +moist and filthy was the floor, that the sound only of scraping seats +and heavy footsteps told that it was of boards and not bare earth. + +Seated with his back toward the majority of the crowd, and shielded by +his newspaper, Colonel Demarion sat awhile unobserved; but was presently +recognized by a man from his own immediate neighborhood, when the +information was quickly whispered about that no less a person than their +distinguished Congressman was among them. + +This piece of news speedily found its way to the ears of the landlord, +to whom Colonel Demarion was known by name only, and forthwith he +reappeared to overwhelm the representative of his State with apologies +for the uncourteous reception which had been given him, and to express +his now very sincere regrets that the house offered no suitable +accommodation for the gentleman. Satisfied as to the safety of his +chattels, the Colonel generously dismissed the idea of having anything +either to resent or to forgive; and assured the worthy host that he +would accept of no exclusive indulgences. + +In spite of which the landlord bustled about to bring in a separate +table, on which he spread a clean coarse cloth, and a savory supper of +broiled ham, hot corncakes, and coffee; every few minutes stopping to +renew his apologies, and even appearing to grow confidentially +communicative regarding his domestic economies; until the hungry +traveller cut him short with "Don't say another word about it, my +friend; you have not a spare sleeping-room, and that is enough. Find me +a corner--a clean corner"--looking round upon the most unclean corners +of that room--"perhaps up-stairs somewhere, and----" + +"Ah! _upsta'rs_, Gen'ral. Now, that's jest what I had in my mind to ax +you. Fact is ther' _is_ a spar' room upsta'rs, as comfortable a room as +the best of folks can wish; but----" + +"But it's crammed with sleeping folks, so there's an end of it," cried +the senator, thoroughly bored. + +"No, sir, ain't no person in it; and ther' ain't no person likely to be +in it 'cept 'tis _yerself_, Colonel Demarion. Leastways----" + +After a good deal of hesitation and embarrassment, the host, in +mysterious whispers, imparted the startling fact that this most +desirable sleeping room was _haunted_; that the injury he had sustained +in consequence had compelled him to fasten it up altogether; that he had +come to be very suspicious of admitting strangers, and had limited his +custom of late to what the bar could supply, keeping the matter hushed +up in the hope that it might be the sooner forgotten by the neighbors; +but that in the case of Colonel Demarion he had now made bold to mention +it; "as I can't but think, sir," he urged, "you'd find it prefer'ble to +sleepin' on the floor or sittin' up all night along ov these loafers. +Fer if 'tis any deceivin' trick got up in the house, maybe they won't +try it on, sir, to a gentleman of your reputation." + +Colonel Demarion became interested in the landlord's confidences, but +could only gather in further explanation that for some time past all +travellers who had occupied that room had "made off in the middle of the +night, never showin' their faces at the inn again;" that on endeavoring +to arrest one or more in their nocturnal flight, they--all more or less +terrified--had insisted on escaping without a moment's delay, assigning +no other reason than that they had seen a ghost. "Not that folks seem to +get much harm by it, Colonel--not by the way they makes off without +paying a cent of money!" + +Great indeed was the satisfaction evinced by the victim of unpaid bills +on the Colonel's declaring that the haunted chamber was the very room +for him. "If to be turned out of my bed at midnight is all I have to +fear, we will see who comes off master in my case. So, Mr. Landlord, let +the chamber be got ready directly, and have a good fire built there at +once." + +The exultant host hurried away to confide the great news to Jo, and with +him to make the necessary preparations. "Come what will, Jo, Colonel +Demarion ain't the man to make off without paying down good money for +his accommodations." + +In reasonable time, Colonel Demarion was beckoned out of the public +room, and conducted up-stairs by the landlord, who, after receiving a +cheerful "good-night," paused on the landing to hear his guest bolt and +bar the door within, and then push a piece of furniture against it. +"Ah," murmured the host, as a sort of misgiving came over him, "if a +apparishum has a mind to come thar, 'tain't all the bolts and bars in +South Carolina as 'll kip'en away." + +But the Colonel's precaution of securing his door, as also that of +placing his revolvers in readiness, had not the slightest reference to +the reputed ghost. Spiritual disturbances of such kind he feared not. +Spirits _tangible_ were already producing ominous demonstrations in the +rooms below, nor was it possible to conjecture what troubles these might +evolve. Glad enough to escape from the noisy company, he took a survey +of his evil-reputed chamber. The only light was that of the roaring, +crackling, blazing wood-fire, and no other was needed. And what +storm-benighted traveller, when fierce winds and rains are lashing +around his lodging, can withstand the cheering influences of a glorious +log-fire? especially if, as in that wooden tenement, that fire be of +abundant pine-knots. It rivals the glare of gas and the glow of a +furnace; it charms away the mustiness and fustiness of years, and causes +all that is dull and dead around to laugh and dance in its bright light. + +By the illumination of just such a fire, Colonel Demarion observed that +the apartment offered nothing worthier of remark than that the furniture +was superior to anything that might be expected in a small wayside +tavern. In truth, the landlord had expended a considerable sum in +fitting up this, his finest chamber, and had therefore sufficient reason +to bemoan its unprofitableness. + +Having satisfied himself as to his apparent security, the senator +thought no more of spirits palpable or impalpable; but to the far graver +issues of the convention his thoughts reverted. It was yet early; he +lighted a cigar, and in full appreciation of his retirement, took out +his note-book and plunged into the affairs of state. Now and then he was +recalled to the circumstances of his situation by the swaggering tread +of unsteady feet about the house, or when the boisterous shouts below +raged above the outside storm; but even then he only glanced up from his +papers to congratulate himself upon his agreeable seclusion. + +Thus he sat for above an hour, then he heaped fresh logs upon the +hearth, looked again to his revolvers, and retired to rest. + +The house-clock was striking twelve as the Colonel awoke. He awoke +suddenly from a sound sleep, flashing, as it were, into full +consciousness, his mind and memory clear, all his faculties invigorated, +his ideas undisturbed, but with a perfect conviction that he was not +alone. + +He lifted his head. A man was standing a few feet from the bed, and +between it and the fire, which was still burning, and burning brightly +enough to display every object in the room, and to define the outline of +the intruder clearly. His dress also and his features were plainly +distinguishable: the dress was a travelling-costume, in fashion somewhat +out of date; the features wore a mournful and distressed expression--the +eyes were fixed upon the Colonel. The right arm hung down, and the hand, +partially concealed, might, for aught the Colonel knew, be grasping one +of his own revolvers; the left arm was folded against the waist. The man +seemed about to advance still closer to the bed, and returned the +occupant's gaze with a fixed stare. + +"Stand, or I'll fire!" cried the Colonel, taking in all this at a +glance, and starting up in his bed, revolver in hand. + +The man remained still. + +"What is your business here?" demanded the statesman, thinking he was +addressing one of the roughs from below. + +The man was silent. + +"Leave this room, if you value your life," shouted the indignant +soldier, pointing his revolver. + +The man was motionless. + +"RETIRE! or by heaven I'll send a bullet through you!" + +But the man moved not an inch. + +The Colonel fired. The bullet lodged in the breast of the stranger, but +he started not. The soldier leaped to the floor and fired again. The +shot entered the heart, pierced the body, and lodged in the wall beyond; +and the Colonel beheld the hole where the bullet had entered, and the +firelight glimmering through it. And yet the intruder stirred not. +Astounded, the Colonel dropped his revolver, and stood face to face +before the unmoved man. + +"Colonel Demarion," spake the deep solemn voice of the perforated +stranger, "in vain you shoot me--I am dead already." + +The soldier, with all his bravery, gasped, spellbound. The firelight +gleamed through the hole in the body, and the eyes of the shooter were +riveted there. + +"Fear nothing," spake the mournful presence; "I seek but to divulge my +wrongs. Until my death shall be avenged my unquiet spirit lingers here. +Listen." + +Speechless, motionless was the statesman; and the mournful apparition +thus slowly and distinctly continued: + +"Four years ago I travelled with one I trusted. We lodged here. That +night my comrade murdered me. He plunged a dagger into my heart while I +slept. He covered the wound with a plaster. He feigned to mourn my +death. He told the people here I had died of heart complaint; that I had +long been ailing. I had gold and treasures. With my treasure secreted +beneath his garments he paraded mock grief at my grave. Then he +departed. In distant parts he sought to forget his crime; but his stolen +gold brought him only the curse of an evil conscience. Rest and peace +are not for him. He now prepares to leave his native land forever. Under +an assumed name that man is this night in Charleston. In a few hours he +will sail for Europe. Colonel Demarion, you must prevent it. Justice and +humanity demand that a murderer roam not at large, nor squander more of +the wealth that is by right my children's." + +The spirit paused. To the extraordinary revelation the Colonel had +listened in rapt astonishment. He gazed at the presence, at the +firelight glimmering through it--through the very place where a human +heart would be--and he felt that he was indeed in the presence of a +supernatural being. He thought of the landlord's story; but while +earnestly desiring to sift the truth of the mystery, words refused to +come to his aid. + +"Do you hesitate?" said the mournful spirit. "Will _you_ also flee, when +my orphan children cry for retribution?" Seeming to anticipate the will +of the Colonel, "I await your promise, senator," he said. "There is no +time to lose." + +With a mighty effort, the South Carolinian said, "I promise. What would +you have me do?" + +In the same terse, solemn manner, the ghostly visitor gave the real and +assumed names of the murderer, described his person and dress at the +present time, described a certain curious ring he was then wearing, +together with other distinguishing characteristics: all being carefully +noted down by Colonel Demarion, who, by degrees, recovered his +self-possession, and pledged himself to use every endeavor to bring the +murderer to justice. + +Then, with a portentous wave of the hand, "It is well," said the +apparition. "Not until the spirit of my murderer shall be separated from +the mortal clay can _my_ spirit rest in peace." And vanished. + +Half-past six in the morning was the appointed time for the steamer to +leave Charleston; and the Colonel lost not a moment in preparing to +depart. As he hurried down the stairs he encountered the landlord, +who--his eyes rolling in terror--made an attempt to speak. Unheeding, +except to demand his carriage, the Colonel pushed past him, and effected +a quick escape toward the back premises, shouting lustily for "Jo" and +"Plato," and for his carriage to be got ready immediately. A few minutes +more, and the bewildered host was recalled to the terrible truth by the +noise of the carriage dashing through the yard and away down the road; +and it was some miles nearer Charleston before the unfortunate man +ceased to peer after it in the darkness--as if by so doing he could +recover damages--and bemoan to Jo the utter ruin of his house and +hopes. + +Thirty miles of hard driving had to be accomplished in little more than +five hours. No great achievement under favorable circumstances; but the +horses were only half refreshed from their yesterday's journey, and +though the storm was over, the roads were in a worse condition than +ever. + +Colonel Demarion resolved to be true to his promise; and fired by a +curiosity to investigate the extraordinary communication which had been +revealed to him, urged on his horses, and reached the wharf at +Charleston just as the steamer was being loosed from her moorings. + +He hailed her. "Stop her! Business with the captain! STOP HER!" + +Her machinery was already in motion; her iron lungs were puffing forth +dense clouds of smoke and steam; and as the Colonel shouted--the crowd +around, from sheer delight in shouting, echoing his "Stop her! stop +her!"--the voices on land were confounded with the voices of the +sailors, the rattling of chains, and the haulings of ropes. + +Among the passengers standing to wave farewells to their friends on the +wharf were some who recognised Colonel Demarion, and drew the captain's +attention toward him; and as he continued vehemently to gesticulate, +that officer, from his post of observation, demanded the nature of the +business which should require the ship's detention. Already the steamer +was clear of the wharf. In another minute she might be beyond reach of +the voice; therefore, failing by gestures and entreaties to convince the +captain of the importance of his errand, Colonel Demarion, in +desperation, cried at the top of his voice, "A murderer on board! For +God's sake, STOP!" He wished to have made this startling declaration in +private, but not a moment was to be lost; and the excitement around him +was intense. + +In the midst of the confusion another cry of "Man overboard!" might have +been heard in a distant part of the ship, had not the attention of the +crowd been fastened on the Colonel. Such a cry was, however, uttered, +offering a still more urgent motive for stopping; and the steamer being +again made fast, Colonel Demarion was received on board. + +"Let not a soul leave the vessel!" was his first and prompt suggestion; +and the order being issued he drew the captain aside, and concisely +explained his grave commission. The captain thereupon conducted him to +his private room, and summoned the steward, before whom the details were +given, and the description of the murderer was read over. The steward, +after considering attentively, seemed inclined to associate the +description with that of a passenger whose remarkably dejected +appearance had already attracted his observation. In such a grave +business it was, however, necessary to proceed with the utmost caution, +and the "passenger-book" was produced. Upon reference to its pages, the +three gentlemen were totally dismayed by the discovery that the name of +this same dejected individual was that under which, according to the +apparition, the murderer had engaged his passage. + +"I am here to charge that man with murder," said Colonel Demarion. "He +must be arrested." + +Horrified as the captain was at this astounding declaration, yet, on +account of the singular and unusual mode by which the Colonel had become +possessed of the facts, and the impossibility of proving the charge, he +hesitated in consenting to the arrest of a passenger. The steward +proposed that they should repair to the saloons and deck, and while +conversing with one or another of the passengers, mention--as it were +casually--in the hearing of the suspected party his own proper name, and +observe the effect produced on him. To this they agreed, and without +loss of time joined the passengers, assigning some feasible cause for a +short delay of the ship. + +The saloon was nearly empty, and while the steward went below, the other +two repaired to the deck, where they observed a crowd gathered seaward, +apparently watching something over the ship's side. + +During the few minutes which had detained the captain in this +necessarily hurried business, a boat had been lowered, and some sailors +had put off in her to rescue the person who was supposed to have fallen +overboard; and it was only now, on joining the crowd, that the captain +learned the particulars of the accident. "Who was it?" "What was he +like?" they exclaimed simultaneously. That a man had fallen overboard +was all that could be ascertained. Some one had seen him run across the +deck, looking wildly about him. A splash in the water had soon afterward +attracted attention to the spot, and a body had since been seen +struggling on the surface. The waves were rough after the storm, and +thick with seaweed, and the sailors had as yet missed the body. The two +gentlemen took their post among the watchers, and kept their eyes +intently upon the waves, and upon the sailors battling against them. Ere +long they see the body rise again to the surface. Floated on a powerful +wave, they can for the few moments breathlessly scrutinize it. The color +of the dress is observed. A face of agony upturned displays a peculiar +contour of forehead; the hair, the beard; and now he struggles--an arm +is thrown up, and a remarkable ring catches the Colonel's eye. "Great +heavens! The whole description tallies!" The sailors pull hard for the +spot, the next stroke and they will rescue---- + +A monster shark is quicker than they. The sea is tinged with blood. The +man is no more! + +Shocked and silent, Colonel Demarion and the captain quitted the deck +and resummoned the steward, who had, but without success, visited the +berths and various parts of the ship for the individual in question. +Every hole and corner was now, by the captain's order carefully +searched, but in vain; and as no further information concerning the +missing party could be obtained, and the steward persisted in his +statement regarding his general appearance, they proceeded to examine +his effects. In these he was identified beyond a doubt. Papers and +relics proved not only his guilt but his remorse; remorse which, as the +apparition had said, permitted him no peace in his wanderings. + +Those startling words, "A murderer on board!" had doubtless struck fresh +terror to his heart and, unable to face the accusation, he had thus +terminated his wretched existence. + +Colonel Demarion revisited the little tavern, and on several occasions +occupied the haunted chamber; but never again had he the honor of +receiving a midnight commission from a ghostly visitor, and never again +had the landlord to bemoan the flight of a non-paying customer. + + + + +PICHON & SONS, OF THE CROIX ROUSSE. + + +Giraudier, _pharmacien, premiere classe_, is the legend, recorded in +huge, ill-proportioned letters, which directs the attention of the +stranger to the most prosperous-looking shop in the grand _place_ of La +Croix Rousse, a well-known suburb of the beautiful city of Lyons, which +has its share of the shabby gentility and poor pretence common to the +suburban commerce of great towns. + +Giraudier is not only _pharmacien_ but _proprietaire_, though not by +inheritance; his possession of one of the prettiest and most prolific of +the small vineyards in the beautiful suburb, and a charming inconvenient +house, with low ceilings, liliputian bedrooms, and a profusion of +_persiennes_, _jalousies_, and _contrevents_, comes by purchase. This +enviable little _terre_ was sold by the Nation, when that terrible +abstraction transacted the public business of France; and it was bought +very cheaply by the strong-minded father of the Giraudier of the +present, who was not disturbed by the evil reputation which the place +had gained, at a time the peasants of France, having been bullied into a +renunciation of religion, eagerly cherished superstition. The Giraudier +of the present cherishes the particular superstition in question +affectionately; it reminds him of an uncommonly good bargain made in his +favor, which is always a pleasant association of ideas, especially to a +Frenchman, still more especially to a Lyonnais; and it attracts +strangers to his _pharmacie_, and leads to transactions in _Grand +Chartreuse_ and _Creme de Roses_, ensuing naturally on the narration of +the history of Pichon & Sons. Giraudier is not of aristocratic +principles and sympathies; on the contrary, he has decided republican +leanings, and considers _Le Progres_ a masterpiece of journalistic +literature; but, as he says simply and strongly, "it is not because a +man is a marquis that one is not to keep faith with him; a bad action is +not good because it harms a good-for-nothing of a noble; the more when +that good-for-nothing is no longer a noble, but _pour rire_." At the +easy price of acquiescence in these sentiments, the stranger hears one +of the most authentic, best-remembered, most popular of the many +traditions of the bad old times "before General Bonaparte," as +Giraudier, who has no sympathy with any later designation of _le grand +homme_, calls the Emperor, whose statue one can perceive--a speck in the +distance--from the threshold of the _pharmacie_. + +The Marquis de Senanges, in the days of the triumph of the great +Revolution, was fortunate enough to be out of France, and wise enough to +remain away from that country, though he persisted, long after the old +_regime_ was as dead as the Ptolemies, in believing it merely suspended, +and the Revolution a lamentable accident of vulgar complexion, but +happily temporary duration. The Marquis de Senanges, who affected the +_style regence_, and was the politest of infidels and the most refined +of voluptuaries, got on indifferently in inappreciative foreign parts; +but the members of his family--his brother and sisters, two of whom were +guillotined, while the third escaped to Savoy and found refuge there in +a convent of her order--got on exceedingly ill in France. If the +_ci-devant_ Marquis had had plenty of money to expend in such feeble +imitations of his accustomed pleasures as were to be had out of Paris, +he would not have been much affected by the fate of his relatives. But +money became exceedingly scarce; the Marquis had actually beheld many of +his peers reduced to the necessity of earning the despicable but +indispensable article after many ludicrous fashions. And the duration of +this absurd upsetting of law, order, privilege, and property began to +assume unexpected and very unpleasant proportions. + +The Chateau de Senanges, with its surrounding lands, was confiscated to +the Nation, during the third year of the "emigration" of the Marquis de +Senanges; and the greater part of the estate was purchased by a thrifty, +industrious, and rich _avocat_, named Prosper Alix, a widower with an +only daughter. Prosper Alix enjoyed the esteem of the entire +neighborhood. First, he was rich; secondly, he was of a taciturn +disposition, and of a neutral tint in politics. He had done well under +the old _regime_ and, he was doing well under the new--thank God, or the +Supreme Being, or the First Cause, or the goddess Reason herself, for +all;--he would have invoked Dagon, Moloch, or Kali, quite as readily as +the Saints and the Madonna, who has gone so utterly out of fashion of +late. Nobody was afraid to speak out before Prosper Alix; he was not a +spy; and though a cold-hearted man, except in the instance of his only +daughter, he never harmed anybody. + +Very likely it was because he was the last person in the vicinity whom +anybody would have suspected of being applied to by the dispossessed +family, that the son of the Marquis' brother, a young man of promise, of +courage, of intellect, and of morals of decidedly a higher calibre than +those actually and traditionally imputed to the family, sought the aid +of the new possessor of the Chateau de Senanges, which had changed its +old title for that of the Maison Alix. The father of M. Paul de Senanges +had perished in the September massacres; his mother had been guillotined +at Lyons; and he--who had been saved by the interposition of a young +comrade, whose father had, in the wonderful rotations of the wheel of +Fate, acquired authority in the place where he had once esteemed the +notice of the nephew of the Marquis a crowning honor for his son--had +passed through the common vicissitudes of that dreadful time, which +would take a volume for their recital in each individual instance. + +Paul de Senanges was a handsome young fellow, frank, high-spirited, and +of a brisk and happy temperament; which, however, modified by the many +misfortunes he had undergone, was not permanently changed. He had plenty +of capacity for enjoyment in him still; and as his position was very +isolated, and his mind had become enlightened on social and political +matters to an extent in which the men of his family would have +discovered utter degradation and the women diabolical possession, he +would not have been very unhappy if, under the new condition of things, +he could have lived in his native country and gained an honest +livelihood. But he could not do that, he was too thoroughly "suspect;" +the antecedents of his family were too powerful against him: his only +chance would have been to have gone into the popular camp as an extreme, +violent partisan, to have out-Heroded the revolutionary Herods; and that +Paul de Senanges was too honest to do. So he was reduced to being +thankful that he had escaped with his life, and to watching for an +opportunity of leaving France and gaining some country where the reign +of liberty, fraternity, and equality was not quite so oppressive. + +The long-looked-for opportunity at length offered itself, and Paul de +Senanges was instructed by his uncle the Marquis that he must contrive +to reach Marseilles, whence he should be transported to Spain--in which +country the illustrious emigrant was then residing--by a certain named +date. His uncle's communication arrived safely, and the plan proposed +seemed a secure and eligible one. Only in two respects was it calculated +to make Paul de Senanges thoughtful. The first was, that his uncle +should take any interest in the matter of his safety; the second, what +could be the nature of a certain deposit which the Marquis's letter +directed him to procure, if possible, from the Chateau de Senanges. The +fact of this injunction explained, in some measure, the first of the two +difficulties. It was plain that whatever were the contents of this +packet which he was to seek for, according to the indications marked on +a ground-plan drawn by his uncle and enclosed in the letter, the Marquis +wanted them, and could not procure them except by the agency of his +nephew. That the Marquis should venture to direct Paul de Senanges to +put himself in communication with Prosper Alix, would have been +surprising to any one acquainted only with the external and generally +understood features of the character of the new proprietor of the +Chateau de Senanges. But a few people knew Prosper Alix thoroughly, and +the Marquis was one of the number; he was keen enough to know in theory +that, in the case of a man with only one weakness, that is likely to be +a very weak weakness indeed, and to apply the theory to the _avocat_. +The beautiful, pious, and aristocratic mother of Paul de Senanges--a +lady to whose superiority the Marquis had rendered the distinguished +testimony of his dislike, not hesitating to avow that she was "much too +good for _his_ taste"--had been very fond of, and very kind to, the +motherless daughter of Prosper Alix, and he held her memory in reverence +which he accorded to nothing beside, human or divine, and taught his +daughter the matchless worth of the friend she had lost. The Marquis +knew this, and though he had little sympathy with the sentiment, he +believed he might use it in the present instance to his own profit, with +safety. The event proved that he was right. Private negotiations, with +the manner of whose transaction we are not concerned, passed between the +_avocat_ and the _ci-devant_ Marquis; and the young man, then leading a +life in which skulking had a large share, in the vicinity of Dijon, was +instructed to present himself at the Maison Alix, under the designation +of Henri Glaire, and in the character of an artist in house-decoration. +The circumstances of his life in childhood and boyhood had led to his +being almost safe from recognition as a man at Lyons; and, indeed, all +the people on the _ci-devant_ visiting-list of the chateau had been +pretty nearly killed off, in the noble and patriotic ardor of the +revolutionary times. + +The ancient Chateau de Senanges was proudly placed near the summit of +the "Holy Hill," and had suffered terrible depredations when the church +at Fourvieres was sacked, and the shrine desecrated with that ingenious +impiety which is characteristic of the French; but it still retained +somewhat of its former heavy grandeur. The chateau was much too large +for the needs, tastes, or ambition of its present owner, who was too +wise, if even he had been of an ostentatious disposition, not to have +sedulously resisted its promptings. The jealousy of the nation of +brothers was easily excited, and departure from simplicity and frugality +was apt to be commented upon by domiciliary visits, and the eager +imposition of fanciful fines. That portion of the vast building occupied +by Prosper Alix and the _citoyenne_ Berthe, his daughter, presented an +appearance of well-to-do comfort and modest ease, which contrasted with +the grandiose proportions and the elaborate decorations of the wide +corridors, huge flat staircases, and lofty panelled apartments. The +_avocat_ and his daughter lived quietly in the old place, hoping, after +a general fashion, for better times, but not finding the present very +bad; the father becoming day by day more pleasant with his bargain, the +daughter growing fonder of the great house, and the noble _bocages_, of +the scrappy little vineyards, struggling for existence on the sunny +hill-side, and the place where the famous shrine had been. They had +done it much damage; they had parted its riches among them; the once +ever-open doors were shut, and the worn flags were untrodden; but +nothing could degrade it, nothing could destroy what had been, in the +mind of Berthe Alix, who was as devout as her father was unconcernedly +unbelieving. Berthe was wonderfully well educated for a Frenchwoman of +that period, and surprisingly handsome for a Frenchwoman of any. Not too +tall to offend the taste of her compatriots, and not too short to be +dignified and graceful, she had a symmetrical figure, and a small, +well-poised head, whose profuse, shining, silken dark-brown hair she +wore as nature intended, in a shower of curls, never touched by the hand +of the coiffeur,--curls which clustered over her brow, and fell far down +on her shapely neck. Her features were fine; the eyes very dark, and the +mouth very red; the complexion clear and rather pale, and the style of +the face and its expression lofty. When Berthe Alix was a child, people +were accustomed to say she was pretty and refined enough to belong to +the aristocracy; nobody would have dared to say so now, prettiness and +refinement, together with all the other virtues admitted to a place on +the patriotic roll, having become national property. + +Berthe loved her father dearly. She was deeply impressed with the sense +of her supreme importance to him, and fully comprehended that he would +be influenced by and through her when all other persuasion or argument +would be unavailing. When Prosper Alix wished and intended to do +anything rather mean or selfish, he did it without letting Berthe know; +and when he wished to leave undone something which he knew his daughter +would decide ought to be done, he carefully concealed from her the +existence of the dilemma. Nevertheless, this system did not prevent the +father and daughter being very good and even confidential friends. +Prosper Alix loved his daughter immeasurably, and respected her more +than he respected any one in the world. With regard to her persevering +religiousness, when such things were not only out of fashion and date, +but illegal as well, he was very tolerant. Of course it was weak, and an +absurdity; but every woman, even his beautiful, incomparable Berthe, was +weak and absurd on some point or other; and, after all, he had come to +the conclusion that the safest weakness with which a woman can be +afflicted is that romantic and ridiculous _faiblesse_ called piety. So +these two lived a happy life together, Berthe's share of it being very +secluded, and were wonderfully little troubled by the turbulence with +which society was making its tumultuous way to the virtuous serenity of +republican perfection. + +The communication announcing the project of the _ci-devant_ Marquis for +the secure exportation of his nephew, and containing the skilful appeal +before mentioned, grievously disturbed the tranquillity of Prosper, and +was precisely one of those incidents which he would especially have +liked to conceal from his daughter. But he could not do so; the appeal +was too cleverly made; and utter indifference to it, utter neglect of +the letter, which naturally suggested itself as the easiest means of +getting rid of a difficulty, would have involved an act of direct and +uncompromising dishonesty to which Prosper, though of sufficiently +elastic conscience within the limit of professional gains, could not +contemplate. The Chateau de Senanges was indeed his own lawful property; +his without prejudice to the former owners, dispossessed by no act of +his. But the _ci-devant_ Marquis--confiding in him to an extent which +was quite astonishing, except on the _pis-aller_ theory, which is so +unflattering as to be seldom accepted--announced to him the existence of +a certain packet, hidden in the chateau, acknowledging its value, and +urging the need of its safe transmission. This was not his property. He +heartily wished he had never learned its existence, but wishing that was +clearly of no use; then he wished the nephew of the _ci-devant_ might +come soon, and take himself and the hidden wealth away with all possible +speed. This latter was a more realizable desire, and Prosper settled his +mind with it, communicated the interesting but decidedly dangerous +secret to Berthe, received her warm sanction, and transmitted to the +Marquis, by the appointed means, an assurance that his wishes should be +punctually carried out. The absence of an interdiction of his visit +before a certain date was to be the signal to M. Paul de Senanges that +he was to proceed to act upon his uncle's instructions; he waited the +proper time, the reassuring silence was maintained unbroken, and he +ultimately set forth on his journey, and accomplished it in safety. + +Preparations had been made at the Maison Alix for the reception of M. +Glaire, and his supposed occupation had been announced. The apartments +were decorated in a heavy, gloomy style, and those of the _citoyenne_ in +particular (they had been occupied by a lady who had once been +designated as _feue Madame la Marquise_, but who was referred to now as +_la mere du ci-devant_) were much in need of renovation. The alcove, for +instance, was all that was least gay and most far from simple. The +_citoyenne_ would have all that changed. On the morning of the day of +the expected arrival, Berthe said to her father: + +"It would seem as if the Marquis did not know the exact spot in which +the packet is deposited. M. Paul's assumed character implies the +necessity for a search." + +M. Henri Glaire arrived at the Maison Alix, was fraternally received, +and made acquainted with the sphere of his operations. The young man had +a good deal of both ability and taste in the line he had assumed, and +the part was not difficult to play. Some days were judiciously allowed +to pass before the real object of the masquerade was pursued, and during +that time cordial relations established themselves between the _avocat_ +and his guest. The young man was handsome, elegant, engaging, with all +the external advantages, and devoid of the vices, errors, and hopeless +infatuated unscrupulousness, of his class; he had naturally quick +intelligence, and some real knowledge and comprehension of life had been +knocked into him by the hard-hitting blows of Fate. His face was like +his mother's, Prosper Alix thought, and his mind and tastes were of the +very pattern which, in theory, Berthe approved. Berthe, a very +unconventional French girl--who thought the new era of purity, love, +virtue, and disinterestedness ought to do away with marriage by barter +as one of its most notable reforms, and had been disenchanted by +discovering that the abolition of marriage altogether suited the taste +of the incorruptible Republic better--might like, might even love, this +young man. She saw so few men, and had no fancy for patriots; she would +certainly be obstinate about it if she did chance to love him. This +would be a nice state of affairs. This would be a pleasant consequence +of the confiding request of the _ci-devant_. Prosper wished with all his +heart for the arrival of the concerted signal, which should tell Henri +Glaire that he might fulfil the purpose of his sojourn at the Maison +Alix, and set forth for Marseilles. + +But the signal did not come, and the days--long, beautiful, sunny, +soothing summer-days--went on. The painting of the panels of the +_citoyenne's_ apartment, which she vacated for that purpose, progressed +slowly; and M. Paul de Senanges, guided by the ground-plan, and aided by +Berthe, had discovered the spot in which the jewels of price, almost the +last remnants of the princely wealth of the Senanges, had been hidden by +the _femme-de-chambre_ who had perished with her mistress, having +confided a general statement of the fact to a priest, for transmission +to the Marquis. This spot had been ingeniously chosen. The +sleeping-apartment of the late Marquis was extensive, lofty, and +provided with an alcove of sufficiently large dimensions to have formed +in itself a handsome room. This space, containing a splendid but gloomy +bed, on an estrade, and hung with rich faded brocade, was divided from +the general extent of the apartment by a low railing of black oak, +elaborately carved, opening in the centre, and with a flat wide bar +along the top, covered with crimson velvet. The curtains were contrived +to hang from the ceiling, and, when let down inside the screen of +railing, they matched the draperies which closed before the great stone +balcony at the opposite end of the room. Since the _avocat's_ daughter +had occupied this palatial chamber, the curtains of the alcove had never +been drawn, and she had substituted for them a high folding screen of +black-and-gold Japanese pattern, also a relic of the grand old times, +which stood about six feet on the outside of the rails that shut in her +bed. The floor was of shining oak, testifying to the conscientious and +successful labors of successive generations of _frotteurs_; and on the +spot where the railing of the alcove opened by a pretty quaint device +sundering the intertwined arms of a pair of very chubby cherubs, a +square space in the floor was also richly carved. + +The seekers soon reached the end of their search. A little effort +removed the square of carved oak, and underneath they found a casket, +evidently of old workmanship, richly wrought in silver, much tarnished +but quite intact. It was agreed that this precious deposit should be +replaced, and the carved square laid down over it, until the signal for +his departure should reach Paul. The little baggage which under any +circumstances he could have ventured to allow himself in the dangerous +journey he was to undertake, must be reduced, so as to admit of his +carrying the casket without exciting suspicion. + +The finding of the hidden treasure was not the first joint discovery +made by the daughter of the _avocat_ and the son of the _ci-devant_. The +cogitations of Prosper Alix were very wise, very reasonable; but they +were a little tardy. Before he had admitted the possibility of mischief, +the mischief was done. Each had found out that the love of the other was +indispensable to the happiness of life; and they had exchanged +confidences, assurances, protestations, and promises, as freely, as +fervently, and as hopefully, as if no such thing as a Republic, one and +indivisible, with a keen scent and an unappeasable thirst for the blood +of aristocrats, existed. They forgot all about "Liberty, Fraternity, and +Equality"--these egotistical, narrow-minded young people;--they also +forgot the characteristic alternative to those unparalleled +blessings--"Death." But Prosper Alix did not forget any of these things; +and his consternation, his provision of suffering for his beloved +daughter, were terrible, when she told him, with a simple noble +frankness which the _grandes dames_ of the dead-and-gone time of great +ladies had rarely had a chance of exhibiting, that she loved M. Paul de +Senanges, and intended to marry him when the better times should come. +Perhaps she meant when that alternative of _death_ should be struck off +the sacred formula;--of course she meant to marry him with the sanction +of her father, which she made no doubt she should receive. + +Prosper Alix was in pitiable perplexity. He could not bear to terrify +his daughter by a full explanation of the danger she was incurring; he +could not bear to delude her with false hope. If this young man could be +got away at once safely, there was not much likelihood that he would +ever be able to return to France. Would Berthe pine for him, or would +she forget him, and make a rational, sensible, rich, republican +marriage, which would not imperil either her reputation for pure +patriotism or her father's? The latter would be the very best thing that +could possibly happen, and therefore it was decidedly unwise to +calculate upon it; but, after all, it was possible; and Prosper had not +the courage, in such a strait, to resist the hopeful promptings of a +possibility. How ardently he regretted that he had complied with the +prayer of the _ci-devant_! When would the signal for Mr. Paul's +departure come? + +Prosper Alix had made many sacrifices, had exercised much self-control +for his daughter's sake; but he had never sustained a more severe trial +than this, never suffered more than he did now, under the strong +necessity for hiding from her his absolute conviction of the +impossibility of a happy result for this attachment, in that future to +which the lovers looked so fearlessly. He could not even make his +anxiety and apprehension known to Paul de Senanges; for he did not +believe the young man had sufficient strength of will to conceal +anything so important from the keen and determined observation of +Berthe. + +The expected signal was not given, and the lovers were incautious. The +seclusion of the Maison Alix had all the danger, as well as all the +delight, of solitude, and Paul dropped his disguise too much and too +often. The servants, few in number, were of the truest patriotic +principles, and to some of them the denunciation of the _citoyen_, whom +they condescended to serve because the sacred Revolution had not yet +made them as rich as he, would have been a delightful duty, a +sweet-smelling sacrifice to be laid on the altar of the country. They +heard certain names and places mentioned; they perceived many things +which led them to believe that Henri Glaire was not an industrial artist +and pure patriot, worthy of respect, but a wretched _ci-devant_, +resorting to the dignity of labor to make up for the righteous +destruction of every other kind of dignity. One day a gardener, of less +stoical virtue than his fellows, gave Prosper Alix a warning that the +presence of a _ci-devant_ upon his premises was suspected, and that he +might be certain a domiciliary visit, attended with dangerous results to +himself, would soon take place. Of course the _avocat_ did not commit +himself by any avowal to this lukewarm patriot; but he casually +mentioned that Henri Glaire was about to take his leave. What was to be +done? He must not leave the neighborhood without receiving the +instructions he was awaiting; but he must leave the house, and be +supposed to have gone quite away. Without any delay or hesitation, +Prosper explained the facts to Berthe and her lover, and insisted on the +necessity for an instant parting. Then the courage and the readiness of +the girl told. There was no crying, and very little trembling; she was +strong and helpful. + +"He must go to Pichon's, father," she said, "and remain there until the +signal is given.--Pichon is a master-mason, Paul," she continued, +turning to her lover, "and his wife was my nurse. They are avaricious +people; but they are fond of me in their way, and they will shelter you +faithfully enough, when they know that my father will pay them +handsomely. You must go at once, unseen by the servants; they are at +supper. Fetch your valise, and bring it to my room. We will put the +casket in it, and such of your things as you must take out to make room +for it, we can hide under the plank. My father will go with you to +Pichon's, and we will communicate with you there as soon as it is safe." + +Paul followed her to the large gloomy room where the treasure lay, and +they took the casket from its hiding-place. It was heavy, though not +large, and an awkward thing to pack away among linen in a small valise. +They managed it, however, and, the brief preparation completed, the +moment of parting arrived. Firmly and eloquently, though in haste, +Berthe assured Paul of her changeless love and faith, and promised him +to wait for him for any length of time in France, if better days should +be slow of coming, or to join him in some foreign land, if they were +never to come. Her father was present, full of compassion and misgiving. +At length he said: + +"Come, Paul, you must leave her; every moment is of importance." + +The young man and his betrothed were standing on the spot whence they +had taken the casket; the carved rail with the heavy curtains might have +been the outer sanctuary of an altar, and they bride and bridegroom +before it, with earnest, loving faces, and clasped hands. + +"Farewell, Paul," said Berthe; "promise me once more, in this the moment +of our parting, that you will come to me again, if you are alive, when +the danger is past." + +"Whether I am living or dead, Berthe," said Paul de Senanges, strongly +moved by some sudden inexplicable instinct, "I will come to you again." + +In a few more minutes, Prosper Alix and his guest, who carried, not +without difficulty, the small but heavy leather valise, had disappeared +in the distance, and Berthe was on her knees before the _prie-dieu_ of +the _ci-devant_ Marquise, her face turned toward the "Holy Hill" of +Fourvieres. + +Pichon, _maitre_, and his sons, _garcons-macons_, were well-to-do +people, rather morose, exceedingly avaricious, and of taciturn +dispositions; but they were not ill spoken of by their neighbors. They +had amassed a good deal of money in their time, and were just then +engaged on a very lucrative job. This was the construction of several of +the steep descents, by means of stairs, straight and winding, cut in the +face of the _coteaux_, by which pedestrians are enabled to descend into +the town. Pichon _pere_ was a _proprietaire_ as well; his property was +that which is now in the possession of Giraudier, _pharmacien, premiere +classe_, and which was destined to attain a sinister celebrity during +his proprietorship. One of the straightest and steepest of the stairways +had been cut close to the _terre_ which the mason owned, and a massive +wall, destined to bound the high-road at the foot of the declivity, was +in course of construction. + +When Prosper Alix and Paul de Senanges reached the abode of Pichon, the +master-mason, with his sons and workmen, had just completed their day's +work, and were preparing to eat the supper served by the wife and +mother, a tall, gaunt woman, who looked as if a more liberal scale of +housekeeping would have done her good, but on whose features the stamp +of that devouring and degrading avarice which is the commonest vice of +the French peasantry, was set as plainly as on the hard faces of her +husband and her sons. The _avocat_ explained his business and introduced +his companion briefly, and awaited the reply of Pichon _pere_ without +any appearance of inquietude. + +"You don't run any risk," he said; "at least, you don't run any risk +which I cannot make it worth your while to incur. It is not the first +time you have received a temporary guest on my recommendation. You know +nothing about the citizen Glaire, except that he is recommended to you +by me. I am responsible; you can, on occasion, make me so. The citizen +may remain with you a short time; can hardly remain long. Say, citizen, +is it agreed? I have no time to spare." + +It was agreed, and Prosper Alix departed, leaving M. Paul de Senanges, +convinced that the right, indeed the only, thing had been done, and yet +much troubled and depressed. + +Pichon _pere_ was a short, squat, powerfully built man, verging on +sixty, whose thick, dark grizzled hair, sturdy limbs, and hard hands, on +which the muscles showed like cords, spoke of endurance and strength; he +was, indeed, noted in the neighborhood for those qualities. His sons +resembled him slightly, and each other closely, as was natural, for they +were twins. They were heavy, lumpish fellows, and they made but an +ungracious return to the attempted civilities of the stranger, to whom +the offer of their mother to show him his room was a decided relief. As +he rose to follow the woman, Paul de Senanges lifted his small valise +with difficulty from the floor, on which he had placed it on entering +the house, and carried it out of the room in both his arms. The +brothers followed these movements with curiosity, and, when the door +closed behind their mother and the stranger, their eyes met. + + * * * * * + +Twenty-four hours had passed away, and nothing new had occurred at the +Maison Alix. The servants had not expressed any curiosity respecting the +departure of the citizen Glaire, no domiciliary visit had taken place, +and Berthe and her father were discussing the propriety of Prosper's +venturing, on the pretext of an excursion in another direction, a visit +to the isolated and quiet dwelling of the master-mason. No signal had +yet arrived. It was agreed that after the lapse of another day, if their +tranquillity remained undisturbed, Prosper Alix should visit Paul de +Senanges. Berthe, who was silent and preoccupied, retired to her own +room early, and her father, who was uneasy and apprehensive, desperately +anxious for the promised communication from the Marquis, was relieved by +her absence. + +The moon was high in the dark sky, and her beams were flung across the +polished oak floor of Berthe's bedroom, through the great window with +the stone balcony, when the girl, who had gone to sleep with her lover's +name upon her lips in prayer, awoke with a sudden start, and sat up in +her bed. An unbearable dread was upon her; and yet she was unable to +utter a cry, she was unable to make another movement. Had she heard a +voice? No, no one had spoken, nor did she fancy that she heard any +sound. But within her, somewhere inside her heaving bosom, something +said, "Berthe!" + +And she listened, and knew what it was. And it spoke, and said: + +"I promised you that, living or dead, I would come to you again. And I +have come to you; but not living." + +She was quite awake. Even in the agony of her fear she looked around, +and tried to move her hands, to feel her dress and the bedclothes, and +to fix her eyes on some familiar object, that she might satisfy herself, +before this racing and beating, this whirling and yet icy chilliness of +her blood should kill her outright, that she was really awake. + +"I have come to you; but not living." + +What an awful thing that voice speaking within her was! She tried to +raise her head and to look toward the place where the moonbeams marked +bright lines upon the polished floor, which lost themselves at the foot +of the Japanese screen. She forced herself to this effort, and lifted +her eyes, wild and haggard with fear, and there, the moonbeams at his +feet, the tall black screen behind him, she saw Paul de Senanges. She +saw him; she looked at him quite steadily; she rose, slowly, with a +mechanical movement, and stood upright beside her bed, clasping her +forehead with her hands, and gazing at him. He stood motionless, in the +dress he had worn when he took leave of her, the light-colored +riding-coat of the period, with a short cape, and a large white cravat +tucked into the double breast. The white muslin was flecked, and the +front of the riding-coat was deeply stained, with blood. He looked at +her, and she took a step forward--another--then, with a desperate +effort, she dashed open the railing and flung herself on her knees +before him, with her arms stretched out as if to clasp him. But he was +no longer there; the moonbeams fell clear and cold upon the polished +floor, and lost themselves where Berthe lay, at the foot of the screen, +her head upon the ground, and every sign of life gone from her. + + * * * * * + +"Where is the citizen Glaire?" asked Prosper Alix of the _citoyenne_ +Pichon, entering the house of the master-mason abruptly, and with a +stern and threatening countenance. "I have a message for him; I must see +him." + +"I know nothing about him," replied the _citoyenne_, without turning in +his direction, or relaxing her culinary labors. "He went away from here +the next morning, and I did not trouble myself to ask where; that is his +affair." + +"He went away? Without letting me know! Be careful, _citoyenne_; this is +a serious matter." + +"So they tell me," said the woman with a grin, which was not altogether +free from pain and fear; "for you! A serious thing to have a _suspect_ +in your house, and palm him off on honest people. However, he went away +peaceably enough when he knew we had found him out, and that we had no +desire to go to prison, or worse, on his account, or yours." + +She was strangely insolent, this woman, and the listener felt his +helplessness; he had brought the young man there with such secrecy, he +had so carefully provided for the success of concealment. + +"Who carried his valise?" Prosper Alix asked her suddenly. + +"How should I know?" she replied; but her hands lost their steadiness, +and she upset a stew-pan; "he carried it here, didn't he? and I suppose +he carried it away again." + +Prosper Alix looked at her steadily--she shunned his gaze, but she +showed no other sign of confusion; then horror and disgust of the woman +came over him. + +"I must see Pichon," he said; "where is he?" + +"Where should he be but at the wall? he and the boys are working there, +as always. The citizen can see them; but he will remember not to detain +them; in a little quarter of an hour the soup will be ready." + +The citizen did see the master-mason and his sons, and after an +interview of some duration he left the place in a state of violent +agitation and complete discomfiture. The master-mason had addressed to +him these words at parting: + +"I assert that the man went away at his own free will; but if you do not +keep very quiet, I shall deny that he came here at all--you cannot prove +he did--and I will denounce you for harboring a _suspect_ and +_ci-devant_ under a false name. I know a De Senanges when I see him as +well as you, citizen Alix; and, wishing M. Paul a good journey, I hope +you will consider about this matter, for truly, my friend, I think you +will sneeze in the sack before I shall." + + * * * * * + +"We must bear it, Berthe, my child," said Prosper Alix to his daughter +many weeks later, when the fever had left her, and she was able to talk +with her father of the mysterious and frightful events which had +occurred. "We are utterly helpless. There is no proof, only the word of +these wretches against mine, and certain destruction to me if I speak. +We will go to Spain, and tell the Marquis all the truth, and never +return, if you would rather not. But, for the rest, we must bear it." + +"Yes, my father," said Berthe submissively, "I know we must; but God +need not, and I don't believe He will." + +The father and the daughter left France unmolested, and Berthe "bore it" +as well as she could. When better times come they returned, Prosper Alix +an old man, and Berthe a stern, silent, handsome woman, with whom no one +associated any notions of love or marriage. But long before their return +the traditions of the Croix Rousse were enriched by circumstances which +led to that before-mentioned capital bargain made by the father of the +Giraudier of the present. These circumstances were the violent death of +Pichon and his two sons, who were killed by the fall of a portion of the +great boundary-wall on the very day of its completion, and the +discovery, close to its foundation, at the extremity of Pichon's +_terre_, of the corpse of a young man attired in a light-colored +riding-coat, who had been stabbed through the heart. + +Berthe Alix lived alone in the Chateau de Senanges, under its restored +name, until she was a very old woman. She lived long enough to see the +golden figure on the summit of the "Holy Hill," long enough to forget +the bad old times, but not long enough to forget or cease to mourn the +lover who had kept his promise, and come back to her; the lover who +rested in the earth which once covered the bones of the martyrs, and who +kept a place for her by his side. She has filled that place for many +years. You may see it, when you look down from the second gallery of the +bell-tower at Fourvieres, following the bend of the outstretched golden +arm of Notre Dame. + +The chateau was pulled down some years ago, and there is no trace of its +former existence among the vines. + +Good times, and bad times, and again good times have come for the Croix +Rousse, for Lyons, and for France, since then; but the remembrance of +the treachery of Pichon & Sons, and of the retribution which at once +exposed and punished their crime, outlives all changes. And once, every +year, on a certain summer night, three ghostly figures are seen, by any +who have courage and patience to watch for them, gliding along by the +foot of the boundary-wall, two of them carrying a dangling corpse, and +the other, implements for mason's work and a small leather valise. +Giraudier, _pharmacien_, has never seen these ghostly figures, but he +describes them with much minuteness; and only the _esprits forts_ of the +Croix Rousse deny that the ghosts of Pichon & Sons are not yet laid. + + + + +THE PHANTOM FOURTH. + + +They were three. + +It was in the cheap night-service train from Paris to Calais that I +first met them. + +Railways, as a rule, are among the many things which they do _not_ order +better in France, and the French Northern line is one of the worst +managed in the world, barring none, not even the Italian _vie ferrate_. +I make it a rule, therefore, to punish the directors of, and the +shareholders in, that undertaking to the utmost within my limited +ability, by spending as little money on their line as I can help. + +It was, then, in a third-class compartment of the train that I met the +three. + +Three as hearty, jolly-looking Saxon faces, with stalwart frames to +match, as one would be likely to meet in an hour's walk from the +Regent's Park to the Mansion House. + +One of the three was dark, the other two were fair. The dark one was the +senior of the party. He wore an incipient full beard, evidently in +process of training, with a considerable amount of grizzle in it. + +The face of one of his companions was graced with a magnificent flowing +beard. The third of the party, a fair-haired youth of some twenty-three +or four summers, showed a scrupulously smooth-shaven face. + +They looked all three much flushed and slightly excited, and, I must +say, they turned out the most boisterous set of fellows I ever met. + +They were clearly gentlemen, however, and men of education, with +considerable linguistic acquirements; for they chatted and sang, and +declaimed and "did orations" all the way from Paris to Calais, in a +slightly bewildering variety of tongues. + +Their jollity had, perhaps, just a little over-tinge of the slap-bang +jolly-dog style in it; but there was so much heartiness and good-nature +in all they said and in all they did, that it was quite impossible for +any of the other occupants of the carriage to vote them a nuisance; and +even the sourest of the officials, whom they chaffed most unmercifully +and unremittingly at every station on the line, took their punishment +with a shrug and a grin. The only person, indeed, who rose against them +in indignant protestation was the head-waiter at the Calais station +refreshment-room, to whom they would persist in propounding puzzling +problems, such as, for instance, "If you charge two shillings for +one-and-a-half-ounce slice of breast of veal, how many fools will it +take to buy the joint off you?"--and what _he_ got by the attempt to +stop their chaff was a caution to any other sinner who might have felt +similarly inclined. + +As for me, I could only give half my sense of hearing to their +utterings, the other half being put under strict sequester at the time +by my friend O'Kweene, the great Irish philosopher, who was delivering +to me, for my own special behoof and benefit, a brilliant, albeit +somewhat abstruse, dissertation on the "visible and palpable outward +manifestations of the inner consciousness of the soul in a trance;" +which occupied all the time from Paris to Calais, full eight hours, and +which, to judge from my feelings at the time, would certainly afford +matter for three heavy volumes of reading in bed, in cases of inveterate +sleeplessness--a hint to enterprising publishers. + +My friend O'Kweene, who intended to stay a few days at Calais, took +leave of me on the pier, and I went on board the steamer that was to +carry us and the mail over to Dover. + +Here I found our trio of the railway-car, snugly ensconced under an +extemporized awning, artfully constructed with railway-rugs and +greatcoats, supported partly against the luggage, and partly upon +several oars, purloined from the boats, and turned into tent-poles for +the nonce--which made the skipper swear wofully when he found it out +some time after. + +The three were even more cheery and boisterous on board than they had +been on shore. From what I could make out in the dark, they were +discussing the contents of divers bottles of liquor; I counted four dead +men dropped quietly overboard by them in the course of the hour and a +half we had to wait for the arrival of the mail-train, which was late, +as usual on this line. + +At last we were off, about half-past two o'clock in the morning. It was +a beautiful, clear, moonlit night, so clear, indeed, that we could see +the Dover lights almost from Calais harbor. But we had considerably more +than a capful of wind, and there was a turgent ground-swell on, which +made our boat--double-engined, and as trim and tidy a craft as ever sped +across the span from shore to shore--behave rather lively, with sportive +indulgence in a brisk game of pitch-and-toss that proved anything but +comfortable to most of the passengers. + +When we were steaming out of Calais harbor, our three friends, emerging +from beneath their tent, struck up in chorus Campbell's noble song, "Ye +Mariners of England," finishing up with a stave from "Rule, Britannia!" + +But, alas for them! however loudly their throats were shouting forth the +sway proverbially held by Albion and her sons over the waves, on this +occasion at least the said waves seemed determined upon ruling these +particular three Britons with a rod of antimony; for barely a few +seconds after the last vibrating echoes of the "Britons never, never, +never shall be slaves!" had died away upon the wind, I beheld the three +leaning lovingly together, in fast friendship linked, over the rail, +conversing in deep ventriguttural accents with the denizens of Neptune's +watery realm. + +We had one of the quickest passages on record--ninety-three minutes' +steaming carried us across from shore to shore. When we were just on the +point of landing, I heard the dark senior of the party mutter to his +companions, in a hollow whisper and mysterious manner, "He is gone +again;" to which the others, the bearded and the smooth-shaven, +responded in the same way, with deep sighs of evident relief, "Ay, +marry! so he is at last." + +This mysterious communication roused my curiosity. Who was the party +that was said to be gone at last? Where had he come from? where had he +been hiding, that _I_ had not seen him? and where was he gone to now? I +determined to know; if but the opportunity would offer, to screw, by +cunning questioning, the secret out of either of the three. + +Fate favored my design. + +For some inscrutable reason, known only to the company's officials, we +cheap-trainers were not permitted to proceed on our journey to London +along with the mail, but were left to kick our heels for some two hours +at the Dover station. + +I went into the refreshment-room to look for my party; I had a notion I +should find them where the Briton's unswerving and unerring instinct +would be most likely to lead them. It turned out that I was right in my +conjecture. There they were, seated round a table with huge bowls of +steaming tea and monster piles of buttered toast and muffins spread on +the festive board before them. Ay, indeed, there they were; but _quantum +mutati ab illis_! how strangely changed from the noisy, rollicking set I +had known them in the railway-car and on board the steamer, ere yet the +demon of sea-sickness had claimed them for his own! How ghastly sober +they looked now, to be sure! And how sternly and silently bent upon +devoting themselves to the swilling of the Chinese shrub infusion and to +the gorging of indigestible muffins. It was quite clear to me that it +would have been worse than folly to venture upon addressing them while +thus absorbed in absorbing. So I resolved to await a more favorable +opening, and went out meanwhile to walk on the platform. + +A short time I was left in solitary possession of the promenade; then I +became suddenly aware that another traveller was treading the same +ground with me--it was the dark elderly leader of the three. I glanced +at him as he passed me under one of the lamps. He looked pale and sad. +The furrowed lines on his brow bespoke deliberation deep and pondering +profound. All the infinite mirth of the preceding few hours had departed +from him, leaving him but a wretched wreck of his former reckless self. + +"A fine night, sir," I said to break the ice--"for the season of the +year," I added by way of a saving clause, to tone down the absoluteness +of the assertion. + +He looked at me abstractedly, merely reechoing my own words, "A fine +night, sir, for the season of the year." + +"Why look ye so sad now, who were erst so jolly?" I bluntly asked, +determined to force him into conversation. + +"Ay, indeed, why so sad now?" he replied, looking me full in the face; +then, suddenly clasping my arm with a spasmodic grip, he continued +hurriedly, "I think I had best confide our secret to you. You seem a man +of thought. I witnessed and admired the patient attention with which you +listened to your friend's abstruse talk in the railway-car. Maybe you +can find the solution of a mystery which defies the ponderings of our +poor brains--mine and my two friends." + +Then he proceeded to pour into my attentive ear this gruesome tale of +mystery: + +"We three--that is, myself, yon tall bearded Briton," pointing to the +glass door of the refreshment-room, "whose name is Jack Hobson, and +young Emmanuel Topp, junior partner in a great beer firm, whom you may +behold now at his fifth bowl of tea and his seventh muffin--are +teetotallers----" + +"Teetotallers!" I could not help exclaiming. "Lord bless me! that is +certainly about the last thing I should have taken you for, either of +you." + +"Well," he replied with some slight confusion, "at least, we _were +total_ teetotallers, though I admit we can now only claim the character +of partial abstainers. The fact is, when, about a fortnight ago, we were +discussing the plan of our projected visit to the great Paris +Exhibition, Topp suggested that while in France we should do as the +French do, to which Jack Hobson assented, remarking that the French knew +nothing about tea, and that a Frenchman's tea would be sure to prove an +Englishman's poison. So we resolved to suspend the pledge during our +visit to France. + +"It was on the second day after our arrival in Paris. We were dining in +a private cabinet at Desire Beaurain's, one of the leading restaurants +on the fashionable side of the Montmartre--Italiens Boulevard. Our +dinner was what an Irishman might call a most 'illigant' affair. We had +sipped several bottles of Sauterne, and tasted a few of Tavel, and we +were just topping the entertainment with a solitary bottle of champagne, +when I became suddenly aware of the presence of another party in the +room--a _fourth man_--who sat him down at our table, and helped himself +liberally to our liquor. From what I ascertained afterward from Jack +Hobson and Emmanuel Topp, the intruder's presence became revealed to +them also, either about the same time or a little later. What was he +like? I cannot tell. His figure and face remained indistinct +throughout--phantom-like. His features seemed endowed with a stronge +weird mobility that would defyingly elude the fixing grasp of our eager +eyes. Now, and to my two companions, he would look marvellously like me; +then, to me, he would stalk and rave about in the likeness of Jack +Hobson; again, he would seem the counterfeit of Emmanuel Topp; then he +would look like all the three of us put together; then like neither of +us, nor like anybody else. Oh, sir, it was a woful thing to be haunted +by this phantom apparition. Yet the strangest part of the affair was +that neither of us seemed to feel a whit surprised at the dread +presence; that we quietly and uncomplainingly let him drink our wine, +and actually give orders for more; that we never objected, in fact, to +any of his sayings and doings. What seemed also strange was that the +waiter, while yet receiving and executing his orders, was evidently +pretending to ignore his presence. But then, as I dare say you know as +well as I do, French waiters are _such_ actors! + +"Well, to resume, there he was, this fourth man, seated at our table and +feasting at our expense. And the pranks that he would play us--they were +truly stupendous. He began his little game by ordering in half-a-dozen +of champagne. And when the waiter seemed slightly doubtful and +hesitating about executing the order, Topp, forsooth, must put in his +oar, and indorse the command, actually pretending that _I_, who am now +speaking to you, and who am the very last man in the world likely to +dream of such a preposterous thing, had given the order, and that I was +a jolly old brick, and the best of boon companions. Surprise at this +barefaced assertion kept me mute, and so, of course, the champagne was +brought in, and I thought the best thing to do under the circumstances +was to have my share of it at least; and so I had--my fair share; but, +bless you, it was nothing to what that fourth man drank of it. In fact, +the amount of liquor _he_ would swill on this and on the many subsequent +occasions he intruded his presence upon us, was a caution. + +"We paid our little bill without grumbling, though the presence of the +fourth man at our table had added rather heavily to the _addition_, as +they call bills at French restaurants. + +"We sallied forth into the street to get a whiff of fresh air. _He_, the +demon, pertinaciously stuck to us; he familiarly linked his arm through +mine, and, suggesting coffee as rather a good thing to take after +dinner, took us over to the Cafe du Cardinal, where he, however, took +none of the Arabian beverage himself (there being only three cups placed +for us, as I distinctly saw), but drank an interminable succession of +_chasse-cafe_, utterly regardless of the divisional lines of the cognac +_carafon_. Part of these he would take neat, another portion he would +burn over sugar, gloating glaringly over the bluish flame, while gleams +of demoniac delight would flit across his ever-changing features. Jack +Hobson and Topp, I am sorry to say, joined him with a will in this +double-distilled debauch; and when I attempted to remonstrate with them, +they brazenly asserted that _I_, who am now speaking to you, who have +always, publicly and privately, declared brandy to be the worst of evil +spirits, had taken more of it, to my own cheek, as they slangily +expressed it, than the two of them together; and the waiter, who had +evidently been bribed by them, boldly maintained that _le vieux +monsieur_, as he had the impudence to call me, had swallowed _plus de +trois carafons de fine_; whereupon the fourth man, stepping up to him, +punched his head, which served him right. Now you will hardly believe me +when I tell you that at that very instant Topp forced me back into my +chair, while Jack Hobson pinioned my arms from behind, and the waiter +had the unblushing effrontery to stamp and rave at me like a maniac, +demanding satisfaction or compensation at my hands for the unprovoked +assault committed upon him by _me, coram populo_!--by _me_, who, I beg +to assure you, am the most peaceable man living, and am actually famed +for the mildness of my disposition and the sweetness and suavity of my +temper. And, would you believe it? everybody present, waiters and +guests, and my own two bosom-friends, joined in the conspiracy against +me, and I actually had to give the wretch of a waiter ten francs as a +plaster for his broken pate, and a salve for his wounded honor! Where +was the real culprit all this time, you ask me--the fourth man? Why, he +quietly stood by grinning, and they all and every one of them pretended +not to see him, though Topp and Jack Hobson next morning confessed to me +that they certainly had an indistinct consciousness of the presence +throughout of this miserable intruder. + +"How we finished that night I remember not; nor could Jack Hobson or +Emmanuel Topp. All we could conscientiously stand by, if we were +questioned, is that we awoke next morning--the three of us--with some +slight swimming in our heads, and a hazy recollection of a gorgeous +dream of brilliant lights and sounds of music and revelry, and bright +visions of groves and grottoes, and dancing houris (or hussies, as moral +Jack Hobson calls the poor things), and a hot supper at a certain place +in the Passage des Princes, of which I think the name is Peter's. + +"I will not tire your courteous patience by a detailed narrative of our +experiences day after day, during our fortnight's stay in Paris. Suffice +it to tell you that from that time forward to yesterday, when we left, +the _fourth man_, as we, by mutual consent, agreed to call the phantom +apparition, came in regularly to our dinner; with the dessert or a +little after; that he would constantly suggest a fresh supply of Cote +St. Jacques, Moulin-a-Vent, Beaune, Chambertin, Roederer Carte Blanche, +and a variety of other, generally rather more than less expensive, +wines--and that he somehow would manage to make us have them, too. + +"Then he would sally forth with us to the cafe, where he would indulge +in irritating chaff of the waiters, and in slighting comments upon the +great French nation in general, and the Parisians in particular, and +upon their institutions and manners and customs. + +"He would insist upon singing the Marseillaise; he would speak +disparagingly of the Emperor, whom he would irreverently call Lambert; +he would pass cutting and unsavory remarks upon the glorious system of +the night-carts; he would call down the judgment of Heaven upon the +devoted head of poor Mr. Haussmann; he would go up to some unhappy +sergent-de-ville, who might, however unwittingly, excite his ire, and +tell him a bit of his mind in English, with sarcastic allusions to his +cocket-hat and his toasting-fork, and polite inquiries after the health +of _ce cher_ Monsieur Lambert, or the whereabouts of _cet excellent_ +Monsieur Godinot. The worst of the matter was that I suppose for the +reason that man is an imitative animal, a sort of [Greek: pithekos +myoros], or Monboddian monkey minus the tail--my two companions were, +somehow, always sure to join the wretch in his evil behavior, and to go +on just as bad as he did. No wonder, then, that we got into no end of +rows, and it is a marvel to me now, how ever we have managed to get off +with a whole skin to our bodies. + +"He would insist upon taking us to Mabille, the Closerie des Lilas, and +the Chateaurouge, where he would indulge in the maddest pranks and +antics, and somehow lead us to join in the wildest dances, and make us +lift our legs as high as the highest lifter among the _habitues_, male +or female. + +"One night, at about half-past two in the morning (_Hibernice_), he had +the cool assurance to drag us along with him to the then closed entrance +to the Passage des Princes, where he frantically shook the gate, and +insisted to the frightened concierge, who came running up in his +night-shirt, that Peter's must and ought to be open still, as _we_ had +not had our supper yet; and Topp and Jack Hobson, forsooth, must join in +the row. I have no distinct recollection of whether it was our phantom +guest or either of my companions that madly strove to detain the hastily +retreating form of the concierge by a desperate clutch at the tail of +his shirt; I only remember that the garment gave way in the struggle, +and that the unhappy functionary was reduced nearly altogether to the +primitive buff costume of the father of man in Paradise ere he had put +his teeth into that unlucky apple of which, the pips keep so +inconveniently sticking in poor humanity's gizzard to the present day. +And what I remember also to my cost is, that the sergent-de-ville, whom +the bereaved man's shouts of distress brought to the scene, fastened +upon _me_, the most inoffensive of mortals, for a compensation fine of +twenty francs, as if _I_ had been the culprit. And deuced glad we were, +I assure you, to get off without more serious damage to our pocket and +reputation than this, and a copious volley of _sacres ivrognes Anglais_, +fired at us by the wretched concierge and his friend of the police, who, +I am quite sure, went halves with him in the compensation. Ah! they are +a lawless set, these French. + +"On another occasion we three went to the Exhibition, where we visited +one of our colonial departments, in company with several English +friends, and some French gentlemen appointed on the wine jury. We went +to taste a few samples of colonial wines. _He_ was not with us _then_. +Barely, however, had we uncorked a poor dozen bottles, which turned out +rather good for colonial, though a little raw and slightly uneducated, +when _who_ should stalk in but our fourth man, as jaunty and +unconcerned as ever. Well, _he_ fell to tasting, and he soon grew +eloquent in praise of the colonial juice, which he declared would, in +another twenty years' time, be fit to compete successfully with the best +French vintages. Of course, the French gentlemen with us could not stand +_this_; they spoke slightingly of the British colonial, and one of them +even went so far as to call it rotgut. I cannot say whether it was the +spirit of the uncompromising opinion thus pronounced, or the coarsely +indelicate way in which the judgment of our French friend was expressed, +that riled our phantom guest--enough, it brought him down in full force +upon the offender and his countrymen, with most fluent French +vituperation and an unconscionable amount of bad jokes and worse puns, +finishing up with a general address to them as members of the +_disgusting_ jury, instead of jury of _degustation_. Now, this I should +not have minded so much; for, I must confess, I felt rather nettled at +the national conceit and prejudice of these French. But the wretch, in +the impetuous utterance of his invective, must somehow--though I was not +aware of it at the time--have mimicked my gestures and imitated the very +tones and accent of my voice so closely as to deceive even some of my +English companions: or how else to account for the fact of their calling +me a noisy brawler and a pestilent nuisance? _me_, the gentlest and +mildest-spoken of mortals! + +"Before our departure from London we had calculated our probable +expenses on a most liberal scale, and we had made comfortable provision +accordingly for a few weeks' stay in Paris. But with the additional +heavy burden of the franking of so copious an imbiber as our fourth man +thus unexpectedly thrown on our shoulders, it was no great wonder that +we should find our resources go much faster than we had anticipated; so +we had already been forcedly led to bethink ourselves of shortening our +intended stay in the French capital when a fresh exploit of the phantom +fourth, climaxing all his past misdeeds, brought matters to a crisis. + +"It was the day before yesterday, the 4th of September. We had been +dining at Marigny, and dancing at Mabille. Our eccentric guest had come +in, as usual, with the champagne, and had of course, after dinner, taken +us over to the enchanted gardens. We were all very jolly. _He_ suggested +supper at the Cascades, in the Bois de Boulogne. We chartered a _fiacre_ +to take us there and back. We supped rather copiously. _He_ somehow made +our coachman drunk, and took upon himself to drive us home. Need I tell +you that he upset us in the Avenue de l'Imperatrice, and that we had to +walk it, and pretty fast too? It was a mercy there were no bones broken. + +"Well, as we were walking along, just barely recovering from the shock +of the accident, he suddenly took some new whim into his confounded +noddle. Nothing would do for him but he must drag us along with him to +the great entrance of the Elysee Napoleon (which erst was, and maybe is +soon likely to be once more, the Elysee Bourbon), where he had the +brazen impudence to claim admittance, as the Emperor, he pretended, had +been graciously pleased to offer us the splendid hospitality of that +renowned mansion. What further happened here, neither I nor either of +my friends can tell. Our recollections from this period till next +morning are doubtful and indistinct. All we can state for certain is, +that yesterday morning we awoke, the three of us, in a most wretched +state, in a strange, nasty place. We learn soon after from a gentleman +in a cocked hat, who came to visit us on business, that the imperial +hospitality which we had claimed last night had indeed been extended to +us--only in the _violon_, instead of the Elysee. Our phantom guest was +gone: he would alway, somehow sneak away in the morning, when there was +nothing left for him to drink--the guzzling villain! + +"The gentleman in the cocked-hat pressingly invited us to pay a visit to +the Commissaire du Quartier. That formidable functionary received us +with the customary French-polished veneer of urbanity which, as a rule, +constitutes the _suaviter in modo_ of the higher class of Gallic +officials. He read us a severe lecture, however, upon the alleged +impropriety of our conduct; and when I ventured to protest that it was +not to us the blame ought to be imputed, but to the _quatrieme_, he +mistook my meaning, and, ere I could explain myself, he cut me short +with a polite remark that the French used the cardinal instead of the +ordinal numbers in stating the days of the month, with the exception of +the first, and that he had had too much trouble with our countrymen (he +took us for Yankees!) on the 4th of July, to be disposed to look with an +over-lenient eye upon the vagaries we had chosen to commit on the 4th of +September, which he supposed was another great national day with us. He +would, however, let us off this time with a simple reprimand, upon +payment of one hundred francs, compensation for damage done to the +coach--drunken cabby having turned up, of course, to testify against us. +Well, we paid the money, and handed the worthy magistrate twenty francs +besides, for the benefit of the poor, by way of acknowledgment for the +imperial hospitality we had enjoyed. We were then allowed to depart in +peace. + +"Now, you'll hardly believe it, I dare say, but it is the truth +notwithstanding, that we three, who have been fast friends for years, +actually began to quarrel among ourselves now, mutually imputing to one +another the blame of all our misadventures and misfortunes since our +arrival in Paris, while yet we clearly knew and felt, each and every of +us, that it was all the doings of that phantom fourth. + +"One thing, however, we all agreed to do--to leave Paris by the first +train. + +"To fortify ourselves for the coming journey, we went to indulge in the +luxury of a farewell breakfast at Desire Beaurain's. Of course we +emptied a few bottles to our reconciliation. I do not exactly remember +how many, but this I _do_ remember, that our irrepressible incubus +walked in again, and took his place in the midst of us rather sooner +even than he had been wont to do; and he never left us from that time to +the moment of our landing at Dover harbor, when he took his, I hope and +trust final, departure with a ghastly grin. + +"I dare say you must have thought us a most noisy and obstreperous lot: +well, with my hand on my heart, I can assure you, on my conscience, +that a quieter and milder set of fellows than us three you are not +likely to find on this or the other side the Channel. But for that +mysterious phantom fourth----" + +Here the whistle sounded, and the guard came up to us with a hurried, +"Now then, gents, take your seats, please; train is off in half a +minnit!" + +"What can have become of Topp and Jack Hobson?" muttered my new friend, +looking around him with eager scrutiny. "I should not wonder if they +were still refreshing." And he started off in the direction of the +refreshment-room. + +I took my seat. Immediately after the train whirled off. I cannot say +whether the three were left behind; all I know is that I did not see +them get out at London Bridge. + +Remembering, however, that the appalling secret of the supernatural +visitation which had thus harassed my three fellow-travellers had been +confided to me under the impression that I might be likely to find a +solution of the mystery, I have ever since deeply pondered thereon. + +Shallow thinkers, and sneerers uncharitably given, may, from a +consideration of the times, places, and circumstances at and under which +the abnormal phenomena here recited were stated to have been observed, +be led to attribute them simply to the promptings and imaginings of +brains overheated by excessive indulgence in spirituous liquors. But I, +striving to be mindful always of the great scriptural injunction to +judge not, lest we be judged, and opportunely remembering my friend +O'Kweene's learned dissertation above alluded to, feel disposed to +pronounce the apparition of the phantom of the fourth man, and all the +sayings, doings, and demeanings of the same, to have been simply so many +visible and palpable outward manifestations of the inner consciousness +of the souls of the three, and more notably of that of the elderly +senior of the party, in a succession of vino-alcoholic trances. + +My friend O'Kweene is, of course, welcome to such credit as may attach +to this attempted solution of mine. + + + + +THE SPIRIT'S WHISPER. + + +Yes, I have been haunted!--haunted so fearfully that for some little +time I thought myself insane. I was no raving maniac; I mixed in society +as heretofore, although perhaps a trifle more grave and taciturn than +usual; I pursued my daily avocations; I employed myself even on literary +work. To all appearance I was one of the sanest of the sane; and yet all +the while I considered myself the victim of such strange delusions that, +in my own mind, I fancied my senses--and one sense in particular--so far +erratic and beyond my own control that I was, in real truth, a madman. +How far I was then insane it must be for others, who hear my story, to +decide. My hallucinations have long since left me, and, at all events, I +am now as sane as I suppose most men are. + +My first attack came on one afternoon when, being in a listless and an +idle mood, I had risen from my work and was amusing myself with +speculating at my window on the different personages who were passing +before me. At that time I occupied apartments in the Brompton Road. +Perhaps, there is no thoroughfare in London where the ordinary +passengers are of so varied a description or high life and low life +mingle in so perpetual a medley. South-Kensington carriages there jostle +costermongers' carts; the clerk in the public office, returning to his +suburban dwelling, brushes the laborer coming from his work on the +never-ending modern constructions in the new district; and the ladies of +some of the surrounding squares flaunt the most gigantic of _chignons_, +and the most exuberant of motley dresses, before the envying eyes of the +ragged girls with their vegetable-baskets. + +There was, as usual, plenty of material for observation and conjecture +in the passengers, and their characters or destinations, from my window +on that day. Yet I was not in the right cue for the thorough enjoyment +of my favorite amusement. I was in a rather melancholy mood. Somehow or +other, I don't know why, my memory had reverted to a pretty woman whom I +had not seen for many years. She had been my first love, and I had loved +her with a boyish passion as genuine as it was intense. I thought my +heart would have broken, and I certainly talked seriously of dying, when +she formed an attachment to an ill-conditioned, handsome young +adventurer, and, on her family objecting to such an alliance, eloped +with him. I had never seen the fellow, against whom, however, I +cherished a hatred almost as intense as my passion for the infatuated +girl who had flown from her home for his sake. We had heard of her being +on the Continent with her husband, and learned that the man's shifty +life had eventually taken him to the East. For some years nothing more +had been heard of the poor girl. It was a melancholy history, and its +memory ill-disposed me for amusement. + +A sigh was probably just escaping my lips with the half-articulated +words, "Poor Julia!" when my eyes fell on a man passing before my +window. There was nothing particularly striking about him. He was tall, +with fine features, and a long, fair beard, contrasting somewhat with +his bronzed complexion. I had seen many of our officers on their return +from the Crimea look much the same. Still, the man's aspect gave me a +shuddering feeling, I didn't know why. At the same moment, a whispering, +low voice uttered aloud in my ear the words, "It is he!" I turned, +startled; there was no one near me, no one in the room. There was no +fancy in the sound; I had heard the words with painful distinctness. I +ran to the door, opened it--not a sound on the staircase, not a sound in +the whole house--nothing but the hum from the street. I came back and +sat down. It was no use reasoning with myself; I had the ineffaceable +conviction that I had heard the voice. Then first the idea crossed my +mind that I might be the victim of hallucinations. Yes, it must have +been so, for now I recalled to mind that the voice had been that of my +poor lost Julia; and at the moment I heard it I had been dreaming of +her. I questioned my own state of health. I was well; at least I had +been so, I felt fully assured, up to that moment. Now a feeling of +chilliness and numbness and faintness had crept over me, a cold sweat +was on my forehead. I tried to shake off this feeling by bringing back +my thoughts to some other subject. But, involuntarily as it were, I +again uttered the words, "Poor Julia!" aloud. At the same time a deep +and heavy sigh, almost a groan, was distinctly audible close by me. I +sprang up; I was alone--quite alone. It was, once more, an +hallucination. + +By degrees the first painful impression wore away. Some days had passed, +and I had begun to forget my singular delusion. When my thoughts aid +revert to it, the recollection was dismissed as that of a ridiculous +fancy. One afternoon I was in the Strand, coming from Charing Cross, +when I was once more overcome by that peculiar feeling of cold and +numbness which I had before experienced. The day was warm and bright and +genial, and yet I positively shivered. I had scarce time to interrogate +my own strange sensations when a man went by me rapidly. How was it that +I recognized him at once as the individual who had only passed my window +so casually on that morning of the hallucination? I don't know, and yet +I was aware that this man was the tall, fair passer-by of the Brompton +Road. At the same moment the voice I had previously heard whispered +distinctly in my ear the words, "Follow him!" I stood stupefied. The +usual throngs of indifferent persons were hurrying past me in that +crowded thoroughfare, but I felt convinced that not one of these had +spoken to me. I remained transfixed for a moment. I was bent on a matter +of business in the contrary direction to the individual I had remarked, +and so, although with unsteady step, I endeavored to proceed on my way. +Again that voice said, still more emphatically, in my ear, "Follow him!" +I stopped involuntarily. And a third time, "Follow him!" I told myself +that the sound was a delusion, a cheat of my senses, and yet I could not +resist the spell. I turned to follow. Quickening my pace, I soon came up +with the tall, fair man, and, unremarked by him, I followed him. Whither +was this foolish pursuit to lead me? It was useless to ask myself the +question--I was impelled to follow. + +I was not destined to go very far, however. Before long the object of my +absurd chase entered a well-known insurance-office. I stopped at the +door of the establishment. I had no business within, why should I +continue to follow? Had I not already been making a sad fool of myself +by my ridiculous conduct? These were my thoughts as I stood heated by my +quick walk. Yes, heated; and yet, once more, came the sudden chill. Once +more that same low but now awful voice spoke in my ear: "Go in!" it +said. I endeavored to resist the spell, and yet I felt that resistance +was in vain. Fortunately, as it seemed to me, the thought crossed my +mind that an old acquaintance was a clerk in that same insurance-office. +I had not seen the fellow for a great length of time, and I never had +been very intimate with him. But here was a pretext; and so I went in +and inquired for Clement Stanley. My acquaintance came forward. He was +very busy, he said. I invented, on the spur of the moment, some excuse +of the most frivolous and absurd nature, as far as I can recollect, for +my intrusion. + +"By the way," I said, as I turned to take my leave, although my question +was "by the way" of nothing at all, "who was that tall, fair man who +just now entered the office?" + +"Oh, that fellow?" was the indifferent reply; "a Captain Campbell, or +Canton, or some such name; I forget what. He is gone in before the +board--insured his wife's life--and she is dead; comes for a settlement, +I suppose." + +There was nothing more to be gained, and so I left the office. As soon +as I came without into the scorching sunlight, again the same feeling of +cold, again the same voice--"Wait!" Was I going mad? More and more the +conviction forced itself upon me that I was decidedly a monomaniac +already. I felt my pulse. It was agitated and yet not feverish. I was +determined not to give way to this absurd hallucination; and yet, so far +was I out of my senses, that my will was no longer my own. Resolved as I +was to go, I listened to the dictates of that voice and waited. What was +it to me that this Campbell or Canton had insured his wife's life, that +she was dead, and that he wanted a settlement of his claim? Obviously +nothing; and I yet waited. + +So strong was the spell on me that I had no longer any count of time. I +had no consciousness whether the period was long or short that I stood +there near the door, heedless of all the throng that passed, gazing on +vacancy. The fiercest of policemen might have told me to "move on," and +I should not have stirred, spite of all the terrors of the "station." +The individual came forth. He paid no heed to me. Why should he? What +was I to him? This time I needed no warning voice to bid me follow. I +was a madman, and I could not resist the impulses of my madness. It was +thus, at least I reasoned with myself. I followed into Regent Street. +The object of my insensate observation lingered, and looked around as if +in expectation. Presently a fine-looking woman, somewhat extravagantly +dressed, and obviously not a lady, advanced toward him on the pavement. +At the sight of her he quickened his step, and joined her rapidly. I +shuddered again, but this time a sort of dread was mingled with that +strange shivering. I knew what was coming, and it came. Again that voice +in my ear. "Look and remember!" it said. I passed the man and woman as +they stopped at their first meeting! + +"Is all right, George?" said the female. + +"All right, my girl," was the reply. + +I looked. An evil smile, as if of wicked triumph, was on the man's face, +I thought. And on the woman's? I looked at her, and I remembered. I +could not be mistaken. Spite of her change in manner, dress, and +appearance, it was Mary Simms. This woman some years before, when she +was still very young, had been a sort of humble companion to my mother. +A simple-minded, honest girl, we thought her. Sometimes I had fancied +that she had paid me, in a sly way, a marked attention. I had been +foolish enough to be flattered by her stealthy glances and her sighs. +But I had treated these little demonstrations of partiality as due only +to a silly girlish fancy. Mary Simms, however, had come to grief in our +household. She had been detected in the abstraction of sundry jewels and +petty ornaments. The morning after discovery she had left the house, and +we had heard of her no more. As these recollections passed rapidly +through my mind I looked behind me. The couple had turned back. I turned +to follow again; and spite of carriages and cabs, and shouts and oaths +of drivers, I took the middle of the street in order to pass the man and +woman at a little distance unobserved. No; I was not mistaken. The woman +was Mary Simms, though without any trace of all her former +simple-minded airs; Mary Simms, no longer in her humble attire, but +flaunting in all the finery of overdone fashion. She wore an air of +reckless joyousness in her face; and yet, spite of that, I pitied her. +It was clear she had fallen on the evil ways of bettered +fortune--bettered, alas! for the worse. + +I had an excuse now, in my own mind, for my continued pursuit, without +deeming myself an utter madman--the excuse of curiosity to know the +destiny of one with whom I had been formerly familiar, and in whom I had +taken an interest. Presently the game I was hunting down stopped at the +door of the Grand Cafe. After a little discussion they entered. It was a +public place of entertainment; there was no reason why I should not +enter also. I found my way to the first floor. They were already seated +at a table, Mary holding the _carte_ in her hand. They were about to +dine. Why should not I dine there too? There was but one little +objection,--I had an engagement to dinner. But the strange impulse which +overpowered me, and seemed leading me on step by step, spite of myself, +quickly overruled all the dictates of propriety toward my intended +hosts. Could I not send a prettily devised apology? I glided past the +couple, with my head averted, seeking a table, and I was unobserved by +my old acquaintance. I was too agitated to eat, but I made a semblance, +and little heeded the air of surprise and almost disgust on the +bewildered face of the waiter as he bore away the barely touched dishes. +I was in a very fever of impatience and doubt what next to do. They +still sat on, in evident enjoyment of their meal and their constant +draughts of sparkling wine. My impatience was becoming almost unbearable +when the man at last rose. The woman seemed to have uttered some +expostulation, for he turned at the door and said somewhat harshly +aloud, "Nonsense; only one game and I shall be back. The waiter will +give you a paper--a magazine--something to while away the time." And he +left the room for the billiard-table, as I surmised. + +Now was my opportunity. After a little hesitation, I rose, and planted +myself abruptly on the vacant seat before the woman. + +"Mary," I said. + +She started, with a little exclamation of alarm, and dropped the paper +she had held. She knew me at once. + +"Master John!" she exclaimed, using the familiar term still given me +when I was long past boyhood; and then, after a lengthened gaze, she +turned away her head. I was embarrassed at first how to address her. + +"Mary," I said at last, "I am grieved to see you thus." + +"Why should you be grieved for me?" she retorted, looking at me sharply, +and speaking in a tone of impatient anger. "I am happy as I am." + +"I don't believe you," I replied. + +She again turned away her head. + +"Mary," I pursued, "can you doubt, that, spite of all, I have still a +strong interest in the companion of my youth?" + +She looked at me almost mournfully, but did not speak. At that moment I +probably grew pale; for suddenly that chilly fit seized me again, and +my forehead became clammy. That voice sounded again in my ear: "Speak +of him!" were the words it uttered. Mary gazed on me with surprise, and +yet I was assured that _she_ had not heard that voice, so plain to me. +She evidently mistook the nature of my visible emotion. + +"O Master John!" she stammered, with tears gathering in her eyes, +reverting again to that name of bygone times, "if you had loved me +then--if you had consoled my true affection with one word of hope, one +look of loving-kindness--if you had not spurned and crushed me, I should +not have been what I am now." + +I was about to make some answer to this burst of unforgotten passion, +when the voice came again: "Speak of him!" + +"You have loved others since," I remarked, with a coldness which seemed +cruel to myself. "You love _him_ now." And I nodded my head toward the +door by which the man had disappeared. + +"Do I?" she said, with a bitter smile. "Perhaps; who knows?" + +"And yet no good can come to you from a connection with that man," I +pursued. + +"Why not? He adores me, and he is free," was her answer, given with a +little triumphant air. + +"Yes," I said, "I know he is free: he has lately lost his wife. He has +made good his claim to the sum for which he insured her life." + +Mary grew deadly pale. "How did you learn this? what do you know of +him?" she stammered. + +I had no reply to give. She scanned my face anxiously for some time; +then in a low voice she added, "What do you suspect?" + +I was still silent, and only looked at her fixedly. + +"You do not speak," she pursued nervously. "Why do you not speak? Ah, +you know more than you would say! Master John, Master John, you might +set my tortured mind at rest, and clear or confirm those doubts which +_will_ come into my poor head, spite of myself. Speak out--O, do speak +out!" + +"Not here; it is impossible," I replied, looking around. The room as the +hour advanced, was becoming more thronged with guests, and the full +tables gave a pretext for my reticence, when in truth I had nothing to +say. + +"Will you come and see me--will you?" she asked with earnest entreaty. + +I nodded my head. + +"Have you a pocketbook? I will write you my address; and you will +come--yes, I am sure you will come!" she said in an agitated way. + +I handed her my pocketbook and pencil; she wrote rapidly. + +"Between the hours of three and five," she whispered, looking uneasily +at the door; "_he_ is sure not to be at home." + +I rose; Mary held out her hand to me, then withdrew it hastily with an +air of shame, and the tears sprang into her eyes again. I left the room +hurriedly, and met her companion on the stairs. + +That same evening, in the solitude of my own room, I pondered over the +little event of the day. I had calmed down from my state of excitement. +The living apparition of Mary Simms occupied my mind almost to the +exclusion of the terrors of the ghostly voice which had haunted me, and +my own fears of coming insanity. In truth, what was that man to me? +Nothing. What did his doings matter to such a perfect stranger as +myself? Nothing. His connection with Mary Simms was our only link; and +in what should that affect me? Nothing again. I debated with myself +whether it were not foolish of me to comply with my youthful companion's +request to visit her; whether it were not imprudent in me to take any +further interest in the lost woman; whether there were not even danger +in seeking to penetrate mysteries which were no concern of mine. The +resolution to which I came pleased me, and I said aloud, "No, I will not +go!" + +At the same moment came again the voice like an awful echo to my +words--"Go!" It came so suddenly and so imperatively, almost without any +previous warning of the usual shudder, that the shock was more than I +could bear. I believe I fainted; I know I found myself, when I came to +consciousness, in my arm-chair, cold and numb, and my candles had almost +burned down into their sockets. + +The next morning I was really ill. A sort of low fever seemed to have +prostrated me, and I would have willingly seized so valid a reason for +disobeying, at least for that day--for some days, perhaps--the +injunction of that ghostly voice. But all that morning it never left me. +My fearful chilly fit was of constant recurrence, and the words "Go! go! +go!" were murmured so perpetually in my ears--the sound was one of such +urgent entreaty--that all force of will gave way completely. Had I +remained in that lone room, I should have gone wholly mad. As yet, to my +own feelings, I was but partially out of my senses. + +I dressed hastily; and, I scarce know how--by no effort of my own will, +it seemed to me--I was in the open air. The address of Mary Simms was in +a street not far from my own suburb. Without any power of reasoning, I +found myself before the door of the house. I knocked, and asked a +slipshod girl who opened the door to me for "Miss Simms." She knew no +such person, held a brief shrill colloquy with some female in the +back-parlor, and, on coming back, was about to shut the door in my face, +when a voice from above--the voice of her I sought--called down the +stairs, "Let the gentleman come up!" + +I was allowed to pass. In the front drawing-room I found Mary Simms. + +"They do not know me under that name," she said with a mournful smile, +and again extended, then withdrew, her hand. + +"Sit down," she went on to say, after a nervous pause. "I am alone now; +told I adjure you, if you have still one latent feeling of old kindness +for me, explain your words of yesterday to me." + +I muttered something to the effect that I had no explanation to give. No +words could be truer; I had not the slightest conception what to say. + +"Yes, I am sure you have; you must, you will," pursued Mary excitedly; +"you have some knowledge of that matter." + +"What matter?" I asked. + +"Why, the insurance," she replied impatiently. "You know well what I +mean. My mind has been distracted about it. Spite of myself, terrible +suspicions have forced themselves on me. No; I don't mean that," she +cried, suddenly checking herself and changing her tone; "don't heed +what I said; it was madness in me to say what I did. But do, do, do tell +me all you know." + +The request was a difficult one to comply with, for I knew nothing. It +is impossible to say what might have been the end of this strange +interview, in which I began to feel myself an unwilling impostor; but +suddenly Mary started. + +"The noise of the latchkey in the lock!" she cried, alarmed; "He has +returned; he must not see you; you must come another time. Here, here, +be quick! I'll manage him." + +And before I could utter another word she had pushed me into the back +drawing-room and closed the door. A man's step on the stairs; then +voices. The man was begging Mary to come out with him, as the day was so +fine. She excused herself; he would hear no refusal. At last she +appeared to consent, on condition that the man would assist at her +toilet. There was a little laughter, almost hysterical on the part of +Mary, whose voice evidently quivered with trepidation. + +Presently both mounted the upper stairs. Then the thought stuck me that +I had left my hat in the front room--a sufficient cause for the woman's +alarm. I opened the door cautiously, seized my hat, and was about to +steal down the stairs, when I was again spellbound by that numb cold. + +"Stay!" said the voice. I staggered back to the other room with my hat, +and closed the door. + +Presently the couple came down. Mary was probably relieved by +discovering that my hat was no longer there, and surmised that I had +departed; for I heard her laughing as they went down the lower flight. +Then I heard them leave the house. + +I was alone in that back drawing-room. Why? what did I want there? I was +soon to learn. I felt the chill invisible presence near me; and the +voice said, "Search!" + +The room belonged to the common representative class of back +drawing-rooms in "apartments" of the better kind. The only one +unfamiliar piece of furniture was an old Indian cabinet; and my eye +naturally fell on that. As I stood and looked at it with a strange +unaccountable feeling of fascination, again came the voice--"Search!" + +I shuddered and obeyed. The cabinet was firmly locked; there was no +power of opening it except by burglarious infraction; but still the +voice said, "Search!" + +A thought suddenly struck me, and I turned the cabinet from its position +against the wall. Behind, the woodwork had rotted, and in many portions +fallen away, so that the inner drawers were visible. What could my +ghostly monitor mean--that I should open those drawers? I would not do +such a deed of petty treachery. I turned defiantly, and addressing +myself to the invisible as if it were a living creature by my side, I +cried, "I must not, will not, do such an act of baseness." + +The voice replied, "Search!" + +I might have known that, in my state of what I deemed insanity, +resistance was in vain. I grasped the most accessible drawer from +behind, and pulled it toward me. Uppermost within it lay letters: they +were addressed to "Captain Cameron,"--"Captain George Cameron." That +name!--the name of Julia's husband, the man with whom she had eloped; +for it was he who was the object of my pursuit. + +My shuddering fit became so strong that I could scarce hold the papers; +and "Search!" was repeated in my ear. + +Below the letters lay a small book in a limp black cover. I opened this +book with trembling hand; it was filled with manuscript--Julia's +well-known handwriting. + +"Read!" muttered the voice. I read. There were long entries by poor +Julia of her daily life; complaints of her husband's unkindness, +neglect, then cruelty. I turned to the last pages: her hand had grown +very feeble now, and she was very ill. "George seems kinder now," she +wrote; "he brings me all my medicines with his own hand." Later on: "I +am dying; I know I am dying: he has poisoned me. I saw him last night +through the curtains pour something in my cup; I saw it in his evil eye. +I would not drink; I will drink no more; but I feel that I must die." + +These were the last words. Below were written, in a man's bold hand, the +words "Poor fool!" + +This sudden revelation of poor Julia's death and dying thoughts unnerved +me quite. I grew colder in my whole frame than ever. + +"Take it!" said her voice. I took the book, pushed back the cabinet into +its place against the wall, and, leaving that fearful room, stole down +the stairs with trembling limbs, and left the house with all the +feelings of a guilty thief. + +For some days I perused my poor lost Julia's diary again and again. The +whole revelation of her sad life and sudden death led but to one +conclusion,--she had died of poison by the hands of her unworthy +husband. He had insured her life, and then---- + +It seemed evident to me that Mary Simms had vaguely shared suspicions of +the same foul deed. On my own mind came conviction. But what could I do +next? how bring this evil man to justice? what proof would be deemed to +exist in those writings? I was bewildered, weak, irresolute. Like +Hamlet, I shrank back and temporized. But I was not feigning madness; my +madness seemed but all too real for me. During all this period the +wailing of that wretched voice in my ear was almost incessant. O, I must +have been mad! + +I wandered about restlessly, like the haunted thing I had become. One +day I had come unconsciously and without purpose into Oxford Street. My +troubled thoughts were suddenly broken in upon by the solicitations of a +beggar. With a heart hardened against begging impostors, and under the +influence of the shock rudely given to my absorbing dreams, I answered +more hardly than was my wont. The man heaved a heavy sigh, and sobbed +forth, "Then Heaven help me!" I caught sight of him before he turned +away. He was a ghastly object, with fever in his hollow eyes and sunken +cheeks, and fever on his dry, chapped lips. But I knew, or fancied I +knew, the tricks of the trade, and I was obdurate. Why, I asked myself, +should the cold shudder come over me at such a moment? But it was so +strong on me as to make me shake all over. It came--that maddening +voice. "Succor!" it said now. I had become so accustomed already to +address the ghostly voice that I cried aloud, "Why, Julia, why?" I saw +people laughing in my face at this strange cry, and I turned in the +direction in which the beggar had gone. I just caught sight of him as he +was tottering down a street toward Soho. I determined to have pity for +this once, and followed the poor man. He led me on through I know not +what streets. His steps was hurried now. In one street I lost sight of +him; but I felt convinced he must have turned into a dingy court. I made +inquiries, but for a time received only rude jeering answers from the +rough men and women whom I questioned. At last a little girl informed me +that I must mean the strange man who lodged in the garret of a house she +pointed out to me. It was an old dilapidated building, and I had much +repugnance on entering it. But again I was no master of my will. I +mounted some creaking stairs to the top of the house, until I could go +no further. A shattered door was open; I entered a wretched garret; the +object of my search lay now on a bundle of rags on the bare floor. He +opened his wild eyes as I approached. + +"I have come to succor," I said, using unconsciously the word of the +voice; "what ails you?" + +"Ails me?" gasped the man; "hunger, starvation, fever." + +I was horrified. Hurrying to the top of the stairs, I shouted till I had +roused the attention of an old woman. I gave her money to bring me food +and brandy, promising her a recompense for her trouble. + +"Have you no friends?" I asked the wretched man as I returned. + +"None," he said feebly. Then as the fever rose in his eyes and even +flushed his pallid face, he said excitedly, "I had a master once--one I +perilled my soul for. He knows I am dying; but, spite of all my letters, +he will not come. He wants me dead, he wants me dead--and his wish is +coming to pass now." + +"Cannot I find him--bring him here?" I asked. + +The man stared at me, shook his head, and at last, as if collecting his +faculties with much exertion, muttered, "Yes; it is a last hope; perhaps +you may, and I can be revenged on him at least. Yes revenged. I have +threatened him already." And the fellow laughed a wild laugh. + +"Control yourself," I urged, kneeling by his side; "give me his +name--his address." + +"Captain George Cameron," he gasped, and then fell back. + +"Captain George Cameron!" I cried. "Speak! what of him?" + +But the man's senses seemed gone; he only muttered incoherently. The old +woman returned with the food and spirits. I had found one honest +creature in that foul region. I gave her money--provide her more if she +would bring a doctor. She departed on her new errand. I raised the man's +head, moistened his lips with the brandy, and then poured some of the +spirit down his throat. He gulped at it eagerly, and opened his eyes; +but he still raved incoherently, "I did not do it, it was he. He made me +buy the poison; he dared not risk the danger himself, the coward! I knew +what he meant to do with it, and yet I did not speak; I was her murderer +too. Poor Mrs. Cameron! poor Mrs. Cameron! do you forgive?--can you +forgive?" And the man screamed aloud and stretched out his arms as if to +fright away a phantom. + +I had drunk in every word, and knew the meaning of those broken accents +well. Could I have found at last the means of bringing justice on the +murderer's head? But the man was raving in a delirium, and I was obliged +to hold him with all my strength. A step on the stairs. Could it be the +medical man I had sent for? That would be indeed a blessing. A man +entered--it was Cameron! + +He came in jauntily, with the words, "How now, Saunders, you rascal! +What more do you want to get out of me?" + +He started at the sight of a stranger. + +I rose from my kneeling posture like an accusing spirit. I struggled for +calm; but passion beyond my control mastered me, and was I not a madman? +I seized him by the throat, with the words, "Murderer! poisoner! where +is Julia?" He shook me off violently. + +"And who the devil are you, sir?" he cried. + +"That murdered woman's cousin!" I rushed at him again. + +"Lying hound!" he shouted, and grappled me. His strength was far beyond +mine. He had his hand on my throat; a crimson darkness was in my eyes; I +could not see, I could not hear; there was a torrent of sound pouring in +my ears. Suddenly his grasp relaxed. When I recovered my sight, I saw +the murderer struggling with the fever-stricken man, who had risen from +the floor, and seized him from behind. This unexpected diversion saved +my life; but the ex-groom was soon thrown back on the ground. + +"Captain George Cameron," I cried, "kill me, but you will only heap +another murder on your head!" + +He advanced on me with something glittering in his hand. Without a word +he came and stabbed at me; but at the same moment I darted at him a +heavy blow. What followed was too confused for clear remembrance. I +saw--no, I will say I fancied that I saw--the dim form of Julia Staunton +standing between me and her vile husband. Did he see the vision too? I +cannot say. He reeled back, and fell heavily to the floor. Maybe it was +only my blow that felled him. Then came confusion--a dream of a crowd of +people--policemen--muttered accusations. I had fainted from the wound in +my arm. + +Captain George Cameron was arrested. Saunders recovered, and lived long +enough to be the principal witness on his trial. The murderer was found +guilty. Poor Julia's diary, too, which I had abstracted, told fearfully +against him. But he contrived to escape the gallows; he had managed to +conceal poison on his person, and he was found dead in his cell. Mary +Simms I never saw again. I once received a little scrawl, "I am at peace +now, Master John. God bless you!" + +I have had no more hallucinations since that time; the voice has never +come again. I found out poor Julia's grave, and, as I stood and wept by +its side, the cold shudder came over me for the last time. Who shall +tell me whether I was once really mad, or whether I was not? + + + + +DOCTOR FEVERSHAM'S STORY. + + +"I have made a point all my life," said the doctor, "of believing +nothing of the kind." + +Much ghost-talk by firelight had been going on in the library at +Fordwick Chase, when Doctor Feversham made this remark. + +"As much as to say," observed Amy Fordwick, "that you are afraid to +tackle the subject, because you pique yourself on being strong-minded, +and are afraid of being convinced against your will." + +"Not precisely, young lady. A man convinced against his will is in a +different state of mind from mine in matters like these. But it is true +that cases in which the supernatural element appears at first sight to +enter are so numerous in my profession, that I prefer accepting only the +solutions of science, so far as they go, to entering on any wild +speculations which it would require more time than I should care to +devote to them to trace to their origin." + +"But without entering fully into the why and wherefore, how can you be +sure that the proper treatment is observed in the numerous cases of +mental hallucination which must come under your notice?" inquired +Latimer Fordwick, who was studying for the Bar. + +"I content myself, my young friend, with following the rules laid down +for such cases, and I generally find them successful," answered the old +Doctor. + +"Then you admit that cases have occurred within your knowledge of which +the easiest apparent solution could be one which involved a belief in +supernatural agencies?" persisted Latimer, who was rather prolix and +pedantic in his talk. + +"I did not say so," said the Doctor. + +"But of course he meant us to infer it," said Amy. "Now, my dear old +Doctor, do lay aside professional dignity, and give us one good +ghost-story out of your personal experience. I believe you have been +dying to tell one for the last hour, if you would only confess it." + +"I would rather not help to fill that pretty little head with idle +fancies, dear child," answered the old man, looking fondly at Amy, who +was his especial pet and darling. + +"Nonsense! You know I am even painfully unimaginative and +matter-of-fact; and as for idle fancies, is it an idle fancy to think +you like to please me?" said Amy coaxingly. + +"Well, after all, you have been frightening each other with so many +thrilling tales for the last hour or two, that I don't suppose I should +do much harm by telling you a circumstance which happened to me when I +was a young man, and has always rather puzzled me." + +A murmur of approval ran round the party. All disposed themselves to +listen; and Doctor Feversham, after a prefatory pinch of snuff, began. + +"In my youth I resided for some time with a family in the north of +England, in the double capacity of secretary and physician. While I was +going through the hospitals of Paris I became acquainted with my +employer, whom I will call Sir James Collingham, under rather peculiar +circumstances, which have nothing to do with my story. He had an only +daughter, who was about sixteen when I first entered the family, and it +was on her account that Sir James wished to have some person with a +competent knowledge of medicine and physiology as one of his household. +Miss Collingham was subject to fits of a very peculiar kind, which threw +her into a sort of trance, lasting from half an hour to three or even +four days, according to the severity of the visitation. During these +attacks she occasionally displayed that extraordinary phenomenon which +goes by the name of clairvoyance. She saw scenes and persons who were +far distant, and described them with wonderful accuracy. Though quite +unconscious of all outward things, and apparently in a state of the +deepest insensibility, she would address remarks to those present which +bore reference to the thoughts then occupying their minds, though they +had given them no outward expression; and her remarks showed an insight +into matters which had perhaps been carefully kept secret, which might +truly be termed preternatural. Under these circumstances, Sir James was +very unwilling to bring her into contact with strangers when it could +possibly be avoided; and the events which first brought us together, +having also led to my treating Miss Collingham rather successfully in a +severe attack of her malady, induced her father to offer me a position +in his household which, as a young, friendless man, I was very willing +to accept. + +"Collingham-Westmore was a very ancient house of great extent, and but +indifferently kept in repair. The country surrounding it is of great +natural beauty, thinly inhabited, and, especially at the time I speak +of, before railways had penetrated so far north, somewhat lonely and +inaccessible. A group of small houses clustered round the village church +of Westmorton, distant about three miles from the mansion of the +Collingham family; and a solitary posting-house, on what was then the +great north road, could be reached by a horseman in about an hour, +though the only practicable road for carriages was at least fifteen +miles from the highway to Collingham-Westmore. Wild and lovely in the +eyes of an admirer of nature were the hills and 'cloughs' among which I +pursued my botanical studies for many a long, silent summer day. My +occupations at the mansion--everybody called it the mansion, and I must +do so from force of habit, though it sounds rather like a house-agent's +advertisement--were few and light; the society was not particularly to +my taste, and the fine old library only attracted me on rainy days, of +which, truth to say, we had our full share. + +"The Collingham family circle comprised a maiden aunt of Sir James, Miss +Patricia, a stern and awful specimen of the female sex in its fossil +state; her ward, Miss Henderson, who, having long passed her pupilage, +remained at Collingham-Westmore in the capacity of gouvernante and +companion to the young heiress; the heiress aforesaid, and myself. A +priest--did I say that the Collinghams still professed the old +religion?--came on Sundays and holydays to celebrate mass in the gloomy +old chapel; but neighbors there were none, and only about half-a-dozen +times during the four years I was an inmate of the mansion were +strangers introduced into the family party." + +"How dreadfully dull it must have been!" exclaimed Amy sympathetically. + +"It _was_ dull," answered the Doctor. "Even with my naturally cheerful +disposition, and the course of study with which I methodically filled up +all my leisure hours except those devoted to out-of-door exercise, the +gloom of the old mansion weighed upon me till I sometimes felt that I +must give up my situation at all risks, and return to the world, though +it were to struggle with poverty and friendlessness. + +"There was no lack of dismal legends and superstitions connected with +the mansion, and every trifling circumstance that occurred was twisted +into an omen or presage, whether of good or evil, by the highly wrought +fancy of Miss Patricia. These absurdities, together with the past +grandeur of their house, and the former glories of their religion, +formed the staple subjects of conversation when the family was +assembled; and as I became more intimately acquainted with the state of +my patient, I felt convinced that the atmosphere of gloomy superstition +in which she had been reared had fostered, even if it had not altogether +been the cause of, her morbid mental and bodily condition. + +"Among the many legends connected with the mansion, one seemed to have a +peculiar fascination for Miss Collingham, perhaps because it was the +most ghastly and repulsive. One wing of the house was held to be haunted +by the spirit of an ancestress of the family, who appeared in the shape +of a tall woman, with one hand folded in her white robe and the other +pointing upward. It was said, that in a room at the end of the haunted +wing this lady had been foully murdered by her jealous husband. The +window of the apartment overhung the wild wooded side of one of the +'cloughs' common in the country; and tradition averred that the victim +was thrown from this window by her murderer. As she caught hold of the +sill in a last frantic struggle for life, he severed her hand at the +wrist, and the mutilated body fell, with one fearful shriek, into the +depth below. Since then, a white shadowy form has forever been sitting +at the fatal window, or wandering along the deserted passages of the +haunted wing with the bleeding stump folded in her robe; and in moments +of danger or approaching death to any member of the Collingham family, +the same long, wild shriek rises slowly from the wooded cliff and peals +through the mansion; while to different individuals of the house, a pale +hand has now and then been visible, laid on themselves or some other of +the family, a never-failing omen of danger or death. + +"I need not tell you how false and foolish all this dreary superstition +appeared to me; and I exerted all my powers of persuasion to induce Miss +Patricia to dwell less on these and similar themes in the presence of +Miss Collingham. But there seemed to be something in the very air of the +gloomy old mansion which fostered such delusions; for when I spoke to +Father O'Connor the priest, and urged on him the pernicious effect which +was thus produced on my patient's mind, I found him as fully imbued with +the spirit of credulity as the most hysterical housemaid of them all. He +solemnly declared to me that he had himself repeatedly seen the pale +lady sitting at the fatal window, when on his way to and from his home +beyond the hills; and moreover, that on the death of Lady Collingham, +which occurred at her daughter's birth, he had heard the long, shrill +death-scream echo through the mansion while engaged in the last offices +of the Church by the bedside of the dying lady. + +"So I found it impossible to fight single-handed against these adverse +influences, and could only endeavor to divert the mind of my patient +into more healthy channels of thought. In this I succeeded perfectly. +She became an enthusiastic botanist, and our rambles in search of the +rare and lovely specimens which were to be found among the woods and +moors surrounding her dwelling did more for her health, both of body and +mind, than all the medical skill I could bring to bear on her melancholy +case. + +"Four years had elapsed since I first took up my abode at +Collingham-Westmore. Miss Collingham had grown from a sickly child into +a singularly graceful young woman, full of bright intelligence, eager +for information, and with scarcely an outward trace remaining of her +former fragile health. Still those mysterious swoons occasionally +visited her, forming an insurmountable obstacle to her mingling in +general society, which she was in all other respects so well fitted to +adorn. They occurred without any warning or apparent cause; one moment +she would be engaged in animated conversation, and the next, white and +rigid as a statue, she would fall back in her chair insensible to all +outward objects, but rapt and carried away into a world of her own, +whose visions she would sometimes describe in glowing language, although +she retained no recollection whatever of them when she returned, as +suddenly and at as uncertain a period, to her normal condition. On one +of these occasions we were sitting, after dinner, in a large apartment +called the summer dining-room. Fruit and wine were on the table, and the +last red beams of the setting sun lighted up the distant woods, which +were in the first flush of their autumn glory. I turned to remark on the +beautiful effect of light to Miss Collingham, and at the very moment I +did so she fell back in one of her strange swoons. But instead of the +death-like air which her features usually assumed, a lovely smile +lighted them up, and an expression of ecstasy made her beauty appear for +the moment almost superhuman. Slowly she raised her right hand, and +pointed in the direction of the setting sun. 'He is coming,' she said in +soft, clear tones; 'life and light are coming with him,--life and light +and liberty!' + +"Her hand fell gently by her side; the rapt expression faded from her +countenance, and the usual death-like blank overspread it. This trance +passed away like others, and by midnight the house was profoundly still. +Soon after that hour a vociferous peal at the great hall-bell roused +most of the inmates from sleep. My rooms were in a distant quarter of +the house, and a door opposite to that of my bedroom led to the haunted +wing, but was always kept locked. I started up on hearing a second ring, +and looked out, in hopes of seeing a servant pass, and ascertaining the +cause of this unusual disturbance. I saw no one, and after listening for +a while to the opening of the hall-door, and the sound of distant +voices, I made up my mind that I should be sent for if wanted, and +re-entered my room. As I was closing the door, I was rather startled to +see a tall object, of grayish-white color and indistinct form, issue +from the gallery whose door, as I said before, had always been locked in +my recollection. For a moment I felt as though rooted to the spot, and a +strange sensation crept over me. The next, all trace of the appearance +had vanished, and I persuaded myself that what I had seen must have been +some effect of light from the open door of my room. + +"The cause of the nightly disturbance appeared at breakfast on the +following morning in the shape of a remarkably handsome young man, who +was introduced by Sir James as his nephew, Don Luis de Cabral, the son +of an only sister long dead, who had married a Spaniard of high rank. +Don Luis showed but little trace of his southern parentage. If I may so +express it, all the depth and warmth of coloring in that portion of his +blood which he inherited from his Spanish ancestors came out in the +raven-black hair and large lustrous dark eyes, which impressed you at +once with their uncommon beauty. For the rest, he was a fine well-grown +young man, no darker in complexion than an Englishman might well be, and +with a careless, happy boyishness of manner, which won immediately on +the regard of strangers, and rendered his presence in the house like +that of a perpetual sunbeam. We all wondered, after a little while, what +we had done before Luis came among us. He was as a son to Sir James; +Miss Patricia softened to this new and pleasing interest in her +colorless existence as I could not have believed it was in her +fossilized nature to do; Miss Henderson became animated, almost young, +under the reviving influence of the youth and joyousness of our new +inmate; and I own that I speedily attached myself with a warm and +affectionate regard to the happy, unselfish nature that seemed to +brighten all who came near it. + +"But the most remarkable effect of the presence of Don Luis de Cabral +among us was visible in Miss Collingham. 'Love at first sight,' often +considered as a mere phrase, was, in the case of these two young +creatures, an unmistakable reality. From the moment of their first +meeting, the cousins were mutually drawn toward each other; and seeing +the bright and wonderful change wrought by the presence of Don Luis in +Blanche Collingham, I could not but remember, with the interest that +attaches to a curious psychological phenomenon, the words she uttered in +her trance on the eve of his arrival. 'Life, light, and liberty,' +indeed, appeared given to all that was best and brightest in her nature. +Her health improved visibly, and her beauty, always touching, became +radiant in its full development. My duties toward her were now merely +nominal; and when, about two months later, Sir James announced to me her +approaching marriage, and confessed that it was with this object he had +invited Don Luis to come and make the acquaintance of his English +relations, the strong opinions I entertained against the marriage of +first cousins, and also on the especial inadvisability of any project of +marriage in the case of Miss Collingham, could not prevent my hearty +rejoicing in the fair prospect of happiness in which two persons who +deeply interested me were indulging. + +"Winter set in early and severely that year among our northern hills, +and with a view to Blanche's removal from its withering influence, which +I always considered prejudicial to her, the preparations for the +marriage were hurried on, and the ceremony was fixed to take place about +the middle of December. The travelling-carriage which was to convey the +young couple on their way southward was to arrive at the nearest +railway-station--then more than thirty miles distant--a week before the +marriage; and as some important portions of the trousseau, together with +a valuable package of jewels intended by Don Luis as presents for his +bride, were expected at the same time, the young man announced his +intention of riding across the hills to ----, in order to superintend +the conveyance of the carriage and its contents along the rough mountain +roads that it must traverse. + +"We were all sitting around the great fireplace in the winter parlor on +the evening before his departure. Miss Collingham had been languid and +depressed throughout the day, and often adverted to the long wintry ride +he was to undertake in a strain of apprehension at which Don Luis +laughed gayly. To divert her mind, he recounted various adventures +which had befallen him in foreign lands, with a vigorous simplicity of +description which enchained her attention and interested us all. + +"Suddenly, so sitting, Miss Collingham leaned forward, and in a changed, +eager voice exclaimed, 'Luis, take away your hand from your throat!' + +"We looked. Luis' hands were lying one over the other on his knee in a +careless attitude that was habitual to him. + +"'Take it away, I say! Oh, take it away!' + +"Miss Collingham started to her feet as she uttered these words almost +in a shriek, and then fell back rigid and senseless, her outstretched +hand still pointing to her betrothed. + +"The fit was a severe one, but by morning it had yielded to remedies, +and Luis set off early on his ride, to make the most of the short +daylight, and intending to return with the carriage on the morrow. All +that day Miss Collingham remained in a half-conscious state. It was a +dreary day of gloom, with a piercing north wind, and toward evening the +snow began to fall in those close, compact flakes which forebode a heavy +storm. We were glad to think that Luis must have reached his destination +before it began; but when the next morning dawned on a wide expanse of +snow, and the air was still thick with fast-falling flakes, it was +feared that the state of the roads would preclude all hope of the +arrival of the carriage on that day. + +"My patient took no heed of the untoward state of the weather. She was +still in a drowsy condition, very unlike that which usually succeeded +her attacks, and Miss Henderson, who had watched by her through the +night, told me she spoke more than once in a strange, excited manner, as +though carrying on a conversation with some one whom she appeared to see +by her bedside. As the good lady, however, could give but a very +imperfect and incoherent account of what had passed, I was left in some +doubt as to whether Miss Collingham had seen more or Miss Henderson less +than there really was to be seen, as I had before had reason to believe +that she was not a very vigilant nurse. + +"So the hours went on, and night closed in. Sir James began to feel some +uneasiness at the non-appearance, not only of Don Luis, but also of the +priest, who was to have arrived at Collingham-Westmore on that day. + +"On questioning some of the servants who had been out of the house, the +absence of Father O'Connor at least was satisfactorily accounted for: +they all declared that it would be quite impossible for those best +acquainted with the hills to find their way across them in the blinding +drifts which had never ceased throughout the day. We concluded that +Father O'Connor and Don Luis were alike storm-stayed, and had no remedy +but patience. + +"Late in the evening--it must have been near midnight--I was in Miss +Collingham's dressing-room with Miss Patricia, who intended to watch by +her through the night. We were talking by the fire, of the snow-storm +which still continued, and of the hindrance it might prove to the +marriage--the day fixed for which was now less than a week +distant--when we heard a voice in the adjoining room, where we imagined +the object of our care to be sleeping. We went in. Miss Collingham was +sitting up in bed, her eyes wide open, in one of her rigid fits. She was +speaking rapidly in a low tone, unlike her usual voice. + +"'You cannot get through all that snow,' she said. 'Get help; there are +men not far off with spades. Oh, be careful! You are off the road! Stop, +stop! that is the way to Armstrong's Clough. Does not the postboy know +the road? He is bewildered. I tell you it is madness to go on. See, one +of the horses has fallen; he kicks--he will hit you! Oh, how dark it is! +And the snow covers your lantern, and you cannot see the edge. Now the +horse is up again, but he cannot go on. Do not beat him, Luis; it is not +his fault, poor beast; the snow is too thick, and you are on rough +ground. Now he rears--he backs--the other one backs also--the wheel of +the carriage is over the edge--ah!' + +"The scream with which these wild, hurried words ended seemed to be +taken up and echoed from a distance. Miss Patricia stared at me with a +ghastly white face of horror, and I felt my blood curdle as that long, +shrill, unearthly shriek pealed through the silent passages. It grew +louder and nearer, and seemed to sweep through the room, dying away in +the opposite direction. Miss Patricia fell forward without a word in a +dead faint. + +"I looked at Miss Collingham; she had not moved, or shown any sign of +hearing or heeding that awful sound. In a few seconds the room was +filled with terrified women, roused from their sleep by the weird cry +which rang through the house. Miss Patricia was conveyed by some of them +to her own room, where, after much difficulty, we restored her to +consciousness. Her first act was to grasp me by the arm. + +"'Mr. Feversham, for the love of the Holy Virgin do not leave me! I have +seen that which I cannot look upon and live.' + +"I soothed her as best I might, and at last persuaded her to allow me to +leave her with her own maid in order to visit my other patient, +promising to return shortly. + +"I found no change whatever in Miss Collingham. Sir James was in the +room trying to establish some degree of calmness and order among the +terrified women. We succeeded in persuading most of them to take a +restorative and return to bed, and leaving two of the most +self-possessed to watch beside Miss Collingham, who was still completely +insensible, we went together to Miss Patricia's room. + +"'Brother, I have seen her!' she exclaimed on Sir James' entrance. + +"'Seen who, my dear Patricia?' + +"'The pale lady--the spectre of our house,' she replied, shuddering from +head to foot. 'She passed through the room, her hand upraised, and the +blood-spots on her garment. Oh, James! my time is come, and Father +O'Connor is not here.' + +"Sir James did not attempt to combat his sister's superstitious terrors, +but appeared, on the contrary, almost as deeply impressed as herself, +and questioned her closely about the apparition. Her answers led to some +mention of the strange vision which Miss Collingham was describing in +her trance just before the scream was heard. At Sir James' request I put +down in writing, as nearly as I could remember, all she had said, and so +great was the impression it made on my mind that I believe I recalled +her very words. Knowing all we did of her abnormal condition while in a +state of trance, it was impossible not to fear that she might have been +describing a scene that was actually occurring at the time; and Sir +James determined to send out a party, as soon as daylight came, on the +road by which Don Luis must arrive. + +"The morning dawned brightly, with a keen frost, and several men were +sent off along the road to ---- with the first rays of light. + +"Some hours afterward Father O'Connor arrived, having made his way with +considerable difficulty across the hill. Miss Patricia claimed his first +attention, for my unhappy charge remained senseless and motionless as +ever. + +"After a long conference, he came to me with grave looks. + +"'She is at the window this day,' he said, shaking his head sorrowfully, +when I had told him my share of the last night's singular experiences. +'The pale lady is there; I saw her as I came by the bridge as plainly as +now I see you. We shall have evil tidings of that poor lad before +nightfall, or I am strangely mistaken.' + +"Evil tidings indeed they were that reached us on the return of some of +the exploring-party. They were first attracted from following as nearly +as they could the line of road, blocked as it was with drifts of snow by +hearing the howling of a dog at some little distance, in the direction +of the precipitous ravine which went by the name of 'Armstrong's +Clough.' Following the sound, they came upon traces of wheels in the +hill-side, where no carriage could have gone had it not been for the +deep snow which concealed and smoothed away the inequalities of the +ground. These marks were traced here and there till they led to the +verge of the precipice, where a struggle had evidently taken place, and +masses of snow had been dislodged and fallen into the ravine. + +"Looking below, the only thing they could see in the waste of snow was a +little dog, who was known to be in the habit of running with the +post-horses from ----, which was scraping wildly in the snow and filling +the air with its dismal howlings. A considerable circuit had to be made +before the bottom of the clough could be reached, and then the whole +tragedy was revealed. There lay the broken carriage, the dead horses, +and two stiffened corpses under the snow, that had drifted over and +around them. + +"I need not pursue the melancholy story; I was an old fool for telling +it to you," said the Doctor. + +"But Miss Collingham--what became of her?" asked an eager listener. + +"Well, she did not recover," answered the Doctor with a slight trembling +in his voice. "It was a sad matter altogether; and within a short time +she lay beside her betrothed in the family vault below the chapel. Sir +James broke up his establishment and went abroad, and I never saw any of +the family again." + +"And what did you do, Doctor?" + +"I went to London, to seek my fortune as best I might; and I hope you +may all prosper as well, my young friends." + +"And is it all really true?" asked Amy, who had listened with breathless +attention. + +"That is the worst of it; it really is," said the Doctor. + + + + +THE SECRET OF THE TWO PLASTER CASTS. + + +Years before the accession of her Majesty Queen Victoria, and yet at not +so remote a date as to be utterly beyond the period to which the +reminiscences of our middle-aged readers extend, it happened that two +English gentlemen sat at table on a summer's evening, after dinner, +quietly sipping their wine and engaged in desultory conversation. They +were both men known to fame. One of them was a sculptor whose statues +adorned the palaces of princes, and whose chiselled busts were the pride +of half the nobility of his nation; the other was no less renowned as an +anatomist and surgeon. The age of the anatomist might have been guessed +at fifty, but the guess would have erred on the side of youth by at +least ten years. That of the sculptor could scarcely be more than +five-and-thirty. A bust of the anatomist, so admirably executed as to +present, although in stone, the perfect similitude of life and flesh, +stood upon a pedestal opposite to the table at which sat the pair, and +at once explained at least one connecting-link of companionship between +them. The anatomist was exhibiting for the criticism of his friend a +rare gem which he had just drawn from his cabinet: it was a crucifix +magnificently carved in ivory, and incased in a setting of pure gold. + +"The carving, my dear sir," observed Mr. Fiddyes, the sculptor, "is +indeed, as you say, exquisite. The muscles are admirably made out, the +flesh well modelled, wonderfully so for the size and material; and +yet--by the bye, on this point you must know more than I--the more I +think upon the matter, the more I regard the artistic conception as +utterly false and wrong." + +"You speak in a riddle," replied Dr. Carnell; "but pray go on, and +explain." + +"It is a fancy I first had in my student-days," replied Fiddyes. +"Conventionality, not to say a most proper and becoming reverence, +prevents people by no means ignorant from considering the point. But +once think upon it, and you at least, of all men, must at once perceive +how utterly impossible it would be for a victim nailed upon a cross by +hands and feet to preserve the position invariably displayed in figures +of the Crucifixion. Those who so portray it fail in what should be their +most awful and agonizing effect. Think for one moment, and imagine, if +you can, what would be the attitude of a man, living or dead, under this +frightful torture." + +"You startle me," returned the great surgeon, "not only by the truth of +your remarks, but by their obviousness. It is strange indeed that such a +matter should have so long been overlooked. The more I think upon it the +more the bare idea of actual crucifixion seems to horrify me, though +heaven knows I am accustomed enough to scenes of suffering. How would +you represent such a terrible agony?" + +"Indeed I cannot tell," replied the sculptor; "to guess would be almost +vain. The fearful strain upon the muscles, their utter helplessness and +inactivity, the frightful swellings, the effect of weight upon the +racked and tortured sinews, appal me too much even for speculation." + +"But this," replied the surgeon, "one might think a matter of +importance, not only to art, but, higher still, to religion itself." + +"Maybe so," returned the sculptor. "But perhaps the appeal to the senses +through a true representation might be too horrible for either the one +or the other." + +"Still," persisted the surgeon, "I should like--say for +curiosity--though I am weak enough to believe even in my own motive as a +higher one--to ascertain the effect from actual observation." + +"So should I, could it be done, and of course without pain to the +object, which, as a condition, seems to present at the outset an +impossibility." + +"Perhaps not," mused the anatomist; "I think I have a notion. Stay--we +may contrive this matter. I will tell you my plan, and it will be +strange indeed if we two cannot manage to carry it out." + +The discourse here, owing to the rapt attention of both speakers, +assumed a low and earnest tone, but had perhaps better be narrated by a +relation of the events to which it gave rise. Suffice it to say that the +Sovereign was more than once mentioned during its progress, and in a +manner which plainly told that the two speakers each possessed +sufficient influence to obtain the assistance of royalty, and that such +assistance would be required in their scheme. + +The shades of evening deepened while the two were still conversing. And +leaving this scene, let us cast one hurried glimpse at another taking +place contemporaneously. + +Between Pimlico and Chelsea, and across a canal of which the bed has +since been used for the railway terminating at Victoria Station, there +was at the time of which we speak a rude timber footway, long since +replaced by a more substantial and convenient erection, but then known +as the Wooden Bridge. It was named shortly afterward Cutthroat Bridge, +and for this reason. + +While Mr. Fiddyes and Dr. Carnell were discoursing over their wine, as +we have already seen, one Peter Starke, a drunken Chelsea pensioner, was +murdering his wife upon the spot we have last indicated. The coincidence +was curious. + + * * * * * + +In those days the punishment of criminals followed closely upon their +conviction. The Chelsea pensioner whom we have mentioned was found +guilty one Friday and sentenced to die on the following Monday. He was a +sad scoundrel, impenitent to the last, glorying in the deeds of +slaughter which he had witnessed and acted during the series of +campaigns which had ended just previously at Waterloo. He was a tall, +well-built fellow enough, of middle age, for his class was not then, as +now, composed chiefly of veterans, but comprised many young men, just +sufficiently disabled to be unfit for service. Peter Starke, although +but slightly wounded, had nearly completed his term of service, and had +obtained his pension and presentment to Chelsea Hospital. With his life +we have but little to do, save as regards its close, which we shall +shortly endeavor to describe far more veraciously, and at some greater +length than set forth in the brief account which satisfied the public of +his own day, and which, as embodied in the columns of the few journals +then appearing, ran thus: + + "On Monday last Peter Starke was executed at Newgate for the + murder at the Wooden Bridge, Chelsea, with four others for + various offences. After he had been hanging only for a few + minutes a respite arrived, but although he was promptly cut + down, life was pronounced to be extinct. His body was buried + within the prison walls." + +Thus far history. But the conciseness of history far more frequently +embodies falsehood than truth. Perhaps the following narration may +approach more nearly to the facts. + +A room within the prison had been, upon that special occasion and by +high authority, allotted to the use of Dr. Carnell and Mr. Fiddyes, the +famous sculptor, for the purpose of certain investigations connected +with art and science. In that room Mr. Fiddyes, while wretched Peter +Starke was yet swinging between heaven and earth, was busily engaged in +arranging a variety of implements and materials, consisting of a large +quantity of plaster-of-Paris, two large pails of water, some tubs, and +other necessaries of the moulder's art. The room contained a large deal +table, and a wooden cross, not neatly planed and squared at the angles, +but of thick, narrow, rudely-sawn oaken plank, fixed by strong, heavy +nails. And while Mr. Fiddyes was thus occupied, the executioner +entered, bearing upon his shoulders the body of the wretched Peter, +which he flung heavily upon the table. + +"You are sure he is dead?" asked Mr. Fiddyes. + +"Dead as a herring," replied the other. "And yet just as warm and limp +as if he had only fainted." + +"Then go to work at once," replied the sculptor, as turning his back +upon the hangman, he resumed his occupation. + +The "work" was soon done. Peter was stripped and nailed upon the timber, +which was instantly propped against the wall. + +"As fine a one as ever I see," exclaimed the executioner, as he regarded +the defunct murderer with an expression of admiration, as if at his own +handiwork, in having abruptly demolished such a magnificent animal. +"Drops a good bit for'ard, though. Shall I tie him up round the waist, +sir?" + +"Certainly not," returned the sculptor. "Just rub him well over with +this oil, especially his head, and then you can go. Dr. Carnell will +settle with you." + +"All right, sir." + +The fellow did as ordered, and retired without another word; leaving +this strange couple, the living and the dead, in that dismal chamber. + +Mr. Fiddyes was a man of strong nerve in such matters. He had been too +much accustomed to taking posthumous casts to trouble himself with any +sentiment of repugnance at his approaching task of taking what is called +a "piece-mould" from a body. He emptied a number of bags of the white +powdery plaster-of-Paris into one of the larger vessels, poured into it +a pail of water, and was carefully stirring up the mass, when a sound of +dropping arrested his ear. + +_Drip, drip._ + +"There's something leaking," he muttered, as he took a second pail, and +emptying it, again stirred the composition. + +_Drip, drip, drip._ + +"It's strange," he soliloquized, half aloud. "There is no more water, +and yet----" + +The sound was heard again. + +He gazed at the ceiling; there was no sign of damp. He turned his eyes +to the body, and something suddenly caused him a violent start. The +murderer was bleeding. + +The sculptor, spite of his command over himself, turned pale. At that +moment the head of Starke moved--clearly moved. It raised itself +convulsively for a single moment; its eyes rolled, and it gave vent to a +subdued moan of intense agony. Mr. Fiddyes fell fainting on the floor as +Dr. Carnell entered. It needed but a glance to tell the doctor what had +happened, even had not Peter just then given vent to another low cry. +The surgeon's measures were soon taken. Locking the door, he bore a +chair to the wall which supported the body of the malefactor. He drew +from his pocket a case of glittering instruments, and with one of these, +so small and delicate that it scarcely seemed larger than a needle, he +rapidly, but dexterously and firmly, touched Peter just at the back of +the neck. There was no wound larger than the head of a small pin, and +yet the head fell instantly as though the heart had been pierced. The +doctor had divided the spinal cord, and Peter Starke was dead indeed. + +A few minutes sufficed to recall the sculptor to his senses. He at first +gazed wildly upon the still suspended body, so painfully recalled to +life by the rough venesection of the hangman and the subsequent friction +of anointing his body to prevent the adhesion of the plaster. + +"You need not fear now," said Dr. Carnell; "I assure you he is dead." + +"But he _was_ alive, surely!" + +"Only for a moment, and even that scarcely to be called life--mere +muscular contraction, my dear sir, mere muscular contraction." + +The sculptor resumed his labor. The body was girt at various +circumferences with fine twine, to be afterward withdrawn through a +thick coating of plaster, so as to separate the various pieces of the +mould, which was at last completed; and after this Dr. Carnell skilfully +flayed the body, to enable a second mould to be taken of the entire +figure, showing every muscle of the outer layer. + +The two moulds were thus taken. It is difficult to conceive more ghastly +appearances than they presented. For sculptor's work they were utterly +useless; for no artist except the most daring of realists would have +ventured to indicate the horrors which they presented. Fiddyes refused +to receive them. Dr. Carnell, hard and cruel as he was, for kindness' +sake, in his profession, was a gentle, genial father of a family of +daughters. He received the casts, and at once consigned them to a +garret, to which he forbade access. His youngest daughter, one +unfortunate day, during her father's absence, was impelled by feminine +curiosity--perhaps a little increased by the prohibition--to enter the +mysterious chamber. + +Whether she imagined in the pallid figure upon the cross a celestial +rebuke for her disobedience, or whether she was overcome by the mere +mortal horror of one or both of those dreadful casts, can now never be +known. But this is true: she became a maniac. + +The writer of this has more than once seen (as, no doubt, have many +others) the plaster effigies of Peter Starke, after their removal from +Dr. Carnell's to a famous studio near the Regent's Park. It was there +that he heard whispered the strange story of their origin. Sculptor and +surgeon are now both long since dead, and it is no longer necessary to +keep _the secret of the two plaster casts_. + + + + +WHAT WAS IT? + + +It is, I confess, with considerable diffidence that I approached the +strange narrative which I am about to relate. The events which I purpose +detailing are of so extraordinary a character that I am quite prepared +to meet with an unusual amount of incredulity and scorn. I accept all +such beforehand. I have, I trust, the literary courage to face unbelief. +I have, after mature consideration, resolved to narrate, in as simple +and straightforward a manner as I can compass, some facts that passed +under my observation, in the month of July last, and which, in the +annals of the mysteries of physical science, are wholly unparalleled. + +I live at No. -- Twenty-sixth Street, in New York. The house is in some +respects a curious one. It has enjoyed for the last two years the +reputation of being haunted. The house is very spacious. A hall of noble +size leads to a large spiral staircase winding through its centre, while +the various apartments are of imposing dimensions. It was built some +fifteen or twenty years since by Mr. A----, the well-known New York +merchant, who five years ago threw the commercial world into convulsions +by a stupendous bank fraud. Mr. A----, as every one knows, escaped to +Europe, and died not long after, of a broken heart. Almost immediately +after the news of his decease reached this country and was verified, +the report spread in Twenty-sixth Street that No. -- was haunted. Legal +measures had dispossessed the widow of its former owner, and it was +inhabited merely by a care-taker and his wife, placed there by the +house-agent into whose hands it had passed for purposes of renting or +sale. These people declared that they were troubled with unnatural +noises. Doors were opened without any visible agency. The remnants of +furniture scattered through the various rooms were, during the night, +piled one upon the other by unknown hands. Invisible feet passed up and +down the stairs in broad daylight, accompanied by the rustle of unseen +silk dresses, and the gliding of viewless hands along the massive +balusters. The care-taker and his wife declared they would live there no +longer. The house-agent laughed, dismissed them, and put others in their +place. The noises and supernatural manifestations continued. The +neighborhood caught up the story, and the house remained untenanted for +three years. Several persons negotiated for it; but, somehow, always +before the bargain was closed they heard the unpleasant rumors and +declined to treat any further. + +It was in this state of things that my landlady, who at that time kept a +boarding-house in Bleecker Street, and who wished to move farther up +town, conceived the bold idea of renting No. -- Twenty-sixth Street. +Happening to have in her house rather a plucky and philosophical set of +boarders, she laid her scheme before us, stating candidly everything she +had heard respecting the ghostly qualities of the establishment to which +she wished to remove us. With the exception of two timid persons--a +sea-captain and a returned Californian, who immediately gave notice that +they would leave--all of Mrs. Moffat's guests declared that they would +accompany her in her incursion into the abode of spirits. + +Our removal was effected in the month of May, and we were charmed with +our new residence. + +Of course we had no sooner established ourselves at No. -- than we began +to expect the ghosts. We absolutely awaited their advent with eagerness. +Our dinner conversation was supernatural. I found myself a person of +immense importance, it having leaked out that I was tolerably well +versed in the history of supernaturalism, and had once written a story +the foundation of which was a ghost. If a table or wainscot panel +happened to warp when we were assembled in the large drawing-room, there +was an instant silence, and every one was prepared for an immediate +clanking of chains and a spectral form. + +After a month of psychological excitement, it was with the utmost +dissatisfaction that we were forced to acknowledge that nothing in the +remotest degree approaching the supernatural had manifested itself. + +Things were in this state when an incident took place so awful and +inexplicable in its character that my reason fairly reels at the bare +memory of the occurrence. It was the tenth of July. After dinner was +over I repaired, with my friend Dr. Hammond, to the garden to smoke my +evening pipe. Independent of certain mental sympathies which existed +between the doctor and myself, we were linked together by a vice. We +both smoked opium. We knew each other's secret and respected it. We +enjoyed together that wonderful expansion of thought, that marvellous +intensifying of the perceptive faculties, that boundless feeling of +existence when we seem to have points of contact with the whole +universe--in short, that unimaginable spiritual bliss, which I would not +surrender for a throne, and which I hope you, reader, will never--never +taste. + +On the evening in question, the tenth of July, the doctor and myself +drifted into an unusually metaphysical mood. We lit our large +meerschaums, filled with fine Turkish tobacco, in the core of which +burned a little black nut of opium, that, like the nut in the fairy +tale, held within its narrow limits wonders beyond the reach of kings; +we paced to and fro, conversing. A strange perversity dominated the +currents of our thoughts. They would not flow through the sun-lit +channels into which we strove to divert them. For some unaccountable +reason, they constantly diverged into dark and lonesome beds, where a +continual gloom brooded. It was in vain that, after our old fashion, we +flung ourselves on the shores of the East, and talked of its gay +bazaars, of the splendors of the time of Haroun, of harems and golden +palaces. Black afreets continually arose from the depths of our talk, +and expanded, like the one the fisherman released from the copper +vessel, until they blotted everything bright from our vision. +Insensibly, we yielded to the occult force that swayed us, and indulged +in gloomy speculation. We had talked some time upon the proneness of the +human mind to mysticism, and the almost universal love of the terrible, +when Hammond suddenly said to me, "What do you consider to be the +greatest element of terror?" + +The question puzzled me. That many things were terrible, I knew. But it +now struck me, for the first time, that there must be one great and +ruling embodiment of fear--a King of Terrors, to which all others must +succumb. What might it be? To what train of circumstances would it owe +its existence? + +"I confess, Hammond," I replied to my friend, "I never considered the +subject before. That there must be one Something more terrible than any +other thing, I feel. I cannot attempt, however, even the most vague +definition." + +"I am somewhat like you, Harry," he answered. "I feel my capacity to +experience a terror greater than anything yet conceived by the human +mind--something combining in fearful and unnatural amalgamation hitherto +supposed incompatible elements. The calling of the voices in Brockden +Brown's novel of 'Wieland' is awful; so is the picture of the Dweller on +the Threshold, in Bulwer's 'Zanoni;' but," he added, shaking his head +gloomily, "there is something more horrible still than these." + +"Look here, Hammond," I rejoined, "let us drop this kind of talk, for +Heaven's sake! We shall suffer for it, depend on it." + +"I don't know what's the matter with me to-night," he replied, "but my +brain is running upon all sorts of weird and awful thoughts. I feel as +if I could write a story like Hoffman, to-night, if I were only master +of a literary style." + +"Well, if we are going to be Hoffmanesque in our talk, I'm off to bed. +Opium and nightmares should never be brought together. How sultry it +is! Good-night, Hammond." + +"Good-night, Harry. Pleasant dreams to you." + +"To you, gloomy wretch, afreets, ghouls, and enchanters." + +We parted, and each sought his respective chamber. I undressed quickly +and got into bed, taking with me, according to my usual custom, a book +over which I generally read myself to sleep. I opened the volume as soon +as I had laid my head upon the pillow, and instantly flung it to the +other side of the room. It was Goudon's "History of Monsters,"--a +curious French work, which I had lately imported from Paris, but which, +in the state of mind I had then reached, was anything but an agreeable +companion. I resolved to go to sleep at once; so, turning down my gas +until nothing but a little blue point of light glimmered on the top of +the tube, I composed myself to rest. + +The room was in total darkness. The atom of gas that still remained +alight did not illuminate a distance of three inches round the burner. I +desperately drew my arm across my eyes, as if to shut out even the +darkness and tried to think of nothing. It was in vain. The confounded +themes touched on by Hammond in the garden kept obtruding themselves on +my brain. I battled against them. I erected ramparts of would-be +blankness of intellect to keep them out. They still crowded upon me. +While I was lying still as a corpse, hoping that by a perfect physical +inaction I should hasten mental repose, an awful incident occurred. A +Something dropped, as it seemed, from the ceiling, plumb upon my chest, +and the next instant I felt two bony hands encircling my throat, +endeavoring to choke me. + +I am no coward, and am possessed of considerable physical strength. The +suddenness of the attack, instead of stunning me, strung every nerve to +its highest tension. My body acted from instinct, before my brain had +time to realize the terrors of my position. In an instant I wound two +muscular arms around the creature, and squeezed it, with all the +strength of despair, against my chest. In a few seconds the bony hands +that had fastened on my throat loosened their hold, and I was free to +breathe once more. Then commenced a struggle of awful intensity. +Immersed in the most profound darkness, totally ignorant of the nature +of the Thing by which I was so suddenly attacked, finding my grasp +slipping every moment, by reason, it seemed to me, of the entire +nakedness of my assailant, bitten with sharp teeth in the shoulder, +neck, and chest, having every moment to protect my throat against a pair +of sinewy, agile hands, which my utmost efforts could not confine--these +were a combination of circumstances to combat which required all the +strength, skill, and courage that I possessed. + +At last, after a silent, deadly, exhausting struggle, I got my assailant +under by a series of incredible efforts of strength. Once pinned, with +my knee on what I made out to be its chest, I knew that I was victor. I +rested for a moment to breathe. I heard the creature beneath me panting +in the darkness, and felt the violent throbbing of a heart. It was +apparently as exhausted as I was; that was one comfort. At this moment I +remembered that I usually placed under my pillow, before going to bed, +a large yellow silk pocket-handkerchief. I felt for it instantly; it was +there. In a few seconds more I had, after a fashion, pinioned the +creature's arms. + +I now felt tolerably secure. There was nothing more to be done but to +turn on the gas, and, having first seen what my midnight assailant was +like, arouse the household. I will confess to being actuated by a +certain pride in not giving the alarm before; I wished to make the +capture alone and unaided. + +Never losing my hold for an instant, I slipped from the bed to the +floor, dragging my captive with me. I had but a few steps to make to +reach the gas-burner; these I made with the greatest caution, holding +the creature in a grip like a vice. At last I got within arm's length of +the tiny speck of blue light which told me where the gas-burner lay. +Quick as lightning I released my grasp with one hand and let on the full +flood of light. Then I turned to look at my captive. + +I cannot even attempt to give any definition of my sensations the +instant after I turned on the gas. I suppose I must have shrieked with +terror, for in less than a minute afterward my room was crowded with the +inmates of the house. I shudder now as I think of that awful moment. _I +saw nothing!_ Yes; I had one arm firmly clasped round a breathing, +panting, corporeal shape, my other hand gripped with all its strength a +throat as warm, and apparently fleshly, as my own; and yet, with this +living substance in my grasp, with its body pressed against my own, and +all in the bright glare of a large jet of gas, I absolutely beheld +nothing! Not even an outline--a vapor! + +I do not, even at this hour, realize the situation in which I found +myself. I cannot recall the astounding incident thoroughly. Imagination +in vain tries to compass the awful paradox. + +It breathed. I felt its warm breath upon my cheek. It struggled +fiercely. It had hands. They clutched me. Its skin was smooth, like my +own. There it lay, pressed close up against me, solid as stone--and yet +utterly invisible! + +I wonder that I did not faint or go mad on the instant. Some wonderful +instinct must have sustained me; for absolutely, in place of loosening +my hold on the terrible Enigma, I seemed to gain an additional strength +in my moment of horror, and tightened my grasp with such wonderful force +that I felt the creature shivering with agony. + +Just then Hammond entered my room at the head of the household. As soon +as he beheld my face--which, I suppose, must have been an awful sight to +look at--he hastened forward, crying, "Great Heaven, what has happened?" + +"Hammond! Hammond!" I cried, "come here. Oh, this is awful! I have been +attacked in bed by something or other, which I have hold of; but I can't +see it--I can't see it!" + +Hammond, doubtless struck by the unfeigned horror expressed in my +countenance, made one or two steps forward with an anxious yet puzzled +expression. A very audible titter burst from the remainder of my +visitors. This suppressed laughter made me furious. To laugh at a human +being in my position! It was the worst species of cruelty. _Now_, I can +understand why the appearance of a man struggling violently, as it would +seem, with an airy nothing, and calling for assistance against a vision, +should have appeared ludicrous. _Then_, so great was my rage against the +mocking crowd that had I the power I would have stricken them dead where +they stood. + +"Hammond! Hammond!" I cried again, despairingly, "for God's sake come to +me. I can hold the--the thing but a short while longer. It is +overpowering me. Help me! Help me!" + +"Harry," whispered Hammond, approaching me, "you have been smoking too +much opium." + +"I swear to you, Hammond, that this is no vision," I answered, in the +same low tone. "Don't you see how it shakes my whole frame with its +struggles? If you don't believe me convince yourself. Feel it--touch +it." + +Hammond advanced and laid his hand in the spot I indicated. A wild cry +of horror burst from him. He had felt it! + +In a moment he had discovered somewhere in my room a long piece of cord, +and was the next instant winding it and knotting it about the body of +the unseen being that I clasped in my arms. + +"Harry," he said, in a hoarse, agitated voice, for, though he preserved +his presence of mind, he was deeply moved, "Harry, it's all safe now. +You may let go, old fellow, if you're tired. The Thing can't move." + +I was utterly exhausted, and I gladly loosed my hold. + +[Illustration: "BOTH OF US--CONQUERING OUR FEARFUL REPUGNANCE TO TOUCH +THE INVISIBLE CREATURE--LIFTED IT FROM THE GROUND, MANACLED AS IT WAS, +AND TOOK IT TO MY BED."] + +Hammond stood holding the ends of the cord, that bound the Invisible, +twisted round his hand, while before him, self-supporting as it were, he +beheld a rope laced and interlaced, and stretching tightly around a +vacant space. I never saw a man look so thoroughly stricken with awe. +Nevertheless his face expressed all the courage and determination which +I knew him to possess. His lips, although white, were set firmly, and +one could perceive at a glance that, although stricken with fear, he was +not daunted. + +The confusion that ensued among the guests of the house who were +witnesses of this extraordinary scene between Hammond and myself--who +beheld the pantomime of binding this struggling Something--who beheld me +almost sinking from physical exhaustion when my task of jailer was +over--the confusion and terror that took possession of the bystanders, +when they saw all this, was beyond description. The weaker ones fled +from the apartment. The few who remained clustered near the door and +could not be induced to approach Hammond and his Charge. Still +incredulity broke out through their terror. They had not the courage to +satisfy themselves, and yet they doubted. It was in vain that I begged +of some of the men to come near and convince themselves by touch of the +existence in that room of a living being which was invisible. They were +incredulous, but did not dare to undeceive themselves. How could a +solid, living, breathing body be invisible, they asked. My reply was +this. I gave a sign to Hammond, and both of us--conquering our fearful +repugnance to touch the invisible creature--lifted it from the ground, +manacled as it was, and took it to my bed. Its weight was about that of +a boy of fourteen. + +"Now, my friends," I said, as Hammond and myself held the creature +suspended over the bed, "I can give you self-evident proof that here is +a solid, ponderable body, which, nevertheless, you cannot see. Be good +enough to watch the surface of the bed attentively." + +I was astonished at my own courage in treating this strange event so +calmly; but I had recovered from my first terror, and felt a sort of +scientific pride in the affair, which dominated every other feeling. + +The eyes of the bystanders were immediately fixed on my bed. At a given +signal Hammond and I let the creature fall. There was the dull sound of +a heavy body alighting on a soft mass. The timbers of the bed creaked. A +deep impression marked itself distinctly on the pillow, and on the bed +itself. The crowd who witnessed this gave a low cry, and rushed from the +room. Hammond and I were left alone with our Mystery. + +We remained silent for some time, listening to the low irregular +breathing of the creature on the bed and watching the rustle of the +bed-clothes as it impotently struggled to free itself from confinement. +Then Hammond spoke. + +"Harry, this is awful." + +"Ay, awful." + +"But not unaccountable." + +"Not unaccountable! What do you mean? Such a thing has never occurred +since the birth of the world. I know not what to think, Hammond. God +grant that I am not mad and that this is not an insane fantasy!" + +"Let us reason a little, Harry. Here is a solid body which we touch but +which we cannot see. The fact is so unusual that it strikes us with +terror. Is there no parallel, though, for such a phenomenon? Take a +piece of pure glass. It is tangible and transparent. A certain chemical +coarseness is all that prevents its being so entirely transparent as to +be totally invisible. It is not _theoretically impossible_, mind you, to +make a glass which shall not reflect a single ray of light--a glass so +pure and homogeneous in its atoms that the rays from the sun will pass +through it as they do through the air, refracted but not reflected. We +do not see the air, and yet we feel it." + +"That's all very well, Hammond, but these are inanimate substances. +Glass does not breathe, air does not breathe. This thing has a heart +that palpitates--a will that moves it--lungs that play, and inspire and +respire." + +"You forget the phenomena of which we have so often heard of late," +answered the doctor gravely. "At the meetings called 'spirit circles,' +invisible hands have been thrust into the hands of those persons round +the table--warm, fleshly hands that seemed to pulsate with mortal life." + +"What? Do you think, then, that this thing is----" + +"I don't know what it is," was the solemn reply; "but please the gods I +will, with your assistance, thoroughly investigate it." + +We watched together, smoking many pipes, all night long, by the bedside +of the unearthly being that tossed and panted until it was apparently +wearied out. Then we learned by the low, regular breathing that it +slept. + +The next morning the house was all astir. The boarders congregated on +the landing outside my room, and Hammond and myself were lions. We had +to answer a thousand questions as to the state of our extraordinary +prisoner, for as yet not one person in the house except ourselves could +be induced to set foot in the apartment. + +The creature was awake. This was evidenced by the convulsive manner in +which the bed-clothes were moved in its efforts to escape. There was +something truly terrible in beholding, as it were, those second-hand +indications of the terrible writhings and agonized struggles for liberty +which themselves were invisible. + +Hammond and myself had racked our brains during the long night to +discover some means by which we might realize the shape and general +appearance of the Enigma. As well as we could make out by passing our +hands over the creature's form, its outlines and lineaments were human. +There was a mouth; a round, smooth head without hair; a nose, which, +however, was little elevated above the cheeks; and its hands and feet +felt like those of a boy. At first we thought of placing the being on a +smooth surface and tracing its outlines with chalk, as shoemakers trace +the outline of the foot. This plan was given up as being of no value. +Such an outline would give not the slightest idea of its conformation. + +A happy thought struck me. We would take a cast of it in +plaster-of-Paris. This would give us the solid figure, and satisfy all +our wishes. But how to do it. The movements of the creature would +disturb the setting of the plastic covering, and distort the mould. +Another thought. Why not give it chloroform? It had respiratory +organs--that was evident by its breathing. Once reduced to a state of +insensibility, we could do with it what we would. Doctor X---- was sent +for; and after the worthy physician had recovered from the first shock +of amazement, he proceeded to administer the chloroform. In three +minutes afterward we were enabled to remove the fetters from the +creature's body, and a modeller was busily engaged in covering the +invisible form with the moist clay. In five minutes more we had a mould, +and before evening a rough fac-simile of the Mystery. It was shaped like +a man--distorted, uncouth, and horrible, but still a man. It was small, +not over four feet and some inches in height, and its limbs revealed a +muscular development that was unparalleled. Its face surpassed in +hideousness anything I had ever seen. Gustave Dore, or Callot, or Tony +Johannot, never conceived anything so horrible. There is a face in one +of the latter's illustrations to _Un Voyage ou il vous plaira_, which +somewhat approaches the countenance of this creature, but does not equal +it. It was the physiognomy of what I should fancy a ghoul might be. It +looked as if it was capable of feeding on human flesh. + +Having satisfied our curiosity, and bound every one in the house to +secrecy, it became a question what was to be done with our Enigma? It +was impossible that we should keep such a horror in our house; it was +equally impossible that such an awful being should be let loose upon the +world. I confess that I would have gladly voted for the creature's +destruction. But who would shoulder the responsibility? Who would +undertake the execution of this horrible semblance to a human being? Day +after day this question was deliberated gravely. The boarders all left +the house. Mrs. Moffat was in despair, and threatened Hammond and myself +with all sorts of legal penalties if we did not remove the Horror. Our +answer was, "We will go if you like, but we decline taking this creature +with us. Remove it yourself if you please. It appeared in your house. On +you the responsibility rests." To this there was, of course, no answer. +Mrs. Moffat could not obtain for love or money a person who would even +approach the Mystery. + +At last it died. Hammond and I found it cold and stiff one morning in +the bed. The heart had ceased to beat, the lungs to inspire. We hastened +to bury it in the garden. It was a strange funeral, the dropping of that +viewless corpse into the damp hole. The cast of its form I gave to +Doctor X----, who keeps it in his museum in Tenth Street. + +As I am on the eve of a long journey from which I may not return, I have +drawn up this narrative of an event the most singular that has ever come +to my knowledge. + + + +------------------------------------------------------------------+ + |Transcriber's Note: | + | | + |The words peckett (page 11), stronge (page 170) and Boulevart(s) | + |(pages 59 and 80), the use of both L'Estrange and l'Estrange, and | + |variations in hyphenated words have been retained as in the | + |original book. | + | | + |Page 21 "Derybshire" changed to "Derbyshire" | + | | + |Page 22 "felt their hair" changed to "felt the hair" | + | | + |Page 46 "Come baack to" changed to "Come back to" | + | | + |Page 48 Added " before Dear Mr. Westcar | + | | + |Page 61 "sufficiently start ling" changed to | + | "sufficiently startling" | + | | + |Page 84 Changed " to ' before And what other | + | | + |Page 95 Removed " before together with | + | | + |Page 115 "dangerous conditon" changed to "dangerous condition" | + | | + |Page 120 "keeeping the matter" changed to "keeping the matter" | + | | + |Page 123 Added " after new stalls, Gen'ral). | + | | + |Page 127 "beyond each" changed to "beyond reach" | + | | + |Page 138 "tradionally imputed" changed to "traditionally imputed" | + | | + |Page 152 "by which pedestrains" changed to "by which pedestrians" | + | | + |Page 164 "buy the joint of you" changed to "buy the joint off you"| + | | + |Page 191 "was on the the man's" changed to "was on the man's" | + | | + |Page 219 "Miss Collingwood had been languid" changed to | + | "Miss Collingham had been languid" | + | | + |Page 220 Added " before Miss Collingham started | + | | + |Page 232 Removed " before The shades of evening | + | | + |Page 233 "Ferhaps the following" changed to | + | "Perhaps the following" | + | | + |Page 235 "it gavevent to" changed to "it gave vent to" | + | | + |Page 250 "my rage are against" changed to "my rage against" | + +------------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Stable for Nightmares, by +J. 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