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diff --git a/35533.txt b/35533.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec8cb22 --- /dev/null +++ b/35533.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8094 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Haunted Room, by A. L. O. E. + +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: The Haunted Room + A Tale + +Author: A. L. O. E. + +Release Date: March 9, 2011 [EBook #35533] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HAUNTED ROOM *** + + + + +Produced by eagkw, Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + [Illustration: EMMIE'S NEW HOME. _Page 215._] + + + + + THE HAUNTED ROOM. + + A Tale + + + BY + + _A. L. O. E._, + + AUTHOR OF "THE SPANISH CAVALIER," "RESCUED FROM EGYPT," + "THE LADY OF PROVENCE," ETC. + + + + London: + T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW. + EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK. 1900 + + + + +Preface. + + +It is under peculiar circumstances that A. L. O. E. sends forth this +little volume. As it is passing through the press its author is +preparing to enter on a new field of labour in the East, as an honorary +member of the Zenana Mission in India. Of the fact that the missionary +cause has been dear to A. L. O. E. her readers may be aware from her +former writings. She now hopes to be permitted to devote an evening hour +of her life to that cause. India is endeared to her from family +associations; for there a revered father, and subsequently his sons, +lived and laboured, and in that land rests the dust of dear ones who +sleep in Jesus. + +If there be, as she fain would hope, something of a tie between a writer +and those familiar with her works, may not A. L. O. E. venture to claim +an interest in the prayers of her readers? May she not hope that they +will ask for her, wisdom, humility, zeal, and success? It would be sweet +to one struggling with the difficulty of learning a new language to know +that many joined in the supplication, "O Lord! open Thou her lips, that +her mouth may shew forth Thy praise!" and that many besought Him whose +strength is made perfect in weakness, to enable His servant to win +Indian gems to lay at His feet. + + A. L. O. E. + + + + + Contents. + + + I. A PLEASANT HOME, 9 + + II. COMING TO A DECISION, 20 + + III. GOSSIP DOWNSTAIRS, 29 + + IV. PREPARING TO START, 40 + + V. HAUNTED ROOMS, 47 + + VI. THREE WARNINGS, 62 + + VII. MISTRUST, 70 + + VIII. THE JOURNEY, 78 + + IX. NEW ACQUAINTANCE, 88 + + X. A FAINT HEART, 98 + + XI. EVENING AND MORNING, 114 + + XII. THE STRANGER, 124 + + XIII. WORK, 140 + + XIV. EARLY IMPRESSIONS, 151 + + XV. THE FIRST VISIT, 162 + + XVI. TRY AGAIN, 178 + + XVII. CARES AND MISTAKES, 186 + + XVIII. YES OR NO, 194 + + XIX. THE ECLIPSE, 207 + + XX. AN ALARM, 219 + + XXI. INDECISION, 230 + + XXII. THE HAUNTED CHAMBER, 238 + + XXIII. DEATH, 247 + + XXIV. A MISTAKE, 257 + + XXV. STRANGE TIDINGS, 265 + + XXVI. THE WEAK ONE, 278 + + XXVII. A NIGHT-JOURNEY, 294 + + XXVIII. THE BROTHERS' MEETING, 307 + + XXIX. CHARGED WITH FELONY, 315 + + XXX. TREMBLING IN THE BALANCE, 324 + + XXXI. CHANGES, 332 + + + + +THE HAUNTED ROOM. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +A PLEASANT HOME. + + +"A pleasant nest my brother-in-law has found for his family," said +Captain Arrows to himself, as, carpet-bag in hand, he walked the brief +distance from a railway-station to his relative's house. "Trevor's home +is near enough to London for its inmates to reach Charing-Cross by train +in fifteen minutes, and yet far enough from it to be beyond reach of its +smoke and noise. Not quite so," added the captain as he passed a +Savoyard with hurdy-gurdy and monkey, and then was overtaken by an +omnibus well filled within and without; "but I doubt if our young folk +would have relished perfect rural seclusion, or would have wished to +have dwelt fifty miles from the Great Exhibition and Albert Hall. As +long as he holds his government office, Trevor cannot live far from +London; and in choosing his residence here, he has made a pleasant +compromise between town and country. This is as bright-looking a home as +heart could wish," thought the captain, as from the slope of a hill he +came in sight of a pretty villa, in the Elizabethan style, standing in +its own grounds. "These gay flower-beds, with their geometrical shapes +and blooming flowers, show the ingenuity of Bruce and the taste of +Emmie. The croquet loops on the lawn, the target in the little field +yonder, tell of lives passed in ease and enjoyment. It may be a question +whether such lives be indeed the most desirable for our young men and +maidens," thus the captain pursued his reflections as he walked down the +hill. "Simply to pass youth as pleasantly as possible seems to be hardly +the best preparation for the rough campaign of existence. We would not +train our army recruits in Arcadia. It would be an interesting problem, +had we the means of working it out, to find out how far our characters +are formed by our surroundings, as physical qualities are affected by +climate. Would early acquaintance with difficulties and dangers ever +have braced up our lovely Emmie into a heroine, or made Vibert a +reflective and self-denying man? As for Bruce, he has in him so much of +the nature of the oak sapling, that the most enervating air could not +rob him of all the knots and toughness of close-grained wood. Another +curious problem to solve would be, how far easy, luxurious existence in +youth is actually conducive to happiness; whether the prospect from a +bleak hill-side be not fairer, as well as its air more bracing, than +that of the garden of the Hesperides. Where the mind has no real +difficulties with which to grapple, the imagination is wont to grow with +the rank luxuriance of tropical vegetation. Nervousness, superstition, +anxiety about trifles, take the place of serious trials; and the child +of luxury, to parody the fine line of Johnson, + + 'Makes the misery he does not find.'" + +The captain had no more leisure for his reflections, for, as he threw +open the gate of Summer Villa, his approach was seen from the house, and +two of its inmates hastened forth to meet a favourite uncle. A graceful +maiden ran lightly down the shrubbery path, followed by her younger +brother, a handsome lad of some sixteen or seventeen years of age. + +"Oh, you are so welcome; we were so glad to get your telegram and know +that your long cruise was over!" cried Emmie as she gave to her mother's +brother an affectionate greeting. + +"We've so much to tell you, captain," said Vibert Trevor, cordially +shaking the hand of the newly-arrived guest. "John is away, so let me +carry your carpet-bag into the house." + +This, from Vibert, was rather a remarkable offer of service. The captain +accepted it with a smile, for Vibert was little accustomed to act the +part of a porter. + +"Where is Bruce?" asked Arrows. "As for your father, I suppose that he +is at his office in London." + +"No; papa is not at his office," replied Emmie, slipping her arm into +that of her uncle. "But come into the house and have refreshment, and +while you take it--" + +"We'll tell you the whole story," cried Vibert, looking like one who has +a grand piece of news to impart. + +While the three enter Summer Villa, let us pause and glance at them for +a few moments. + +Captain Arrows is a naval officer. He has scarcely reached middle age, +and looks young to be addressed as "uncle" by the young lady who rests +on his arm, or the tall brother at her side. The captain's face, bronzed +by sun and wind, is not one to be easily forgotten, so keen and piercing +are the dark eyes which glance from beneath projecting brows. An +expression of satire sometimes plays around the thin lips, but of +satire tempered and controlled. The impression conveyed by Arrows' +appearance and manner would be, "That is a man of character, a man of +decision, a keen observer, who looks as if he were making notes for a +book satirizing the follies of mankind." But there is a kindly frankness +about the sailor which tends to counteract the sense of restraint which +might otherwise be felt in his society. If he carry the sharp rapier of +wit at his side, it is sheathed in the scabbard of good-nature. + +Never does Arrows look more kindly or soften his tone to more gentleness +than when addressing the motherless daughter of a sister loved and +mourned. Emmie is, indeed, one to draw out the affections of those +around her. Not only is her face fair, but it has the sweetness of +expression which is more winsome than beauty. Her soft dark-brown hair +does not, in the shapeless masses prescribed by modern fashion, mar the +classical contour of a gracefully formed head. Gentle, tender, and +clinging, the maiden's type might be found in the fragrant white jasmine +that embowers the porch of her pleasant home. Emmie's school companions +have loved her; not one of them could remember a harsh or unkind word +spoken by the lips of the gentle girl. Her brothers love her; Emmie has +shared their interests, and joined them in their amusements, without +ever brushing away that feminine softness which, as the down to the +peach, is to woman one of the greatest of charms. Bruce would have +disliked having "a fast girl" for his sister almost as much as Mr. +Trevor would have disapproved of his daughter earning that title. The +slang in which some modern ladies (?) indulge would have sounded from +the lips of Emmie as startling as the blare of a child's trumpet toy +breaking in on a melody of Beethoven. + +Vibert Trevor in appearance resembles his sister; but what is pleasingly +feminine in the woman looks somewhat effeminate in the boy. Boy! how +could the word escape my pen! Vibert, in his own estimation at least, +has left boyhood long ago. His auburn hair, parted carefully down the +middle, falls on either side of a face which would be singularly +handsome but for the somewhat too great fulness about the mouth. The lad +is dressed fashionably and in good taste. If there be a little tinge of +foppishness in his appearance, it is as slight as the scent which a +superfine cigar has left on his clothes. + +"No more refreshment for me, thanks; I have taken some in London," said +the captain in reply to a question from his niece as they entered the +house together. + +"Then we will go into the drawing-room," said Emmie. "We expect papa and +Bruce by the next train from Wiltshire. Papa wrote that they would reach +this an hour before dinner-time." + +A cheerful drawing-room was that which looked out on the lawn of Summer +Villa, lighted up as it was by the rich glow of a September sun, then +just at its setting. The red light sparkled on the crystal globe in +which gold-fish were gliding, and lent vividness to the green of the +graceful ferns which ornamented both the windows. Emmie's piano was +open, with a piece of music upon it. Emmie was an enthusiast in music. +She had to displace her guitar from the sofa on which she had left it, +to make room for her uncle to sit by her side. Emmie's basket with its +fancy work lay on the table, and traces of her late employment in the +shape of dropped beads and morsels of bright German wool strewed the +soft carpet. Emmie rather felt than saw that her uncle's eye detected +the little untidiness; the naval officer was himself "so dreadfully +neat!" + +"Now for your news," said the captain, as he seated himself by his +niece, while Vibert threw himself into an arm-chair. Vibert usually +chose, as if by instinct, the most luxurious chair in the room. + +"What would you say if papa were to throw up office, leave Summer Villa +for ever and for aye, and carry us all off to be buried alive?" cried +Vibert. + +"In Labrador--or equatorial Africa?" inquired the captain. + +"Not quite so bad as either of those distant deserts," laughed Vibert. +"Myst Hall is not a hundred miles from London, and Wiltshire is not +quite beyond the pale of civilized life." + +"What has happened to make such a migration probable?" inquired Arrows. +"You know that during our northern cruise I have had no letters, and +that as regards home news, the last three months have been to me an +absolute blank." + +"Our story is easily told," said Emmie. "You will, I dare say, remember +that papa had an aunt, Mrs. Myers, who lived in Wiltshire." + +"I recollect the name, but little besides," replied Arrows. + +"None of us knew much of Aunt Myers," continued his niece. "Except a +hamper of home-made preserves which came to us from Myst Court every +Christmas, we had little to remind us of a relative who shut herself up +from her family and friends for fifty long years." + +"But if we forgot the old dame, she did not forget us," interrupted +Vibert. "Aunt Myers died eight or nine days ago and there came a letter +from her lawyer announcing her death, and informing my father that he +is the old lady's heir, executor, and the master of Myst Court, with all +the fields, pleasure-grounds, cottages, copses, and I don't know what +else thereto appertaining." + +The captain did not look as much impressed by the announcement as his +young informant expected that he would be. + +"Papa, of course, went to his poor aunt's funeral," said Emmie, "and +took Bruce with him to see what he thought of the place." + +"There was plenty of business to be transacted," observed Vibert; "I +fancy that there always is when landed property changes hands. My father +asked for a week's holiday from office-work. Perhaps he will give up his +appointment altogether; all depends on whether he decide to live on his +own estate, or to let it and take a new lease of Summer Villa." + +"You must have had letters from your father; to which decision does he +appear to incline?" asked the captain, addressing himself to his niece. + +"Papa has been very busy, and wrote but briefly," said Emmie. "I believe +that a good deal will depend on whether papa is satisfied with what he +sees of a gentleman at S----, who has been highly recommended as a +private tutor for my brothers. S---- is but three miles from Myst +Court, so that if we lived at that place, Vibert and Bruce could go over +to Mr. Blair's for study every week-day." + +"My father's plan, now that Bruce and I have left Cheltenham," +interrupted Vibert, "is to keep us with him at home for a year or two, +and have us prepared for Cambridge or some competitive examination by a +private tutor, either in London, or at S----, if we go into Wiltshire." + +"What description does Bruce give of Myst Court?" inquired Captain +Arrows. + +"Bruce is a lazy dog with his pen, and seldom honours me with a scratch +of it," answered Vibert. + +"Bruce wrote to me the day after he went into Wiltshire," said Emmie. +"He knew that I should be interested to hear of the place which may soon +be our home. Bruce writes that the house is of the date of the reign of +Queen Anne; that it is built of red brick, and looks rather formal, but +has splendid trees around it. Myst Court stands quite by itself, with no +other country-house near it, and has the reputation of being _haunted_." + +Arrows smiled at the gravity with which the young lady pronounced the +last word. + +"Myst Court must be a horridly dull place, at least for those who are +not sportsmen!" cried Vibert. "Bruce and I may find a little liveliness +at S----; but for you, Emmie, it will be a case of-- + + 'And still she cried, "'Tis very dreary-- + 'Tis dreary and sad," she said; + She said, "I am aweary, aweary; + I wish I were dead!"'" + +Emmie laughed, but the laugh was rather a forced one. + +"Your sister will never, I hope, echo the peevish complaint of an idle +girl, who had not energy enough to nail up her peaches," observed +Captain Arrows. "If Emmie go to Wiltshire, it will be, I trust, to lead +there an active, useful, and happy life." + +"I wonder on what course papa will decide," said Emmie; "we are very +anxious to know. A great deal will depend on what Bruce thinks +desirable,--papa has such an opinion of the judgment of Bruce." + +"Bruce has a precious good opinion of his own," said Vibert, with +something like scorn. + +"For shame!--how can you!" cried Emmie, in a tone of playful reproof. + +"Here they are! here come my father and Bruce!" cried Vibert, rising +from his easy-chair as he caught sight of two figures at the gate. + +Emmie had started up, and was out of the room to receive the travellers, +before Vibert had finished the sentence. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +COMING TO A DECISION. + + +"Yes, I am satisfied in regard to educational advantages for my sons," +said Mr. Trevor, in reply to a question asked by the captain, when, a +few minutes afterwards, the family were gathered together in the +drawing-room. "The tutor, Mr. Blair, appears to be in every way +qualified to do full justice to his pupils; I had a very satisfactory +interview with him at S----." + +"But Myst Court itself, what do you think of the place?" inquired +Vibert. + +"The house was originally handsome, but it is now utterly out of +repair," replied Mr. Trevor. + +"I don't suppose that painter or glazier has entered the door for these +last fifty years," observed Bruce. + +"The grounds are extensive," continued Mr. Trevor; "but the trees are +choking each other for lack of thinning; and the brushwood, through +neglect, has thickened into a jungle." + +"A good cover for rabbits and hares," observed Vibert, who had an eye to +sport. + +"I never before saw such wretched cottages," said Bruce; "and there are +sixty-one of them on the estate, besides two farms. The hovels are +dotted in groups of threes and fours in every corner where one would not +expect to find them. Some lean forward, as if bending under the weight +of their roofs; some to one side, as if trying to get away from their +neighbours; some cottages look as if they were tired of standing at all. +I cannot imagine how the men and women, and swarms of bare-footed +children, manage to live in such dirty dens." + +"Is there no one to look after the people?" asked Captain Arrows. + +"There is no church or school-house nearer than S----," replied Mr. +Trevor. "The people either work for the neighbouring farmers, or in a +dyeing factory which stands about a mile from Myst Court. Wages are low +in that part of the country; but that is not sufficient to account for +the misery which we saw there. Ignorance prevails--ignorance more dense +than I could have believed to have been found in any part of our +favoured land. I doubt whether of the peasants one in four is able even +to read. As a matter of course, drunkenness and every other vice spread +as weeds over a field so neglected." + +"It is there that the labourer is called to lay his hand to the plough," +observed Captain Arrows. + +Vibert gave an almost imperceptible shrug of his shoulders; Bruce as +slight an inclination of his head. A very faint sigh escaped from the +lips of Emmie. + +"I have been giving the matter serious, very serious thought," said Mr. +Trevor. "My first idea, when I found that my aunt had bequeathed the +property to me, was to let Myst Court, and to remain at least for some +years in Summer Villa, where we have been for long so comfortably +settled. But I found, on visiting Myst Court, that it would be +impossible to let the house without effecting such extensive and +thorough repairs as I could not at present undertake. Even if this were +not so--" Mr. Trevor paused, as if to reflect. + +"No mere tenant could be expected to take the same interest in the +people as would be felt by you, their landlord and natural protector," +observed the captain, concluding the sentence which his brother-in-law +had left unfinished. + +"And so you think that we are bound to act as props to the cottages that +are leaning forwards or sideways, and make them hold themselves +straight, as respectable cottages ought to do!" laughed Vibert. + +"But what have you to say about the haunted room?" timidly inquired +Emmie, who had been sitting with her hand in that of her father, a +hitherto silent but much interested listener to the conversation. + +"Haunted! Oh, that's all nonsense!" exclaimed Bruce. "Myst Court is no +more haunted than is Summer Villa; it is simply a big, dreary-looking +house that wants new mortar on its walls, new glass to replace what is +cracked in its windows, and a good fairy, in the shape of a young lady, +to turn it into a cheerful, comfortable home." + +"What gives to Myst Court the name of being haunted," said his father, +"is simply this. My aunt, who was of a nervous and highly sensitive +nature, had the misfortune to lose her husband, a short time after their +marriage, in a very distressing way. When on his wedding-tour, Mr. Myers +was bitten by a mad dog, and a few weeks after bringing his bride to +their home he died of hydrophobia." + +"How dreadful!" exclaimed Emmie. + +"Very dreadful indeed," said her father. "The shock of witnessing Mr. +Myers' sufferings (he died in frantic delirium) almost upset the reason +of his unfortunate wife. She fell into a state of morbid melancholy, +making an idol of her grief. From the day of her husband's funeral to +that of her own death, a period of fifty years, my poor aunt never once +quitted the house, even to attend a place of worship." + +"The most singular and eccentric mark of the widow's sorrow was her +determination that the room in which her husband died should always +remain as it was on the day of his burial," said Bruce. "Aunt Myers had +the shutters closed, and the door not only locked, but actually bricked +up, so that no foot might ever enter or eye look on the apartment +connected in her mind with associations so painful. It is merely that +closed-up chamber which gives to the house the name of being haunted." + +"The sooner it is opened to heaven's light and air the better," observed +Captain Arrows. "Let the first thing done in that house be to unbrick +and unlock the door, fling back shutters and throw open windows, and the +first time that I visit Myst Court let me sleep in the haunted chamber." + +"I am afraid that I have not the power either to follow your advice or +to gratify your wish," said Mr. Trevor. "My poor aunt, retaining her +strange fancy to the last, actually--in a codicil to her will--made as a +condition to my possession of the place that the room in which her +husband died should remain as it is now, bricked up and unused." + +"That condition would add not a little to the difficulty of letting or +selling the house," observed the practical Bruce. + +"It appears to be a law of nature that whatever is useless becomes +actually noxious," remarked the captain. "That closed chamber, into +which the sun never shines, will tend to make the dwelling less healthy, +as well as less cheerful." + +Again Emmie breathed a faint sigh. + +"And now we return to my proposition," said Mr. Trevor gravely. "Shall I +remain where I am, and put this large property into the hands of some +agent to let or improve as he may,--with but little chance of its +becoming of much more than nominal value; or shall I give up my office, +take the pension to which I am now entitled, live on my own estate, look +after my tenants, and gradually effect such improvements as may make the +land profitable, if not to myself, to my heirs?" + +"What does Bruce, who has seen the property, say on the question?" asked +the captain, turning towards his elder nephew. + +Bruce replied alike without haste or hesitation. "If my father leave his +office in London, there are at least twenty persons ready and eager to +fill his place, and to do his work; but there is not one who could be +his substitute at Myst Court. It is the master's eye that is wanted +there, not that of a paid agent." + +Young as was Bruce, his words carried weight with his father. Mr. +Trevor's elder son in most points presented a contrast to Vibert; as +regarded ripeness of judgment, the fifteen months that separated their +ages might have been as many years. In physical appearance the brothers +were also unlike each other. Bruce, though older, was not so tall as +Vibert; his frame was spare and slight. He had not, like Emmie and his +brother, inherited their mother's beauty. The good sense expressed in +his steady gray eyes, the decision marked in the curve of his lip, alone +redeemed the countenance of Bruce from being of a commonplace type. The +characteristics of the three Trevors had been thus playfully sketched by +a lively girl who was a frequent guest at Summer Villa: "If I want +amusement, I choose Vibert for my companion; if I need sympathy, I turn +to Emmie; but if I am in difficulty or danger, commend me to Bruce, he +has the cool brain and firm heart. I like Vibert; I love Emmie; but +Bruce is the one whom I trust." + +A brief silence succeeded the young man's reply to his father; it was +broken by Vibert's inquiry, "What sort of a town is S----?" + +"Like any other county town," replied Bruce shortly. The question seemed +to him to be trifling, and irrelevant to the subject of conversation. + +"S---- seemed to me to be a pleasant, cheerful place," said the more +indulgent father. + +"And I suppose that fishing and shooting are to be had at Myst Court?" +inquired the youth. + +"A stream runs through part of the property, and there is likely to be +plenty of game in the copse," replied Mr. Trevor. + +"Then I vote that we go to Myst Court!" cried Vibert. + +"The only thing which makes me hesitate in coming to a decision," +observed Mr. Trevor, "is the doubt as to whether my dear girl would like +being taken from her present bright home. Emmie has here so many sources +of innocent amusement, so many young friends and pleasant companions, +that it might be trying for her to be transplanted to a place which I +cannot now represent as a cheerful abode, though I hope that it in time +may become such." Mr. Trevor, as he spoke, looked tenderly on his +daughter, and pressed the hand which he held in his own. + +"Oh, papa, do not think about me; I shall have you and my brothers," +said Emmie. It did not escape the notice of Arrows that his niece spoke +with a little effort, and that her lip quivered as she uttered the +words. + +"You shall have a pony-chaise, too," said her father; "it will be +needed to carry you to church on Sundays, and on week-days you shall +drive about the country, explore the neighbourhood, or indulge a lady's +taste by shopping in S----." + +"And carry us back from our tutor's," interrupted Vibert; "for I suppose +that a hansom is not to be got for love or money; and I've no fancy for +trudging six miles every day, like a horse in a mill." + +By the time that the dressing-bell rang before dinner, the question of +removing to Wiltshire was virtually settled. Emmie was too unselfish and +high-principled to oppose a decision which approved itself both to her +common sense and her conscience. She tried to hide from her father her +strong repugnance to leaving Summer Villa, its pleasant associations and +friendly society, in order to bury herself alive in a grand, gloomy +house, quite out of repair, and with the name of being haunted besides. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +GOSSIP DOWNSTAIRS. + + +The topic which excited such interest in the drawing-room was certain to +be eagerly discussed in the kitchen also. At the servants' supper-table +that night nothing was talked about but Myst Hall, and the probability +of the Trevor family leaving Summer Villa to settle in Wiltshire. + +"I'm certain that there will be a grand move soon, from what I heard +while I was waiting at table," said John the footman. "I mean to give +warning to-morrow," he added, shrugging his shoulders. + +"You had better do nothing in a hurry," observed Susan Pearl, a +sensible, pleasant-looking woman, who had been Emmie's attendant when +she was a child, and who acted as her lady's-maid now. "You may find +that second thoughts are best, when the matter in question is throwing +up a good place." + +"Then master had better have his second thoughts too," observed John, as +he stretched out his hand for the walnut pickle. "A week of Myst Court +was quite enough for me, I assure you. If you were to see how the mortar +is starting from the brickwork, how the plaster is peeling from the +ceilings, and how the furniture is faded; if you were to hear the +windows shaking and rattling as if they had a fit of the ague, the +boards creaking, and the long passages echoing, you would think any +sensible man well out of so dreary a prison." + +"Plaster and paint can be put on anew, a carpet deadens echoes, and +curtains keep out draughts. As for windows rattling, a peg will stop +that," observed Susan, who was not easily daunted. + +"Outside the house it's as bad as within," pursued John. "The drive is +green with moss and grass, and the piece of water with duckweed; the +trees grow so thick together that you can't see ten yards before you; +and your ears are dinned with the cawing of rooks." + +"Weeding and clearing will do wonders," said Susan; "if Miss Emmie were +set in a coal-yard, she would manage to make flowers grow there." + +"Are there good shops near?" inquired Ann, the housemaid, who wore a cap +of the newest pattern, trimmed with the gayest of ribbons. + +"Shops!" echoed John, as if amazed at the question. "Why, the very baker +and grocer have to come in their carts from S----, and there's nothing +like a gentleman's house within several miles of Myst Court." + +"I'll give warning to-morrow," said Ann. "As well be transported at +once, as go to such a heathenish out-of-the-way place as that is!" + +"I suppose that Myst Court is overrun with rats and mice," observed +Mullins the cook. + +"Not a bit of it," answered John, laughing. "Thieving rats and mice +would have had a hard life of it with old Mrs. Myers' nine and thirty +cats and kittens to serve as a rural police." + +"La, John, you're joking! nine and thirty!" exclaimed the women-servants +in a breath. + +"I'm not joking," replied the footman; "I counted them,--black, white, +gray, and tabby, long hair and short hair, blue eyes and green eyes! +Mrs. Myers cared a deal more for her cats than she did for her tenants' +children. No, no, the rats and mice would find no safe corner in that +big old house, unless in the shut-up, haunted chamber." + +Whenever these last two words were pronounced, curiosity was certain to +be roused, and questioning to follow. Three voices now spoke at once. + +"Do you think that the place is really haunted?" + +"Did you see any ghosts?" + +"What do the servants say about that chamber?" + +The last question, which was Susan's, was that to which John gave reply. + +"The cook and the housemaid at Myst Court say that for certain they've +heard odd noises, a sighing, and a rattling, and a howling o' nights," +said the footman, looking as mysterious as his plump, well-fed face +would allow him to do. + +"On windy nights, I suppose," said the sensible Susan. "I've heard a +sighing, and a rattling, and a howling even here in Summer Villa." + +"Let him tell us more!" cried Ann impatiently, for John's countenance +showed that he had a great deal more to impart. The footman prefaced his +tale by deliberately laying down his knife and fork, though cold beef +lay still on his plate; this was a token that honest John was indeed in +solemn earnest. He began in a lowered tone, while every head was bent +forward to listen:-- + +"Mrs. Jael Jessel, the old lady's attendant, told me that she had twice +passed a ghost in the corridor, and once on the stairs. It was a tall +figure in white,--at least seven feet high,--and it had great round eyes +like carriage-lamps staring upon her." + +Ann and the cook uttered exclamations, and exchanged glances of horror; +but Susan quietly remarked, "If Mrs. Jessel really saw such a sight +once, she was a stout-hearted woman to stay to see it a second time, and +a third. Did this brave lady's-maid look much the worse for meeting her +ghost?" + +"No," replied John, a little taken aback by the question. "Mrs. Jessel +is a stout, comfortable-looking person. I suppose that she got used to +seeing odd sights." + +Susan burst into a merry laugh. "John, John," she cried, "this Mrs. +Jessel has been taking a rise out of you. She saw that you were soft, +and wanted to make an impression." Susan was helping herself to butter, +which, perhaps, supplied her with the simile of which she made use. + +"Mrs. Jessel did not stay at Myst Court for nothing," said John, who, +possibly, wished to give a turn to the conversation; "she had not waited +on Mrs. Myers for more than three years, yet the old lady left her five +hundred pounds, a nice little furnished house just outside the Myst +woods, and all the cats and kittens, which she could not trust to the +care of strangers." + +"It was made worth her while to live in a haunted house," observed Ann. + +"I thought at first," continued John, who had taken up his knife and +fork, and was using them to good purpose,--"I thought at first that I +might as well put my best foot forward, for that it would be no bad +thing to have a wife with five hundred pounds and a house to start with; +and," he added slyly, "with such a live-stock to boot, one might have +done a little business in the furrier's line. But--" + +"But, but,--speak out!" cried Ann with impatience; "what comes after the +'but'?" + +"Somehow I didn't take to Mrs. Jessel," said John, "and shouldn't have +cared to have married her, had the five hundred pounds been five +thousand instead." + +"What's against her?" inquired the cook. + +"Nothing that I know of," said John; "but when you see her, you'll +understand what I mean." + +"I'll not see her; I'm not going to Myst Court; I could not abide being +so far from London," observed the cook. + +"I shall give miss warning to-morrow!" cried Ann. + +"And what will you do?" inquired John of Susan. + +"Stay by the family, to be sure," was the answer. "Would I leave my +young lady now, just when her heart is heavy? for heavy it is, I am +certain of that. While she was dressing for dinner, Miss Emmie could +hardly keep in her tears. It is no pleasure to her to leave a home like +Summer Villa, where she has nothing to cross her, and everything to +please. There's not a day but Miss Alice, or some other friend, comes +dropping in to see her; nor a week that passes without some sight or +amusement in London. At the age of nineteen, a young lady like Miss +Trevor does not willingly leave such a pleasant place as this for a +dreary, deserted old country-house." + +"Poor miss! I pity her from my soul!" cried Ann. + +"With a pity that would leave her to see none but new faces in her +household!" said the indignant Susan. "No; I'll stick by my young lady +through thick and thin, were she to go to the middle of Africa. I've +been with her these ten years, ever since she lost her poor mother, and +I will not desert her now." + +"You don't believe in ghosts," observed John. + +"I believe my Bible," replied Susan gravely; "I read there that I have a +Maker far too wise and good to allow His servants to be troubled by +visitors from another world. This ghost-fearing is all of a piece with +fortune-telling, and spirit-rapping, and all such follies, after which +weak-brained people run. Simple faith in God turns out faith in such +nonsense, as daylight puts an end to darkness." + +Susan was not laughed at for her little lecture as ten years before she +might have been. Her long period of service and her tried character had +given her influence, and won for her that respect which a consistent +life secures even from the worldly. Her fellow-servants felt somewhat +ashamed of their own credulous folly. + +"I'm not a bit afraid of ghosts," said Ann; "but I don't choose to mope +in the country." + +"I don't care a rap for a house being haunted; but I mean to better +myself," said the cook. + +"Do you think, John, that the young gentlemen will like Myst Court?" +inquired Susan. + +"I think Master Bruce has a purpose and a plan in his head; and when he +has a purpose and a plan, it's his way to go right on, steady and +straight, and none can say whether he likes or don't like what he's +a-doing," answered the footman. "When he looked over the house, it +wasn't to say how bad things were, but to see how things could be +bettered. He has a lot o' common sense, has Master Bruce; I believe that +he'll make himself happy after his fashion, and that ghosts, if there be +any, will take care to keep out of his way." + +"He'd see through them," said Susan, laughing. + +"As for Master Vibert," continued John, "if he has plenty of amusement, +he'll not trouble his head about ghost or goblin. He's a light-hearted +chap is Master Vibert, and a bit giddy, I take it. Perhaps his father +ain't sorry to have him a bit further off from London than he is here in +Summer Villa." + +"The one for whom I feel sorry is my young lady," said Susan. "She'll +not take a gun or a fishing-rod like her brothers, and--" + +"She'll be mortally afraid of ghosts," cried Ann. + +"She's timid as a hare," observed John. + +"If miss screams when a puppy-dog barks at her, and hides her face under +her bed-clothes if there's a peal o' thunder, how will she face ghosts +ten feet high, with eyes like carriage-lamps?" cried the cook. + +Susan looked annoyed and almost angry at hearing her mistress spoken of +thus. "Miss Emmie is nervous and not very strong, so she is easily +startled," said the maid; "but she is as good a Christian as lives, and +will not, I hope, give way to any idle fancies and fears such as trouble +folk who are afraid of their own shadows. I should not, however, wonder +if she find Myst Court very dull." + +"She'd better take to amusing herself by looking after the poor folk +around her," observed the cook. "From what you've told us, John, I take +it there's company enough of bare-legged brats and ragged babies." + +"Miss Emmie is mighty afraid of infection," said John, doubtfully +shaking his head. "She has never let me call a four-wheeler for her in +London since small-pox has been going about. Miss will cross to the +other side of the road if she sees a child with a spot on its face. No, +no; she'll never venture to set so much as her foot in one of them dirty +hovels that I saw down there in Wiltshire." + +"'Tain't fit as she should," observed Ann. "Why should ladies demean +themselves by going amongst dirty beggarly folk?" + +"To help them out of their misery," said Susan. "In the place where I +lived before I came here, I saw my mistress, and the young ladies +besides, take delight in visiting the poor. They thought that it no more +demeaned them to enter a cottage than to enter a church; the rich and +the poor meet together in both." + +"Miss Emmie is too good to be proud," observed John; "but, take my word +for it, she'll never muster up courage to go within ten yards of a +cottage. Kind things she'll say, ay, and do; for she has the kindest +heart in the world. But she'll send you, Susan, with her baskets of +groceries and bundles of cast-off clothes; she'll not hunt up cases +herself. Miss would shrink from bad smells; she'd faint at the sight of +a sore. She'll not dirty her fine muslin dresses, or run the risk of +catching fevers, or may be the plague, by visiting the poor." + +"Time will show," observed Susan. But from her knowledge of the +disposition of her young lady, the faithful attendant was not without +her misgivings upon the subject. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +PREPARING TO START. + + +The question of a move was finally settled; Myst Court was to be the +future residence of its new owner, who lost no time in making +arrangements for effecting in it such repairs as were absolutely +necessary to make it a tolerably comfortable dwelling. More than this +Mr. Trevor did not at present attempt; his expenses, he knew, would be +heavy. His newly-inherited property would yield no immediate supply; +improvements must be gradually made. The life of a landed proprietor was +one altogether new to Mr. Trevor, who had passed thirty years of his +life in a government office, never being more than a few weeks at a time +absent from London. Being a sensible man, he was aware that experience +on a hitherto untried path is often dearly bought. He expected to make +some mistakes, but resolved to act with such prudence that even mistakes +should not involve him in serious difficulties. + +The six weeks which elapsed before the departure of the family from +Summer Villa were full of business and arrangements. Mr. Trevor, having +to wind up his office-work, and settle the affairs of his late aunt, +was, except in the evenings, very little at home. Emmie, who acted as +her father's housekeeper, found a hundred small matters to arrange +before making a move which must bring so complete a change. Her brothers +attended a private tutor in London, and usually went and returned by the +same trains as their father; so that, but for the company of her uncle, +Emmie would have spent much of her time alone. But the captain was a +cheerful companion and a most efficient helper to his young niece. He +made up her accounts, he paid her bills, he helped her to decide which +articles of furniture must be taken to the new home, which left to be +sold or given away. The slow-paced John was astonished at the energy +with which the naval officer would mount a ladder, and with his own +hands take down family pictures and swathe them in the matting which was +to secure their safe transit to Wiltshire. + +"Sure the captain does the work of three. One would think he'd been +'prenticed to a carpenter by the way he handles the tools; and he runs +up a ladder like a cat," observed John to another member of the +household. + +Captain Arrows felt strong sympathy for his niece. He saw, perhaps more +clearly than did any one else, how painful to her was the change which +was coming over her life. Her uncle respected Emmie's unselfish efforts +to hide from her father her reluctance to leave Summer Villa and all its +pleasant surroundings. Arrows noticed the shade of sadness on Emmie's +fair face when she received, as she frequently did, congratulations on +her father's accession to property. The acute observer could not fail to +see that the acquisition of Myst Court was no source of pride or +pleasure to Emmie. + +Miss Trevor was perpetually reminded of her approaching departure from +the home in which her life had been so much like a summer holiday. Many +visits of leave-taking had to be paid, and few could be paid without +more or less of pain. Emmie had numerous friends, and to some she could +not bid farewell without a sharp pang of regret. Even inanimate things, +dear from association, were resigned with sadness. Emmie sighed to take +leave of her garden, and spent much time in procuring cuttings from her +favourite plants, her geraniums, her fuchsias, her myrtles. With what +pleasant memories were those flowers connected in the affectionate mind +of Emmie! Summer Villa and her friends seemed dearer than ever when she +was about to leave them behind. + +Next to the captain, Emmie found her best helper in Susan. Active, +thoughtful, the neatest of packers, the most intelligent of maids, Susan +was indeed "a treasure" to her young mistress. + +"You seem to like the change," said the cook to Susan, who was humming +cheerfully to herself as she knelt beside a hamper which she was packing +with china. + +Susan did not pause to look up from her work as she answered, "I never +ask myself whether I like it or not; my business is to make ready for +it, and that is enough for me." + +"How dismal a house looks when everything in it is being pulled down and +upset!" remarked the cook, standing with her back to the wall, and +watching Susan as she imbedded quaint old china tea-pot and cream-jug in +white cotton wool as carefully as she might have laid a baby in a +cradle. "The hall all lumbered with luggage; the whole place smelling of +matting; things awanted just when they've been packed up, corded, and +labelled; the walls looking without their pictures as faces would do +without eyes,--there is something horrid uncomfortable about a house as +has been long lived in when it's agoing to be left for good. I'm half +sorry that I agreed to stay on the extra fortnight; only it was such a +convenience to the family. I don't know what they'd have done had Ann +and I taken ourselves off before the move was fairly over." + +Susan went quietly on with her occupation, while Mrs. Mullins went on +with her talking. + +"P'r'aps master did wisely to keep on Mrs. Myers' servants, for he'd +hardly have got London folk to stay in his dismal country house, even on +double wages. We'll have you at the Soho registry before three months +are over." + +"Time will show," said Susan. + +"Them people down at Myst Court are accustomed to the kind of life they +lead there," continued the loquacious Mrs. Mullins, "and that's the +reason they don't mind it. Frogs like their ditch because they've never +known anything better; and I suppose that folk in a haunted house get +used to ghosts, as eels are used to skinning." + +"Or learn not to be frightened at shadows," said Susan. + +"I'm not frightened; don't you fancy that shadows keep me from going to +Myst Court," cried the cook. "But I could never stand a place where the +butcher--as John says--comes but twice a week in the winter; no cook +could abide that." + +"It seems that Mrs. Myers' cook did," observed Susan. + +"She's no cook!" exclaimed Mrs. Mullins, with an emphatic snort of +disdain: "she's had nothing to keep her hand in, and don't know a +_vol-au-vent_ from a _soufflet_! Why, Mrs. Myers never saw company, +never asked a friend to a meal! John says that for five days out of the +seven the old lady dined on mutton-broth, and the other two on +barley-gruel! John told me that he could hardly touch the dinners which +Hannah prepared; he is used to have things so very different," added +Mrs. Mullins with professional pride. + +"If Hannah's cooking satisfied master and his son, John might have been +satisfied too," observed Susan. + +"Oh, Mr. Trevor is never partic'lar about his food; and as for Master +Bruce, John says that he was so much taken up about arrangements, and +alterations, and improvements, that he would not have noticed if the +stew had been made of old shoes. But Master Vibert, he's not so easily +pleased; he likes his dainty bits, his sauces, and his sweeties; there +is some satisfaction in dishing up a dinner for him! He'll soon find out +that this Hannah knows just as much of cooking as I do of cow-milking, +and there will be a worrit in the house." Mrs. Mullins folded her hands +complacently at the thought of how much her own valuable services would +be regretted, and then inquired, in an altered tone, "Is the captain +going to Myst Court with the rest of the party?" + +"No; I am sorry to say that the captain leaves this to-morrow," said +Susan. "He is before long to start on another cruise, and as he has much +business to do in the docks, he needs to stop for awhile in London. The +carriage which takes the captain away is to drop Miss Emmie at the house +of her friend, Miss Alice, to whom she wishes to say good-bye. My poor +dear young lady! every day brings its good-bye to her now. It will be +well when Friday comes, and the move to Myst Court is fairly over." + +"I'd never go into a new house on a Friday; it's unlucky," observed Mrs. +Mullins, as she turned away and went off to the kitchen. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +HAUNTED ROOMS. + + +November has come with nights of drizzle and mornings of fog. The +dreariness of the weather without adds to the sense of discomfort within +the half-dismantled house. The carpet has been taken from the staircase, +and the old family clock no longer is heard striking the hours. The +drawing-room is much changed in appearance from what it was when the +reader was first introduced into the Trevors' cheerful abode. It is +evening, and the family are sitting together, with the exception of the +master of the house, who is busy in his study with lawyers' papers and +parchment deeds before him. The light of the drawing-room lamp falls on +a scanty amount of furniture; for sofa, arm-chair, and piano have all +been packed up for removal to the new home. No ornament of china, no +graceful vase relieves the bareness of the white mantelpiece; the mirror +has been taken away, no trace remains of pictures except square marks +on the wall. The guitar has vanished from view; the globe of gold-fish +is now the property of a friend; the ferns have been sent to the +greenhouse of an aunt in Grosvenor Square. + +Emmie sits at the table with her lace-work beside her, but her needle is +idle. Bruce, the most actively occupied of the party, is drawing plans +of cottages, and jotting down in his note-book estimates of expenses. +The captain has a book in his hand, but makes slow progress with its +contents. Vibert is glancing over a number of _Punch_. The party have +been for the last ten minutes so silent that the pattering of the +November rain on the window-panes is distinctly heard. + +"I hope that we shall not have such weather as this when we go to our +new home," said Vibert, as with a yawn he threw down his paper. "The +place will need at least sunshine to make it look a degree more lively +than a lunatic asylum. 'Tis lucky that our queer old great-aunt did not +take it into her head to paint the house black, inside and outside, and +put in her will that it must remain so, as a compliment to her husband, +who has been dead for the last fifty years. Fancy bricking up the best +bed-room!" + +"Such an act proves that Mrs. Myers was in a very morbid state of mind," +said the captain. + +"What a misfortune!" observed Emmie. + +"Misfortune! I should rather call it weakness--absurdity," said Bruce, +sternly glancing up from his drawing. + +"I should call it a sin, a downright sin," cried Vibert. "Such a shame +it is to make what might have been a jolly country-house into a sort of +rural Newgate! I'm afraid that even our best friends will not care to +visit us there. Why, I asked pretty little Alice to-day whether she were +coming to brighten us up at Christmas, and she actually answered that +she was rather afraid of haunted houses, especially on dark winter +nights." + +Bruce smiled a little disdainfully; and the captain suggested that +perhaps the fair lady was jesting. + +"Not a bit of it," answered Vibert; "Alice was as much in earnest as +were all our servants when they gave us warning, because not one of them +but plucky Susan would go to Myst Court. Why, I'd bet that Emmie herself +is shivery-shakery at the idea of the house being haunted, and that +she'll not care to walk at night along the passages lest she should meet +some tall figure in white." + +Emmie coloured, and looked so uncomfortable, that her uncle, who noticed +her embarrassment, effected a diversion in her favour by giving a turn +to the conversation. + +"I have been tracing a parallel in my mind," he observed, "between the +human soul and the so-called haunted dwelling. Most persons have in the +deepest recess of the spiritual man some secret chamber, where prejudice +shuts out the light, where self-deception bricks up the door. Into this +chamber the possessor himself in some cases never enters to search out +and expel the besetting sin, which, unrecognized, perhaps lurks there in +the darkness." + +"You speak of our hearts?" asked Emmie. + +"I do," replied her uncle. "It is my belief that not one person in ten +thousand knows the ins and outs, the dark corners, the hidden chambers, +of that which he bears in his own bosom." + +"Every Christian must," said Bruce; "for every Christian is bound to +practise the duty of self-examination." + +"I hope that you don't call every one who does not practise it a heathen +or a Turk," cried Vibert. "All that dreadful hunting up of petty +peccadilloes, and confessing a string of them at once, is, at least to +my notion, only fit work for hermits and monks!" + +"We are not talking about confession, but simply about self-knowledge," +observed the captain. + +"Oh, where ignorance is bliss," began Vibert gaily; but his brother cut +short the misapplied quotation with the remark, "Ignorance of ourselves +must be folly." + +Vibert took up again the comic paper which he had laid down, and +pretended to re-examine the pictures. But for the captain's presence the +youth would have begun to whistle, to show how little he cared for +Bruce's implied rebuke; for, as Vibert had often told Emmie, he had no +notion of being "put down" by his brother. + +"Do you think it easy to acquire self-knowledge?" asked Arrows, fixing +his penetrating glance upon Bruce, who met it with the calm steadiness +which was characteristic of the young man. + +"Like any other kind of knowledge, it requires some study," replied +Bruce Trevor; "but it is not more difficult to acquire than those other +kinds of knowledge would be." + +"In that you come to a different conclusion from that of the writer of +this book," observed Arrows; and he read aloud the following lines from +Dr. Goulburn's "Thoughts on Personal Religion," the volume which he held +in his hand:-- + +"'One of the first properties of the bosom sin with which it behoves us +to be well acquainted, as our first step in the management of our +spiritual warfare, is its property of concealing itself. In consequence +of this property, it often happens that a man, when touched in his weak +point, answers that whatever other faults he may have, this fault, at +least, is no part of his character.'" + +The captain read the quotation so emphatically that Vibert again threw +down his paper, and listened whilst Arrows thus went on:-- + +"'This circumstance, then, may furnish us with a clue to the discovery: +of whatever fault you feel that, if accused of it, you would be stung +and nettled by the apparent injustice of the charge, suspect yourself of +that fault, in that quarter very probably lies the black spot of the +bosom sin. If the skin is in any part sensitive to pressure, there is +probably mischief below the surface.'" + +"I doubt that the author is right," observed Bruce. "Besetting sins +cannot hide themselves thus from those who honestly search their own +hearts." + +"Perhaps some search all but the haunted chamber," suggested Vibert. +Captain Arrows smiled assent to the observation. + +"By way of throwing light on the question," said he, "suppose that each +of you were to set down in writing what you suppose to be your besetting +sin; and that I--who have watched your characters from your +childhood--should also put down on paper what I believe to be the bosom +temptation of each. Is it likely that your papers and mine would agree; +that the same 'black spot' would be touched by your hands and mine; that +we should point out the same identical fault as the one which most +easily and frequently besets the soul of each of you three?" + +"It would be curious to compare the two papers," cried Vibert. "I wish, +captain, that you really would write down what you think of us all. It +would be like consulting a phrenological professor, without the need of +having a stranger's fingers reading off our characters from the bumps on +our heads." + +"I am not speaking of the whole character, but of the one sin that most +easily besets," said the captain. "Would a close observer's view of its +nature agree with that held by the person within whose heart it might +lurk?" + +"Perhaps not," said Bruce, after a pause for reflection. "But the person +beset by the sin would know more about its existence than the most acute +observer, who could judge but by outward signs." + +"That is the very point on which we differ," remarked Captain Arrows. +"The property of the bosom sin is to conceal itself, but only from him +to whom the knowledge of its presence would be of the highest +importance. I should be half afraid," the captain added with a smile, +"to tell even my nephews and niece what I thought the besetting sin of +each, lest they should be 'stung and nettled by the apparent injustice +of the charge,' and feel, though they might not say it aloud, that +'whatever other faults they may have, this fault, at least, forms no +part of the character in question.'" + +The captain's hearers looked surprised at his words. Vibert burst out +laughing. "You must think us a desperately bad lot!" cried he. + +"Uncle, I wish that you would write down what you think is the besetting +sin of each of us," said Emmie, "and give the little paper quietly to +the person whom it concerns, not, of course, to be read by any one else. +I am sure that I would not be offended by anything you would write, and +it might do me good to know what you believe to be my greatest +temptation." + +"As you are going away to-morrow, you would escape the rage and fury of +the indignant Emmie, however 'stung and nettled' she might be!" laughed +Vibert Trevor. "Now, Bruce," added the youth sarcastically, "would you +not like the captain to inform you confidentially what he considers the +tiny 'black spot' in your almost perfect character?" + +"I have no objection to my uncle's writing down what he chooses," +replied Bruce coldly. "All that I keep to is this,--neither he nor any +other man living can tell me a fact regarding my own character which I +have not known perfectly well before." + +"Were I to agree to write down my impressions, it would be to induce you +all to give the subject serious reflection," observed the captain. "It +matters little whether I am or am not correct in my conclusions; but it +is of great importance that no one should be deceived regarding himself. +I wish to lead you to think." + +"Oh, I'll not engage to do that! I hate thinking; it's a bore!" cried +Vibert gaily. "I know I'm a thoughtless dog,--ah, I've hit the 'black +spot' quite unawares! Thoughtlessness is my besetting sin!" + +"My difficulty would be to single out one amongst my many faults," said +Emmie. + +"Now that is humbug; you know that it is!" exclaimed her youngest +brother. "You have no fault at all, except the fault of being a great +deal too good. I should like you better if you were as lively and larky +as Alice!" + +"Saucy boy!" said Emmie, and she smiled. + +"But, captain," continued Vibert, addressing himself to his uncle, +"though we are willing enough to read what you write, we won't be driven +to anything in the shape of confession. You may tell us what is your +notion of what lurks in our haunted rooms, but we won't invite you in +and say, 'Behold there's my besetting sin!'" + +"I want no confessions," said Captain Arrows. "I repeat that my only +object is to induce you to pull down your brickwork, draw back your +curtains, and search for yourselves; or, to drop metaphor and speak in +plain words, to lead you to make the discovery of the weakest point in +your respective characters the subject of candid investigation and +serious thought." + +And to a certain degree this desired result was obtained. Though Vibert +laughed, and Bruce looked indifferent, to their minds, as well as to +that of their sister, the subject of self-knowledge recurred at +different parts of the evening. + +"I don't suppose that the captain can look further through a mill-stone +than can any one else," thought Vibert; "yet he has uncommonly sharp +eyes, and is always on the watch. No doubt he learned that habit at sea. +I am glad that he can detect some fault in Master Bruce, who is a kind +of pope in our house, though I, for one, don't believe in his +infallibility. I wonder on what my uncle will fix as the bad spirit in +my haunted room. I should say--let me think--I have never thought about +the matter before. Well, I don't take to religion as earnestly as do +papa and my elder brother and sister. I don't go twice to church on +Sundays, nor--if the truth must be owned--do I pay much attention to the +service whilst I am there. I'd rather any day read a novel than a +serious book. I believe that's the worst I can say of myself. The +captain would call that--let me see--would he call that irreligion? No, +no; that name is too hard. I'm thoughtless, I own, but certainly not +irreligious. Impiety? Why, that is worse still! I do not pretend to be +in the least _pious_, but still I'd be ready to knock down any fellow +who called me the reverse. I'm something between the two poles. Levity? +Ah, that's the word, the precise word to describe my besetting sin, if +one can call mere levity a sin. I am no man's enemy but my own; and not +my own enemy either, for I spare and indulge myself in every way that I +can. Levity may be a fault at sixty, but it's no fault at all at +sixteen. I should decidedly object to be as sober as Bruce. He goes on +his way like a steady old coach, while I am like a bicycle,"--Vibert +laughed to himself as the simile occurred to his fancy. "A bicycle is +quick, light, not made to carry much luggage, and a little given to +coming to smash! Yes, I skim the world like a bicycle, and levity is my +worst fault!" Yawning after the unusual effort of even such cursory +self-examination, Vibert now set his thoughts free to ramble in any +direction, satisfied that nothing of a serious nature could be laid to +his charge. + +"It is strange that my uncle should imagine that he can penetrate the +recesses of the heart of another," such was the reflection of Bruce, as, +candle in hand, he mounted the staircase that night. "Captain Arrows can +but judge of my character by my outward conduct, and he can have seen +but little to find fault with in that. I own--and with regret--that in +many points I fail in my duty towards my Maker; but that is a secret +between my conscience and God,--a secret which no man can penetrate, and +with which no man has a right to meddle. Yet it is evident that my uncle +has detected some visible error, whatever that error may be. I am aware +that I have a defective temper, but I have lately been gaining some +control over that which Calvin called an 'unruly beast.' I may, indeed, +have betrayed some impatience in my manner towards Vibert in the +presence of my critical uncle," thus flowed on the reflections of Bruce +as he entered his room, and closed the door behind him. "I now remember +my uncle's remarking to me that I might have more influence with my +brother if I showed him greater indulgence. But who can have patience +with Vibert's follies?" Bruce set down his candle, and threw himself on +a chair. "Vibert has been a spoilt child from his cradle, and now, when +nearly seventeen years of age, is no better than a spoilt child still! +Our poor dear mother made her youngest-born almost an idol; my father is +blind to his faults; Emmie pets and humours him to the top of his bent; +and all the world does the same. Vibert is admired, courted, and +welcomed wherever he goes, because, forsooth, his face is what girls +call handsome, and he can rattle off any amount of nonsense to please +them. Vibert does not mind playing the fool, and he plays it to the +life!" Bruce paused, and conscience gave a low note of warning to the +elder brother. "I am, I fear, harsh in my judgment. Want of charity, +that is perhaps my besetting sin. I am too quick to perceive the faults +and follies of others. That is a quality, however, which is not without +its advantages in a world such as this. I am not easily taken in; mere +veneer and gilding will not deceive my eye. I cannot be blind, if I wish +it, either to my own faults or to those of others." Bruce thought that +he knew himself thoroughly, and that there was no haunted room in his +heart which he had not boldly explored. + +Emmie Trevor had her heart-searchings as she sat silent before her +mirror, while Susan brushed out the long glossy tresses of her young +mistress's hair. + +"I would fain know what my dear uncle regards as my besetting sin," +mused the gentle girl. "I was so foolish as almost to fancy that one so +loving and partial as he is would not notice my faults, and I am still +more foolish in feeling a little mortified on finding that I was +mistaken in this. What defect in my character is most likely to have +struck so acute an observer? My uncle cannot possibly know how often my +thoughts wander in prayer; how cold and ungrateful I sometimes am even +towards Him whom I yet truly love and adore. It is something in my +outward behaviour that must have displeased my uncle. Is it vanity?" +Emmie raised her eyes to her mirror, and had certainly no reason to be +dissatisfied with the face which she saw reflected in the glass. "Yes, I +fear that I am vain; I do think myself pretty, and I cannot help knowing +that I sing well,--I have been told that so often. Then I have certainly +love of approbation; my uncle may have detected that, for it is so sweet +to me to be admired and praised by those whom I love,--and perhaps by +others also. This vanity and love of approbation may lead to jealousy, a +very decided sin. Did I not feel some slight vexation even at Vibert's +playful words about Alice, his wish that I were more like that gay, +giddy girl? I find Alice nice enough as a companion, but would certainly +never set her up as a model. I am afraid,"--thus Emmie pursued the +current of her reflections,--"I am afraid that I might be haunted by +jealousy, if circumstances gave me any excuse for harbouring a passion +so mean, so sinful. I have often thought that for papa to marry again +would be to me such a trial. I could hardly bear that any one, even a +wife, should be dearer to him than myself. I should grieve at his doing +what might really add to his comfort; and oh! is not this selfish, +hatefully selfish? It shows that with all my love for my only remaining +parent, I care for his happiness less than my own. Certainly selfishness +is in my character; it lurks in my haunted chamber, and doubtless my +uncle has found it out! Then am I not conscious of giving way to +indolence, and harbouring self-will? There are duties which I know to be +duties, and yet from the performance of which I am always shrinking, +making excuses for my neglect such as conscience tells me are weak and +false. Truly mine is a very faulty character, yet am I given to +self-deception; the kindness and partiality of every one round me help +to blind me to my own faults, and perhaps to draw me into a little +hypocrisy, to make each 'black spot' more black." + +It will be observed that Emmie was no stranger to self-examination; it +was to the maiden no new thing to commune with her heart and be still. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THREE WARNINGS. + + +"You are right, Bruce; it is certainly desirable for you to go down to +Wiltshire to-day to make any needful arrangements, and prepare for our +arrival to-morrow," said Mr. Trevor to his son on the following morning, +when the family were at the breakfast-table. "New servants will need +verbal directions; and you will see to the unpacking of the furniture +which I have sent down from this place, and to the most suitable +disposal of it in the several rooms of Myst Court." The gentleman rolled +up his breakfast-napkin, and slipped it into its ring. "Your train +starts at 10.30," he added, as he rose from his seat. + +"Is Vibert to go with me?" inquired Bruce, glancing at his brother, who +had, as usual, come down late, and was still engaged with his anchovies +and muffin. + +"I do not think that Vibert would give you much help," observed Mr. +Trevor. + +"No help at all," exclaimed Vibert quickly. "It may be just in Bruce's +line to order and direct, see that there are enough of pots and pans in +the kitchen, meat in the larder, and fires all over the house; but as +for me--" + +"You think it enough to eat the food and enjoy the fire," observed the +captain drily. + +"And I positively must go to Albert Hall to-night; the Nairns have asked +me to make one of their party, and I really could not disappoint them," +continued Vibert. "It is quite necessary that I should have a little +amusement before going to bury myself in the wilds of Wiltshire. As +Moore the poet sings,-- + + 'To-night at least, to-night be gay, + Whate'er to-morrow brings!'" + +"That's fair enough," observed the indulgent father. + +Bruce exchanged a glance with his uncle which conveyed the unuttered +thought of both: "It is scarcely fair that one brother should have all +the trouble and the other all the amusement." Vibert noticed the look, +and laughed. + +"Duty first--pleasure afterwards--that's the motto taught to all good +little children!" he cried. "Bruce, you are the elder, and like to be +first, so you naturally pair off with duty, whilst I am modest enough +to be quite contented with pleasure." + +Mr. Trevor smiled at the jest, though he shook his bald head in gentle +reproof. Then turning to his brother-in-law, he observed, "Edward, I +have an early engagement in London, and must be off to the station. I am +afraid that I shall not find you here on my return." + +"I also start early," said the captain. "Emmie has ordered the +conveyance to be at the door at ten. I must therefore wish you good-bye +now, thanking you for my pleasant visit to Summer Villa, and hoping next +spring to find you all well and happy in your new home." + +The brothers-in-law cordially shook hands and parted, Mr. Trevor going +off to the station, as usual, on foot. + +"I say, Bruce," observed Vibert, "if you have the settling about the +rooms at Myst Court, mind that you give me a good one. I like plenty of +air and light, and a cheerful view. No poky little cabin for me, nor an +attic at the top of the house; long stairs are a terrible bore." + +"I shall certainly give my first attention to the accommodation of my +father and sister," said Bruce; "they never think of themselves." + +"A hit at me, I suppose," cried Vibert with unruffled good-humour. "Ah! +that reminds me of our conversation last evening. Captain, have you been +hunting up the ghosts in our haunted rooms?" asked the youth as he rose +from his place at the breakfast-table. + +Arrows replied by drawing forth a memorandum-book from the pocket of his +surtout. He unclasped it, and took out from it three minute pieces of +paper, neatly folded up and addressed. + +"I am going upstairs to look after my luggage," said the captain; "I +leave with you--" + +"These three private and confidential communications!" cried Vibert, +playfully snatching the papers out of his uncle's hand. "Each one, I +see, is directed: here's yours, Emmie; yours, Bruce; and here is mine!" + +Captain Arrows did not wait to watch the effect produced by his little +missives, but quitted the room to complete preparations for his +departure. + +"I'm of a frank nature," said Vibert; "I don't care if all the world +hear my good uncle's opinion of me!" and, unfolding the scrap of paper +which he held, the youth read aloud as follows: "_Be on your guard +against the_ PRIDE _that repels advice, resents reproof, and refuses to +own a fault._ I don't recognize my likeness in this photo!" cried the +youth; "if the portrait had been intended for Bruce,"--Vibert turned +the paper and looked at the back--"sure enough, it _is_ directed to +Bruce; and the captain has hit him off to the life!" + +"You made the apparent blunder on purpose," said Bruce with +ill-suppressed anger, as he took the paper from Vibert, and then threw +it into the fire. Then, after tossing down on the table the unopened +note which had been handed to him first, Bruce Trevor turned on his +heel, and quitted the apartment. + +"Stung and nettled! stung and nettled! does he not wince!" cried Vibert, +looking after his brother. "The captain has, sure enough, laid his +finger on the sensitive spot!" + +"I am so much vexed at your having read that private paper aloud," said +Emmie; "it was never intended that we should know its contents." + +"It told us nothing new," observed Vibert. "Bruce's pride is as plain as +the nose on his face; only, like the nose, it is too close to him--too +much a part of himself, for him to see it." + +"Bruce is a noble, unselfish, generous fellow!" cried Emmie. + +Vibert cared little to hear his brother's praises. "What is in your tiny +paper?" he asked, after he had glanced at his own. "Why, Emmie, you look +surprised at what our uncle has written. Tell me, just tell me what +lurking mischief the sharp-eyed Mentor has ferreted out in you. Some +concealed inclination to commit burglary or manslaughter?" + +"I do not quite understand what my uncle means," said Emmie, gazing +thoughtfully upon the little missive which she had opened and read. + +"I could explain it--I could make it clear--just let me see what the +oracle has written!" cried Vibert, with mirth and curiosity sparkling in +his handsome dark eyes. "I'll tell you in return, Emmie, what he has put +in my scrap of paper: _Beware of Selfishness._ Short but not sweet, and +rather unjust. I am thoughtless and gay, I care not who says that much; +but as for being selfish, it's a slander, an ungenerous slander!" + +"Perhaps our uncle has again laid his finger on a sensitive spot," +observed Emmie with a smile, but one so gentle that it could not offend. + +"I want to know what the fault-finder lays to your charge, what solemn +admonition has called up the roses on those fair cheeks!" cried the +younger brother; and throwing one arm round Emmie, with his other hand +Vibert possessed himself of the paper of the scarcely resisting girl, +sharing her surprise as he glanced at the two words written upon it. +Those words were--_Conquer Mistrust._ + +"Mistrust of what or of whom?" said Vibert. "The oracle has propounded +a kind of enigma: as you are going to take a _tete-a-tete_ drive with +the captain, you will have an opportunity of getting an explanation of +your paper. As for mine, it goes after Bruce's--into the fire." Vibert +suited the action to the word. + +About half-an-hour afterwards the conveyance which was to take Captain +Arrows from Summer Villa was driven up to the door. Emmie was ready, as +arranged, to accompany her uncle part of the way. John handed up his +luggage to be disposed of on the coach-box. Vibert came to the door to +see the guest depart and bid him farewell. "I'll show him," said the +youth to himself, "that I bear him no grudge for a warning that was not +very necessary, and certainly not very polite." + +"Good-bye, captain," cried Vibert, as he shook hands with his uncle; +"come to Myst Court next spring, and you and I will make a raid on the +haunted chamber." + +"Where is Bruce? I have not wished him good-bye," said the captain, +pausing when he was about to hand his niece into the carriage. + +"Bruce!" called the clear voice of Emmie, as she ran back to the bottom +of the staircase to let her brother know that the guest was on the point +of departing. + +"Bruce!" shouted Vibert with the full strength of his lungs. + +There was no reply to either summons, and Emmie suggested that her +brother might have gone out, not remembering that the carriage had been +ordered so early. After a few minutes' delay, Arrows handed her into the +carriage, with the words, "You will bid Bruce good-bye for me." + +"None so deaf as those who won't hear," muttered Vibert, when the +vehicle had rolled from the door. "Bruce heard us call, but he is in a +huff, and did not choose to appear. He _repels advice, resents reproof_, +and yet won't believe that he's proud! No more, perhaps, than I believe +that I'm selfish!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +MISTRUST. + + +"I am so glad to have a little time for quiet conversation with you, +dear uncle," said Emmie, as the carriage in which she was seated beside +Arrows proceeded along the drive. "I want to ask you,"--she hesitated, +and her voice betrayed a little nervousness as she went on,--"what it +was that you meant when you bade me _conquer Mistrust_?" + +"Let me refer you to our old favourite, the Pilgrim's Progress," replied +the captain. "In whose company did the dreamer represent Mistrust, when +he ran down the Hill of Difficulty to startle Christian with tidings of +lions in the way?" + +"In the company of Timorous," said Emmie. + +"And have you no acquaintance with that personage?" asked the captain. + +"Oh, then you only mean that I am a little timid and nervous," said +Emmie, a good deal relieved. "That is no serious charge; you let me off +too easily." + +"Not so fast, my dear child. Let us examine the allegorical personages +more closely. Timorous and Mistrust are not only found together, but +they are very closely related." + +"You would not have me a Boadicea or a Joan of Arc?" asked Emmie, +smiling. + +"I would have you--what you are--a gentle English maiden; but I would +have you _more_ than you now are,--that is to say, a trustful Christian +maiden," replied Captain Arrows. + +"Surely courage is a natural quality, which belongs to some and not to +others," observed Emmie Trevor. "Besides, if it be a virtue at all, it +is surely a man's rather than a woman's." + +"Mere physical courage, such as 'seeks the bubble reputation e'en in the +cannon's mouth,' is not a Christian virtue," said the captain; "it may +be displayed by infidel or atheist. The courage which _is_ a grace, a +grace to be cultivated and prayed for, is that childlike trust in a +Father's wisdom and love, by which the feeblest woman may glorify her +Maker." + +"Faith in God's wisdom and love! Oh, you do not surely think that I am +so wicked as ever to doubt them! I have many faults, I know, but this +one--" Emmie stopped short, startled to find on her tongue almost the +very words which had been given as a sign that the bosom sin had been +tracked to its lurking-place. + +"You remember," said Captain Arrows, "that a few days ago I listened to +your singing that fine hymn which begins with the lines,-- + + 'Lord, it belongs not to my care + Whether I die or live.'" + +"Yes," replied Emmie Trevor; "and you told me that, much as you admired +that hymn, you did not think it suited for my singing. I supposed that +you thought it too low for my voice." + +"No, I thought it too high for your practice. Could it be consistently +sung by one who that morning had been in nervous terror at the scratch +of a kitten; one who owned that she would scarcely dare to nurse her +best friend through the small-pox; one who, even with my escort, could +not be persuaded to cross a field in which a few cows were grazing?" + +"Oh, uncle, how can you take such trifles seriously!" cried Emmie, a +good deal hurt. + +"Because I wish you to take them a little more seriously," replied +Captain Arrows. "You have hitherto regarded _unreasonable fear_ as an +innocent weakness, perhaps as something allied with feminine grace, and +not as a foe to be resisted and conquered. I see that fear is at this +time throwing a shadow over your path; that you would be happier if you +had the power wholly to cast it aside." + +"I have not the power," said Emmie. The words had scarcely escaped her +lips when she wished them unspoken, for she was ashamed thus to plead +guilty to a feeling of superstitious alarm. + +"Let us then trace the parentage of unreasonable fear," said Captain +Arrows. "I use the adjective advisedly. There are cases where the nerves +are so shattered by illness, or enfeebled by age, that fears come on the +mind, as fits on the body, not as a fault but as a heavy affliction. +There are also times of extreme and awful danger, such as that of the +Indian Mutiny, when faith must indeed have had a dread struggle with +fear; though even then, in the hearts of tender women, faith won the +victory still. But I am speaking of that fear which common sense would +condemn. Such fear is, must be, the offspring of mistrust, and its +effects show it to be a tempter and an enemy of the soul." + +"What effects do you mean?" said Emmie. + +"These three at least," answered the captain. "Unreasonable fear hinders +usefulness, destroys peace, and prevents our glorifying God." + +"I do not quite see how it should do so," murmured Emmie. + +"It hinders usefulness," said her uncle; "like indolence, fear is ever +seeing 'a lion in the street.' Does not fear hang like a clog on the +spirit, _making 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,'_ even when duty to God +and mercy to man is in question?" + +Arrows paused as if for a reply. Emmie gave none; her eyes were gazing +out of the carriage window on the smoky veil which hung over the great +city which they were approaching; she knew that she dared not do, what +thousands of her sex are doing, go as a child of light to carry light +into the abodes of darkness. Emmie had owned in her uncle's presence +that she was far too timid to visit the poor. + +"Then fear destroys peace," continued the captain, "and I believe that +it does so to a greater extent than does any other passion which +troubles the soul, remorse only excepted. If we literally and fully +obeyed the command so often repeated in Scripture, to hope and to be not +afraid, a mountain of misery would be removed at once and cast into the +sea. If you do not mind a personal application of the subject, would +you, my dear child, feel uneasy at going to a house which is called +haunted, if you realized that God fills all space, and that you are +everywhere under His loving protection?" + +Emmie still continued silent, looking out of the carriage window. Her +feelings were those of deep mortification. That she, earnestly pious as +she was, should virtually be accused of want of faith, that her +deficiency in this first requisite of religion should have been so +glaring as to have attracted the notice of a partial relative, was a +trial the more painful from being totally unexpected. + +"Bunyan represents Mistrust, the parent of unreasonable fear, as a +robber," pursued the captain, referring again to that allegory which +gives so wondrously true a picture of man's spiritual state. "We first +meet Mistrust in company with Timorous, and their object is to +discourage, to frighten, to make Christian start back from the perils +which would meet him if he pursued the path of duty; when we next hear +of Mistrust, he is in company with Guilt, and together they rob +Little-faith of his treasure." + +"Yes, mistrust does rob us of our peace," said Emmie with a sigh. + +"And now, let me touch on my third point, even at the risk of giving +some pain," said the captain. "Mistrust not only hinders usefulness, and +mars peace, but prevents our glorifying our Maker as we might otherwise +do. Is not the inconsistency of His children dishonouring to God? And is +it not inconsistent to avow our belief that our Heavenly Father loves +us--cares for us--is about our path and our bed, and yet to be as full +of unreasonable terrors as if, like the fool, we said 'there is no +God'? The Christian knows that Christ hath 'abolished death;' he knows +that to depart from earth is to enter into rest; that light, and life, +and glory await the redeemed of the Lord. Is it not inconsistent, I +repeat, in one who believes all this, to shrink with unconcealed terror +from the barest possibility that the time for his going home may be +hastened, even a little? The natural effect of strong faith would be to +make the righteous 'bold as a lion.'" + +"Uncle, you judge me very hardly," murmured Emmie, ready to burst into +tears. + +"I do not judge you, dear child; I only warn you not to cherish, as an +inmate, that enemy whom you have hitherto regarded but as a harmless +infirmity. Bring him before the bar of reason, bind him with the strong +cords of prayer. I have spoken thus frankly to you on this subject, +because I foresee that on your conquest of mistrust, your victory over +unreasonable fears, must depend much of your peace, happiness, and +usefulness also, in the new home to which you are going. A realizing +faith in God's presence, a simple trust in His love, these are the most +powerful antidotes against superstitious and all other ill-grounded +fears. The light that dispels shadows is the words, _I will fear no +evil, for Thou art with me_." + +Captain Arrows had thus given to his sister's children his warning +against what, from close observation of their characters, he deemed to +be the besetting sin of each,--pride, selfishness, and mistrust. What +had been the effect of his words? The monitor had given offence, he had +given pain, and in one case, at least, his warning had been as the +dropping into a brook of a pebble, that scarcely causes even a ripple. +There are few who value gratuitous counsel; the many prefer to buy +experience, though it should prove to be at the price of future pain and +regret. We are seldom thankful to him who would explore for us the +heart's haunted chamber, even should we not possess the candour and +moral courage to search its depths for ourselves. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE JOURNEY. + + +On the following day Emmie, escorted by Vibert and attended by Susan, +started for her new home. Almost at the last moment Mr. Trevor found +that important business would, for another day, delay his own departure; +but all arrangements for the general move having been made, he would not +defer it, preferring for the single night to sleep at a hotel in London. + +The bustle of departure took from its pain; Emmie left her dear old home +without a tear, though not without a sigh of regret. Vibert was in high +spirits, for novelty has its charm, especially to a temperament such as +his. Mr. Trevor had given to each of his sons a fishing-rod and a gun; +and Vibert was already, in imagination, a first-rate angler and +sportsman. It would have been difficult to have been dull in Vibert's +company during the journey. Sporting anecdotes, stories of adventures +encountered by others, and anticipations of future ones of his own, +interspersed with many a jest, amused not only Vibert's sister, but +their fellow-travellers in the same railway-carriage. The youth had none +of his elder brother's reserve, and took pleasure in attracting the +notice of strangers, having a pleasant consciousness that in his case +notice was likely to imply admiration also. + +"That handsome lad seems to look on life as one long holiday, to be +passed under unclouded sunshine," thought a withered old gentleman, who +looked as if all his days had been spent in a fog. "Poor boy! poor boy! +he will soon be roused, by stern experience, from the pleasant dream in +which he indulges now!" + +About half-an-hour before sunset, the train in which the Trevors were +making their journey approached the station of S----, the one at which +they were to alight. + +"Your new pony-chaise is to meet us, Emmie, so papa arranged," observed +Vibert; "but it must be a commodious chaise if it is to accommodate four +persons, and all our lots of luggage. There are three boxes and a +carpet-bag of mine in the van, besides I know not how many of yours. +Then look here,"--Vibert glanced at the numerous et ceteras which showed +that the young travellers had understood how to make themselves +comfortable; "here's a shawl, and a rug, and foot-warmer, a basket, a +bag, three umbrellas, and a parasol, my hat-box, and a fishing-rod +besides! Are all to be stowed away in the chaise? If so, it will need +nice packing." + +"Bruce was to order a fly," said Emmie. + +"If he was to do it, he has done it," observed Vibert; "one may count +upon him as upon a church-clock. Now if I had had the arranging, I +should have been so much taken up with trying the new pony-chaise, that +I should have forgotten all about the old rattle-trap needed to carry +the boxes. I wish that we had riding-horses. I shall never give papa +peace till he buys me a hunter." + +The shrill railway whistle gave notice of approach to a station; the +train slackened its speed, and then stopped; doors were flung open, and +a number of passengers soon thronged the platform of S----. + +"There is Bruce; he is looking out for us!" cried Emmie, as she stepped +on the platform. + +"Where is the pony-chaise?" asked Vibert, addressing his brother, who +immediately joined the party. Susan was left to collect, as best she +might, the numerous articles left in the railway-carriage. + +"A lad is holding the pony just outside the station, and the fly is in +waiting also," was the answer of Bruce. "Where is the luggage, Vibert? +the train only stops for five minutes at S----." + +"Susan will tell you all about it," cried Vibert; "I've a bag and three +boxes, one of them a gun-case, stowed away in the van. Mind that nothing +is missing. Come, Emmie, I must get you out of the crowd," and, drawing +his sister's arm within his own, Vibert rapidly made his way to the +outside of the station, where a pretty basket-chaise, drawn by a white +pony, was waiting. + +"In with you, quick, Emmie!" cried Vibert, with the eager impatience of +one about to effect an escape. No sooner had the young lady taken her +seat than Vibert sprang in after her, seized the reins, caught up the +whip, and calling to the lad who had acted as hostler, "My brother will +pay you," gave a sharp cut to the pony, which made the spirited little +animal bound forward at a speed which raised a feeling of alarm in the +timorous Emmie. + +"Stop, Vibert, stop! you must not drive off; you must wait for Bruce!" +she exclaimed. + +"I'll wait for no one!" cried Vibert, still briskly plying the whip. +"Bruce would be wanting to drive; but this time he has lost the +chance,--ha! ha! ha! There's my brave little pony, does he not go at a +spanking pace?" + +"I wish that you would not drive so fast, it frightens me!" cried Emmie. + +"Frightens you! nonsense, you little coward! Don't you see that thick +bank of clouds in which the sun is setting? We'll have a thunderstorm +soon, and that will frighten you more." + +"Oh, I hope and trust that the storm will not burst till we reach +shelter!" cried Emmie, whose dread of thunder and lightning is already +known to the reader. + +"We are running a race with it, and we'll be at the winning-post first!" +exclaimed Vibert, who was enjoying the excitement, and who was rather +amused than vexed to see his sister's alarm. + +"But, Vibert, you don't even know the way to Myst Court! Oh, I wish that +you had waited for Bruce!" + +It had never occurred to the thoughtless lad that he might be driving in +a wrong direction; so long as the pony went as fast as Vibert wished, he +had taken it for granted that Myst Court would soon be reached. The +station had been left far behind; the road was lonesome and wild; only +one solitary boy was in sight; he was engaged in picking up boughs and +twigs which a recent gale had blown down from the trees which bordered +the way. + +"We'll ask yonder bare-footed bundle of rags to direct us," said +Vibert, and he drew up the panting pony when he reached the spot where +the boy was standing. + +"I say, young one, which is the way to Myst Court?" asked Vibert in a +tone of command. + +The boy stared at him, as if unaccustomed to the sight of strangers. + +"Are we on the right road to the large house where Mrs. Myers used to +live?" inquired Emmie. + +"Ay, ay, but you'll have to turn down yon lane just by the stile there," +said the urchin, pointing with his brown finger, and grinning as if a +chaise with a lady in it were a rare and curious sight. + +"I don't believe that the rustic could have told us whether to turn to +left or right," said Vibert, as he whipped on the pony. "If he's a fair +specimen of my father's tenants, we shall feel as if we had dropped down +on the Fiji Islands." + +The direction given by the finger was, however, perfectly clear, and the +Trevors were soon driving along a picturesque lane, where trees, still +gay with autumnal tints, overarched the narrow way, and with their brown +and golden leaves carpeted the sod beneath them. + +"What a pretty rural lane!" exclaimed Emmie, as the chaise first turned +off from the high-road; but admiration was soon forgotten in discomfort +and fear. The lane was apparently not intended as a thoroughfare for +carriages, at least in the season of winter. The ground was miry and +boggy, and the pony with difficulty dragged the chaise. There were +violent jerks when one side or other dropped into one of the deep ruts +left by the wheels of the last cart that had passed that way. Vibert +plied the whip more vigorously than before, and silenced his sister's +remonstrances by remarking how darkly the clouds were gathering in the +evening sky. Young Trevor was but an inexperienced driver, and ever and +anon the chaise was jolted violently over some loose stones, or driven +so near to the hedge that Emmie had to bend sideways to avoid being +struck by straggling bramble or branch. She mentally resolved never +again to trust herself to Vibert's driving. + +"Will this lane never come to an end?" exclaimed Emmie, as the first +heavy drop from an overshadowing mass of dark cloud fell on her knee. +She was but imperfectly protected from rain; for Vibert, in his haste to +dash off from the station before his brother could join him, had never +thought of taking with him either umbrella or shawl for his sister. + +"Here comes the rain with a vengeance, and this stupid beast flounders +in the mud as if it were dragging a cannon instead of a chaise," cried +Vibert. "These country lanes drive one out of all patience! Ha! there's +the rumbling of distant thunder!" + +"Oh! I trust that we shall reach home soon," exclaimed Emmie, who, +exposed to the heavy downpour, shivered alike from cold and from fear. + +"I suspect that we shall never reach home at all by this lane," said +Vibert. "Take my word for it, that little wretch has directed us wrong; +I have a great mind to turn the pony round, and get back to the +high-road." + +"You can't turn, the lane is too narrow; you would land us in the +hedge!" exclaimed Emmie, who thought that the attempt would inevitably +lead to an upset of the chaise. On struggled the steaming pony, down +poured the pattering rain; Vibert, almost blinded by the shower and the +gathering darkness, could scarcely see the road before him. + +"The longest lane has a turning,--there is an opening before us at +last!" exclaimed the young driver, as a turn in the winding road brought +a highway to view. "We shall reach Myst Court like two drowned rats. Why +on earth did you not bring an umbrella, Emmie? I could not think of +everything at once." Vibert had, indeed, thought but of himself. + +The want of an umbrella was to Emmie by no means the worst part of her +troubles; she was afraid that her brother had indeed been misdirected, +and that they might be lost and benighted in a part of the country +where they as yet were strangers, exposed to the perils of a +thunderstorm, from which the nervous girl shrank with instinctive +terror. Emmie had never hitherto even attempted to overcome her fear; +and though her uncle's words now recurred to her mind, the idea of +encountering a thunderstorm after nightfall, without even a roof to +protect her, put to flight any good resolutions that those words might +have roused in her mind. + +"There was a flash!" exclaimed Emmie, starting and putting her hands +before her eyes. She pressed closer to her brother as if for protection. + +"We shall have more soon; the storm comes nearer," was the little +comforting reply of Vibert. As he ended the sentence, the thunder-clap +followed the flash. The pony pricked up his ears, and quickened his +pace. + +"I am glad that we are out of this miserable mouse-hole at last," cried +Vibert, pulling the left rein sharply as the light vehicle emerged from +the narrow, miry lane into the broad and comparatively smooth highway. + +At this moment the darkening landscape was suddenly lighted up by a +flash intensely bright, followed almost immediately by a peal over the +travellers' heads. The terrified Emmie shrieked, and, losing all +presence of mind, caught hold of her brother's arm. The sharp turning +out of the lane, the pony's start at the flash, and the sudden grasp on +the driver's arm, acting together, had the effect which might have been +expected. Down went pony and chaise, down went driver and lady, +precipitated into the ditch which bordered the high-road. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +NEW ACQUAINTANCE. + + +Vibert shouting for help, Emmie shrieking, the pony kicking and +struggling in vain attempts to scramble out of the ditch, rain rattling, +thunder rolling, all made a confused medley of sounds, while the +deepening darkness was ever and anon lit up by lightning-flashes. + +"Oh, Vibert! dear Vibert! are you hurt?" cried the terrified Emmie, with +whom personal fear did not counterbalance anxiety for her young +brother's safety. + +"I'm not hurt; I lighted on a bramble-bush; I've got off with a few +scratches," answered Vibert, who had regained the road. "But where on +earth are you, Emmie? Can't you manage to get up?" + +"No," gasped Emmie; "the chaise keeps me down. Oh, there is the +lightning again!" and she shrieked. + +"Never mind the lightning," cried Vibert impatiently. "How am I to get +the pony on his legs? he's kicking like mad; and, oh! do stop +screaming, Emmie, you're enough to drive any one wild. It was your pull +and your shrieking that did all the mischief." + +Vibert had had little experience with horses, and to release, almost in +darkness, a kicking pony from its traces, or set free a lady imprisoned +by an overturned chaise, were tasks for which he had neither sufficient +presence of mind nor personal strength. Glad would the poor lad then +have been to have had Bruce beside him, Bruce with his firm arm and his +strong sense, and that quiet self-possession which it seemed as if +nothing could shake. Vibert felt in the emergency as helpless as a girl +might have done. Now he pulled at the upturned wheel of the chaise, but +without lifting it even an inch; then he caught up the whip which had +dropped from his hand in the shock of the fall, but he knew not whether +to use it would not but make matters worse. Vibert ran a few paces to +seek for assistance, stopped irresolute, then hurried back, thinking it +unmanly to leave his sister alone in her helpless condition. + +Happily for poor Emmie, assistance was not long delayed. Not a hundred +yards from the spot where the accident had taken place, two men were +sheltering themselves from the violence of the rain in a half-ruined +barn. The cries of the lady, the loud calls for aid from her brother, +reached the ears of these men. Two forms were seen by Vibert quickly +approaching towards him, and he shouted to them to make haste to come to +the help of his sister. + +"There's a lady there, under the wheel," said the shorter and elder man +to the other, when the two had reached the fallen chaise. "You'd better +look to her while I cut the beast's traces; it's lucky I have my knife +with me," and the speaker pulled a large clasp-knife out of his pocket. + +The united efforts of the men, assisted by Vibert, soon were crowned +with success. The pony, frightened and mud-bespattered, but not very +seriously hurt, as soon as it was released from the harness, scrambled +out of the ditch. The light basket-chaise was, without much difficulty, +raised to its right position; and Vibert helped to lift up Emmie, who +was half covered with mud, and almost in hysterics with fear. + +"Come, come, there's nothing to be terrified at now; the danger is over. +You're not hurt, are you?" asked Vibert, with some anxiety, for he loved +his sister next to himself, though, it must be confessed, with a +considerable space between. + +Emmie scarcely knew whether she were injured or not. She was too much +agitated at first to be able to answer her brother's question. + +"I don't think that there are any bones broken; mud is soft," said the +shorter man. "I guess she's more frightened than hurt." + +"Be composed, dear lady; the storm is clearing off," observed the +younger stranger, who had assisted Vibert in releasing Emmie from her +distressing position, and who now helped to place her again in the +chaise. This person's gallantry of manner contrasted with the almost +coarse bluntness of his elder and shorter companion. Vibert at once +concluded that the two individuals who had accidentally appeared +together belonged respectively to very different grades of society. + +The man who had cut the traces had had string in his capacious pocket as +well as a knife, and now occupied himself in making such a rough +arrangement with the harness as might enable the pony to draw the +chaise. He effected his purpose with no small skill; considering the +imperfect light by which he worked. + +"Are we in the right road for Myst Court?" inquired Vibert of this +individual, as he was tying the last firm knot in the string. + +"Myst Court!" repeated the man in a harsh, croaking tone, at the same +time raising his head from its stooping position. "Are you some of the +new folk as are coming to the old haunted house?" + +The question was asked in a manner so peculiar that it arrested the +attention even of Emmie. A flash of lightning occurred at the moment, +not so vivid as that which had terrified her so much, but sufficiently +so to light up the features of the elderly man. Miss Trevor was again +and again to see that strange face, but at no time did she behold it +without recalling the impression which it made on her mind when first +shown by that gleam of blue lightning. The man might be sixty years of +age; his nose was hooked, so that it resembled a beak; his eyes were so +sunken in his head that in that transient glimpse they looked like dark +eye-holes; his hair, rough, unkempt, and grizzled, hung in wet strands +as low as his shoulders, surmounted by an old battered felt hat. Emmie +felt afraid of him, though she could not have given any reason for her +fear. + +"Yes, we are to live at Myst Court," replied Vibert. "Our father has +just come into possession of the place." + +"Woe to him, then, for an evil spell is upon it!" muttered the man; and +a distant rumble succeeded the words like an echo. "The thunder and +lightning, the darkness and storm, the mistaken way, the stumbling +horse,--omens of evil--omens of evil! These things do not happen by +chance." + +"I wish that, instead of muttering unpleasant things, you would give a +plain answer to a plain question, and not keep us shivering here!" said +Vibert impatiently. "Are we, or are we not, on the direct road to Myst +Court?" + +"No, sir," replied the taller stranger; "but by yon lane you can reach +the high-road which leads straight from S---- to the place of your +destination." + +"Then that urchin did misdirect us!" exclaimed Vibert. "If I meet him +again, I will break every stick in his faggot over his back! Must we +really return through that slough of a lane, through which we have +scarcely been able to struggle?" + +"You must retrace your way," said the stranger. "As far as the high-road +my path is the same as your own, as I am returning to my quarters at +S----. Perhaps you will permit me to occupy the vacant place in your +chaise (I perceive that there is a back seat), as it would be a +satisfaction to me to see the lady so far safe on the road. I shall do +myself the honour of calling at Myst Court to-morrow, to inquire after +her health. My name is Colonel Standish, at your service, and I serve +beneath the star-spangled banner." + +"We shall be glad of your company, sir," said Vibert; "and are much +obliged for your ready help." + +"It is lucky that old Harper and I were at hand," observed Standish, as +he stepped into the low basket-chaise. + +Vibert sprang into the front seat beside his sister, but before taking +the reins from the hand of Harper, young Trevor pulled a shilling out of +his waistcoat-pocket, and tendered it to the old man. There was light +now afforded by the moon, for the rain had ceased, and through a rift in +the clouds the radiant orb shone clearly. + +"A silver shilling to him who has helped you to reach the haunted +house," said Harper, as he took the coin and thrust it into a deep +pocket. "I trow there will be gold for him who shall show you the way to +leave it!" + +Vibert laughed; Emmie shivered, but that may have been from cold, for +the night-air was clamp and chilly, and her clothes were saturated with +rain. Vibert now turned the pony into the lane, but the creature limped, +and had evidently some difficulty in dragging the chaise. + +"The beast is lame," observed Standish; "he has probably strained a leg +in the fall. We gentlemen must walk through the lane, where the ground +is so boggy." The colonel sprang from the chaise, and his example was +followed by Vibert. + +At a slow pace the party proceeded along the tree-overshadowed way. The +recent rain had increased the heaviness of the road, and the trees +dripped moisture from their wet branches over the travellers' heads. To +Emmie, cold and damp as she was, and longing for shelter and rest, it +seemed as if that wearisome lane would never come to an end. + +Harper, uninvited, had joined himself to the party, and his peculiar +croaking tones were frequently heard blending in converse with the clear +voice of young Vibert, or the more manly accents of Standish. Emmie +alone kept silence. + +"Our friend Harper is a near neighbour of yours," observed the colonel +to Vibert. "He has fixed himself just outside the gate of your father's +grounds." + +"But I never pass through that gate," croaked Harper. Neither Vibert nor +Emmie felt any regret that their forbidding-looking neighbour should +keep outside. + +"You call the place haunted?" said Vibert. + +"Haunted!" repeated Harper, muttering the word between his clenched +teeth; and the old man shook his grizzled locks with so mysterious an +air, that Vibert's curiosity was roused. He began to question Harper on +the traditions connected with the place. + +The old man was not loath to speak on the subject, though he imparted +his information, if such it could be called, only in broken fragments; +giving as it were, glimpses of grisly horrors, and leaving his hearers +to imagine the rest. + +Then Standish followed up the theme, and recounted strange stories from +the New World,--all "well-authenticated" as he declared; stories of +haunted houses and apparitions, each tale more horrible than the last. +Such relations would have tried Emmie's nerves, even had the stories +been told on some calm summer eve; but heard, as they were, in a dark, +dreary lane, on a chilly November night, when she was wet, bruised, and +trembling from the shock of a recent accident, tales of horror seemed to +make the blood freeze to ice in her veins. Had Bruce been present, he +would have discouraged such conversation; but sensational stories had +charms for Vibert, and he never considered that they might work an evil +effect on the sensitive mind of his sister. + +At last the open road was regained, and Standish took leave of the +Trevors. Rather to Emmie's surprise, the colonel familiarly shook hands +with herself as well as her brother, as if the night's adventure had +converted them into old friends. Vibert again sprang into the chaise; he +was very impatient to get at last to the end of his wearisome journey, +and urged the pony to as quick a pace as its lameness permitted over the +smoother road. + +The rest of the time of the drive was passed in silence. The way to Myst +Court was clear enough from the brief directions given by Harper, of +whom the travellers soon lost sight in the darkness, though he was +following in the same track. Emmie had thought of inviting the old man +to take the back seat in the chaise, but an intuitive feeling of +repugnance prevented her from making the offer. + +Glad were the weary travellers to reach the large iron gate which had +been described as marking the entrance to the grounds of Myst Court. The +gate had been left wide open to let them pass through. The drive up to +the house was rather a long one. Emmie noticed only that it appeared to +be through a thick wood, and that the chaise occasionally jolted over +impediments in the way. To her great relief, the weary girl at length +distinguished lights in some of the windows of a building which dimly +loomed before her. There streamed forth also light from the open door, +at which her brother Bruce was standing, watching for the arrival of the +long-expected chaise. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +A FAINT HEART. + + +"What has delayed you?--where have you been?--how comes the pony to be +lame, and Emmie all splashed with mud?--what insane prank have you been +playing?" + +Such were the questions, each successive one asked in a louder and more +angry tone, which were addressed by Bruce to Vibert when the brothers +met in front of the house. The lad attempted to answer the questions +lightly. + +"We've only had a bit of an adventure," cried he. "I've been in a +dilemma, Emmie in a fright, the chaise in a ditch, and--" + +"None of your foolery for me, sir! You have acted like a selfish idiot!" +exclaimed Bruce, who was in a passion more towering than any to which he +had given way before since the days of his boyhood. While Vibert had +been speaking, Bruce had been engaged in half lifting Emmie out of the +chaise; but he turned round as he was supporting her into the hall, and +uttered his angry exclamation, while his eyes flashed indignation and +scorn. Vibert bit his lip and cowered for an instant under his brother's +rebuke, conscious that it was not altogether unmerited. + +"Susan, take care of my sister; let her change her dripping garments +directly," said Bruce to the maid, who was waiting in the hall, candle +in hand, to receive her young mistress. "You will see that your lady has +all that she wants," continued Bruce, who was ever considerate and +thoughtful. "I will send up something hot for her to drink." + +"I'll mix a tumblerful at once. The wine's on the table--hot water and +nutmeg in the kitchen," cried a female voice that was strange to the ear +of Emmie. But the poor girl was too much exhausted by the events of the +evening to look much around her; she was stiff and trembling with cold, +and bruised by her fall, and faintly asked Susan to show her without +delay to her room. + +Emmie was conducted by her maid up a broad staircase of oak, which ended +in a corridor, of which the length nearly corresponded with that of the +house. To the left were the apartments which had been assigned to the +use of Mr. Trevor and his sons. Susan, on reaching the corridor, turned +to the right, drawing back a large curtain of old-fashioned tapestry, +on which the life-size figures, wrought by hands long since cold in the +grave, were so faded that their outlines could scarcely be traced by the +light of the candle carried by the maid. This piece of stiff tapestry +had been hung across the corridor in order to keep off draughts from the +aged lady who had last inhabited Myst Court. Susan held back the curtain +till Miss Trevor had passed through the opening thus made, and then the +tapestry again shut out one portion of the corridor from the staircase +and the other side of the house. + +A cheerful red light guided Emmie to a room on the right side of the +passage. The light came from a blazing wood-fire in the young lady's own +apartment, which she now entered, followed by Susan. Glad was the weary +girl to enjoy her home comforts again. Wet clothes were quickly +exchanged for dry ones; Emmie's cold hands were chafed into warmth; soft +slippers were placed on her feet; and while the fire shed its kindly +glow over her frame, the maiden revived, and began to survey with some +interest the features of her new abode. + +The room in which Emmie found herself was of good size; the ceiling had +been freshly whitewashed; the walls were panelled with oak; the +furniture, with one exception, had all been taken from Summer Villa, +and had a familiar appearance which was pleasant to the eye of the +maiden, and made her feel grateful to Bruce for his thoughtful kindness. +It was Emmie's own chintz-covered sofa, which Susan had wheeled close to +the fire, on which the tired traveller reclined; the screen was one +specially valued as being the work of her mother; the guitar-case was +seen in a corner; the rows of prettily-bound books which filled the +shelves of the book-case looked as if they had made the journey to S---- +without even having been moved from their accustomed places. Emmie was +fond of pictures, and had collected quite a little gallery of them at +Summer Villa. Bruce had taken care that his sister should not miss one +of them at Myst Court. Here numbers of pictures, great and +small,--portraits, prints, coloured sketches,--adorned the panelled +walls, relieved by the dark background of oak, from which they took all +appearance of gloom. + +It has been said that, with one exception, the furniture of Miss +Trevor's room had all belonged to her former home; that exception was a +tall press of elaborately-carved oak, which rested against one of the +side-walls, between the fireplace and the window. Bruce had not ordered +the removal of this press for various reasons. It was heavy, and had +probably remained in its present place since the house had first been +built, as the style of the carving was antique, and the wood almost +black with age. Bruce had thought that a high press was a convenient +article of furniture for a young lady's room; and this one was so +handsome that, though it matched nothing in the apartment except the +panelled walls, its beauty as a work of art might atone for the +incongruity. + +The gaze of Emmie rested longer on that dark press than on anything else +in the room. Perhaps she was trying to make out the meaning of the +figures carved in bold relief on the front; or, perhaps, she was +recalling one of the sensational stories which she had heard that night, +in which just such a press as this had played a mysterious part. Absurd +as it may appear, the young lady would have liked her apartment better +if the handsomest article of its furniture had not been left within it. + +As Emmie was languidly gazing around, while Susan, on her knees by the +sofa, was chafing her young lady's feet, there was heard a tap at the +door. A woman then entered the apartment, bearing a steaming tumblerful +of wine and hot water. As this person will reappear in the story, I will +briefly describe her appearance. + +She was dressed in mourning, and wore a black bonnet covered with crape +flowers and pendants of bugles. Her person was short and somewhat stout. +The round eyes, above which the sandy-coloured brows formed not arches +but an upward-turned angle, gave her a cat-like look, which resemblance +to the feline race was increased by the peculiar form of her lower jaw, +and the noiseless softness of her movements. + +In an obsequious manner this personage not only gave the reviving +beverage to Miss Trevor, but volunteered her unasked aid to make the +young lady comfortable, beating up her pillow, stirring the fire, and +making inquiries about her health in a pitying tone, as if the fear of +Emmie's having caught any chill were to her a matter of tender concern. +Emmie guessed that the stranger must be the confidential attendant of +the late Mrs. Myers, and her conjecture was soon confirmed by the +woman's introducing herself as Mrs. Jael Jessel. The young lady did not +like to give Mrs. Jessel a hint to depart, though the tired girl would +have been glad to have been left to the quiet attentions of Susan. Jael +herself was in no haste to quit the apartment; and leaning against the +mantelpiece, began to converse in a voluble way. + +"I could not help running over from my new home to see that everything +was arranged comfortable-like for the niece of my dear departed lady," +began Mrs. Jessel. "I know the ins and outs of this place so well,--it +seems so natural to come about a house in which one has lived for +years." + +"My brother has arranged everything comfortably," observed Miss Trevor. +"He came down before the rest of the family on purpose to do so." + +"Ah, yes; I see. Master Bruce is a clever young gentleman, and he has +done all that he could _under the circumstances_," said Mrs. Jessel, +lowering her tone, as she uttered the last three words, to a mysterious +whisper. The black bugles in her bonnet trembled with the shake of her +head, as the late attendant went on,--"But if young Mr. Trevor had taken +the advice of one who knows what I know, he'd have had this room shut up +as closely as the one which is next to it,--I mean _the haunted +chamber_!" Jael Jessel's round eyes glanced stealthily from one side to +another, as if she were afraid of being overheard by some invisible +listener. + +Susan saw a look of uneasiness pass over the face of her young mistress, +and could not help breaking silence. + +"Hannah has told me this evening," she said, "that Mrs. Myers always +slept in this room, and that you, Mrs. Jessel, were on a couch beside +her. Since the room was chosen for her own by the mistress of the +house, it must have been considered the best one." + +Mrs. Jessel did not condescend to address herself to Susan, but in +speaking to Emmie virtually gave a reply to the observation made by the +servant. + +"My poor dear lady was perfectly deaf, she could not hear what _I_ +heard; her eyes were dim, she could not see what _I_ saw,--or she would +not have rested a second night with only a wall between her and"--again +Jael glanced furtively around as she murmured--"that fearful chamber!" + +"What did you see,--what did you hear?" asked Emmie, shuddering as she +recalled to mind the warnings given by old Harper. + +Mrs. Jessel did not wait to be asked twice; she was ready enough to +impart to any credulous listener her tale of horrors. Susan was hardly +restrained, by her respect for her young mistress, from repeatedly +interrupting the stranger, who was doing her worst to fill the mind of a +nervous girl with superstitious fears at a time when bodily weariness +had prepared it for their reception. At last the indignant lady's-maid +could keep silence no longer. + +"What you bore for years, Mrs. Jessel, and without being any the worse +for it, could have been nothing very dreadful," said Susan bluntly. "My +lady knows that a good Providence is as near her in this room as +anywhere else, and that they who keep a clear conscience need fear +neither goblin nor ghost!" + +"Ah, well, we shall see, we shall see," observed Mrs. Jessel, drawing +her black shawl closer around her, as a preparation for departure. "I +don't believe there's a being who knows the place that would go through +the wood at night but myself; but, as you say, a clear conscience gives +courage. I wish you a good night, Miss Trevor," added Jael, courtesying +formally to the lady; "but, to my mind, you'd have a better chance of +one if you were to sleep in a different room." + +Mrs. Jessel quitted the apartment; but she left behind her the painful +impression which her words were calculated to make on a mind such as +Emmie's,--a mind not yet sufficiently disciplined by self-control, or +influenced by faith, to bring reason and religion to bear upon +superstitious fears and nervous forebodings. + +Emmie rose from the sofa, and took two or three turns up and down her +apartment; while Susan occupied herself in trimming the fire. The young +lady then stopped abruptly in her walk. + +"Susan," she said, "I cannot sleep in this room!" It was humiliating to +utter such a confession, even to a domestic. + +"Oh, Miss Emmie, if you would let me be beside you to-night--" began +Susan; but Emmie did not heed her attendant's suggestion. + +"I could not close my eyes all the night, and I do so sadly need rest. I +will go to my brother and ask him to make arrangements for at once +changing my room." + +"But Master Bruce will be so much disappointed," expostulated Susan. "He +has spared no pains to have everything just as you would like it to be." + +"I cannot sleep here," repeated Emmie, who was trembling with nervous +excitement. "You will soon move my things--I care not whither--so that +it be to the other side of the house, as far as possible from the +bricked-up room." + +Emmie hastily quitted the apartment, and drawing back the tapestry +curtain, passed on to the head of the staircase. The house appeared to +her dreary, empty, and cold, as she glided down the broad oaken steps, +almost afraid to look behind her. Emmie soon reached the wide hall, and, +guided by the light of the lamp in the drawing-room, of which the door +was open, she entered it, and found Bruce Trevor alone. + +"I hope that you feel rested, Emmie," said her brother, advancing to +meet her. The clouded brow of Bruce still showed token of the angry +altercation which had passed between him and Vibert. + +"I cannot rest in that room, dear," faltered Emmie, avoiding meeting her +brother's inquiring gaze. + +"Not rest--why not?" asked Bruce in surprise. + +Emmie coloured with shame as she stammered forth her reply. "I know that +you will think it so silly--it--it _is_ silly, I own, but--but I would +rather be in any other part of the house than next door to the haunted +chamber!" + +"This is folly, Emmie, pure folly," expostulated Bruce. "You know that a +great part of the dwelling is at present uninhabitable, and cannot be +used for months. There are but two upper rooms fitted up comfortably; +the one is my father's--he chose it himself; the other is given to you. +Vibert and I can put up anywhere; our two little rooms, just beyond my +father's, have been left as I found them, save that the housemaid has +been induced to clear a few cobwebs away. I could not possibly allow +you, accustomed as you are to have comforts around you, to occupy one of +those bare cells at the coldest side of the house." + +"I should prefer--oh, so greatly prefer one of those small rooms to my +present one!" exclaimed Emmie. "Where I now am expected to sleep, that +horrid tapestry curtain divides me from every other living being, and I +am so close to the bricked-up room, that if so much as a mouse stirred +in it, the sound would keep me awake. Dear Bruce, you who are so firm, +and brave, and wise, you cannot tell what I feel. If you love me, let us +exchange our rooms at once; you are not fearful and foolish like me." +Emmie was trembling; her hands were clasped, and tears rose into her +eyes. + +"Have your own way!" exclaimed Bruce, with some impatience of manner. He +was annoyed at his sister's betraying such weakness, provoked at his own +arrangements being altered, and disappointed at having taken in vain a +good deal of trouble to please. Without uttering another word to Emmie, +the young man quitted the room to give needful orders, and did not +return till the clang of the hall gong summoned the Trevors to a late +dinner. + +The meal was very unsociable and dull. The storm of anger between the +two brothers had not passed off, and Emmie was too much disheartened by +what had occurred to be able to act her usual part of peacemaker between +them. Bruce had not forgiven Vibert his foolish prank of driving off +with Emmie, which had been the primal cause of the accident which had +occurred; and Vibert, stung to the quick, had not forgiven Bruce his +bitter rebukes. During the whole of dinner-time neither of the young men +addressed a word to the other. + +The awkward waiting of the country lad hired as a servant, which, at +another time, might have afforded some amusement to the young Trevors, +now only provoked their patience. Bruce disliked the clumping tread and +the creaking boots of Joe; Emmie started when the noisy clatter of +plates ended at last in a crash. Vibert, whose lively conversation +usually added so much to the cheerfulness of the family circle, scarcely +uttered a syllable, save to find fault with the cookery, which was +certainly none of the best. No one, under these circumstances, cared to +prolong unnecessarily the time spent at the dinner-table. + +But matters were little improved when the party had retired to the +drawing-room, to spend there the remainder of the first evening passed +together by them in their new home. Neither reading aloud nor music, +neither playful converse nor game, lightened the heavy time which +intervened before the accustomed hour for family prayers. Emmie thought +that the large drawing-room of Myst Court was but dimly lighted by the +lamp which had shed such cheerful radiance in Summer Villa. The light +scarcely sufficed to enable her to trace the outlines of the +time-darkened family portraits which hung on the dingy walls. The +apartment was so spacious that one fire could hardly warm it, so that it +was chilly as well as dark. The small-sized furniture which had suited +Summer Villa would have looked mean in the handsome old saloon of Myst +Court; therefore faded carpet and more faded tapestry remained, +high-backed heavy chairs of carved oak, and narrow old-fashioned mirrors +whose frames the lapse of two centuries had rendered dingy and dull. +Emmie's only occupation on that first evening was examining these relics +of the past. She thought to herself that Myst Court was as gloomy as any +cloister could be, and sighed when she remembered that she must regard +it now as her permanent home. + +At last Bruce, who had repeatedly glanced at his watch, saw that it was +time to call up the servants for prayers. They came in answer to the +summons of the bell which he rang--the three new members of the +household looking awkward and shy, being evidently unaccustomed to be +present at family worship. Bruce read the prayers, as was his custom +whenever his father was absent from home. But there was a coldness, on +that night, even in the family devotions, of which no one was more +sensible than was he who had to conduct them. It was not because the +room felt dreary and cold, nor because a death-bed scene had so lately +occurred in the house, that a chilling damp fell over even the +observance of a religious duty: Bruce, Vibert, and their sister had all +on that day been overcome by their several besetting sins, and those +sins were haunting them still. Pride, selfishness, and mistrust cast +deeper shadows on the pathway of life than those merely external +circumstances which we connect with ideas of gloom. + +The spirit of Bruce was out of tune, and the noblest words of prayer +were, as it were, turned into discord by the imperfection of the human +instrument that gave them sound. The leaven of hypocrisy marred +petitions in which the heart had no share. Bruce had to ask for the +grace of meekness, whilst he was inwardly scorning a sister for weakness +and a brother for folly. Had he been struggling to subdue the pride of +his heart, such a prayer would have been a cry for help from above; but +Bruce was attempting no such struggle. He was not seeking to imitate One +who was meek and lowly; the sinner on his knees was preferring a prayer +for a grace which he did not care to possess. If a remembrance of his +uncle's warning against pride had passed through Bruce's mind on that +evening, it had roused anger rather than contrition. "What is Captain +Arrows, that he should probe the hearts of others; let him look to his +own!" + +Thus the high-principled young man, who was so ready to act or to suffer +for what he deemed the cause of truth; he whose character was in human +sight almost without a blemish, was in a state in which, according to +Scripture, all his faith, knowledge, and zeal could profit him nothing. +Death, if death had met him now, would not have found Bruce with his +face turned heavenwards, though he had long since, with sincerity of +purpose, entered on the pilgrim's narrow path. He stood condemned by the +solemn words of inspiration, _If any man have not the spirit of Christ, +he is none of His_. + +Emmie noticed with pain, after family prayers were over, that her +brothers went to their respective apartments without so much as bidding +each other good-night. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +EVENING AND MORNING. + + +"How foolish--how weak--how wrong has been my conduct through this day!" +murmured Emmie to herself, as, after dismissing her attendant, she sat +alone in the small apartment which she had chosen for her own. The room +was a contrast to that which had at first been assigned to the young +maiden. The cell, as Bruce had called it, did not possess even a +fireplace, and might have belonged to some cloistered ascetic. The +stained, dusky, peeling-off paper on the narrow walls had its blots and +patches made only more visible by the whiteness of three large unframed +maps, which the practical Bruce had fastened up for his own convenience. +The young man had rather a contempt for the luxuries in which Vibert +always indulged if he could; to the idea of Bruce they were only +suitable for ladies, or those to whom age or ill-health rendered them +needful. Bruce considered it unworthy of a man in the prime of his life +to care about the softness of a cushion, or the temperature of an +apartment. Thus, in making household arrangements, Bruce had selected +his own quarters with very little regard to personal comfort, while he +had spared no pains in trying to secure that of his sister. + +Emmie now suffered from her brother's unselfishness, as well as from her +own nervous fears. Hasty arrangements had indeed been made to improve +the appearance of the cell. Some of Emmie's books had been transferred +to the bookcase by Susan, nor had footstool or guitar been forgotten; +but for her sofa there was no space, and the young lady's +toilette-table, draped with white muslin, looked incongruous in so mean +an apartment. Perhaps the discomfort of that fireless room on a damp +November night was not without its effect on the spirits of Emmie, who +was accustomed to the refinements and elegances of civilized life, and +who was not indifferent to them; but the melancholy which oppressed the +maiden chiefly rose from a deeper source, a profound discontent with +herself. + +It was Emmie's custom to review, every night ere she went to rest, the +events of the preceding day, with self-examination as to the part which +she had acted. The review had hitherto been very imperfect, for she had +never traced her errors in practice to the source from whence most of +them had proceeded. Instead of recognizing _mistrust_ as a besetting +sin, it had hardly occurred to Emmie that it was anything meriting +blame. The occurrences of that Friday had been a striking comment upon +the words of her uncle, which Emmie now recalled to memory. + +"Unreasonable fear,--uncontrolled fear,--what has it done for me +to-day?" mused Emmie. "It has destroyed my peace, most utterly destroyed +it, and cast needless gloom over my arrival in my new home. Fear has +made me displease both my brothers, has lowered me in the eyes even of +my servants; it has caused an accident which has been painful, and +which, but for Heaven's mercy, might have even been fatal. Should I have +lost self-command in the storm, had I recognized the presence of Him who +grasps the lightning in His hand, and whose voice is heard in the +thunder? If my heart were indeed the abode of His Spirit, would that +heart fail me at the bare thought of--hark! what was that sound?" Emmie +started and turned pale at the cry of an owl outside her window; in her +home near London she had never heard the hoot of the bird of night. The +cry was repeated, and though the nervous girl now guessed its cause, in +her superstitious mind it was still linked with fearful fancies. + +Emmie, to compose herself, took up her Bible, and opening it, turned to +the Twenty-seventh Psalm. She read the heart-stirring verse: _The Lord +is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the +strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?_ + +"Why cannot I make this glorious assurance of faith my own?" thought +Emmie. "Why am I, a Christian girl in an English home, troubled with +fears which would better beseem some poor ignorant African, worshipping +his fetich, and knowing nothing of a protecting, loving God! I must +struggle against this enemy, mistrust; I must try to bring my very +thoughts into subjection,--those thoughts now so full of fears +dishonouring to my gracious Master. Where is my reason,--where is my +faith? I cannot believe that there is real danger in sleeping next to +the bricked-up room, or even my selfishness would hardly have induced me +to put dear Bruce in a post of peril. I must have been secretly assured +that the danger existed only in fancy. But I am now too weary to be able +to reason; I need a night's rest to enable me to distinguish between +facts and the creations of an excited brain. I am so tired--my nerves +are so weak! I shall scarcely now be able to rouse my mind even for the +exercise of prayer, and by prayer alone dare I hope to conquer +mistrust." + +Emmie's rest was on that night troubled by a confused medley of dreams, +the natural consequences of the excitement which she had undergone +through the preceding day. Nothing was distinct, but the images of +Harper and Jael Jessel mixed themselves up with the phantoms which their +weird stories had raised in the imaginative mind of the girl. Emmie, +early deprived of the guidance of a sensible mother, had often made an +unprofitable use of her leisure; she had read much of the literature +which is called sensational; she had pondered over tales of horror; her +mind had been fed on unwholesome food. Emmie had let fancy lead her +where it list, and it would be no easy task to undo the mischief wrought +in idle hours under the name of amusement. + +Morning came at last, and brightness and hope with the morning. How +different objects appear in sunshine from what they seem to be when only +faintly visible at night! Emmie gazed from her window, and greatly +admired the prospect before her. Never, perhaps, in a well-wooded +country, does Nature display more exquisite beauty than in the early +part of November, when the foliage, thinned indeed, but brilliant in +tints of crimson and gold, varied with russet and green, is lit up by +the glorious sun. The orb of day, just rising, was overhung by rosy +clouds; the air was fresh and fragrant after the storm; myriads of +dew-drops glittered on the lawn; all was brightness above and below! +Emmie thought that she could be very happy even at Myst Court, and +anticipated with pleasure looking over the mansion, exploring the +grounds, and examining the state of the garden. + +When Emmie quitted her little room, the sunlight was streaming through +the large east window which lighted the staircase, throwing gorgeous +stains of crimson and azure from its coloured panes upon the wide oaken +steps. What had been dreary and ghost-like by night, had become +picturesque and romantic by day. Emmie tripped lightly down to the +breakfast-room, where she found Bruce looking out his place in the book +of family prayers. + +"Did you sleep well?" was the sister's eager greeting as she approached +her brother; for Emmie had reproached herself a little for exposing +Bruce to the chance of any nocturnal annoyance by the exchange of the +rooms. + +"I slept very well,--never better," replied Bruce with a slightly +sarcastic smile. "I had no expectation of seeing goblin or ghost, and +was certainly troubled by none. I never knew a place more perfectly +still; so far as I could judge, not a mouse stirred or a cricket +chirrupped in the so-called haunted chamber. But that west room is by +far too pretty and luxurious for a student like me. As ladies are +allowed to change their minds once, I would strongly advise you, Emmie, +to let us resume the first arrangement: do you go back to the west room, +and let me study or sulk in my own little cell." + +"Not now," replied Emmie Trevor; and, to do her justice, her motive in +declining the second change was as much consideration for her brother's +comfort as the repugnance, which she had not yet quite overcome, to +sleeping next door to the haunted chamber. + +"Why has Master Vibert not made his appearance either at prayers or at +breakfast?" asked Bruce, when, half an hour afterwards, he was enjoying +the cup of hot coffee prepared by his sister. + +"Vibert was tired last night, and has probably overslept himself," +replied Emmie. + +"Not he," said Bruce, "for I saw him from my window this morning, more +than an hour ago, loitering about the grounds. Vibert must have heard +the gong sound for breakfast. No; the fact is--you must have seen it +from his manner last evening--that Vibert is in a huff because I called +him a selfish idiot." + +"I am so very, _very_ sorry that you called him that," cried Emmie, with +a look of distress. "You do not consider, dear Bruce, what real harm +your sternness may do to our younger brother. Vibert is so +affectionate--" + +"He cares for no one on earth but himself," said Bruce. "Look at his +conduct yesterday, and think what might have been its result." + +"Driving off from the station without waiting for you was but a foolish, +boyish prank," pleaded Emmie. "As for the accident that occurred, that +cannot be laid to Vibert's charge; it was caused by my catching hold of +his arm just when the pony was turning a corner." + +"What made you do that?" inquired Bruce. + +"I was foolishly frightened at the lightning," replied Emmie meekly. + +"Frightened, always frightened, at everything and at nothing!" said +Bruce, but rather in sorrow than in anger. He was far more indulgent to +the failings of Emmie than he was to those of Vibert. + +The gentle girl, who was very anxious to bring about a reconciliation +between her two brothers continued her mild expostulation with Bruce. + +"I am sure that you do not think Vibert an idiot, though he may, +perhaps, be a little selfish. I have heard you say yourself that Vibert +has plenty of brain." + +"If he were not too lazy and self-indulgent to work it," interrupted the +elder brother. + +"You do not think--you never have thought poor dear Vibert a selfish +idiot," persisted Emmie; "and oh! Bruce, if I could only persuade you to +tell him that you are sorry for having spoken that one hasty word, if--" + +"Apologize to Vibert! never!" cried Bruce, and he pushed his chair back +from the table. + +"Surely it is noble, generous, right to own to a brother that in a hasty +moment we have done him a wrong!" said Emmie with an earnestness which +brought the moisture into her eyes. + +Bruce made no reply to his sister, but rose from his seat and left the +room; not hurriedly, not passionately, but with that expression on his +calm face in which Emmie easily read the unuttered thought, "I need no +one's advice to guide me, and I will receive rebuke from no one." + +Emmie breathed a heavy sigh. Bruce was in other points so noble, so +good,--oh, why did he shut and bar so firmly against the entrance of +duty and affection one haunted room of his heart! Emmie was distressed +on account of Vibert; she knew that her volatile younger brother needed +the support of the stronger sense, the firmer principle of the +elder,--that the influence of Bruce might be of inestimable importance +to Vibert. And all this influence was to be worse than thrown away, +because the professed follower of Him who was meek and lowly would not +bend his proud spirit to own that he had committed a fault! + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE STRANGER. + + +Bruce had scarcely quitted the breakfast-room before it was entered by +Vibert. + +"Quick, Emmie, a cup of your delicious hot coffee! I've been out these +two hours, and have come in with a hunter's appetite!" exclaimed the +youth, who was looking even handsomer than usual, with his clear +complexion brightened by the invigorating effects of the fresh morning +air. Vibert applied himself with energy to the work of cutting slices +from the cold ham which had been placed on the side-board. + +Emmie poured out the warm beverage for her brother, who turned round to +bid her add plenty of cream. "Cream is the one country luxury to balance +against country cookery," he laughingly observed. "If that +virago-looking Hannah continue to reign in the kitchen, I shall be +driven to live upon cream, or be famished!" + +Vibert did not appear likely to be famished as he sat at the well-spread +table, doing ample justice to his slices of ham. Emmie had finished her +own breakfast, but remained to keep her brother company. + +"Since you were such an early riser to-day," she observed, "why were you +absent from prayers?" + +"Because I can't stand hearing the prayers read by Bruce!" exclaimed +Vibert with some indignation. "It's a mockery for him to call his own +brother a selfish idiot, to treat him as if he were a slave or a dog, +and then to kneel down and pray like a saint, asking for meekness and +mercy, and all kinds of graces which he never had, and never wishes to +have. If that be not downright hypocrisy, I know not what is deserving +of the name." + +"Bruce is the very last person in the world who would play the +hypocrite," cried Emmie. "As for the harsh name which he gave you, I +believe that in his heart he is sorry for what he said in a moment of +ill-humour." + +"Then why does he not own frankly that he is sorry?" cried Vibert. "If +Bruce would but confess that he regrets his hasty words, I'd hold out my +hand at once and say, 'Let by-gones be by-gones, old boy; I'm not the +fellow to harbour a grudge.' But Bruce would not own a fault were it to +save his life or mine. Pride--that pride that repels advice, resents +reproof, and refuses to acknowledge an error (how well the captain +described it!)--that is Bruce's pet sin, and he'll carry it with him to +his grave." + +"God forbid!" faintly murmured Emmie. + +"Bruce and I are to begin daily studies at S---- next Monday," continued +Vibert, who was making good progress with his breakfast whilst he kept +up the conversation. "I know that papa imagines that the way to keep me +safe and out of mischief, is to yoke me to one whom he considers the +impersonification of sense and sobriety. He'd couple a greyhound with a +surly mastiff; but the greyhound, at least, will strain hard against the +connecting strap. If Bruce start early, I will start late; if he walk +fast, I will walk slowly; I'll keep as wide apart from him as the tether +will let me get;--in plain words, I'll have as little to do with Bruce +as I possibly can." + +"Vibert, dear Vibert, it so grieves me that you should feel thus towards +him," cried Emmie. "Bruce is not without his faults, but he is a +noble-minded, unselfish--" + +"Unselfish! I deny it!" exclaimed Vibert, while he kept the morsel which +he was just about to convey to his lips suspended on his fork. +"Unselfish indeed! when he has taken advantage of being sent on in front +to make arrangements to secure the very best room in the house for +himself!" + +"He never did," cried Emmie eagerly. "The west room was prepared for me, +but I could not endure it, and, as a matter of kindness, Bruce exchanged +our respective apartments." + +"Why could you not endure that capital room?" asked Vibert in surprise. + +Emmie, who had been wishing, praying that she might be enabled to act +the part of a faithful counsellor and friend to her younger brother, +felt painfully that she had to step down from her position of vantage, +as she owned, with a blush, that she had not liked to sleep next door to +the bricked-up room. + +Vibert burst out laughing. "So the chivalrous Bruce took the dangerous +post!" he exclaimed. "Would I not just like to give him a fright!" + +"Don't, oh! don't play any foolish practical joke!" exclaimed Emmie. + +"I'm afraid that it would not answer," said Vibert, still laughing. +"Bruce is a hard-headed chap, who sifts everything to the bottom. He'd +be as likely as not to cleave a ghost's skull with a poker, and I've no +fancy to try whether he hits as hard with his hand as he yesterday did +with his tongue. But let's talk no more about Bruce. As soon as I've +finished my breakfast, you and I shall go into the grounds and have a +ramble together. You've not yet seen the outside of our mansion, for +when we arrived here last night you had not enough light to distinguish +Aladdin's palace from a Hottentot kraal." + +The brother and sister soon sauntered out on the terrace on the east +side of the house, which was bathed in glowing sunshine. The air was so +mild that Emmie had merely thrown a light blue scarf over her head and +shoulders as a protection from the breeze; winter wraps would have been +oppressive, and she enjoyed the luxury of being able to go out without +donning bonnet or gloves. The terrace overlooked the lawn and the +garden: the latter had once been fine, and had still a prim grace of its +own. + +"I rather like this old family mansion," cried Vibert, glancing up at +the building, which had been constructed of dark red brick, with +handsome facings of stone. "There is something stately about it, as if +it had seen better days, and remembered them still. Myst Court looks +something like William and Mary's part of Hampton Court Palace." + +"Oh, a mere miniature of that grand old building," said Emmie. + +"I can just fancy the kind of people who walked on this terrace when +first it was laid out," continued Vibert. "There were gentlemen in huge, +full-bottomed wigs, long coats, embroidered waistcoats and ruffles of +old point-lace, with rapiers hanging at their sides. There were ladies +like those whom Sir Godfrey Kneller painted, stiff and stately, each +smelling a rose which she held in her hand; ladies in hoops, who looked +as if they could never dance anything more lively than a _minuet de la +cour_. We seem too modern, Emmie, to match our mansion. Let's return to +the olden times, forget that Queen Anne is dead, and fancy her yet with +the sharp-tongued Duchess Sarah playing the game of romantic friendship. +Let's imagine ourselves as we would have appeared some hundred and fifty +years ago. I'm a young Tory gallant (of course, I'm a Jacobite at heart, +and drink to 'the king over the water'); Bruce is a decided Whig,--I'm +not sure that he is not a Dutchman, and has come over from Holland in +the train of the Prince of Orange." + +Emmie laughed at Vibert's playful fancies, and wondered how her handsome +young brother would have looked in a full-bottomed wig. + +"Whig and Tory must unite," she observed, "to get that garden into +order. The walks are overrun with shepherd's purse and chickweed, and +the beds seem to grow little but nettles." + +"But these beds were clearly laid out at the time when Dutch taste +prevailed," said Vibert; "it reminds one of the poet's description,-- + + 'Grove nods at grove, each alley has its brother, + One half the garden just reflects the other.'" + +"Rather a mournful reflection now," observed Emmie with a smile. + +"But easily changed to a bright one!" cried Vibert; "we'll set plenty of +hands to work, and get everything right before spring. These old +straggling bushes must come up; we'll have new plants from a +nursery-garden, and fill those beds with geraniums, fuchsias, and +calceolaria. An orangery, as at Hampton Court, shall be at one end of +the house; and we must fix on a site for a conservatory, in which some +huge vine shall spread out its branches, heavy with delicious bunches of +grapes." + +"My dear boy, you speak as if papa had the purse of Fortunatus," said +Emmie. "You know that he will have all kinds of expense in getting the +property into tolerable order,--draining, and that sort of thing. The +garden must wait for new plants, and we for conservatory and orangery, +till more important matters are settled. Think of the cottages out of +repair--" + +"Hang the cottages!" cried Vibert. "Leave them alone, and they'll tumble +down of their own accord. Why should we trouble ourselves about them?" + +"We must care for the tenants that live in them," observed Emmie. + +"They've never done anything for us, why should we do anything for +them?" said Vibert. "I don't believe that half of them ever think of +paying their rents. If I were master here," continued Vibert, "I'd make +a law that no dirty, ragged creature should come within a mile of the +house. If these folk are miserable, I'm sorry for it; but that's no +reason why I should be miserable too. Charity begins at home, and the +first thing to be done at Myst Court is to put house and garden into +tip-top order,--buy new carpets and a good billiard-table, set up a +fountain yonder on the lawn (we'll consider about statues and vases), +and then invite Alice and a merry party of young people down to the +place. We'd drive out ghosts to the sound of fiddle and dancing, and +depend upon it, you dear little coward, we should never again hear a +word about Myst Court being haunted." + +"Ah, Vibert, we must remember our uncle's warnings," said Emmie, gently +laying her hand on her brother's arm. + +"_Beware of selfishness!_--eh? well, I'll think about that when I see +you _conquer mistrust_. But to be gay is my nature, as it is yours to be +timid, and Bruce's to be proud. One cannot alter nature." + +"Can it not be improved?" asked Emmie. "Look at your garden,--it has +been left for years to nature, so bears but a crop of weeds." + +"Oh, if you are going to moralize, I'll be off!" cried Vibert. "I have +not tried my new gun yet, and I expect capital sport. I warrant you that +I will bring home a brace of pheasants to mend our fare!" + +Mr. Trevor came down to Wiltshire by an early train, and was gladly +welcomed at Myst Court. His presence greatly added to the harmony of the +family circle; for his sons seldom exchanged bitter words when their +father's eye was upon them. Emmie's spirits rose. When the family were +gathered together at the luncheon-table, the young lady playfully +rallied Vibert on his "capital sport," for she had seen him return with +an empty bag from his shooting. + +Vibert laughed good-humouredly at his own want of success. "I thought +that pheasants and partridges would be plentiful as blackberries in the +brushwood," said he; "but I lighted on no bird more aristocratic than a +crow. I think that there must be poachers abroad, or perhaps four-footed +poachers, in the shape of those starved, disreputable-looking cats which +come prowling about the place." + +"I suppose some of those left by my aunt as a legacy to her maid," +observed Mr. Trevor. + +"The legatee does not value the keepsakes," said Vibert, "to judge by +the looks of the cats that crossed my path to-day, sneaking back to +their old quarters as if in search for scraps." + +"Does Mrs. Jessel live far from here?" inquired Emmie. + +"About a mile from Myst Court by the road, but not half that distance by +the path through the wood," answered Bruce. "The house left to her by +Mrs. Myers is a two-storied, shallow building, standing very near the +high-road, and looking like a Cockney villa that had somehow strayed +into the country, and could not find its way back." + +"So the cats have the good taste to prefer the antique beauties of Myst +Court embowered in woods," said Vibert; "and their new mistress has no +objection to their living here at free quarters. I fired at one of the +miserable creatures, out of pure benevolence, but unhappily missed my +mark." + +"Your shooting is on a par with your driving," remarked Bruce +satirically; "but Emmie's pony came off worse than the cat." + +"That was not my fault!" exclaimed Vibert. "I managed the pony famously, +in the dark too, and over a road expressly contrived to break the +springs of a carriage. I was turning a sharp corner with consummate +skill, when Emmie took it into her head to scream and catch hold of my +arm. Of course, chaise and all went into the ditch, and how long they +might have stayed there I know not, had not those two men come to our +help." + +"Do you know who they were?" asked Mr. Trevor, who had already heard +something of the yesterday's adventure from Emmie. + +"The one is called Harper, a strange, weird-looking old man, with long +grizzled hair, and croaking voice," replied Vibert. "I don't care if I +never set eyes on him again,--but he lives just outside our gate. The +other was a very different sort of person, evidently quite a gentleman." + +"Did you think so?" said Emmie, in a tone suggestive of a doubt on the +subject. + +"Why, he is a colonel," cried Vibert; "you heard him say so himself,--a +colonel belonging to the American army." + +"It is easy enough for a man to call himself an American colonel," said +Bruce. + +"I don't think it fair to disbelieve a gentleman's account of himself +until one has cause to doubt his truthfulness," remarked Vibert. +"Certainly," he added, glancing at Emmie, "Colonel Standish did tell us +rather wonderful stories. You remember that one of the murdered Red +Indian's ghost keeping watch over buried treasure?" + +"It was a horrible story," said Emmie. + +"And so graphically told!" exclaimed Vibert. "I'll let you hear the +tale, papa; but I shall tell it to great disadvantage. A ghost story +must lose all its thrilling effect when heard at a luncheon-table. Fancy +being interrupted at the crisis by a request for 'a little more +mutton!'" + +After the tale had been told, and the meal concluded, Vibert went out +again with his gun, to seek better success in the woods which surrounded +Myst Court. The youth was wont to enter eagerly into any new kind of +amusement, but three days were usually sufficient to make him tired of +any pursuit. + +Mr. Trevor, Emmie, and Bruce went into the drawing-room together, to +talk over future plans. They had scarcely seated themselves by the +table, on which Bruce had placed some papers of estimates, when the +old-fashioned knocker on the front door gave a loud announcement that a +visitor had come to the house. + +"Who can have found us out already?" said Mr. Trevor. "We are scarcely +prepared yet to receive calls from strangers." + +Joe flung open the drawing-room door, and announced Colonel Standish. + +Emmie's glimpses of the stranger on the preceding evening had been by +such uncertain light, and she had been so unfitted by nervous fear to +exercise her powers of observation, that she would scarcely have +recognized her new acquaintance had not his name been announced. Colonel +Standish was a tall and rather good-looking man, apparently about thirty +years of age, with large bushy black whiskers, connected with each other +by a well-trimmed beard, which, like a dark ruff, surrounded the chin. +He was dressed in the height of modern fashion, with no small amount of +jewellery displayed in brilliant studs, coins and other ornaments +dangling from a handsome gold chain, and rings sparkling on more than +one finger of his large gloveless hand. The colonel had a martial step, +and an air of assurance which might be mistaken for that of ease. He +advanced at once towards Miss Trevor, shook hands with her, and in a +tone of gallantry inquired whether she had perfectly recovered from the +effects of her late adventure. Emmie only replied by an inclination of +her head, and at once introduced Colonel Standish to her father and +brother. The stranger shook them both by the hand, with a familiar +heartiness to which neither of the English gentlemen felt inclined to +respond. Mr. Trevor, however, with grave courtesy, expressed his +obligations to the colonel for the help which he had afforded on the +preceding night. + +"I am only too happy to rush to the rescue whenever so fair a lady is in +peril," cried the colonel, turning and bowing to Emmie. "As for your +son,--I don't think that it was this son--" + +"Certainly not," interrupted Bruce. + +"I must congratulate his father on the uncommon spirit and pluck shown +by the young gentleman whom I met last night, under circumstances +calculated to try the mettle of the boldest." + +Emmie and Bruce exchanged glances; the faintest approach to a smile rose +on the lips of each on hearing such exaggerated praise. + +"As for this fair lady, she played the heroine," continued the colonel, +again turning gallantly towards Emmie, whose smile was exchanged for a +blush. + +"Who is this vulgar flatterer?" thought Mr. Trevor and Bruce. Emmie took +an early opportunity of gliding out of the room, to which she did not +return till the colonel's visit was ended. + +Standish was sufficiently a man of the world to see that he had +overacted his part, and had not made a favourable impression. Mr. Trevor +and his son became more and more coldly civil. The visitor took the +chief share of the conversation, gave his anecdotes, and cracked his +jokes. The Englishmen thought his jokes coarse, and his anecdotes of +questionable authenticity. Conversation slackened, and in about half an +hour the colonel rose to take his departure. + +"I put up at the White Hart at S----," said he, as he threw down on the +table a card for Vibert. "I find the accommodation fair, very fair, but +my stay in the town is uncertain. I hope that we shall soon meet again," +and the colonel shook the hand of Mr. Trevor, but a good deal less +cordially than he had done on his first introduction to the father of +Emmie. + +"We do not echo his hope," observed Bruce, as soon as the visitor had +tramped out of the house. + +"Who can this low-bred talkative fellow be?" said Mr. Trevor. "It is not +difficult for an impostor to pass himself off as a colonel, when those +who would have proofs of his being so must seek for them at the other +side of the Atlantic Ocean." + +"I doubt this man's being American at all," observed Bruce. "I did not +detect in his speech the peculiar Yankee accent, though it was +interlarded with Yankee phrases." + +"I shall not encourage this colonel's coming about the house," said Mr. +Trevor, walking up to the window. "Why, there's Vibert accompanying him +down the drive!" + +"And they look hand and glove," added Bruce. "How they are laughing and +talking together!" + +"Vibert is young and unsuspicious," observed Mr. Trevor, as he turned +from the window; "his generous, frank disposition lays him peculiarly +open to deception. We must make some inquiries at S---- regarding this +Colonel Standish. Your tutor, Mr. Blair, may know something of the man, +and the character which he bears." + +"I will not forget to gain what information I can," said Bruce Trevor. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +WORK. + + +On the following Sunday afternoon Emmie was sitting alone by the +drawing-room window, with a devotional book in her hand, but her eyes +resting on the fading glories of the woodland landscape, and her +thoughts on her childhood's home, when she was joined by her brother +Bruce. + +"I am glad to find you alone," said Bruce, as he took a seat by his +sister's side; "I want to consult you, I need your help." + +Such words from the lips of the speaker were gratifying to Emmie; Bruce +was ever more ready to give help than to ask it. Emmie closed her book, +put it down, and was at once all attention. + +"I have been making a little chart of the estate," said Bruce, unrolling +a paper which he placed before his sister. + +"What are those square marks on it?" inquired Emmie, looking with +interest at the neatly executed chart. + +"These are cottages,--some larger, some smaller," was the reply. "Those +buildings marked in red are public-houses; those in green are farms. You +observe that there is not a church or a school in the place; there is +not one nearer than S----." + +"More's the pity!" said Emmie. + +"If you count, you will find that there are eighty-seven tenements of +various kinds, and the dwellers in them are, of course, all tenants of +our father. Give five individuals to each family, and you have four +hundred and thirty-five souls on this estate, without a resident +clergyman." + +"And what can bring so many people around us?" asked Emmie. + +"I believe the dye-works," answered her brother. "They give employment +to most of the men who are not farm-labourers, and, as far as I have +ascertained, to some of the women also." + +"Then the people are not very poor," observed Emmie, with a look of +relief; for she had been alarmed at the idea of more than four hundred +beggars being quartered on her father's estate. + +"The men in work ought not to be very poor," said Bruce; "but then there +are sure to be widows, sick folk, and some too old for work. Besides +this, improvidence, ignorance, and vice always bring misery in their +train, and, from all that I have heard or seen, the people here are +little better than heathens. The children run about like wild creatures; +there is no one to teach them their duty to God or to man." + +"I hope that papa may in time set up a school," said Emmie.--Compulsory +education was a thing not yet introduced into England. + +"I hope that he may; but he cannot do so at present," observed Bruce. "I +was talking with him on the subject on our way from church this morning. +Our father's expenses in educating Vibert and myself are heavy, and if +either or both of us go to college they will be heavier still. Yet for +these wretched tenants something should be done, and at once." + +"Papa intends gradually to repair or rebuild some of the cottages." + +"I am speaking of the people who inhabit the cottages," interrupted +Bruce; "the dirty, ignorant, swearing, lying creatures who are dropping +off, year by year, from misery on this side of the grave to worse misery +beyond it." + +Emmie looked distressed and perplexed. "What can be done for them?" she +inquired. + +"We must, in the first place, know them better, and so find out how to +help them," said Bruce. "You are aware that I have little time to spare +from my studies, which it is my duty to prosecute vigorously. I can give +but my Sunday evenings, and my father is quite willing that on them I +should hold a night-school for boys in our barn." + +Emmie looked with smiling admiration on her young brother, about to +undertake with characteristic resolution what she regarded as a +Herculean task. But no trace of a smile lingered on her lips as Bruce +calmly went on,-- + +"I can thus do something for the boys, but the care of the women and the +girls naturally falls upon you." + +"Upon me!" cried Emmie, looking aghast. + +"Visiting the poor," continued Bruce, "is not a kind of business which +our father can undertake; he has been accustomed to office-work all his +life, and, as he told me to-day, he cannot begin at his age an +occupation which is to him so utterly new." + +"It would be utterly new to me, and I dare not attempt +cottage-visiting!" cried Emmie, whose benevolent efforts had hitherto +been confined to subscribing to charities or missions, and working +delicate trifles to be sold at fancy bazaars. + +"You are young, dear," observed Bruce Trevor. + +"And that is just the reason why I should not be sent amongst all those +dreadful people!" cried Emmie. "I might meet with rudeness, or +drunkenness, or infectious cases. I cannot think how you could ever wish +me to undertake such a work! Wait till I am forty or fifty years old +before you ask me to visit these poor." + +"And in the meantime," said Bruce, "children are growing up ignorant of +the very first truths of religion; wretched women, who know no joy in +this world, see no prospect of peace in another; the sick lack medicine, +the hungry, food; the widow has no one to comfort her, and the +dying--die without hope!" + +Emmie clasped her hands, and looked pleadingly into the face of her +brother. "Oh! what do you ask me to do?" she exclaimed; "do you want me +to visit all these cottages, and the public-houses as well!" + +"Not all the cottages, and most certainly not the public-houses," +answered Bruce with a smile. "See," he continued, pointing to different +parts of his chart, "I have marked with an E those dwellings which I +thought that a lady might visit." + +"There are a fearful number of E's," said poor Emmie, very gravely +surveying the paper. + +"Nay, if you took but two cottages each day (that would be scarce +half-an-hour's work), in a month you would have visited all that I have +marked for you," said the methodical Bruce; "and in each you would have +left some little book or striking tract, if you had found that the +inmates could read." + +"I should be afraid to ask them if they could read or not," cried Emmie. +Bruce went on without heeding the interruption. + +"You would keep a book, and mark down each day where you had called, +with a slight notice of the state of each cottage, the name of its +tenant, the number of the children, and such other particulars as would +be of the utmost value to our father when he affords relief in money. It +would be better, perhaps, for you to make it a rule not to give money +yourself." + +"That is just the only thing that I could do!" exclaimed Emmie; "I dare +not intrude into cottage homes without the excuse of coming to give +charity to those who want." + +"The visits of a lady would not be deemed an intrusion," said Bruce. He +had some practical knowledge on the subject, having been for years at a +private school where the ladies of the master's family constantly +visited the poor. "Your gentle courtesy will make you welcome wherever +you go. Nor need you go alone, you can always take Susan with you." + +"Why not let Susan go by herself?" said Emmie, grasping eagerly at an +idea which afforded a hope of escape from work which she disliked and +dreaded. + +"Susan has been trained for a lady's-maid, and not for a Bible-woman," +said Bruce; "she is not fitted to act as your substitute, useful as she +may prove as your helper. Nor would Susan be as readily welcomed amongst +our tenants as would be a real lady, their landlord's only daughter. +Your position and education, Emmie, give you advantages which Susan +would not possess; they are talents intrusted to you, which it would be +a sin to bury." + +Emmie heaved a disconsolate sigh. + +"Let me put the subject in a clearer light," pursued Bruce. "What would +you call the conduct of one of your servants who should, without your +leave, ask another person to do the work which she herself had been +engaged to perform?" + +"I should call it indolence," replied Emmie. Her brother added the word +"presumption." + +"And if a soldier on the eve of a battle should hire a substitute to +fight in his stead," continued Bruce, "what would such an act appear to +his comrades and captain?" + +"Cowardice," answered Emmie. + +"There have been instances," said Bruce, "of pilgrimages and penances, +imposed on the wealthy, _being performed by proxy_! A poor man endured, +for the sake of money, what the rich man believed to be the penalty of +his own sins. What were such penances or pilgrimages, Emmie?" + +"A mockery," was the faltered reply. + +"And if in man's sight there are duties which we cannot make over to +others without presumption, cowardice, and rendering the performance of +them a solemn mockery, think you that the Divine Master looks with +favour on services done _by proxy_? He intends the rich to come in +contact with their poorer brethren. He claims from us not merely the +money which we can easily give, but the words of our lips, the strength +of our limbs, the thoughts of our brains, the time which is far more +precious than gold. The work which your Master gives you to do, the +special work, no substitute can perform." + +"Oh! I wish with all my heart and soul that we had never left Summer +Villa, never come to Myst Hall!" exclaimed Emmie. + +Bruce was a little disappointed that such an exclamation should be the +only reply to his serious words. "You would surely not desire to pass +through life putting aside every cross but the fanciful ornament which +it is the fashion to wear!" he remarked with slight severity in his +manner. "You have given yourself, body and soul, to a heavenly +Master,--is it for Him or for you to choose your work? Is it a very hard +command if He say to you now, 'Work for one half-hour each day in My +vineyard'?" + +"I would rather work for six hours with my fingers quietly in my own +room," murmured Emmie. + +"That is, you would select your own favourite kind of work, take merely +what is pleasant and easy, and what suits your natural temper," said +Bruce. "There is nothing to thwart your will or try your temper in +making pretty trifles, cultivating your accomplishments, or managing a +small household such as ours." + +"There you are mistaken, Bruce," observed Emmie, raising her head, which +had drooped as she had uttered her former sentence. "It does try my +courage to speak to our new servant Hannah, that masculine, loud-voiced, +ill-tempered woman. I did but say to her this morning, in as gentle a +way as I could, that I have a book of recipes, and that perhaps she +could get some hints from it, as one of the gentlemen is rather +particular as to cookery, and Hannah looked ready to fly at my face. I +shall never venture to find fault with her again." + +"Emmie, Emmie, is this miserable timidity to meet you at every turn?" +exclaimed Bruce. "Have you no spirit, no strength of will to wrestle it +down, to rise above it?" + +"I cannot help being timid," sighed Emmie. + +"Vibert might as well say that he cannot help being selfish," said +Bruce. "If you know that you have a besetting fault, it is not that you +should sit down with folded hands and let it bind you, without so much +as a struggle to shake yourself free." + +Bruce spoke with some warmth, for he spoke from his heart. It is so easy +to point out what is the plain duty of others; it is so difficult +frankly to acknowledge our own. The young man justly accused Emmie of +neglecting the special work appointed for her by her Great Master, and +of shrinking from fighting the good fight of faith. Himself resolute and +courageous, with great power of self-control and self-denial, Bruce +could make little allowance for failings which were not his own. But had +Bruce no special work to do from which the natural man recoiled? had he +no battle to fight against a besetting sin? Bruce's appointed work lay +close to him, though he did not choose to perceive it, and was virtually +repeating Cain's question, _Am I my brother's keeper?_ Bruce suffered +pride to control his actions, and mar the work of grace in his soul. It +would have been as arduous a work for him to "wrestle it down, to rise +above it," as it would have been to his timid sister to go forth and +minister to the poor in the hovels surrounding Myst Court. + +Emmie's conscience was tender; she had a sincere desire to do what was +right, blended with a natural wish to stand well in the opinion of a +brother whom she admired and loved. Before the interview between them +was ended, Emmie had promised to "attempt to break the ice" on the +following day; but she inwardly shivered at the thought of the effort +before her. How many have experienced this repugnance, this dread of +obeying the Master's call and entering His vineyard!--how many of those +who have afterwards found in His work their joy and delight! Duty often, +when viewed from a distance, wears an aspect forbidding and stern; but +on closer approach she is found to have treasures in her hand, and +flowers spring up in her path. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +EARLY IMPRESSIONS. + + +Vibert had not finished his breakfast when Bruce, on the Monday morning, +started on his walk to the town. Notwithstanding sundry remonstrances +and hints from his father and Emmie, it was a full half-hour before the +younger brother followed in the track of the elder. And very different +was the careless, sauntering step of Vibert from the firm, quick tread +of Bruce. + +Mr. Trevor's elder son returned alone in the dusk of evening, but this +time Vibert was scarcely ten minutes behind him. + +"Mr. Blair has a capital method of imparting knowledge; it will be our +own fault if we do not make progress under him," said Bruce to Emmie +when he rejoined her in the drawing-room. "My tutor has given me plenty +of work to do this evening, but I must spare an hour to refresh myself +by hearing you sing. And you, dear, what have you been doing during my +absence, and where have you been?" + +Bruce was a little curious to know whether his fair sister had had +courage to "break the ice." + +"Oh! I do not know what you will think of me, Bruce," said Emmie, +dropping her soft brown eyes. "I did intend to make a beginning of +visiting the tenants; I had ruled lines in a book, that I might set down +in order their names and all that you want to know; but--but--" + +"Let's hear all about it," said Bruce good-humouredly, taking a seat by +his sister's side: it was pleasant to the student to unbend after the +hard work of the day. + +"I could not go out in the morning,--that is to say, not conveniently," +began Emmie. "I had a long, long letter to write to Alice, and another +to my aunt in Grosvenor Square; and I had orders to give to Hannah, and +then to arrange with Susan about hanging pictures to adorn, or rather to +hide the untidy walls of my own little room." + +"It would be far better to give up that room," said Bruce. "You do not +consider, Emmie, in what a bad position you put me by obliging me to +occupy the other apartment." + +"How?--what do you mean?" cried Emmie, looking up with an expression of +uneasiness on her face; "you do not find that you are disturbed by--" + +"Not by spectres," replied Bruce, smiling; "but no one likes to appear +to be the most selfish fellow in the world." + +"No one would ever think you selfish, dear Bruce; the cap does not fit +you at all." + +"Therefore I have an objection to putting it on," said Bruce Trevor; "I +would leave the cap to Vibert, who, to judge by his conduct, may +actually think it becoming. But enough of this. You know that I dislike +retaining my luxurious quarters, but if you really prefer the small +room, everything possible must be done to make it a gem of a room. Now +tell me how you passed the rest of the day." + +"After luncheon papa called me to his study to copy out something for +him," said Emmie; "however, that did not take me long. Then I glanced +over the _Times_, and read about such a horrible murder, committed in a +country lane, that it made me feel more than ever afraid to venture +beyond our grounds. Yet, to please you, dear Bruce, I rang the bell for +Susan, and bade her get ready to accompany me in a walk to the hamlet." + +"I hope that you had a higher motive than that of pleasing me," said her +brother. + +"I am not sure that I had, at least not then," replied the truthful +Emmie. "But, whatever my motive might be, it took Susan and me along the +shrubbery as far as the entrance gate. At the further side of that gate, +looking through the iron bars, as it seemed to me--like a bird of prey +on the watch, stood Harper, with his beak-like nose, his hollow eyes, +and his long shaggy hair. You know whom I mean, he is the strange old +man whom we met on the night of the storm." + +"And who did good service by cutting the pony's traces," said Bruce. + +"I wish that I felt more grateful to him for it," observed Miss Trevor; +"but I cannot without nervous dread think of Harper as I saw him on +Friday night, with the gleam of blue lightning on his strange face and +his flashing knife. Then he gave me such dreadful hints and warnings +regarding the haunted room in Myst Court,--I shudder whenever I think of +them now!" + +"Cast them from your mind, they are rubbish," said Bruce. + +"As Susan and I advanced to the gate," resumed Emmie, "I felt sure that +Harper was sharply watching our movements. I hoped that he would soon go +away, so, turning aside, I took three or four turns in the wood with +Susan; but every time that we again approached the entrance, I saw that +Harper was there. I so much disliked having to pass him, I so much +feared that he would address me, that at last I gave up my intention of +going to the hamlet to-day. I told Susan that the air felt damp and +cold, and that I should put off paying my visits. So feeling, I must +own, rather ashamed of myself, I returned to the house." + +"This is too absurd!" exclaimed Bruce, a little provoked, and yet at the +same time amused by the frank confession of Emmie. "The hovel in which +lives that man Harper is just outside the gate, so that if you are +afraid of passing him, even when you have the trusty Susan to act as a +bodyguard, you may as well consider yourself a state prisoner at once. +So nothing was done to-day?" + +"I wrote to London for two packets of Partridge's illustrated +fly-leaves," said Emmie. "Uncle Arrows recommended them to me as very +attractive and useful, and suited for cottage homes. I shall not attempt +visiting until I receive the packets by post." + +"I have forestalled you," said Bruce, "and have laid in already a fair +stock of such ammunition to serve us in our warfare against ignorance +and intemperance here. I can supply you at once with as many of the +fly-leaves as there are homes in the hamlet." + +"Then I am not to have a day's reprieve," sighed the unwilling recruit. + +"When a duty is before us, the sooner it is done the better," observed +Bruce; "repugnance towards it only grows by delay. And I would advise +you, dear Emmie, should you meet either of those men whose acquaintance +you made in the storm, to be courteous--that you always are--but to +avoid entering into conversation with them, especially with the +so-called American colonel." + +"Why, have you learned anything more about him?" inquired Emmie with +interest. + +"I made inquiries regarding him of Mr. Blair, as my father desired me to +do," replied Bruce. "I find that this Standish has been for some weeks +at S----; but where he comes from, why he came, and wherefore he remains +in the place, nobody seems to know. He has had no introduction, as far +as my tutor is aware, to any of the county families; but he has, it is +said, been seen more than once quitting the small house which our +great-aunt bequeathed to Mrs. Jessel." + +"What can have taken him there?" cried Emmie. + +"My tutor could throw no light on that subject, and told me that he +spoke from mere hearsay, and put little faith in such gossip. One thing, +however, is certain,--this colonel lives at the best hotel in the town, +and in most luxurious style. He spares himself no indulgence, hires his +hunter and follows the hounds, or drives about the country in a curricle +and pair, and seems to be rolling in wealth. He is never seen in a place +of worship, and, pushing as he is, has not made his way into any +respectable circle. The less we have to say to this pseudo-colonel the +better; I suspect him to be a charlatan and impostor." + +"There's charity for you, and gratitude!" exclaimed Vibert, who, +entering the room while Bruce was speaking, had heard his concluding +sentence. "Here is a gentleman who came to our aid when we were in a +dilemma, who has shown us courtesy and kindness, and he is to be +condemned, unheard, as an impostor, because a pedant, who has never put +foot in stirrup or fired a shot in his life, cannot understand a frank, +bold, chivalrous nature. Blair thinks that all must be evil that does +not just square with his old-fashioned notions. Emmie, you should stand +up for your friend," added the youth more playfully, as he threw himself +on an arm-chair, and stretched himself, after what he considered to be a +long and tiresome walk, "for the colonel not only helped to pull you out +of your ditch, but he told me that my sister is the prettiest girl that +he has seen on this side of the big fish-pond." + +"I hope that you do not encourage such impertinence," observed Bruce +sternly. + +"Oh, if the colonel dare to hint that my brother is the pleasantest +fellow that he has met with, I'll resent the impertinence, I promise +you," laughed Vibert. + +Emmie foresaw, with uneasiness, more angry sparring between her two +brothers, and, to turn the current of conversation, asked Vibert what he +thought of the Blairs. + +"Oh, our tutor is a learned professor, who has pored over books, and +puzzled over problems, till he has grown into the shape of a note of +interrogation," replied Vibert lightly. "As for his wife, she's a homely +body, as clever men's wives usually are; Mrs. Blair looks like a +housekeeper, but has not the merit of being a good one." + +Bruce, whom the conversation did not greatly interest, had taken up a +book. + +"And her family?" inquired Emmie; "I suppose that you have made their +acquaintance." + +"We were all gathered together at early dinner, if one could call that a +dinner at which there was nothing eatable," said the fastidious Vibert. +"There was old Blair at one end of the table, hacking at a shoulder of +mutton, and talking, as he did so, to Bruce about Sophocles and +Euripides. There was Mrs. Blair at the other end, ladling out the +potatoes. Bruce and I sat on one side, and three demure little chaps in +pinafores on the other, like degrees of comparison, small, smaller, and +smallest; dull, duller, and dullest. The children were so terribly +well-behaved, that they never asked for anything (not that there was +much to ask for), they never spoke a word, nor lifted their eyes from +their plates, but wielded with propriety their forks and spoons; I think +that only the eldest of the three was trusted with a knife. The little +fellows' looks seemed to say, 'It is a matter of business, and not of +play, to eat shoulder of mutton and boiled rice pudding, and drink water +out of horn mugs.' The whole affair had such a nursery look about it, +that I half expected to be provided with a pinafore, instead of a dinner +napkin." + +"You incorrigible boy!" laughed Emmie; "I think that the three degrees +of comparison will become merry, merrier, and merriest in your company +soon." + +"They will have precious little of it, I can tell you that," said +Vibert; "one such meal is enough for me. To say nothing of its +intolerable dulness, the wine of Blair's table is insufferably bad, the +mere washing out of casks, cheap trash!"--the lad distorted his handsome +features into an expression of strong disgust. "Oh, _you_ did not mind +it, Bruce," continued Vibert, as his brother glanced up from his book; +"you are a water-drinker and no judge on the subject, but _I_ know what +is what, and cheap wine of all things I detest. It ruins the +constitution. I shall try if I cannot get something eatable and +drinkable in the town; I hear that there is a capital _table d'hote_ at +the White Hart." + +"You are aware that the arrangement for our having luncheon at our +tutor's being concluded, your taking the meal elsewhere must involve +double expense," observed Bruce. + +"Can't help that," said the youthful epicurean, shrugging his shoulders; +"I can't work on coarse mutton and plain rice pudding, served up on +plates of the old willow-pattern; specially as I seem likely to be +starved at Myst Court, if we are to have no cook but Hannah. I am +certain," continued Vibert, his bright eyes sparkling with fun as he +turned to his sister--"I am certain that yesterday's boiled rabbits were +my great-aunt's cats in disguise, and that the soup--faugh!--was simply +the water in which they had been boiled! Why did we not bring our old +cook to Myst Court?" + +"We did not bring her, because she would not come," replied Emmie. + +"I suppose that in an old haunted house, country cooks and country +footmen are necessary evils, and must be endured," said Vibert, +attempting to look philosophic. "But I hope that you, as mistress of the +establishment, have spoken pretty sharply to Hannah. I hope that you +have given her a fright." + +"Hannah is a good deal more likely to give me one," answered the smiling +Emmie. "I think of making over to you, Vibert, the office of scolding +the cook." + +"I should find that a more formidable task than that of facing all the +ghosts of Myst Court," was the merry lad's playful reply. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE FIRST VISIT. + + +"Bruce is right; whenever a disagreeable duty is to be done, the sooner +we get over it the better," said Emmie to herself, as, accompanied by +Susan, she started on her walk before luncheon on the following day. A +cloud of care was on the youthful face which looked so fair and gentle +under the shade of the broad-brimmed garden-hat which the maiden wore. +Emmie had "screwed up her courage to the sticking-point," and had +resolved not to return home without having performed her self-allotted +task of, at least, entering two of the cottages inhabited by her +father's tenants. The young lady had a couple of fly-leaves in her hand, +with their attractive pictures outermost,--these were what Bruce had +called her ammunition; but the timid recruit had a reserve, on which she +counted more, in the form of a half-crown slipped into her left glove, +ready to be produced in a moment. There are many district visitors who +may remember the time when they started on their first campaign as +reluctantly and as timidly as did the inexperienced Emmie. + +It may have been observed that the maiden undertook her work simply as a +hard duty. She was urged onwards by a brother's counsels, and pricked by +the goad of conscience. There was in Miss Trevor none of the hopeful, +earnest spirit which hears the Master's call, and answers it with the +cry, "Here am I; send me!" Emmie had indeed prayed for help in entering +on her new sphere, but her prayer was not the prayer of faith. She did +not realize that God could indeed make her a channel through which His +stream of blessing might flow on a parched and thirsty land. She did not +believe that her dumb lips might be so opened that her mouth might show +forth His praise. Emmie had a profound mistrust of her own powers. Such +mistrust is safe and may be salutary; but she confounded that innocent +diffidence with what was really mistrust of God. The girl knew her own +weakness; so far, all was well; but there was unbelief in not resting on +the almighty strength of her God. Emmie would have been startled and +shocked had the truth been clothed in words, but she was really +regarding the Most High as a Master who commands that bricks should be +made without giving the needful straw, as a Leader who sends forth +feeble recruits to the fight all unprovided with armour. The maiden's +courage was not sustained by the thought, _I will go in the strength of +the Lord God_; nor did she rest on His promise, _My grace is sufficient +for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness._ It was not the +love of God, but the dread of incurring His displeasure, which made the +poor, hesitating, unwilling girl combat the fear of man. + +And if Emmie was not impelled forwards by a loving desire to please a +loving Master, still less was she influenced by tender concern for the +souls of those whom she felt that she ought to visit. The child of +luxury, in her pleasant home, had scarcely regarded the poor as being of +the same class of beings as herself. They were creatures to be pitied, +to be helped, to be taught by those trained for the work; but as beings +to be objects of sympathy and love, as children of the one Great Father, +Emmie could not regard them. Charity was thus to her but a cold dry +duty, like the timber which may be shaped into a thousand useful +purposes; but not like the living tree whose branches are bright with +blossoms or rich in fruit, because through it flows the life-giving sap. +Such Christian charity belongs not to fallen nature; it is a special +gift of God, and comes through close union, by faith, with Him whose +nature is love. Emmie's faith was so weak, that it is no marvel that her +prayers for guidance were little more than forms, and that her +compassion for her poor fellow-sinners was cold. The young Christian had +_not_ conquered mistrust. + +"Susan, have you not told me that the ladies with whom you once lived +used to visit the poor?" said Emmie to her attendant as the two +proceeded along the drive. + +"Yes, constantly, miss," was the answer. + +"I wish that I knew how they made their way with the cottagers. Did they +not find it very difficult at first?" asked Emmie. + +"I do not know how they found it at first," replied Susan; "for when I +entered the service of the vicar's lady, even her little ones were +accustomed to go to the homes of the poor whom they knew, to make some +good old creature happy with a jug of warm broth, or a bit of flannel, +or, perhaps, a text in large letters, painted by themselves, to be hung +up in a sick person's room." + +"But there is just the difficult point," observed Emmie,--"how did the +family come to know the poor so well? If one were once acquainted with +the 'good old creature,' there might be some pleasure in taking the +broth or the flannel." + +"My young ladies used to go on their regular rounds, miss, and exchange +the books which they lent to the poor. I have often gone with the ladies +to carry the books," said Susan. "The visitors were always asked to sit +down in the cottages, the people were so much pleased to see them." + +"And when the ladies sat down, what happened next?" asked Emmie, who +felt herself to be ignorant of the very alphabet of district visiting, +and who was not too proud to learn from her maid. "What did your ladies +say? Did they begin directly to teach and to preach?" + +"Oh dear, no, miss!" cried Susan, a little surprised at the question; "I +think that my ladies talked to the poor much as they would have talked +to other people. They spoke to the cottagers about their health and the +weather, and to the mothers about their children, and they gave any +little bit of news, perhaps out of a missionary paper, that they thought +would amuse the poor folk. The talking came all quite natural-like." + +"It would never come natural-like with me," observed Emmie; "nor, to own +the truth, do I see that much good is gained by that kind of talk. One +does not make the effort of going into the dirty homes of the poor just +to gossip with them, as one might do with a friend, but to teach them +their duty and make them better." + +Susan knew her proper place too well to reply to this observation of her +young mistress; the maid thought, however, to herself that her former +ladies had found real friends and dear friends too amongst the poor, and +that to form a tie of sympathy between the higher and lower classes _did +do good_, even if there were no direct religious teaching. Susan +remembered also that she had heard the most pious of her young ladies +observe that she had herself learned more from the poor than she had +ever been able to teach them. The district visitor should recognize the +possibility of mutual benefit when she goes on her charity rounds. + +"Did your ladies never talk to the people about their souls?" inquired +Emmie. "Was nothing said about religion in these visits which they paid +to the poor?" + +"Oh yes, miss," answered Susan, "but it came so natural-like. A blind +woman would like to be read to; then the visitor read from the Bible, +and afterwards the two talked over what had been read. Or a mother, may +be, had lost a baby; and then the lady would speak of Him who carries +the lambs in His arms. The poor liked to open their hearts to the ladies +and tell them their troubles, because, you see, miss, they felt that +the ladies cared. I'm sure when little Amy Fisher died, Miss Mary cried +for her as much as her own mother did. Mrs. Fisher had been a hard sort +of woman,--I think she was given to drink,--but after her little one's +death Miss Mary got her quite round. But all that came quite +natural-like," added Susan, again using her favourite phrase, by which +Emmie understood that there had been no forced talk on religious +subjects, no hard dogmatical teaching. + +"I wish that I could acquire this art of comforting and helping and +sympathizing," thought Emmie; "but I feel sure that I never shall do +so." + +Emmie and her maid had now reached the entrance gate. The young lady was +relieved not to see at it the figure of Harper, whom she regarded with +almost a superstitious dread. She passed his hovel, a mere tenement of +mud, with a thatched roof, green with moss and stained with yellow +lichen. The door was shut, and no smoke rose from the single chimney of +the dilapidated dwelling. + +Picking her way along the muddy road, Emmie, with a beating heart, +proceeded towards the next cottage, which, though it was far from being +neat and clean in its appearance, had at least glass in its windows, and +was able to stand upright. Her conversation with Susan had been rather +encouraging on the whole to the inexperienced lady visitor. A faint +hope sprang up in the breast of Emmie that after a while district work +might come "natural-like" to her as it had done to other ladies. The +fair girl could not but be conscious that she possessed a more than +common power of pleasing, such a power as might smooth down some of her +difficulties in winning her way to the hearts of the poor. + +Emmie went up to the door of the cottage, hesitated a moment, murmured +to herself, "Now for an effort!" and gently tapped with the end of her +parasol. No brief silent prayer was darted up from her heart,--that +prayer which is as the child's upward glance at the parent who holds his +hand to support and guide him. When first entering on what she regarded +as work for God, Emmie's thoughts were not rising to God. + +There was a slight stir audible within the cottage after the lady had +knocked, followed by the click of the latch, and a woman threw open the +door. A scent of bacon, greens, and porter pervaded the cottage, and +Emmie saw that the family were seated at dinner. A burly-looking man in +shirt-sleeves, whose back had been towards the door, turned round his +unshaven, unwashed face to see who had tapped for admittance. Several +dirty, untidy children stared open-mouthed at the unexpected appearance +of a well-dressed lady. Emmie shrank back, for with intuitive delicacy +she felt that to enter a cottage at meal-time was an intrusion. + +"Won't you step in, miss?" said the woman who had opened the door, with +that civility which is generally met with in the cottage homes of +England. + +"Oh--not now--I did not know--I never meant--" stammered forth poor +Emmie, as nervously polite as if she had by mistake intruded herself at +the repast of a duchess. The gruff looks of the man, who did not rise +from his chair, took from the timid girl all self-possession. Emmie +expected him to growl out, "What brings you here?" And as the only +apology which occurred to her mind for calling at all, she nervously +thrust her half-crown into the hand of the astonished woman, and with a +muttered "I thought you might want it," made her retreat from the door. +Emmie in her confusion dropped her papers; they were picked up and +returned to her by Susan. + +"You might have left them by the door," observed Emmie. + +Susan thought, though too respectful to say what she thought, that her +young ladies had never _dropped_ tracts in the mud for the poor to stoop +to pick up; the vicar's daughters had always given such papers with the +pleasant smile which had insured for them a welcome. In distributing +religious literature, as in most other matters, success greatly depends +on the manner in which a thing is done. + +Emmie was not satisfied with this her first essay in cottage-visiting. +"I never thought of finding workmen at home," she observed to Susan. + +"I think, miss, that twelve is a common dinner-hour," said Susan, "and +that then some of the men come home from their work." + +"Then assuredly twelve is a bad visiting hour," cried Emmie; "we had +better return home directly." The young lady walked back to Myst Court +at a much quicker pace than had been hers when she had started on her +little expedition. She was glad to find herself within the gate and in +the shrubbery again. + +"I have not had much success, but still I can tell Bruce that I have +made a beginning, that I have broken the ice," thought Emmie. "That +woman was civil enough; I should not have much minded going into the +cottage had I chanced to find her alone." + +As Emmie's brothers were, as usual, passing the day at S----, Mr. Trevor +was his daughter's only companion at luncheon. The master of Myst Court +was a pleasant, kindly-looking man, who had reached the shady side of +fifty, but with a form yet unbent and hair but lightly touched with +gray. He had been from youth a steady hard-working man, and Bruce had +probably derived his habits of business from his father's example. But +with Mr. Trevor the wheel of labour had hitherto run in one groove, or +rather, one may say, on a tramway made smooth by habit. It had been as +natural to Mr. Trevor to go to his office, as it had been to partake of +his breakfast. The complete change in his mode of life caused by the +removal to Wiltshire, was like the jarring caused by turning suddenly +off the tramway into a stone-paved road. Mr. Trevor had not been trained +to perform the duties of a landlord and country squire, and he more than +suspected that what he might have gained in dignity of position he had +lost in comfort. Now as he sat at table in the lofty dining-room of his +stately mansion, Mr. Trevor's brow wore an expression of worry which +Emmie had never seen upon it when the family had resided in Summer +Villa. + +"You look tired, dear papa," she observed. + +"I have had a good deal to annoy me, Emmie," said her father, who was +making very slow progress indeed with his plateful of beef, tough and +not much more than warmed through. "I find that Farmer Vesey has been +taking, in a most unscrupulous manner, a slice off my west field which +borders upon his lands. The steward says that I shall have to go to law +about it. I detest going to law! Why are not boundaries clearly marked! +Then I've had endless complaints from the people whose cottages border +the brook below Bullen's dye-works; they say that the dye kills all the +fish, and makes the water unfit for drinking. Really the complaints have +good foundation. I walked down to-day to the place, and saw that the +water is so discoloured that I would not let a dog slake his thirst in a +stream so polluted." + +"And are the cottagers your tenants, papa?" + +"Yes; so it is my business to defend their rights," observed Mr. Trevor. +"I went at once to Bullen, hoping that we might come to some +satisfactory arrangement, without having recourse to the lawyers." + +"And I hope that you found the manufacturer open to reason?" said Emmie. + +"I found him to be a low, vulgar, money-making man, who would not care +if he dyed all the rivers in England scarlet and blue, so that he could +fish his profits out of them. I have heard that Bullen gives infidel +lectures in S----, so that he tries to poison the springs of knowledge +as well as the waters of the brook." + +"What a dreadful man!" exclaimed Emmie. + +"I shall have to go to law with him," observed Mr. Trevor, with a yet +more troubled look; "I cannot let my tenants be poisoned, and yet I hate +the worry and expense of a suit. I shall wait a while, and see if this +fellow Bullen will not come to terms. Then I've had another annoying +thing brought to my notice this morning: it is certain that there is +poaching on my estate. There has been no proper care taken to preserve +the game during the time of my predecessor, and if matters go on in the +same way, pheasants will be as rare here as black swans. Really the +cheapest and easiest way to get game is from a London market!" + +The same reflection had just occurred to Emmie. Joe, in his noisy way, +now entered the room, and told Miss Trevor, with awkward bluntness, that +a woman was asking to see her. + +"What is her name?" inquired Emmie. + +"She didn't give none, miss," said Joe; "but she has brought a lot of +children with her." + +"Miss Trevor is engaged; desire the woman to wait a little," said the +master of Myst Court. + +Joe went out, banging the door behind him, but in less than three +minutes returned. + +"There be two other women come to see you, miss," said he. "One says as +you told her to call." + +"I bade no one call," said Emmie. "I am sorry, papa, that you should be +thus disturbed at your meal." + +"I had better myself see what is the cause of this irruption of the +Goths and Vandals," observed Mr. Trevor, rising from his seat, and then +quitting the room. Mr. Trevor had scarcely more experience than his +daughter in dealing personally with the poor, but he felt heavy upon his +conscience the responsibility belonging to the owner of landed property. + +Mr. Trevor in a short time returned, looking grave and somewhat +perplexed. "How one misses clergy, and district visitors, and organized +societies in a place like this!" he exclaimed, as he resumed his seat at +the table. "All these women declare that they are in want, that their +husbands are out of work; and how am I to tell whether this be or be not +the fact? I have given each of the beggars a trifle, and told them not +to come here again, that we will make inquiries about them. I cannot +have my door thus besieged. I wonder what brought on us this sudden +invasion!" + +"I'm afraid that it was my unlucky half-crown," observed Emmie. + +"To whom did you give a half-crown?" asked her father. + +"I gave it at the first cottage to the left of the gate, beyond +Harper's wretched little den," replied Emmie. She read something very +unlike approbation in the eyes of her parent, and shrank from their +questioning gaze. + +"What! you gave it at the cottage of Blunt, the man who earns higher +wages than almost any one else in the place!" cried Mr. Trevor, slightly +raising his voice. + +"The cottage did not look _very_ comfortable," said Emmie in an +apologetic tone. She felt that the excuse was scarcely sincere, for the +comfort or discomfort of the abode had had little to do with her giving +the money. + +"Of course the cottage is not comfortable, for the man Blunt is +notoriously given to drinking," said Mr. Trevor, "and doubtless your +half-crown is already turned into gin. You must really exert your common +sense in visiting my tenants, my dear child," he continued in a tone of +vexation, "or you will do incalculable mischief where you intend to do +good." + +It was so strange a thing to Emmie to receive anything like reproof from +her tender indulgent parent, that her eyes glistened with tears of +distress and mortification. Mr. Trevor could not bear to give her pain, +and instantly softened his tone to that of kindness. + +"You had the best intentions, my darling, and we shall all in time +understand our new duties better. But you must be a little more careful +in future where you visit, and how you give alms. I wish that instead of +Blunt's cottage you had taken the one to the right of the gate. A poor +respectable widow lives there; if I recollect rightly, her name is +Brant. I have seen her several times at her cottage-door, looking tidy, +but so poor and so ill that she has been rather upon my mind. It is not +in my way to visit sick women, but I should like you to call with Susan, +and ascertain whether the poor creature be really in want." + +"Yes, papa, I will go," said Emmie humbly; "I will this afternoon visit +the poor respectable widow, and try to keep my half-crowns in future for +those who need and deserve them." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +TRY AGAIN. + + +Again Emmie, with her attendant, passed through the gateway at the +entrance to the grounds of Myst Court. Miss Trevor had scarcely done so +ere she became uncomfortably conscious that her movements now attracted +a good deal of attention amongst the inmates of the cottages near. A +rabble of children, all dirty and some of them barefoot, clustered near +the gate, and when the lady had passed it, formed a kind of volunteer +escort with which Emmie would have gladly dispensed. Some begged, and +all stared at the lady; while two or three urchins, more impudent than +the rest, pressed so closely upon her, that Susan could scarcely prevent +them from impeding her mistress's progress. Emmie walked fast to rid +herself of her unwelcome companions, but the children quickened their +pace to keep up with the lady. Women stood at the entrances of their +cottages, dropping courtesies, and evidently full of hope that the +dispenser of half-crowns would visit their homes. Emmie was +experimentally learning one of the most important of lessons for a +district visitor, especially a rich one, that the worst way to begin is +to give money without inquiry, merely to smooth our own way, and to buy +that civility from the poor which is usually offered freely. The +indiscriminating giver of alms, instead of improving the class whom he +visits, rouses their evil passions. He makes the poor beggars, if he +finds them not beggars already. Cupidity, jealousy, hypocrisy, these are +the seeds which the careless, indolent almsgiver sows; and then, when he +sees the harvest, he bitterly complains of the ingratitude which has +requited his generous kindness. To help effectually those who require +help, to sow a blessing and reap a blessing, we need to receive, we need +to ask for the wisdom that cometh down from above. + +"I wish that I had flung that unlucky half-crown into the brook, instead +of throwing it away on those Blunts!" thought Emmie. "It was my nervous +timidity that made me do so foolish a thing." + +There was no difficulty in finding the cottage of Widow Brant; nor had +Emmie even to knock, for the poor woman stood at her open door, only +too glad to welcome the lady in. The widow was dressed neatly, but very +poorly; her mourning was faded, and many a patch showed the work of +industrious fingers. The inside of the cottage was so clean, that Emmie +felt no reluctance to sit down on the chair which was offered to her, +after a rapid dusting which it did not seem to require. Mrs. Brant was a +small, thin, sickly-looking woman, with weak voice and timid manner; not +even Emmie could possibly feel afraid of "breaking the ice" with one who +excited no feeling but that of compassion. A good commencement was made; +Emmie admired the flowers in the window, she herself was so fond of +flowers; there was the point of similarity of taste on which the rich +and poor could touch each other without undue familiarity on the one +side, or sense of condescension on the other. The face of the widow +brightened, and the young visitor felt encouraged. Miss Trevor went on +to make inquiries regarding the widow's state of health, and listened +with interest unfeigned to the story of long years passed in weakness +and pain. The patient endurance of the poor invalid interested and +touched the heart of her hearer. + +"But have you had no medical advice?" inquired Emmie. + +"Years agone I'd the parish doctor, miss; but he didn't do me no good," +replied the meek little widow. "But now I'm in hopes as I'll soon get +better. There's a wonderful clever man as has come to this place; they +says as he has been in Ireland, and he has scraped the dust off the +tombstones of saints, and mixed it up with holy water, and when we've +crossed his palm with a shilling, miss, he hangs a bag of the dust round +our necks, and mutters a charm to wile away all our pains. See, miss," +and the poor creature showed a small linen bag fastened round her neck +by a morsel of string, "I gave my last shilling for this." + +"And has it done you good?" asked Emmie, a little amused at the +simplicity of the woman, and more than a little indignant at the +advantage taken of it by some heartless impostor. + +"I can't say as how I feels much better yet," replied the sufferer, "but +I hopes as in time the charm will work a cure." + +"It will never work anything but disappointment!" cried Miss Trevor; +"the food which that shilling might have bought would have done more for +your health than all the charms in the world made up by a superstitious, +ignorant quack!" + +"Ignorant--superstitious!" croaked out a voice at the slowly opening +door, which made Emmie start to her feet in alarm. She knew the tones, +and she knew the hard features and long grizzled hair of him who had +crossed the threshold, and who now stood surveying her with a fixed +malignant gaze. "Do you talk of _ignorance_, child," continued Harper, +making a stride towards Emmie, who instantly backed as far as the narrow +space of the room would admit, "you who know not even the secrets of +your own dwelling, nor dare to ask what things of darkness may haunt it! +_Superstition!_--if it be superstition to dread the unseen, to tremble +before the unknown, is it for _you_ to talk of superstition in another?" + +Emmie was too much terrified to attempt a reply. Her one desire was to +quit the cottage directly, and she made a movement as if to do so; but +Harper was between her and the door, and she did not dare to brush past +him. Happily her attendant Susan was much more self-possessed than was +her young mistress. + +"Please to make way for my lady," said the maid with a decision of +manner which caused Harper to draw a little to one side. Emmie did not +even wait to wish the widow good-day; trembling like an aspen, the timid +girl made her escape from the cottage, resolved never to run the risk of +encountering Harper again, unless she were under the immediate +protection of her father or Bruce. + +Returning rapidly towards the entrance gate, like one who fears pursuit, +Emmie, when almost close to it, came upon Mrs. Jessel, attired as before +in black dress, with crape-flowers and bugles. + +"Ah! Miss Trevor, good afternoon," said the late attendant on Mrs. +Myers, with the mixture of obsequiousness and forwardness which marked +the manner of one long accustomed to flatter and fawn, but who felt +herself to be now greatly raised in social position by having a house of +her own. "How good you are to go visiting the cottages round!" + +"I cannot visit in cottages," said poor Emmie with something like a +gasp, as she passed through the gateway and then stopped, as if she now +felt herself safe. + +"Ah! that's what my poor dear lady was always saying, Miss Trevor," +observed Jael Jessel, who had followed her into the grounds. "Mrs. Myers +was the kindest of creatures; but she was too nervous to visit her +tenants. 'You go for me, Jessel,' was always her words; 'you know every +one here, you know who is sick, and who has had twins, who wants soup, +and who would like a hundred of coals. It is you that must visit for +me.'" + +"I wish that some one would visit for me!" escaped from the unwary lips +of Emmie. + +"Oh! I'll do it with all the pleasure in life, miss!" cried Mrs. Jessel, +her bugles trembling with the eagerness with which she clinched what she +chose to regard as an offer of employment. "There is nothing that I like +better than looking after the poor dear folk round about. You see I've +now a deal of time on my hands. You have only to tell Hannah, miss, to +let me have what goes from your table, or a drop of broth now and then, +and there shall be no trouble to any one; I'll bring my own basket to +carry the food, and you'll have the satisfaction, Miss Trevor, of +knowing that every one here is well looked after." + +"You are very kind," said Emmie, who thought that it would indeed be a +comfort to have a substitute to do the work for which she herself was +proved to be so unfit. + +"I was just going up to the Court, Miss Trevor, to hunt after the tabby +of which my poor dear lady was so fond," observed Mrs. Jessel; "the +creature misses her so--every one misses her so! I can't keep my cats +from wandering back to the old house, where she used to feed them with +her own hands. I'll just tell Hannah your wishes, Miss Trevor, she'll +understand what you want. You'd have the cottagers cared for, and you +make over the care of them all to me." + +"Pray take some food at once to poor Mrs. Brant," said Emmie. + +"She shan't go to bed without a good supper, and I'll tell her who sends +it," cried Mrs. Jessel; "meat is the physic she wants. It's not for +ladies like you, Miss Trevor, to be soiling their nice dresses by going +in and out of dirty cottages, and may be hearing bad language, or +meeting, perhaps, with rudeness. It's for those who are used to the +work, like me; those who know the ins and the outs, the whys and the +wherefores; who are neither easily taken in, nor easily frightened. Yes, +I'll do all that is wanted,--you may rest quite easy, Miss Trevor." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +CARES AND MISTAKES. + + +If, even while the arrangement with Mrs. Jessel was thus hastily +concluded, Miss Trevor had her doubts as to whether it were a wise or a +good one, as days and weeks rolled on the young lady became more certain +that a great mistake had been made. Emmie had given to one of whose +character she knew very little a footing in the house from which it +would not be easy to displace her. Mrs. Jessel had now a fair excuse for +"dropping in" at Myst Court at any hour, and she almost invariably chose +the hours after dark. Her basket, by no means a small one, was Jael's +unfailing companion. Emmie wondered, but never ventured to inquire, how +much of the food which left Myst Court really found its way to the homes +of the poor. What made Emmie more uneasy were the words occasionally +dropped by her trustworthy Susan, who evidently disliked Mrs. Jessel's +coming so much about the place, and who had no faith in her +qualifications for the office of almoner into which she had installed +herself by taking advantage of the timidity of Miss Trevor. + +Mr. Trevor had made it his invariable rule to pay his bills weekly, and +his daughter kept his household accounts. Emmie was startled at the +amount of the bills now run up by the butcher and grocer who served the +family at Myst Court. The young lady mustered up courage one day to +express to Hannah her surprise at the heavy expense incurred at a time +when the household was not large, and there was no entertaining of +guests. Hannah had found out from the first her lady's weakness, and had +laughingly observed to Lizzy, "The way to manage young miss is to flare +up at the first word; she don't dare to bring out a second." Hannah did +not fail to put her tactics into practice on the present occasion. + +"I don't know what you mean by expense, miss," she growled out, like a +surly dog ready to snap; "Mrs. Jessel must have what she wants for the +poor, and it's a lot as her basket holds; one can't fill it with +soap-suds or shavings!" + +Emmie retreated discomfited from the kitchen, and with a mortified, +downcast look carried the tradesmen's books to her father. + +Mr. Trevor was in his study, writing out a statement to his lawyer of +the wrong inflicted on some of his tenants by the dye-works of Messrs. +Bullen and Co. + +"I am sorry to interrupt you, papa," said Emmie, as, after gently +closing the door behind her, she approached the table at which her +father was seated, "but I am afraid that I shall want more money to pay +these bills." + +"You told me that you had enough," observed Mr. Trevor, looking up from +his writing, with his ready-dipped pen in his hand. + +"I thought so, till I saw the amount of the bills," and, as she spoke, +Emmie placed the open books on the desk before her father. + +"This is absurd!" cried Mr. Trevor, after a rapid glance at the +summings-up; "Hannah must either be dishonest or wasteful. We appear to +live at more expense than we did at Summer Villa, where we had far more +comfort, and had friends to share our meals. You must speak to Hannah, +my love." + +"I have spoken to her," replied Emmie. "Hannah accounts for the expense +by the quantity of food which Mrs. Jessel takes to the poor." + +"I hope that you keep a sharp look-out after that woman," observed Mr. +Trevor gravely. "It passes my comprehension why you should ever employ +her at all to visit the tenants." + +Emmie was ashamed to answer what was the truth,--"I did so because I did +not dare to visit them myself." + +"There seems to be no end to the drains upon my purse at present," said +Mr. Trevor, leaning back on his chair; "workmen to pay in the house, +fields to drain, county-hospital and schools to assist, and two +law-suits looming before me! Vibert came to me for more money to-day. +How that boy runs through his allowance! I thought that when he was +beyond reach of London amusements, he would be able to draw in a little; +and, after arranging for his meals with his tutor, I never expected to +have to pay hotel-bills for my son." + +Mr. Trevor had touched on a cause of uneasiness which was more and more +pressing on the spirits of Emmie. The sister knew, both from light words +dropped by Vibert and grave ones spoken by his brother, that the youth +was by no means giving due attention to his studies at S----. Vibert was +always late at his tutor's house, never remained there to luncheon, and +not infrequently did not return for afternoon study at all. Emmie was +aware that Vibert was sometimes driven back from S---- in a curricle by +Colonel Standish, arriving at Myst Court long after Bruce had reached +the place on foot. Vibert was enthusiastic in praise of his American +friend, dilating on his talent, his courage, his generosity,--perhaps +admiring him all the more from a spirit of opposition to Bruce, who did +not admire him at all. + +Emmie saw little of her brothers on week-days, except at breakfast-time, +and during the evenings; the young lady, therefore, led a somewhat +solitary life. She took occasional drives with her father, but, except +in his company, rarely quitted the grounds. Time hung very heavily on +the fair maiden's hands; Myst Court was a dreary place in November to +one accustomed to cheerful society, who had now to pass many hours +alone. + +Bruce went on steadily with his studies on week-days, and with his class +of boys on Sunday evenings, learning himself or teaching others with the +same characteristic perseverance and strength of will. He never again +asked Emmie to visit the poor. The two brothers rarely met each other +except at meals, when the presence of their father prevented unseemly +disputes between them. But both Mr. Trevor and his daughter were +painfully conscious of the coldness which existed between Vibert and +Bruce. The father was disappointed and displeased to find that his elder +son was not, as the parent had so hoped that he would be,--a friend, +protector, and guide to the younger. + +"If Vibert go on as he is doing, he'll come to ruin," said Bruce one day +to his sister, in the early part of December, when Emmie was +accompanying him as far as the entrance-gate on his way to S----. + +"Oh, Bruce, I am very, very unhappy about Vibert," sighed Emmie; "I +cannot think that he has a safe companion in that American colonel." + +"Standish is Vibert's evil genius," muttered Bruce Trevor. + +"Do you not think that it would be only right for you to speak seriously +to papa about Vibert's present way of going on?" suggested Emmie. + +Bruce abruptly stopped short in his walk. + +"No," he replied emphatically; "I will never say anything again to my +father concerning Vibert, let the boy do what he may. I began to speak +last night on the subject; I began to tell my father what I thought that +he ought to know. I had scarcely spoken two sentences, when he said +coldly--you know his manner when he is vexed--'Bruce, you are jealous of +your younger brother.' I jealous!--and of Vibert!" exclaimed Bruce, +resuming his walk at a quick pace which expressed mortification and +anger. "That's all the credit that I got for speaking the truth so I +mean henceforth to keep silence. Our father is utterly blind when Vibert +is concerned; every one else must be blamed, rather than a fault be +found in the precious young scapegrace! I may plod on, study, save, deny +myself any indulgence, while Vibert quaffs his champagne, plays at +billiards,--or worse, squanders his money and his time; and if I so much +as venture to hint that matters are going wrong, why I, forsooth, am +jealous--jealous of one whom I despise--jealous of a selfish prodigal, +who would sacrifice anything or any one for the sake of an hour's +amusement!" + +Bruce had reached the iron gate, and he now flung it wide open with a +vehement action, which was the outward expression of the indignation +burning within his breast. The young man strode forth from his father's +grounds full of that pride of spirit which is altogether inconsistent +with Christian profession. Yet was Bruce scarcely conscious that he was +proud, because his besetting sin was so closely shrouded up in his +heart's haunted chamber. Bruce could not accuse himself of being +self-righteous, because he truly acknowledged himself to be a sinner +before his God. He was more free than most young men in his station from +pride of talent, pride of birth, pride which glories in any personal +gift. Bruce hated ostentation, and was not keenly eager for praise. +Where, then, was young Trevor's pride to be found? It was interwoven in +the very fabric of his character; but so interwoven that it did not +appear glaringly on the surface. Pride, with Bruce, was as the vein +which pervades the marble,--only faintly visible here and there, +scarcely marring its beauty, but penetrating deep, yea, to the utmost +depth of the firm and solid mass. If Emmie was self-indulgent, Vibert +self-engrossed, Bruce was pre-eminently self-willed. His besetting sin +was the more dangerous because it did not startle his conscience. Bruce +knew that his faith in God was steadfast, his sincerity not to be +questioned, that on the path of duty he walked with a step unswerving +and firm. He compared his own conduct with that of Vibert, and it was +impossible that such a comparison should not be to the advantage of the +elder brother, who was singularly free from the selfishness which marred +the character of the younger. Yet Bruce was not safe in his orthodox +creed, his stainless life, his useful labours; he was not walking humbly +before his God. His was not the charity which thinks no evil, which +loves, and hopes, and endures; the scorn which he felt for a brother's +weakness, the anger roused by a brother's sin, were tokens--had he +closely examined their source--of the baneful presence of pride. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +YES OR NO. + + +"Everything seems to have gone wrong with me here!" sighed Emmie, as she +sat alone by the drawing-room window, watching the descent of large +flakes of snow, which melted as they came in contact with earth. "I have +been at Myst Court for a month, and what have I to look back upon since +I came here but feeble attempts to do what is right, melting into +failure, even like those flakes? Yes, my uncle's warning was not +unneeded by me. Fear, the child of Mistrust, is indeed the haunting +spirit that mars my peace, cripples my usefulness, and takes from me the +power of glorifying God. I am afraid to rule my own household; I shrink +from meeting an angry look; I wink at what I know to be wrong,--because +I am too timid to enforce what I know to be right. I am afraid to enter +the dwellings of the poor, though conscience pricks me whenever I drive +past those wretched hovels which it is my duty to enter as a messenger +of mercy and comfort. The good which I might have done, I do not; and +oh! is it not written, _To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, +it is sin?_ I have given up my own appointed work to a substitute in +whom I have no trust, all through fear--my mistrustful fear! Timidity +haunts me in my house--in my family. I cannot conquer my foolish +repugnance even to drawing back that curtain which divides the right +wing of Myst Court from the more inhabited part of the dwelling, though +my brother every night passes beyond that curtain to sleep without fear +or harm in that room which I dreaded to enter. Reason tells me that my +misgivings are folly, but superstitious fear is too strong for reason. +And, though it appear in a different form, is it not the same mistrust +that makes me so fearful to offend my brothers by speaking, in tender +love, truths which they are unwilling to hear? Vibert, my own dear +Vibert, whom I remember as the bright beautiful boy who was my mother's +darling, the very sunshine of our home, Vibert has entered, I fear, on a +course that imperils his peace here and his happiness hereafter. I might +exert an elder sister's influence over his frank and kindly nature; but +I dread to rouse his anger, and risk the loss of his affection. And, +alas! I am conscious that the weakness of character at which Vibert so +often has laughed, has lessened my influence with him for good. Vibert +loves--but he does not look up to his sister; on one point, at least, I +am in his eyes but as a silly, unreasoning child!" + +Emmie possessed, as has been observed, a sensitive conscience, and was +no stranger to the duty of self-examination: she had made the first step +in spiritual warfare, she had seen and recognized her besetting foe. But +to see and to recognize an enemy is not the same thing as to fight him. +A deeply spiritual writer has given directions to the Christian soldier +in face of his besetting sin, directions so practical that I shall quote +them instead of giving words of my own. The writer supposes the presence +of the enemy to have been found out by honest searching of the heart:-- + +"When the discovery is made, the path of the spiritual combatant becomes +clear, however arduous. Your fighting is to be no longer a flourishing +of the arms in the air; it is to assume a definite form, it is to be a +combat with the bosom sin. Appropriate mortifications must be adopted, +such as common sense will suggest, varying with the nature of the sin, +and combined always with a heartfelt acknowledgment of our utter +weakness, and with a silent but fervent prayer for the grace of Almighty +God.... What is the warfare of many earnest and well-intentioned +Christians but the sending of shafts at a venture? They have a certain +notion that they must resist the evil within and without them; but then +this evil presents itself in so many forms that they are bewildered and +confused, and know not where to begin.... The first work of the politic +spiritual warrior will be to discover his besetting sin, and having +discovered it, to _concentrate_ all his disposable force before this +fortress." + +Let me illustrate the author's meaning by referring to the characters in +my story, whose counterparts may be found amongst my various readers. +Bruce, being once aware that his bosom sin was pride, should have taken +every opportunity of mortifying that pride, not only by owning his sins +before God, but by frankly acknowledging his own mistakes and errors in +the presence of men. Vibert, if not by literal fasting, yet by the +practice of self-denial in every sensual indulgence, should have sought +to give the spirit the victory over the flesh. Emmie, wrestling down her +mistrust by prayer, should have forced her unwilling spirit to "nobly +dare the thing which nature shrinks from." + +But the maiden chose a middle course. She would not attack the fortress, +but go round it; she would try to do her duty, but rather by evading +than by conquering the enemy who opposed her. Emmie felt like one who +has made a pleasant discovery when a means of reaching her father's +tenants, without trying her own courage, suggested itself to her mind. + +"Yes, that will do--that will do!" exclaimed the maiden, as with a +brightening countenance she rose from her seat, and then crossed the +room with light step to ring the small bell by which she was accustomed +to summon her maid. "Christmas-time is at hand,--that blessed time when +all who have the power should seek to make those around them happy. My +father and Bruce will, I am sure, approve of my little plan." + +Emmie remained standing until Susan entered the room. Smilingly the +young lady confided her intentions to one who would be her ready +assistant in carrying them out. "Susan," she said, "I mean to give a +feast at Christmas to the younger children of my father's tenants. We +will prepare a German tree, to be loaded with little gifts, most of them +made up by your hands and mine." + +"I should be delighted to help, miss," said Susan. + +"And mine should not merely be a treat for a day," continued Emmie; "I +think of something beyond the mere amusement of the children whom I +invite. Say that fifty little ones come; I would procure fifty New +Testaments, that each child might carry back one to his home, wrapped up +in one of these illustrated fly-leaves with which my brother has already +provided me." + +Those leaves gave Emmie a feeling of shame whenever her glance chanced +to fall on the almost undiminished packet. + +"I wish that more of the children knew how to read," observed Susan in a +doubtful tone. + +"If they cannot read, surely most of their parents can," said Emmie, her +wish being father to her thought. "If such good seed be sown broadcast, +certainly some benefit must result. Yes," she continued cheerfully, "I +will make friends with the little children, and through them assist the +parents whose homes I cannot visit." + +Then came the question of ways and means. Miss Trevor was rather pleased +than otherwise to find that her little project would involve some need +of self-denial. She had five pounds remaining of her allowance, money +which she had intended to spend in other ways, but which she would +devote to the Christmas treat. + +"I'll not send this," said Emmie, tearing up a note which she had +written to a circulating library in London; "I will do without new books +for a time. Then as for the warm dress which I meant to purchase, your +clever fingers, Susan, will make my present blue cashmere serve me for +another winter in a quiet place like this." + +The pleasure of seeing the eyes of fifty children sparkling with delight +at the feast to which she would invite them, the joy of imparting so +much innocent joy, would, as Emmie truly thought, out-weigh the small +gratification of buying that with which she so easily could dispense. + +"And now, Susan, bring down my basket of odds and ends, and--stay--you +will find pieces of muslin and ribbon in my left-hand drawer. We must +see what we can make use of in dressing dolls, making pincushions and +needle-books, and devise something suitable as gifts for the little +boys." + +Susan went, and soon returned with a basketful of such materials as +woman's taste and skill can transform into a thousand attractive forms. + +The snow-flakes were falling faster and thicker; grassy lawn and gravel +path were now covered with a sheet of spotless white, which hid every +roughness and smoothed away every blemish. Emmie was no longer troubling +herself with thoughts of her follies and failings. With the eagerness +natural to youth, she was preparing for the pleasant task which she had +set herself to perform, a task which would at the same time employ her +fingers, amuse her mind, and quiet her conscience. See her on her knees +on the hearth-rug beside the blazing fire, with her basket of odds and +ends beside her, and a pile of half-worn-out clothes placed on a chair. +Emmie is sorting and arranging, planning and preparing, cutting out work +for herself and Susan that will keep them both happily and usefully +engaged for weeks. It is wonderful how care is lightened, and what +mental sunshine comes with occupations such as this. Emmie's thoughts, +instead of brooding over imaginary terrors, are full of ingenious +devices for improving this and altering that, making old things look +new, and astonishing simple rustics by elegant trifles such as they +never before could have seen. + +"Now take up these clothes and look to the patching," said Emmie, +dismissing her maid.--"I will send at once to London for the +Testaments," she added to herself after Susan had left the apartment. +"My five pounds will cover that expense, as well as the cost of my +simple feast,--tea and cake, oranges and buns; and then there must be a +trifle for lights for my tree." + +Humming cheerfully to herself, Emmie rose from her kneeling position and +went to her desk, which lay on the drawing-room table. She unlocked and +opened it, and then took out a pocket-book within which was her +five-pound note. Joe was to take the pony that day to be shod at S----, +so Emmie drew out a form for a money-order for the Bible Society to be +procured at the same time. Emmie, with the order and bank-note in her +hand, was about to ring the bell for the footman, when Vibert entered +the drawing-room. He looked at the hearth-rug, strewn with many-coloured +scraps and cuttings from the overflowing basket which Emmie had been +ransacking for materials for her charity work. + +"You here still, Vibert!" exclaimed his sister, pausing with her hand on +the old-fashioned bell-rope which hung by the fire-place. "I thought +that you had been for the last hour poring over your books at S----. +Were you afraid of the snow that you stopped at home this morning?" + +"Afraid!" echoed Vibert. "No; I leave that word, like bodkins and +hair-pins, for the use of the ladies. The truth is, that I wanted, +before I set off for the town, to ask,--but what is that which you have +in your hand?" asked the youth as his glance, and an eager glance it +was, fell on his sister's five-pound note. + +"I am going to tell Joe to procure me a money-order," said Emmie, making +a movement to ring the bell; but a quick sign from Vibert prevented her +from drawing down the heavy bell-rope. + +"Stop, Emmie!" cried her brother; "you would do me such a kindness if +you were to lend me that five-pound note." + +Emmie, for more than one reason, was annoyed at her brother's request. +This was by no means the first time that Vibert had wanted to borrow +money, and he had a very indifferent memory as regarded payment of +debts. Vibert saw his sister's look of vexation and the slight frown +which for a moment ruffled the smoothness of her fair brow. + +"I assure you, darling," he said in a coaxing manner, "that the loan +would be a great, a very great convenience to me. I hate asking papa for +more money; he seems to feel more pinched now than he did before he came +in for a fortune. When I tell him that I can't manage to keep within my +allowance, he twits me with the prudence and moderation of Bruce, as if +I could skin flints or count farthings like Bruce." + +There was scorn in the tone of Vibert as he uttered the last sentence, +which roused the spirit of Emmie in defence of her absent brother. +"Bruce is no skin-flint!" she cried; "he does many a kind and generous +thing. If he saves, it is on himself; there is not a particle of +selfishness in his nature!" + +Emmie had not intended to strike at one brother whilst defending the +other; but Vibert was in an excited, irritable mood, and took his +sister's words as a palpable hit at himself. + +"You are the last person from whom I should have expected such a taunt," +said the spendthrift bitterly. "I thought that if I had no other friend +in the world I should find one, Emmie, in you." + +"Always! always!" cried his sister eagerly; "I would do anything for +you, dear Vibert." + +"Will you lend me that five-pound note?" + +Again Emmie hesitated and looked vexed. "I had laid it all out already +in my mind," she replied. "It is to give pleasure to so many poor +children at Christmas." + +"Christmas! why, you shall have it back long before Christmas," cried +Vibert; and he held out his hand for the note. But Emmie retained it +still in her clasp. She was doubtful as to the use which the young +prodigal might make of the money, and whether it might not be rather an +injury than a kindness to Vibert to replenish his empty purse. + +The youth read the doubt on the maiden's expressive face, and it made +him indignant and angry. + +"Emmie, can you not trust me?" exclaimed Vibert in an irritable tone; +and, as no answer immediately came, he passionately repeated the +question. + +"Oh for courage to speak the truth faithfully!" thought Emmie; but the +courage came not with the wish. Her lips formed a scarcely articulate +"yes;" and having said "yes" to her brother's question, she could hardly +say "no" to his demand for a loan. + +Vibert rather took than received the bank-note from Emmie; he saw that +his sister was reluctant to give it, but he thought that a kiss, and the +assurance that she was "the dearest girl in the world," had set all +right between them. + +"Of course the money is as safe with me as if it were in the Bank of +England!" cried Vibert; "you shall have it back in a week;" and nodding +good-bye to Emmie, Vibert quitted the drawing-room, and was soon on his +way to S----. + +Emmie watched from the window the light and graceful form of her +brother, as he tramped over the new-fallen snow, leaving brown +footprints behind him. The poor girl's eyes were full of tears, and her +heart of self-reproach. + +"I have been no true friend to my thoughtless young brother," said Emmie +to herself; "it was mere selfish cowardice which made me yield to his +wishes, and put in his hands money of which I fear that he will make no +good use." + +The maiden left the window, but not to resume her employment; all her +pleasure in it was gone: she had sacrificed her means of doing good to +her fear of offending her brother. Emmie knelt down on the hearth-rug +and hastily gathered up her scraps of ribbons, chintz, and silk, tossing +them back into the basket, as trash to be thrust out of sight, or thrown +away as useless. The cares which pressed on Emmie's mind were not now to +be banished by thoughts of Christmas amusements, and the hope of +imparting innocent pleasure to the children of her father's tenants. + +On the afternoon of that day, Miss Trevor took possession of that +apartment which, by means of thorough repairs, had been prepared for her +reception. It was spacious enough to receive all the furniture which had +been originally placed in the room now occupied by Bruce. Amongst other +articles, the tall press of richly-carved oak occupied a conspicuous +place; it had been moved with some difficulty from the position which it +had held for two centuries, and now added to the stateliness, though not +perhaps to the cheerfulness, of Miss Trevor's apartment. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE ECLIPSE. + + +The demeanour of Mr. Trevor's two sons, when they met at the +dinner-table on that evening, was in strong contrast to each other. +Bruce looked grave and stern, and had the appearance of one who is pale +and weary from too close attention to study. Vibert, on the contrary, +was in the highest spirits. + +"Bruce, you look as the moon will look to-night under an eclipse!" cried +Vibert; "you mean to tack to your name M.A. or D.L. or A.S.S., or some +other mystical letters of the alphabet, and the shadow of coming +distinction is falling on you already!" + +"Is this the night of the eclipse?" asked Emmie, interposing, as was her +wont, some indifferent remark to prevent any interchange of bitter words +between her brothers. + +"Yes; had you forgotten it?" said Vibert. "It is to be an almost total +eclipse. We can hardly see it from any window in the house, the place is +so smothered with trees; but there is a spot on the lawn from which we +can get a very good view." + +"I wish that we had a telescope here," observed Mr. Trevor. + +"That's just what I said to my friend Standish," cried Vibert; "for, as +you know, I'm desperately eager in pursuit of scientific knowledge. +'I'll lend you mine,' said the colonel; 'it has prodigious magnifying +power. It was my travelling companion when I journeyed northward, in a +sledge, with only an Eskimo guide, and reached the high latitude of'--I +really don't remember the latitude that Standish mentioned, but it was +something that would make our Arctic explorers stare." + +"Perhaps it was degree one hundred and one," said Bruce sarcastically. +"I suspect that the colonel's telescope is not with him the only +instrument that has high magnifying power." + +"You are always sneering at Standish," cried Vibert angrily; "you give +him credit for nothing, simply, I believe, because he has chosen me for +his friend. But others appreciate him better," continued the youth, +addressing his conversation to Emmie. "Standish had grand news to-day +from Washington; he has only been waiting at S---- till he should know +how his suit in America has prospered." + +"A law-suit?" inquired Mr. Trevor. + +"Oh no; a suit more interesting by far than any regarding +field-boundaries or dye-works!" laughed Vibert. "Standish is an +illustration of the proverb, 'None but the brave deserve the fair.' He +has wooed and won the greatest belle in the West, a cousin of the +president of the United States, a lady with a dowry of half a million of +dollars!" Vibert glanced triumphantly at Bruce, and raising a glass of +claret, pledged the health of the colonel's destined bride. + +"I suppose that as the lady is in Washington, the colonel will not +remain long in Wiltshire," observed Mr. Trevor, who had no wish for his +longer stay. + +"That's the worst part of the business,--at least for me," replied +Vibert, setting down the glass, which he had drained. "Standish leaves +England almost directly. He has already secured his passage in an +American steamer, and has only now to get what he wants to take with +him, amongst other things wedding-gifts for his bride. Standish is +prodigiously liberal as well as enormously rich; so the fair lady will +have her caskets of diamonds and 'ropes of pearl,' such as a duchess +might envy. The colonel asked me to-day what London jeweller I would +recommend," continued the youth with a self-complacency which made his +auditors smile, "and I told him that our family had dealt for twenty +years with Messrs. Golding. I showed Standish the watch, studs, and +signet-ring which I had bought at their shop, and he declared that he +had never seen anything in the jewellery line more tasteful." It was +evident that the boy's vanity had been tickled by his being consulted on +such a matter by one who was the accepted suitor of a president's +cousin. "But here am I talking about these sublunary affairs, when the +eclipse will be beginning," cried Vibert. "It is quarter past seven +now,"--he glanced at his watch as he spoke; "the night is splendid, not +a breath of wind is stirring, while moonlight is silvering the snow. Who +will come out with me and look at the queen of night under a shadow? +Emmie, you will certainly make one of the party; we all know your taste +for the beautiful and sublime." + +"My girl must be well wrapped up if she venture out in the snow," +observed Mr. Trevor. + +"We'll case her in fur like a squirrel!" cried Vibert. "Come, Emmie, or +we shall be late." + +Emmie rose from her seat at table; her life at Myst Court afforded so +little variety, that the sight of an eclipse on a clear wintry night was +not one that she would willingly miss. + +"I suppose that you, Bruce, will go too," said his father. "For my part, +I have seen so many lunar eclipses already, that I shall return to my +desk. I want to finish the perusal of that paper sent by my lawyer which +I was showing to you when the dinner-gong sounded." + +"I should like to look over the paper with you," said Bruce. "I do not +care to go out to-night." + +The young man was feeling ill, though he did not complain. + +"We'll leave them to their musty-fusty law; as for us, we prefer +meditation and moonlight!" said Vibert playfully, as a few minutes +afterwards he stood in the hall with Emmie, assisting his sister to +mantle her slight form in her fur-lined mantilla. "I don't see why papa +should bother himself with Bullen and his horrible dyes; the stream is +clear enough where it flows through our woods. If Bullen had poisoned +our coffee, or killed our trout, the matter might have required a +lawyer. There now, just let me throw this pretty little scarlet shawl +over your head, to be a complete defence against the night air! I +declare that it makes you look like an opening rose-bud; I never saw a +headdress more picturesque and becoming!" + +Emmie smiled, and the brother and sister quitted the house together, +sauntering down the steps which led from the door to the carriage-drive. + +"We can see nothing here," observed Vibert; "we must go right round to +the back of the house, and make our way over the lawn, till we get just +beyond the group of yew-trees. There we shall have a clear view of the +moon." + +The first touch of shadow was dimming the round disc of the moon when +the brother and sister stepped forth on the snow. But the orb was hidden +from them, first by the house, and then by the trees around it, until +they should reach the spot indicated by Vibert. The short quick walk was +not a silent one; Vibert's thoughts were engrossed by a subject much +more interesting to him than the moon. + +"Emmie, I must be off to London to-morrow," said he. + +"To London!" echoed Emmie in surprise. "What has put such a sudden +flight into your mind?" + +"I've many reasons for wishing to go up to town. Patti is to sing +to-morrow night at a grand concert; I am dying to hear her again, and +Standish--kind fellow!--has given me a ticket of admittance. Then I've +shopping and business to transact which I cannot possibly put off. I +shall only stay for one night in London, and I will not go to a hotel. +Aunt Mary told me, you know, that she could always offer me a room in +Grosvenor Square." + +"Papa will not like the needless expense," began Emmie. + +"Expense! how I hate the very word! But you have smoothed that matter +for me, darling," said Vibert, pressing the arm that was locked in his +own. "Papa shall not have a shilling to pay." + +"But you would miss two days of study." + +"No great loss, if one may judge of what they would have been by those +that have gone before them," laughed Vibert. "I have not fatigued myself +lately by any overwhelming amount of hard work." + +"I fear not indeed," said his sister. + +"But I'll work double when once I've had my full swing of pleasure," +cried Vibert. "I can pass Bruce, at least in classics, if I make an +effort to do so. I know that I've been an idle fellow ever since we came +to Myst Court; but when Standish goes I'll have nothing to do but to +study, and I'll be bound I'll astonish you all with my learning." + +"We have only been here for a month," observed Emmie; "it is too early +for you to think of returning to London. You had better far put off +going for a while." + +"I told you that I could not put off!" cried Vibert impatiently. "My +concert ticket will not keep, nor my business neither. You might as well +tell yon moon to put off her eclipse!" + +By this time the Trevors had reached the spot beyond the yew-trees, +where nothing obstructed their view of the radiant orb. The dark shadow +of earth was slowly cutting its sharply-defined outline on her disc, and +each minute her clear light was becoming more and more sensibly +obscured. There is something very solemn in the sight of that natural +phenomenon which science can foretell, but which all created powers +combined can neither prevent nor for one single moment delay. Even the +light gossip of Vibert was silenced as he gazed. Nothing appeared to be +moving on the snow-covered earth, or through the still air, save when a +bat, with its peculiar flickering motion, darted between the moon and +those who stood with upraised eyes, silently watching the deepening +eclipse. Behind the trees rose Myst Court, showing, not its broad +stately front, but the back offices, which were irregular in +construction, and some of them built at a later date than other parts of +the mansion. This side of the house possessed no beauty whatever by day, +save what climbing ivy might give; but by moonlight its very +irregularity gave to it a picturesque charm which was wanting to the +more handsome but flatter front of the dwelling. Emmie turned round to +glance at a part of her new home with which she was very imperfectly +acquainted, as she had never entered the mansion at that eastern side. +She admired the effect of moonlight on the snow-covered ivy which +mantled the walls--silver gleams which threw into strong contrast the +deep black shadows which fell from projecting gable or overhanging roof. +Even the chimneys seemed transformed into twisted columns of ebony and +silver. + +"I never thought that Myst Court could look so romantic," said Emmie; +"it was worth while coming out at night to see it as we see it now. But +the air is chilly," she added, and, to draw her scarlet shawl closer +over her braided hair, the maiden for a moment drew her arm from that of +her brother. + +"Ha! I had forgotten the telescope!" exclaimed Vibert; and with that +want of thought for others which with him was a branch from the root of +selfishness, the youth darted off to bring the glass, leaving his sister +alone beside the shadowy yew-trees. + +Emmie had not thought of fear so long as she had leaned on her brother's +arm, so long as the lively Vibert was close beside her; but his +departure--so sudden, that she had no time to cry "Do not go!" before +he was gone--awoke her dormant terrors. To find herself in utter +solitude, standing on the snowy lawn beside the gloomy yews, within +bow-shot of a dwelling said to be haunted, whilst the very moon was +suffering eclipse, was a position which might have tried stronger nerves +than those of Emmie. All the horrible tales that she had heard on the +night of her first arrival, the colonel's ghastly legends, Jael's +stories of apparitions seen in that very house which now dimly loomed +before the eyes of the maiden, the dark hints of dangers thrown out by +Harper--all rushed at once on the mind of the timid girl. She made a few +quick steps in pursuit of Vibert; but he had vanished from her sight +round the corner of the house. Emmie was afraid to skirt half of the +spacious mansion alone, yet equally afraid to remain in such dreary +solitude, to await her brother's return. A breeze stirred the branches +of neighbouring trees; Emmie started at the sound of the rustle. The +tall bushes in their shrouds of snow began to her excited imagination to +assume the form of spectres; Emmie almost fancied that they began to +move towards her! And now--it is not imagination--a dark figure is +slowly moving along the gravel-path, whitened by snow, which divides the +lawn on which Emmie is standing from that back part of Myst Court to +which her gaze is directed! Emmie's first emotion is that of terror, +her next is that of relief. She recognizes the sound of a short dry +cough, which has nothing unearthly about it; and by the faint light of +the half-eclipsed moon sees the outline of a familiar form most unlike +the shape in which a spectre might be supposed to appear. Emmie feels no +longer alone. There is Mrs. Jessel, coming at no unwonted hour, with +basket on arm, doubtless to carry away what may remain of the evening's +repast. + +Never before had Emmie so welcomed the appearance of Mrs. Myer's late +attendant, the obsequious, voluble Jael. Lightly the young-lady tripped +over the soft white snow, whilst Mrs. Jessel was engaged in opening some +back-door which lay in the deepest shadow behind a projecting part of +the building. Emmie's step was noiseless as that of a fairy, and her +form was unseen by Mrs. Jessel, whose back was turned towards her. Jael +turned a key, pushed open a door, and entered the house, leaving the +door ajar. Emmie followed the woman into the dwelling, guided by the +sound of her creaking boots and her short dry cough. The passage which +the two had entered was dark, but Emmie naturally expected that some +inner door would quickly be opened, and that she should find herself in +the light and warmth of her own kitchen, for whose cheerful interior +Mrs. Jessel of course was bound. How welcome to the ears of Emmie would +be even the coarse loud tones of Hannah! The young lady was somewhat +surprised when the footsteps which she was following led up a narrow +staircase, instead of turning towards what she supposed to be the +direction of the kitchen. Still, as it was certain that Jael, after +living for years in the mansion, must be acquainted with its every turn +and winding, and as it was equally certain that she must be going to +some lighted part, Miss Trevor went on, feeling her way by the iron +railing up the narrow stone stair, listening to the creak of the boots +and the occasional cough, which told that her guide was in front. Emmie +felt a strange repugnance to address Mrs. Jessel in the darkness, +therefore groped on her way in silence, expecting every moment to be +ushered into the light. Here we leave her for the present, and go for a +while to the study of Mr. Trevor, where he and his elder son are quietly +engaged with the lawyer's papers. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +AN ALARM. + + +"It strikes me that there are unusual sounds in this generally quiet +house," observed Mr. Trevor, raising his head to listen, after he and +Bruce had been for nearly half-an-hour employed in reading and making +extracts. + +"I have been noticing them too," said Bruce. "I suppose that Vibert is +in one of his wild merry moods, and that--" + +Ere he could finish his sentence, the door of the study was suddenly +flung wide open, and Vibert rushed in, with anxiety painted on his face. + +"Emmie--is she with you?" he breathlessly cried. + +"Emmie!" repeated Mr. Trevor, rising in sudden alarm. Bruce dropped the +paper which he had held in his hand, and sprang to his feet. + +"Did she not go with you to watch the eclipse?" asked the father; "when +did you miss her?--where did you leave her?" The questions were asked in +a manner and tone that expressed anxiety. + +"I left Emmie on the sward by the yew-trees," said Vibert, answering the +last question first. + +"Surely not alone?" interrupted his brother. + +"I was back in three minutes, but she was gone. I called--loudly +enough--but there was no answer! I rushed back to the house, and have +since been hunting all over the place--upper rooms, lower rooms, +kitchen, and all! The servants know nothing about Emmie, but are looking +for her in every corner!" + +"The grounds must be searched with torches without a moment's delay," +cried the father, loudly ringing the bell of the study. Bruce hurried to +the door with such anxious haste that he almost came into collision +with--Emmie! + +"Here she comes herself, our wandering fairy, to give an account of her +doings!" he cried, drawing back to let Emmie pass him and enter the +lighted apartment. "She has only been playing at hide-and-seek." + +Bruce spoke gaily, but almost before the last word had left his lips his +manner changed, for he looked on his sister, and saw at a glance that no +mirthful frolic had caused her late disappearance. Had the poor heroine +of the story of the oaken-chest contrived by some superhuman effort to +burst her living tomb, even in such ghastly guise might she have +appeared before her wondering friends. + +Emmie had entered the study with rapid steps; she now threw herself into +the arms of her father, and buried her face on his breast, as if seeking +for protection and safety. The poor girl uttered no sound, but her bosom +heaved convulsively, and her clinging hands trembled as if with ague. +Emmie's scarlet shawl had fallen back on her shoulders, and over it +flowed her dishevelled hair. Emmie's attitude was so expressive of +terror, that she might have been deemed some fugitive who had barely +escaped with life from some scene of slaughter. + +"My child--my sweet child--what ails you? what has happened to alarm you +thus?" said Mr. Trevor soothingly, while Bruce dismissed the servants, +who had, in a body, answered the summons of the bell, only bidding Susan +bring a glass of cold water. "Emmie has merely had some little fright," +he said to himself, as he returned to the table. + +But that the fright had been no little one was but too evident when +Emmie raised her head, and turned her face to the light. Her countenance +was colourless, even to the lips, and ghastly as that of a corpse, +whilst her eyes stared wildly, with the pupils dilated, as if seeking +some object of terror. Mr. Trevor made his daughter sit down close by +his side, and put his arm fondly around her, whilst with his left hand +he gently stroked and chafed Emmie's icy-cold fingers. + +"My poor little trembling dove, what has frightened you so?" he +inquired. + +Emmie's lip quivered, but she was unable to speak. + +"I'm sure that I'm monstrously sorry that I left you for a moment!" +cried Vibert. "I'm a thoughtless fellow, I own; but no harm could +possibly have come to you, if you had quietly remained where you stood. +Where did you hide that I could not find you? Surely you must have heard +me calling your name?" + +Emmie shivered, but gave no reply. + +"Do not trouble her with questions now," said her father; "she is in a +weak and nervous state,--but this will set her right," he added, as he +proffered to Emmie's lips the glass of sal-volatile and water which had +been quickly brought by Susan. + +The cordial revived the poor girl; her eyes lost their wild excited +expression, and the lips regained a more natural hue, though the cheeks +remained very pale. But when Emmie was again questioned as to what had +caused her alarm, she but gasped forth, "Don't ask, don't ask!" and +burst into a fit of hysterical weeping, which lasted for several +minutes. + +"She had better go to rest at once," said Mr. Trevor, when the fit had +somewhat subsided; "quiet sleep is what she most wants. We will take her +to her own room; and, Susan, do not quit the side of my daughter +to-night." + +Supporting the trembling Emmie, who did not even turn to bid her +brothers good-night, Mr. Trevor then left the study, followed by Susan. + +"Something strange must have happened," said Vibert, when the three had +left the apartment. + +"I see no reason to think so," said Bruce, who had resumed his seat by +the table, and had taken up again the paper which he had dropped. +"Emmie's timidity is like a disease, a kind of waking nightmare, and it +would be as idle to look for external cause for her terrors as it would +be for those experienced in a bad dream. What could have been more +unreasonable than her dread of occupying a bright pleasant room, because +a gentleman had died of hydrophobia in the one next to it, and that +fifty years ago!" + +"And with such a good thick wall between the two apartments," observed +Vibert, who was standing with his back to the fire, "so that there is +not so much as a key-hole through which ghost or goblin might creep." + +"I cannot say so much," remarked Bruce; "there is a door of +communication between the two rooms, though, by the way, the key-hole +does _not_ go right through it, for it can be opened but on one side." + +"A door of communication!" exclaimed Vibert. "I never knew that before." + +"Nor did I," observed Bruce, "until the workmen from S---- had to move +in my presence the large heavy press which had stood in that room for I +know not how many years. As they were dragging it off to place it in the +apartment prepared for poor dear Emmie, I noticed a key-hole in one of +the panels which had hitherto been covered by the oak press. When the +workmen had departed, I tried whether the key of the door which opens on +the corridor would fit into this newly-discovered key-hole." + +"And did it fit it?" inquired Vibert eagerly. + +"Exactly," was his brother's reply. + +"Does any one but yourself know the secret of the door in the panel?" +asked Vibert. + +"No; nor do I care that the servants should know it, nor Emmie, who is +sufficiently nervous already as to what regards the so-called haunted +chamber. I have hung a large map over that part of the panel in which is +the key-hole; and as the housemaid never ventures to move what I place +on the walls, the fact of there being a door of communication between +the two rooms is not likely to be discovered even by her." + +"And with the power to enter at will into the haunted chamber, had you +not the curiosity to tread the forbidden ground?" cried Vibert. + +"When I first found that the key fitted the key-hole in the wall, I +turned it, and pushed open the small panel-door," replied Bruce; "but I +did not pass into the bricked-up room." + +"You looked in?" + +"But saw nothing, for the place was pitch-dark," answered Bruce. "I only +observed that the air was close, as might be expected when coming from a +chamber from which light and air had been carefully excluded for the +last fifty years." + +"And so you have been a whole month with only a door between you and the +mysterious apartment to which such strange and thrilling stories +belong!" cried Vibert. "I suppose that you intend thoroughly to explore +its inmost recess." + +"I see no use in so doing," was Bruce's reply. "As the relation to whose +bequest my father owes the possession of the house so anxiously tried to +ensure that no one should enter that room, it seems scarcely honourable +to take advantage of her ignorance of the existence of that small door +in the panel." + +"Pshaw! that is a mere romantic scruple," said Vibert. "I could not +withstand the temptation to explore the haunted chamber." + +"I have a lack of curiosity," observed Bruce Trevor. + +"Or a lack of something else," cried his thoughtless young brother, in a +provokingly satirical tone. + +Bruce was in an irritable mood on that evening, and at no time would +have patiently borne what sounded like an imputation on his personal +courage. Who should dare to taunt him with lack of daring, or the +slightest taint of that superstitious fear which he scorned even in +Emmie? + +"If you cannot speak common sense, you idiot," Bruce fiercely exclaimed, +"keep your idle twaddle for those who may mistake it for wit!" + +"How now, boys? what's all this?" cried the loud, angry voice of Mr. +Trevor, who, re-entering the room at that moment, had heard Bruce's +passionate words, and seen his fiery glance at his brother. "Bruce, you +forget yourself strangely." + +Bruce bit his nether lip hard. He would not bandy words with his father, +but still less would his proud spirit brook such sharp reproof even from +a parent. The young man rose, quitted the study, and with a swelling +heart went to his own apartment. Bruce bitterly, though silently, +accused his father of partiality and injustice; the young man was +blinded by pride to the fact that Mr. Trevor had had good and sufficient +reason for finding fault with his son's intemperate language. + +"What caused this quarrel?" inquired Mr. Trevor of Vibert, after Bruce +had quitted the room. + +"Oh, Bruce is in a huff,--it is no novelty," replied Vibert. "He thinks +that every one is wanting in common sense but his own oracular self." + +Mr. Trevor paced up and down the study for some minutes with a troubled +mien and furrowed brow. He had many things to disturb his mind; he was +seriously grieved at Emmie's hysterical state, and in the dissension +between his sons found a new cause of perplexing annoyance. Vibert +marked his father's vexation, and characteristically enough managed to +take advantage of it for the furtherance of his own wishes. + +"I should like to keep out of the bear's way till he has had his growl +out," observed Vibert, watching his father's countenance as he spoke. "I +have lots of things that I want to do in London to-morrow. I would sleep +at Aunt Mary's in Grosvenor Square, and come back on the following day." + +The youth had thrown out a feeler, and saw by his father's face that +Mr. Trevor would not be likely to offer violent opposition to the trip +upon which his son's heart was set. + +"You will be wanting more money, you young spendthrift," was Mr. +Trevor's remark, but made in an easy, good-humoured way. + +"No, I have plenty left," answered Vibert. + +The unexpected announcement was an agreeable surprise to the parent, who +was not aware that Vibert's supply had been borrowed from Emmie. + +"You might consult your aunt about Emmie," observed Mr. Trevor, pausing +in his walk, and then resuming his seat. "I am not easy regarding the +health of your sister; Myst Court is too dull for her, I fear, and its +loneliness serves to fill her mind with idle fancies." + +"Yes, yes, I'll tell my aunt all about Emmie," said Vibert, trying to +look as thoughtful and sympathetic as his pleasure at getting his own +way would permit. "It is so much easier to explain all these delicate +matters by speaking than by writing," he added. + +"And you will take up my watch to Golding to be repaired," observed Mr. +Trevor. "I do not like to trust one so valuable as mine to conveyance by +post." + +"I will take it with all the pleasure in life!" cried Vibert, who would +eagerly have undertaken the charge of all the clocks in the house had +they needed just then a journey to London. + +The matter was quickly settled; it was arranged that Vibert should start +by an early train. + +"What a lucky chance it was that Bruce should have barked at me just as +papa came in!" thought the triumphant Vibert. "I'll be off before +daylight to-morrow, or the hard-headed, hard-hearted chap would find a +thousand reasons for not letting me go after all." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +INDECISION. + + +"Vibert gone to London,--and so suddenly!" exclaimed Bruce, when, on the +following morning, he heard from his father of his brother's early +departure. "Wherefore did he go? He did not mention to me a word of his +intention to make the journey." + +"You scarcely invite his confidence," observed Mr. Trevor. + +"There is more money thrown to the dogs," muttered Bruce. + +"No; Vibert has shown more consideration for my purse than usual," said +Mr. Trevor. "He has made no call upon it for this little expedition to +London." + +Bruce looked steadfastly into the face of his father for several +seconds, but not in order to read anything there. The young man's mind +was busy with its own thoughts; a slight smile came over his lips,--the +smile of one who has detected a little plot, and knows how to foil it. +With an inaudible "I smell a rat," Bruce turned and walked up to the +window. + +"Vibert need no money to carry him to London! As well might we believe +that the train in which he travels requires no steam," thought Bruce to +himself. "I happen to know that his purse was empty yesterday morning. +My belief is that Vibert is in this house at this moment, or at any rate +not further off than S----. He has some silly practical joke in his head +connected with the haunted chamber, and means to throw me off my guard +by a feigned absence in London. What folly possessed me to tell a wild +hare-brain like Vibert of the little door in the panel? But it is no +matter; whatever frantic freak he may have in his head, he at least +shall find me prepared." + +Emmie came down to morning prayers looking very pale, and with the +violet tints under her languid eyes, which were tokens of her having +passed a sleepless night. She presided as usual at the breakfast-table, +but in a dreamy, listless manner, herself scarcely touching the viands. +It was evidently an effort to the poor girl to join in the conversation, +which her father purposely led to such topics as he thought might +interest his daughter. Mr. Trevor talked of literature and arts, +recounted amusing passages from his own history, and did his best to +divert Emmie's mind, but with little apparent effect. Her eyes were +constantly turned towards her brother with an anxious, questioning look, +until, the morning meal being concluded, Mr. Trevor, perplexed and +disappointed, left the room to speak to his steward. + +Emmie then went up to Bruce, who was about to start on his daily walk to +his tutor's. + +"Bruce, dearest, you look ill," said Emmie, laying a tremulous hand on +the arm of her brother. + +"I might say the same to you, if it were not treason to utter anything +so uncomplimentary to a fair lady," observed Bruce. + +"Why do you look ill? Has--has anything painful occurred?" asked Emmie, +in a hurried, nervous manner. + +"I must act echo again," answered Bruce. + +"Tell me, oh, tell me what has happened," urged his sister, who was not +in the slightest degree disposed to enter into a jest. + +"Nothing has happened, dear Emmie," replied Bruce more gravely. "I have +had a little headache these one or two days; it is of no consequence. +You have not the least occasion to look so miserably anxious as far as I +am concerned." + +To the young man's surprise, his sister's eyes filled and then brimmed +over with tears. Emmie leaned her brow against his shoulder, and drops +fell fast on the sleeve of his arm, which she was pressing with a +nervous grasp. + +"My dear Emmie, what can be the cause of all this sorrow? What ails +you?" asked Bruce, grieved at the sight of distress for which he could +not account. + +"Oh, Bruce!" sobbed Emmie, pressing her brother's arm yet more closely, +"promise me--promise me--" She stopped short, as if afraid to finish her +sentence. + +"What would you have me promise?" asked Bruce. + +Emmie gave no direct reply, but inquired abruptly, "Have you a bell in +your room?" + +Her question was a real relief to the mind of Bruce, as it convinced him +that Emmie's misery arose merely from some fanciful terrors in regard to +the bricked-up apartment. + +"Yes," he answered gaily, "and a gun besides, to say nothing of poker +and tongs, pen-knife, and razors. If any unpleasant guests were to make +their appearance, they should find me quite ready to meet them." + +Emmie was crying no longer, but she looked pale and anxious +as ever; something seemed to be on her tongue struggling for +utterance,--something which she was afraid or unable to speak. + +"It is time for me to be off," said Bruce, gently releasing his arm from +the clasp of his sister. + +"Bruce, stay. Tell me if you would again change rooms with me," cried +Emmie, with a convulsive effort. + +"I am very sorry that you do not like your new apartment," said Bruce, +slightly knitting his brows. + +"I do like it,--it is only too good for me," faltered poor Emmie. + +"Then why quit it?" asked Bruce, with a little impatience. + +"I thought that if you would not mind changing--" Again Emmie stopped +abruptly, without concluding her sentence. + +"Of course I will change rooms with you if you really wish it," said +Bruce, willing to humour his sister, but making mental reflections on +the fickleness and unreasonableness of the fair sex, of which Emmie was +the only representative with whom he was well acquainted. + +"But I do not wish it,--no, no,--not yet, not yet!" exclaimed Emmie, +betraying terror at the idea of her brother complying with her request. +The patience of Bruce was fairly exhausted. + +"I wish that you would know your own mind," he said, with an air of +vexation. "Really, Emmie, you should try to overcome these ridiculous +fears and fancies. Where is your spirit,--where is your faith?" + +Emmie turned away her head with a shivering sigh. + +"We must send you to London for change of scene," observed Bruce; "a few +weeks with Aunt Mary will drive all these unreasonable terrors out of +your mind." + +"Oh, let us all go--at once--to-day!" exclaimed Emmie, clasping her +hands. "Let us all leave this horrible place." + +"For my father or myself to leave Myst Court at present is simply +impossible," said Bruce, in that tone of quiet decision which, as Emmie +well knew, expressed a resolution which it was useless for her to +attempt to shake. + +"Then I will not leave you,--no, no!" she murmured. "Let us all at least +be together." + +"If we be in danger from any foe, corporeal or spiritual, your slender +arm and more slender courage will scarcely avail much for our +protection," observed Bruce, with a smile. He had regained his +good-humour, and sought to rally Emmie out of her fears by assuming a +playful manner. + +But the attempt was vain; Emmie only burst again into a fit of weeping, +and hastily quitted the apartment, brushing past her father, who was +just returning to the breakfast-room after his interview with his +steward. + +"I am extremely annoyed about Emmie," said the affectionate parent, +addressing himself to Bruce; "I cannot comprehend what has taken such a +strange hold on her mind." + +"Mere fear, I believe," answered Bruce. "She has never struggled to +overcome it, and now in this gloomy old place it has gained complete +mastery over her reason." + +"The mere incident of her having been left alone on the lawn for a few +minutes last night seems scarcely to account for my child's terror," +observed Mr. Trevor. "Surely Vibert, thoughtless as he is, cannot have +had the senseless cruelty to play on his sister's timidity any practical +joke." The same idea had occurred, to Bruce. + +"Vibert is capable of any folly," thought the elder brother; but after +the experience of the preceding evening, he did not put the thought into +words. + +"I shall keep my girl as close by my side as possible," observed Mr. +Trevor. "Perhaps this strange fit of melancholy may pass off; if not, I +must arrange for her going to Grosvenor Square. Her departure would +leave a sad blank in our little circle at Christmas-time, but my own +gratification must not weigh in the balance against my child's comfort +and health." + +"Where is your faith,--where is your faith?" moaned poor Emmie, +repeating to herself again and again her brother's question, as she +paced up and down her own apartment, wringing her hands. "Oh, miserable +doubt and mistrust! I might once have met my enemy on the ground of +duty, and by prayer and resolute effort have gained some strength to +meet more serious trials; but I let my fears subdue me without a +struggle to cast them off, and now I lie prostrate,--a helpless victim +bound in their chains. Usefulness marred, peace destroyed, a horrible +dread on my mind, a reproving conscience within my breast, I seem now +unable even to pray! I have let go the Hand that would so gently have +led me; darkness is thick around me; I cannot find my Heavenly Guide! I +dread to keep silent, yet dare not speak. Oh, that horrible, blasphemous +oath!" + +But it is time that the reader should be made acquainted with the +circumstances which led to Emmie's present state of misery. We will +therefore return to that point in the story where we left the maiden +silently tracking in the darkness the steps of Jael up the dark and +narrow stone stairs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE HAUNTED CHAMBER. + + +Emmie's light footsteps were unheard by Mrs. Jessel, probably on account +of the creaking noise made by her own. Had the form before her been that +of Susan, Miss Trevor would at once have addressed her; but she had a +dislike to entering in the darkness into a conversation with a woman who +had told her so many ghost stories. Emmie therefore delayed speaking to +Jael until they should both have entered a lighted apartment. + +The top of the flight of stone steps was soon reached; Mrs. Jessel +turned the handle of a door, and on her opening it a light streamed from +within, casting its yellow reflection on the wall by the staircase. Jael +entered the room before her, and Emmie heard her say, "What! at work +still?" as she passed into the warmth and light. + +Not in the least degree doubting that the woman had addressed one of +the household, and eager to find herself once more amongst familiar +faces, out of the darkness and chilly night air, Emmie quickly followed +Mrs. Jessel into the room. No sooner had she crossed the threshold than +she stopped short in surprise and alarm, gazing in motionless terror at +the unexpected sight which met her eyes,--for Emmie stood in the haunted +chamber! + +The room was of good size, and, like that which it adjoined on the side +opposite to that by which Jael had entered, was panelled with oak. The +apartment was warmed by a stove, and lighted by a shaded lamp, which +cast a dull radiance on antique furniture and various objects of whose +nature and use Emmie, from her hurried glance, could form no definite +idea. Her attention was concentrated on a point close to that shaded +lamp. It stood on a table, and on every object that lay on that table +threw an intense light. Seated almost close to it, bending over what +seemed like a sheet of copper, with a graving instrument in his right +hand, and a magnifying glass in his left, his long grizzled hair falling +over his brow as he stooped, Emmie beheld the object of her special +dread, the hollow-eyed, weird-looking Harper! + +He raised his head; he saw the unexpected intruder; his glistening eyes +were fixed upon Emmie, and, like those of the serpent surveying its +victim, their gaze seemed to deprive the poor girl of all power of +motion. Emmie, had she not been paralyzed with fear, would have had time +to start back, spring down the stairs, and rouse the family by her loud +call for assistance. But in the extremity of her terror the timid girl +neither stirred foot nor uttered cry. She stood, as it were, +spell-bound. In a few seconds her opportunity for flight was lost. Jael, +seeing Harper's look, turned round, beheld Emmie behind her, and +instantly closed and bolted the door. The poor maiden found herself a +helpless prisoner in one of the rooms of her father's house. + +"Utter a sound and you die!" growled Harper, dropping his graving +instrument, and grasping the large knife which had been lying open on +the table before him. + +Emmie clasped her hands and sank on her knees. + +"What made you bring her here?" said Harper fiercely to Jael, adding +epithets of abuse with which I shall not soil my pages. + +Jael looked alarmed, and declared that she had never guessed that the +girl was following her up the secret staircase. "And now that she has +discovered your hiding-place, what is to be done?" cried the woman. + +"Dead men tell no tales," muttered Harper, in a tone which made the +blood of Emmie appear to freeze in her veins. + +"No, no; you must not harm her,--you cannot touch her," said Mrs. +Jessel. "Such a deed could never be hidden; you would only ruin us all. +Her father and brothers would search till they found her, if they had to +pull down every brick in the house with their nails!" + +Harper looked perplexed and undecided. + +"Make her promise secrecy, and let her go free," said Jael. + +"And trust my safety to a woman's power of holding her tongue! Not I; I +will take a surer way,--if I swing for it!" cried Harper, starting from +his seat. + +"You have listened to your wife's advice before now, and found it good," +said she whom we have called Mrs. Jessel, interposing herself between +her husband and Emmie. A rapid conversation then passed between the +Harpers, held in a tone so low that Emmie could not distinguish a word, +though she had a fearful consciousness that on the result of that +conversation her own life must depend. The terrified girl could not +collect her thoughts, even for prayer, unless the voiceless cry of +"Mercy, mercy!" which was bursting from her heart, was an appeal for +help from above. + +At length her fate was decided. Harper approached the crouching form of +Emmie, and thus addressed her, still grasping the knife in his hand. + +"Will you take the most solemn oath that tongue can frame never to give +hint, by word or sign, of what you have seen this night? Will you swear +silence deep as the grave?" + +"Anything--everything--I will never betray you!" gasped Emmie, grasping +with the eagerness of a drowning wretch at the hope of safety thus held +out. + +Harper made the shuddering girl repeat after him, word for word, an oath +of his own framing, accompanied by fearful imprecations invoked on her +own soul should she ever break that oath, even in the smallest point. If +the wretched Emmie so much as hesitated before pronouncing words which +seemed to her not only horrible but almost blasphemous, the cold steel +was shaken before her eyes, as a menace of instant death. + +When the oath had been taken by the poor maiden, Harper gruffly bade her +rise. Emmie could not have done so without the help of Jael. + +"Now, hark 'ee, girl," said the ruffian, and as he spoke he grasped +Emmie's wrist with his left hand to enforce his words, "I have a hold +over you besides that of your oath. If you break it--but by a whisper, +but by a look--I have the means here of blowing up the house over your +head! And I will do it, rather than myself fall into the clutches of the +law. Or if you should think to find safety by flight, I would pursue you +to the furthest end of the island, ay, or beyond it! In the grave alone +should you hide yourself from my vengeance!" Then, turning to his wife, +Harper added, "Now, take that girl back to the place from whence you +brought her, and tell her that if she flinch from keeping her oath, I +shall not flinch from keeping mine!" + +With that terrible threat still sounding in her ears, Emmie found +herself again on the narrow stone staircase, with the cold draught of +air from the lower door, which she had left open, rushing up from below. +Mrs. Harper was supporting the poor girl, or she must have fallen. + +"Pluck up a brave heart, Miss Trevor; all is safe as long as you keep +silence," said the woman. + +"Is all safe,--my father, my brothers? Oh, is there no danger for them +in this horrible house?" exclaimed Emmie, who had no clear idea as to +the nature of the work in which Harper was engaged, save that it +assuredly must be evil. + +"Every one is safe so long as you are silent," answered Jael Harper. + +"But Bruce--my brother--who sleeps next door to that room,--oh, if he +were to discover what is passing in the haunted chamber!" exclaimed +Emmie in anguish. "If he were to find out--" + +"He has never found us out, and he never will!" interrupted Jael, who, +having supported Emmie down the stairs, was now emerging with her on the +gravel path, where the moon, passing from the shadow of earth, now shed +her full radiance around them. "Think you that my husband does not take +every precaution to prevent discovery? There is no chance of finding +_him_ napping. Master Bruce is regular in his hours as clock-work; we +have no difficulty whatever in keeping out of his way." + +Bruce's methodical habits had, indeed, rendered his occupation of the +room next the haunted chamber no great restraint upon Harper, who was +not even aware that there existed a door of communication between the +two apartments. When Bruce started in the morning for S----, Harper's +working-day also commenced. The man stopped his occupation on Bruce's +return, till the sound of the dinner-gong assured him that the coast was +clear, and that he could leave his temporary retreat on the secret +staircase for the haunted chamber. There Harper was wont to remain till +warned by the bell for evening prayer, when he usually quitted Myst Hall +for the night, gliding silently through the shrubbery, sometimes +shrouded in his wife's cloak and bonnet, and carrying her basket, lest +he should chance to be noticed from the house. Jael's constant +communication with Myst Court greatly facilitated the movements of her +husband; and it need scarcely be added that they both fared well upon +the provisions which Emmie had destined for the relief of the poor. The +Harpers now scarcely regretted what had at first caused them serious +alarm,--the determination of the present owner of Myst Court to reside +on his own estate. + +Emmie was somewhat relieved by the assurance of Jael that Harper's work, +whatever it might be, would injure none of her family. + +"My husband's business will no more harm any of your people than if he +were blowing soap-bubbles," continued Mrs. Harper. "For years we have +found that room quiet and convenient for--for whatever my husband has in +hand. We hoped that, the house having the name of being haunted, no one +would have come to trouble us here. We could not keep your family out, +but we find that by caution and management the rat can live next door to +the cat, ay, and nibble out of the cat's platter, without making her +stretch out her claws, or so much as shake her whiskers. Hark! I hear a +stir in the house; you are missed; they are searching for you no doubt. +There's the front door open, you can see the light from it now; and I +must not be found beside you. Go, and remember your oath, Miss Trevor; +and remember what will come if you break it. Haman Harper is a man of +his word!" + +Dizzy and bewildered as she was, and ready to faint from the effect of +the terror which she had undergone in the haunted chamber, Emmie yet +managed to make her way to the entrance-door, which had been left open +by Vibert. With trembling steps she passed through the hall, and thence +to her father's study, where she appeared in the pitiable plight which +has been described in a former chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +DEATH. + + +The distress which Emmie endured from her fears and forebodings, was +rendered more intolerable by the pangs of regret. After an emergency in +which we have been suddenly called upon to act an important part, when +that acting has proved a failure, how painfully the mind revolves and +goes over the scene, reflecting on what might have been, what would have +been, the result, had duty been more bravely performed. + +"Had I had presence of mind,--the smallest presence of mind,--and that +but for one half minute," thought Miss Trevor, "I should have made my +escape, roused the household, and have been the means of destroying some +dark conspiracy of which I now know not the end. I should have relieved +myself for ever of these dreadful, haunting fears, and cleared from my +home this mysterious shadow of evil. Had I thought of any one but +myself, my miserable, worthless self,--had I but darted up a prayer to +Him who was able to save me,--I should not have suffered myself to be +bound by a horrible oath, which it is a sin either to keep or to break. +How is it that I have so miserably failed in the hour of trial? Is it +not that I have never earnestly struggled against the sin of Mistrust? I +have perpetually yielded to it when it met me in the common duties of +life; I have let my fears be sufficient excuse for neglecting the call +of conscience; and how could I hope that God would give me the victory +in a great and sudden trial? Weak women, ere now, have endured the rack +and embraced the stake; but must they not have first exercised the +self-denying martyr-spirit in the trials of daily life?" + +Mr. Trevor, as he had proposed, kept his daughter much by his side +during the day which followed her painful adventure. The father thought +it better not to ask any questions which might distress the nervous +Emmie, and for this considerate kindness the poor girl felt very +grateful. Mr. Trevor tried to give Emmie employment and amusement in +every way that he could devise. Emmie read to him, played to him, sang +to him; but still it was too evident to the eye of paternal affection +that the maiden's thoughts were wandering, and that her spirit was still +oppressed. + +"The day is fine, and mild for December; I will drive you over to the +picturesque ruin which we have hitherto thought too distant for a winter +excursion," said Mr. Trevor, when he and his daughter had finished their +luncheon. + +"If I might choose, papa," replied Emmie, "I would rather that you would +take me to the cottage of Widow Brant." + +"Ah! that's your poor _protegee_, Emmie; I have not seen her at her +cottage door lately. Is she recovering her health?" + +"I scarcely know, papa," replied Emmie faintly. + +"I thought that you had taken her under your care, my love, that the +poor creature has been supplied with food from our own table." + +"Mrs. Jessel has often been with some--at least--that's to say--I +hoped--I thought that she went to the widow," stammered forth Emmie. +Since the discovery that Jael was the wife and accomplice of Harper, +Miss Trevor had lost even the small amount of confidence which she might +once have felt in this woman. + +Mr. Trevor looked rather surprised and annoyed at Emmie's evident +confusion. "I marvel, my child, that you should employ as your almoner +and cottage visitor a person of whom we know so little," said he. + +"She offered herself," observed Emmie, "and I was afraid to refuse Mrs. +Jessel's services, lest I should give her offence. It was so foolish in +me--so wrong! Poor Widow Brant is on my conscience, papa; but I do not +like going alone to her cottage." + +"Then why not take our good Susan with you?" inquired Mr. Trevor. + +Emmie's dread of Harper had been so greatly increased by the events of +the preceding night, that she now felt Susan's company to be no +efficient protection. The young lady renewed her request that her father +should, at least on this one occasion, be her companion on her walk to +the hamlet. She felt safe when leaning on his arm. + +"These visits to sick women are not in my line," observed Mr. Trevor, +smiling, "as I am neither doctor nor divine. I do not neglect my +tenants; I am willing to help them according to my means; and am proving +at this moment my care for their interests by involving myself, for +their sakes, in a very troublesome affair. But in a cottage I own that I +feel like a fish out of water. Never mind, however; as you wish it, I am +ready to-day to be your escort; my only bargain is that you shall take +all the talking, my love." + +The father and daughter soon set out together, sauntered along the +shrubbery, and passed through the outer gateway. Emmie glanced timidly +at the almost tumble-down hovel of Harper. It was shut up. No firelight +gleamed through the cracked panes of the single window, from the chimney +issued no smoke. The maiden saw that the tenant of that hovel was not +within it, and guessed but too easily that he was at that moment +ensconced at his mysterious work in the haunted chamber. She could +scarcely pay any attention to her father's conversation, and answered +almost at random the questions which he occasionally asked. + +The door of Widow Brant's cottage was not closed. The sound of several +voices was heard within as the Trevors approached the humble dwelling. +Some women were in the cottage, and a gentleman in whom Mr. Trevor +recognized the parish doctor of S----. The room was so small that the +entrance of the two visitors made it seem crowded. Emmie's eye sought in +vain for the widow, until she caught sight, in a corner of the room, of +a form extended on a low bed, covered with clothes and rags instead of a +blanket, and of a face on which were already visible the signs of +approaching death. + +"Why was I not sent for before?" said the doctor angrily to one of the +neighbours; "this is just the way with you all: you give yourselves up +to a quack till you have one foot in the grave, and then send for the +doctor, and expect him to work miracles for your cure! Oh, I beg your +pardon, sir," said the medical man, interrupting himself, and raising +his hat on perceiving the presence of Mr. Trevor and his daughter. + +"Is there no hope for the poor woman?" asked the master of Myst Court in +a voice too low to reach the ear of the patient. The doctor, in his +reply, observed less consideration. + +"The disease has gone too far--too far--and the poor creature's strength +is exhausted. She cannot struggle through now. She has been half starved +with hunger and cold, and has had neither proper care and medicine, nor +the food which was absolutely necessary to keep up her vital powers. I +can do nothing in this case--nothing!" + +Emmie had but paused to hear the doctor's opinion, and then, with a +heavy heart, she glided to the bedside and bent over the dying woman. +Emmie had but once before stood by a death-bed, and that was when she +had been brought, while but a child, to receive a mother's last kiss and +blessing. To Emmie the scene before her was inexpressibly solemn and +sad. + +The widow's life was ebbing away, but her mind was clear. "I thought +that you'd have come again," were the faint words which struggled forth +from her pale lips as she recognized the young lady. + +Those words went to Emmie's heart like a knife. There had, then, been +expectation and disappointment; the lady's visit had been watched for, +hoped for, and it had not been made till too late! Hollow, wistful eyes +were raised to Emmie's. Again the poor sufferer spoke, but so feebly +that Miss Trevor had to bend very low indeed to catch the meaning of +what she said. + +"They say I'm dying--and death is so awful!" murmured the widow. + +"Not to those who have given their hearts to Him who died for sinners!" +whispered Emmie softly in the sufferer's ear. + +"I've had no one to tell me of these things, and I be not learned. +But--but I've not led a bad life; I've harmed no one," said the dying +widow, grasping, as so many unenlightened sinners do, at that false hope +of safety which can only break in their hands. + +"She's al'ays been a good neighbour, and a decent, respectable body!" +cried Mrs. Blunt, who was bustling about in the cottage, disturbing, by +her noisy presence, the chamber of death. + +"It's worse than useless for you all to come crowding here," said the +doctor roughly. "Mrs. Wall, you may be wanted, but let the rest go out +and leave the poor creature to the lady; can't you let a woman die in +quiet?" And enforcing his words by emphatic gestures, the doctor soon +succeeded in partially clearing the cottage. He then took his leave of +Mr. Trevor, and quitted the place in which he knew that his medical +skill could be of no avail. + +"I will send Susan with blankets," said Mr. Trevor to his daughter. +"Will you come with me, Emmie, or stay?" + +"I will stay," replied Emmie with emotion; "would that I had come here +before!" + +For more than an hour the young lady remained by the dying woman, with +her own hands beating up the pillow, spreading the warm coverlet brought +by Susan over the wasted form, pouring wine, drop by drop, between the +sufferer's lips. For more than an hour Emmie watched the flickering +spark of life, and tried to whisper words of holy comfort, which the now +dulled mind and deafened ear had no longer power to receive. Then came +the last struggle, the gasp for breath, the death-rattle; the ashen hue +of death stole over the widow's face, one sigh--and all was over. + +"She is gone; you can do nothing more. Had you not better return home, +miss?" said Susan softly, as Mrs. Wall closed the eyes of the corpse. + +With tears and self-reproach Emmie Trevor quitted the lifeless remains +of her to whom she might once perhaps have brought comfort, peace, and +light, if not the blessing of restoration to health. The young lady was +silent on her homeward way; her heart was too full to permit her to +enter into conversation with her attendant. Emmie ran upstairs to her +own apartment, shut the door behind her, sank on her knees beside her +bed, and buried her face in her hands. Then her feelings gushed forth in +broken confession and fervent prayer. + +"I am verily guilty concerning my fellow-creatures," Emmie sobbed forth; +"guilty before men, guilty before Thee, O my God! I have left undone +what I ought to have done, and there is no health in my soul. Weak, +selfish, and cruel, neglectful of the duties which lay so plainly before +me, I am not worthy to lift up so much as my eyes towards Heaven; I can +but say, _God be merciful to me a sinner_! But oh, Thou who dost pity, +Thou who dost pardon, take not away from me for ever the talent which I +have buried; say not, oh, say not to my miserable soul, _I was sick, and +ye visited me not!_ Help me to redeem the precious time which I have +hitherto wasted, to overcome the sin which has beset and enslaved me! +Increase my faith, deepen my love; hold up my footsteps, that I slip not +on my perilous path; say to my weak, mistrustful heart, _Be not afraid; +I am thy God!_" + +Emmie wept freely while she thus confessed her sin and prayed, and then +arose from her knees more calm. She was now able to collect her +thoughts; and to strengthen her new-born resolutions she repeated to +herself Trench's exquisite sonnet, which, at her uncle's request, she +had, some time before, committed to memory. + + "Lord, what a change within us one short hour + Spent in Thy presence will suffice to make! + What heavy burdens from our bosoms take, + What parched lands revive, as with a shower! + We kneel, and all around us seems to lower; + We rise, and all the prospect, far and near, + Stands forth in sunny outline brave and clear. + We kneel--how weak! we rise--how full of power! + Then wherefore should we do ourselves this wrong, + Or others, that we are not always strong; + That we should be o'erburdened with our care, + That we should ever faint and feeble be, + Downcast or drooping, when with us is prayer, + And hope, and joy, and courage are with Thee?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +A MISTAKE. + + +It will be remembered that Emmie had, in the morning, tried the patience +of Bruce by her strange indecision regarding a second change of +apartments. It was now no superstitious fancy which made Emmie look upon +the room next the haunted chamber as a post of peril. She entertained a +dread lest Harper should on some night omit his usual precautions, and +that Bruce should discover the presence of his dangerous neighbour. What +then might ensue? The spirited young man would never suffer himself to +be tied by such an oath as his sister had taken; and of the consequences +which might follow his refusal Emmie trembled to think. It was this +peril to Bruce which made Emmie regard a change of rooms as desirable on +her brother's account, though certainly not on her own. + +"It would be very dreadful to me to know that only a wall divided me +from that wicked man who threatened my life!" thought poor Emmie. "How +could I rest if I heard him stealthily moving about so near, even though +aware that he could not possibly reach me?" Had the maiden known that +there was actually a door in that dividing wall, her terror would have +been yet greater. But Emmie believed that the corridor entrance being +bricked up, there was no outlet from the haunted chamber but by the door +which opened on the secret stairs. Ignorant as she was of the means of +nearer communication between the two apartments, it was but the strain +on her nerves that Emmie dreaded when suggesting her own return to the +room which had been assigned to her at the first. + +But this dread was so great, that, as we have seen, Emmie could not in +the morning summon up courage to press the arrangement on Bruce. She had +wavered, hesitated, drawn back. But Emmie had learned much during the +last few painful hours; the effect which her uncle's warnings had failed +to produce, followed the solemn teachings of conscience by the widow's +death-bed. Humbly and prayerfully Emmie now resolved to bend all her +efforts to conquer mistrust, to subdue the opposition of shrinking +nature, and obey God's will at however painful a cost. Emmie determined +to brave Bruce's displeasure at her apparent inconsistency and folly, +and return to the hated room, in which her danger would at any rate be +less than that of her brother. + +But Emmie had on that evening no opportunity of carrying out her +resolution. Bruce returned to Myst Court at his usual hour, but looking +and feeling so ill, that he could not be troubled with anything in the +way of household arrangements. He had one of the severe attacks of +headache to which the young man was subject. + +"I shall not be with you at dinner to-day," said Bruce to his sister; +"like a bear, I shall keep in my den, and have my growl out by myself. +I've my fire ready lit, my kettle on the hob, and my little tea-caddy on +the table. I want nothing but quiet and rest, and shall be all right in +the morning." + +Bruce was proverbially a bad patient, and would never submit to what he +called coddling. Emmie knew that he now meant what he said, and that she +should only annoy her brother by offering to sit beside him, or bring +him food which he would not touch. The brother and sister, therefore, +bade each other good-night; and Bruce, taking a lighted candle, with +slow step mounted the staircase, then drew back the heavy tapestry +curtain, and passed on to his own apartment. + +The fire blazed and crackled cheerily. Bruce, instead of going to rest +at once, drew a chair in front of it, seated himself with his feet on +the fender, and pressing his hot forehead with his hand, remained for +some time in absolute stillness. He let his mind rest as well as his +frame, not fatiguing it by following out any definite chain of ideas. + +Thus young Trevor remained till he heard from below the sound of the +gong which summoned the family to dinner. About five minutes afterwards, +Bruce raised his head to listen to a different sound, much nearer to +where he sat. It came from a place from whence he had never before heard +the faintest noise. There was--he could not be mistaken--the voice of +some one speaking in the haunted chamber! + +Bruce's sensation on hearing it was not that of fear, scarcely even that +of curiosity. When once young Trevor had taken an idea into his mind, he +was wont to hold it with a pertinacity which savoured of obstinacy. +Bruce was very slow to own, even to himself, that he had made a mistake. +The notion now in the young man's brain was that his giddy brother had +determined to try his courage by playing on him some practical joke. +Vibert's sudden proposal to go up to London Bruce considered but as an +attempt to throw dust into his eyes, and to put him off his guard; and +the elder brother smiled to himself at the idea of Vibert's imagining +that he really could take him in by so transparent an attempt at +deception. + +"Vibert is no more in London at this moment than I am," had been the +reflection of Bruce. "He never thought of going thither till I casually +let out that it is possible to enter the haunted chamber." And now, when +a voice was heard in that chamber, Bruce but knitted his brow, and +muttered impatiently to himself, "Could he not have kept his foolery for +a better time; I am in no mood for nonsense to-night." + +Another voice seemed to reply to the first, both speaking in low tones, +and not distinctly enough for the import of their words to be understood +by the listening Bruce. Still his suspicions were not aroused, for the +power to mimic various tones was one of the accomplishments which added +to Vibert's popularity in ladies' society. Then followed a creaking +sound, as of the winding of a windlass, or the turning of the screw of a +press. This puzzled Bruce, and made him alter his first intention of +simply locking the door of communication between the two rooms, and so +imprisoning the pseudo-ghost till the morning. Young Trevor, of course, +knew nothing of the third door of the bricked-up chamber, or the secret +staircase beyond it. + +"I may as well put an end to this folly at once," said Bruce, rising +and looking around for some convenient weapon with which to chastise, or +rather to alarm, the disturber of his repose. He took up his gun, but +did not attempt to load it. Why should he do so when he had no intention +of startling the household and frightening his sister by the sudden +report of fire-arms? Vibert would not be able to tell by a glance +whether the gun were or were not loaded. The object of Bruce was to +frighten, but not to injure his brother. + +The next thing to be done was to get the door-key, which Bruce had left +on his mantel-piece. He scarcely expected to find it there still, but +there it was. + +"Vibert must have taken the precaution of replacing after using it," +thought Bruce, as he took up the key; "and he has been artful enough to +leave my map still hanging up over the panel-door." + +Very softly Bruce now lifted off the large varnished map from its nail, +and laid it down on the floor. His object was, by his sudden appearance +with his gun, to startle his brother. Noiselessly Bruce turned the key +in the lock, noiselessly pushed open the door in the panel, then +suddenly sprang into the lighted chamber, with a loud exclamation of +"Ha! have I caught you at it?" To Bruce's amazement, as well as their +own, he found himself confronted by Harper and Colonel Standish! + +It is not to be denied that on his sudden recognition of these +night-visitors, whom nought but an evil purpose could have brought to +that place, to the heart of the youth "the life-blood thrilled with +sudden start." But Harper had now no timid girl to deal with. Raising +his unloaded gun so as to cover now the one man, then the other, Bruce +in a loud voice demanded, "Villains! what do ye here?" + +Seizing the instant when the gun was pointed at his companion, Standish +made a dart forwards and struck up the arm of Bruce. In another moment +the two were locked in a deadly grapple. + +Even then Bruce Trevor retained his presence of mind. Wrestling and +struggling as he was, with a hand stronger than his own griping at his +throat, and stifling the cry of "Robbers! help!" which would have burst +from his lips, Bruce did his utmost to back through the doorway into his +room. Could he but reach his bell-rope, he could bring his father and +the servant to his assistance, and so overcome and perhaps capture his +assailants. But in vain the young man struggled and strained every +muscle in his frame, too closely grappled with by Standish to be able +even to strike with the but-end of his gun. The strength of Bruce was +failing, though not his courage; the odds were too heavy against him. +While Standish, with throttling grasp, was pinning him against the wall, +Harper, with some heavy instrument, came and struck the youth on the +head. Bruce saw no more, felt no more than the one sharp pang of the +blow. He fell heavily on the floor, at the mercy of the ruffians whose +lurking-place he had on that night discovered! + +In the meantime, the master of Myst Court was calmly sipping his claret, +and telling to his daughter amusing stories of old adventures, all +unconscious of the fearful scene going on within the walls of his own +dwelling. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +STRANGE TIDINGS. + + +When Emmie arose on the following morning, the landscape was covered +with a soft mantle of snow. A few flakes were still falling, ever and +anon, from a sky whence lowering clouds shut out the pale gleam of a +winter daybreak. + +Emmie arose with an earnest resolution on her mind--a resolution born of +repentance, and gathering strength from prayer. She would no longer be +the weak, selfish, useless being, whom every shadow could turn from the +path of duty. She would listen for a Father's guiding voice; she would +cling to the helping Hand; she would, through God's promised help, +realize His protecting presence. + +"I will beseech the Lord to enable me never, never again to mistrust His +power or His love, or to doubt His promise that all things shall work +together for good to His children," said Emmie to herself, as she +opened her Bible; and in that Bible she read the touching history of +those who once walked unharmed in the burning fiery furnace. + +It was thus that the weak soldier of Christ put on armour to resist her +besetting sin. She would, ere the close of that day, sorely need that +armour of proof. + +When Emmie had finished her reading, she rose and looked forth from her +casement. She saw an open vehicle approaching along the snow-covered +road towards Myst Court. Three men were seated within it, besides the +driver. It was with no common interest that the maiden watched their +approach. + +"Policemen!--London policemen!--and with an inspector!" exclaimed Emmie +in surprise, for she recognized the familiar uniform of the officers of +the law. "What can be bringing them hither? Can Harper's secret have +been discovered?" + +Emmie's heart thrilled with mingled fear and hope. Had the officers of +justice received information of some secret plot,--had they come to +search the house,--would light be thrown on its dark recesses? Such was +Emmie's hope, but still linked with a trembling fear. What might not +Harper do, in his desperation, if he were driven to bay? Would he not +conclude that her lips had betrayed his secret, that she had broken her +solemn oath? + +Emmie lost sight of the vehicle as it stopped before the large +entrance-door of Myst Court, which was not overlooked by her window. She +heard the policemen's ring at the bell, she heard her father's firm step +as he descended the stairs to meet his early and most unexpected +visitors. Emmie would have followed him at once, but the tresses of her +long hair still floated down over her shoulders. The young lady was not +independent of the help of a maid, and rang her bell for Susan. + +Minutes passed, and no Susan appeared. There were sounds of steps and +voices in the house, but not near Emmie's apartment. Her curiosity made +her impatient; she rang again, and more loudly; and as there was still +delay in answering the summons, Emmie resolved to wait no longer, and +herself gathered up and twisted into a knot, as best she might, her +long, luxuriant hair. She had just finished her toilette when Susan +entered at last, looking flushed and excited. + +"I beg pardon, miss," said the lady's-maid; "but I could not come +sooner. The police are here, and they have been questioning me and the +other servants." + +"Have they come to search the house?" cried Emmie. + +"Oh yes; they brought a warrant from London to do that," was Susan's +reply. + +Almost breathless with anxiety and hope, Emmie asked if they had +searched the haunted chamber. + +"That's the first place they went to," said Susan. + +"And was any one there, any one arrested?" cried Emmie, trembling with +eagerness to hear the reply, which might loose the knot of her +perplexity, and free her for ever from haunting terrors. + +"No one was found in this house, miss," answered Susan, with a look of +distress. "There were strange presses and instruments found, as I heard, +in the haunted room, such as must have been used in forging those +dreadful bank-notes." + +"Forging bank-notes! so that was the crime!" said Emmie under her +breath. "And is any one suspected?" she inquired. + +Susan at first looked perplexed, and avoided meeting her lady's +questioning glance. She then answered, "There is a warrant out for the +arrest of Colonel Standish." + +"Colonel Standish!" echoed Emmie in surprise. + +"The police had been at S----, at the White Hart, before they came +here," said Susan; "but the colonel had gone off, no one knows where. He +had not been seen or heard of since yesterday morning. He owes a large +debt at the hotel, and his stealing off thus, without paying it, makes +every one think him guilty about the forged notes." + +"I never believed him to be a real gentleman," observed Emmie. "But," +she added anxiously, "is he thought to have had no accomplice?" The +maiden, bound by her oath, dared not so much as mention the name of +Harper. + +"I think that I hear master calling me," said Susan; and without +answering her lady's question, she hurried from the apartment. + +Emmie was standing near the window, and from it she now saw Joe leading +her own pony-chaise from the stables towards the entrance of the house, +and at a quick pace that told of haste. What was the vehicle brought for +at so early an hour? Perhaps--so thought Emmie Trevor--to take one or +more of the policemen back to S----. Yet scarcely so, for their own +conveyance was waiting. + +The maiden was not kept long in doubt. It was her own father that she +saw in the chaise, a few seconds afterwards, urging on the pony to a +frantic pace, plunging through the drifted snow as if life or death hung +on its speed! Joe sat behind, while his master drove as Emmie had never +seen her father drive before. + +"What can be the matter?" exclaimed Emmie; "papa has forgotten even his +greatcoat, and the weather is so cold, and it looks as if a storm would +come on!" She watched the chaise till it disappeared behind intervening +trees and brushwood. + +Susan re-entered the room as her young lady, anxious and wondering, +turned from the casement. + +"Do you know where my father is going?" Emmie inquired of her maid. + +"Master is going to London, miss," was the answer; "but I doubt whether +the pony can gallop fast enough to take him in time for the train. +Master was in great haste, or he would have come to bid you good-bye." + +"What takes him to London?" cried Emmie. + +"Oh, this bank-note forgery business," said Susan, the look of +uneasiness passing again over her face. "Master called me to give you a +message, miss. He says that while the police have charge of the house, +he--he does not wish you to speak to them, miss, or question them about +the matter which has brought them here. Master is anxious about you. He +has ordered me to take care that no one should disturb or intrude upon +you, Miss Trevor." + +"The police are not likely to disturb the innocent, nor to intrude on +ladies," said Emmie, smiling from the pleasant assurance of safety +conveyed by their presence in the mansion. "If my father does not wish +me to question them or see them, of course his will shall be obeyed. I +must depend on you for my information, or--where is my brother, Master +Bruce?" + +"I cannot tell, miss; he is not in the house; he must have gone out," +replied Susan in a flurried manner. The quiet, respectable, lady's-maid +had never before been examined by a superintendent of police, and her +usual self-possession had forsaken her on that eventful morning. + +"Bruce must have heard something of this warrant against Standish," +thought Emmie; "perhaps he has gone off early to S----, to help in the +search after this daring impostor. I am glad that he felt well enough to +do so; but how he could have received such early information of what has +occurred, I know not." + +Emmie now went down-stairs to the breakfast room; there was no +family-prayer in the confusion of that strange day. Susan brought in a +tray with her young lady's breakfast, in the absence of Joe. Emmie was +not disposed to touch it. She lingered near the window, half hoping that +Bruce might appear, or that her father, having missed the early train, +might return to Myst Court. The policemen were very quiet; only the +sound of a heavy tread, now and then, showed that they were in the +house; but Emmie saw nothing of the officers of the law. + +There were signs, however, that the unusual occurrences which had taken +place at Myst Court had excited curiosity and interest in the +surrounding neighbourhood. Knots of persons, not only from the hamlet, +but apparently even from the town, came up the carriage-drive, as it +seemed for no purpose but to stare up, open-mouthed, at the house. There +was much shaking of heads and whispering amongst these spectators; but +they had caught sight of the lady looking forth from the window, and +nothing was uttered by them loud enough for its import to be +distinguished by Emmie through the closed window. + +Presently the wind rose in wild gusts, whirling the snow into blinding +drifts; dark clouds were sweeping over the sky; all portended a violent +storm; and the assembled crowd hastily retreated from the grounds of +Myst Court, to seek refuge from the fury of the tempest. + +"I would give anything to know whether Harper and his wife are under +suspicion!" said Emmie to herself. "Susan is so strangely unwilling to +give full information, she stammers as she answers my questions. I think +that my father must have charged her to say nothing that could possibly +agitate my nerves. He has desired that his weak daughter should be kept +from excitement; and thus I, who have the deepest interest in all that +is happening here, am more ignorant of what is going on than any servant +in the household. I must question Susan again." + +Emmie was about to ring the bell for her maid; but before she did so, +there was a quick tap at the door, and, without waiting for the lady's +"Come in," Hannah entered the room. The cook looked more excited than +Susan had done; but while, in the case of the latter, there had been an +appearance of perplexity, if not of pain, with a desire to speak as +little as she could, Hannah's face, on the contrary, showed that she was +not only brimming over with news, but that she had a vulgar pleasure in +being the first to impart it. "Now I shall know all," thought Emmie. + +"La, miss!" exclaimed Hannah, "to think of you taking your breakfast so +quietly here, as if nothing had happened, when there be such goings on +in the place!" + +"Any one arrested?" asked Emmie eagerly. She dared not mention the names +of Harper or Jessel, lest, by turning suspicion on them, she should +indirectly violate her oath. + +"No one took up yet, that I know of, but he in London," said Hannah. +"Didn't master go off like a shot, as soon as he heard the news!" + +"What news? who was taken up?" asked Emmie. + +"La, miss! you don't mean to say that you've not heard of the scrape of +poor Master Vibert, how he's been catched and put into jail!" + +Emmie staggered backwards as though she had been struck. "Put into jail! +my brother! and on what pretext?" she exclaimed, grasping the table for +support. + +"I'll tell you all about it--you ought to know, seeing you're his own +sister," said Hannah, enjoying the excitement of the scene, and yet not +without a touch of natural pity, on seeing the anguish which she +inflicted. "Master Vibert went yesterday to London, you know; and when +he got there, he went off straight to a jeweller (Golding, I think, is +the name), and bought from him lots of jewels, diamonds, pearls, and all +kinds of gim-cracks, worth more than a thousand pounds." + +"Impossible!" exclaimed Emmie. + +"But he did buy the jewels, and paid for them too with a lot of nice, +fresh, clean ten-pound notes," said Hannah. "The shopman didn't suspect +nothing at first, 'cause he knew the young gentleman's face so well, as +he'd often dealt at the shop. But when the head of the firm, as they +call him, came in the afternoon to look after the business (there's +nothing like a master's eye, we know), he said the notes weren't real +and honest bank-notes; and off he went at once to the biggest +police-station in London." + +"My brother has been the unconscious tool of a villain!" murmured Emmie, +who felt certain that Vibert's vanity and careless security must have +made him the victim of the impostor who had called himself Colonel +Standish. + +"The p'lice and Mr. Golding drove off to Grosvenor Square," continued +Hannah, "for the jeweller knew the address; and a mighty bustle and fuss +was caused by their coming, for there was an afternoon party, and the +gentlefolk were amazed when they found that he who had been the merriest +of them all was to be haled up afore a magistrate, on a charge of +passing forged notes." + +"Did not my brother at once clear himself from suspicion?" cried Emmie, +the paleness of whose face was now exchanged for the crimson flush of +indignation and shame. + +"Master Vibert said that the notes had been given to him by a Colonel +Standish; and that he had bought the jewels for Colonel Standish; and +that he would have sent them off at once to some address in Liverpool, +only he had waited to have out his dance." + +"Then are the jewels safe in the hands of the police?" asked Emmie. + +"Ay; I wish that this cheat of a colonel were so too," replied Hannah. +"Hanging is too good for him, say I; for sure and certain it was his +wheedling which made poor Master Vibert do so wicked a thing. Some of +the police were sent off to Liverpool, and some hurried down to S----. +And first they searched the colonel's lodgings, and then they came +ferreting here." + +"Did they easily find their way into the bricked-up room?" asked Emmie, +who knew of no way of access into it but by the secret staircase. + +"Bless you, miss, what could be easier, when the door was wide open +'twixt that room and Master Bruce's!" + +Emmie started, and turned deadly pale. + +"You may well start with surprise, miss; all of us were astonished to +find there was any door in that wall. Lizzie declares that even she +never knew that there was one, though she tidies the room every day. +Master Bruce was so sly--he was--hanging the big map over the place!" + +"How dare you speak thus of my brother?" cried Emmie. + +"It ain't my speaking, but every one's speaking," said Hannah, firing up +at the word of rebuke. "The police say as how young master could not +have slept in the one room for a month, and have been innocent as a babe +of what was going on in the other. Ay, they said that of him, Miss +Trevor, before they'd found a lot of the odd kind of paper of which +bank-notes are made in one of his drawers. I wonder young master did not +throw it all into the fire before he absconded." + +Emmie pressed her temples with both her icy cold hands. Her brain was +reeling. Half unconsciously, she echoed the word "Absconded!" + +"That's what the p'lice called it; and they're going to take out a +warrant against Master Bruce," said Hannah. "It's plain he went off last +night, for his bed had never been slept in." + +This was to Emmie the crowning horror. There had been a door then--an +open door--between her brother's room and that haunted by the presence +of the unscrupulous Harper; and Bruce--the noble, the brave--had +disappeared during the night! + +"Leave me, leave me!" cried Emmie wildly; and, alarmed at the lady's +ghastly looks, the bearer of evil tidings at once obeyed her command. +Hannah had said more than enough, and now retreated in alarm, lest the +effect of her words should have been to turn her young mistress's +brain. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +THE WEAK ONE. + + +Emmie remained for a few brief seconds as if transfixed into stone. More +wretched was she even than her father, who had rushed off to London on +hearing of the arrest of his younger son, without knowing that any +danger or disgrace threatened the elder. It need not be said that Emmie +never for one instant doubted the innocence of either; her present +intense agony arose from her fear regarding the fate of Bruce. + +"In that fatal room which he has occupied through my own selfish folly," +so flowed the stream of thought like burning lava through the poor +girl's brain, "Bruce has heard--has discovered the forgers. He would +take no cowardly oath, and they have murdered him to ensure his silence. +What a fearful fate may have overtaken mine own brave brother! But, oh! +may merciful Heaven have shielded his precious life!" + +Susan entered the room, alarmed by the account of the state of her +mistress given by Hannah. She expected to find Miss Trevor either +fainting or in hysterics, but to her surprise the lady was perfectly +calm. This was no time to give way to weakness; the very extremity of +Emmie's anguish subdued its outward expression. + +"Go to the policemen, Susan; tell them that I am certain that my brother +Bruce has been the victim of some foul deed," she said with distinct +articulation though a quivering, bloodless lip. "Let every corner of +this house, from attic to cellar, be searched; a thousand pounds' reward +to whoever shall find Bruce Trevor!" Emmie waved her hand impatiently to +urge speed, and Susan hastened from the apartment, scarcely more certain +of young Trevor's innocence, or less anxious regarding his fate, than +was his unhappy sister. + +"There are two guilty ones who are likely enough to be able to throw +light on this dark mystery," said Emmie to herself; "Harper, and that +wretched woman his wife. But can I set the police on their track without +breaking my oath, my horrible oath? Would Heaven, in this dreadful +emergency, condemn me for that, or suffer that those awful imprecations +which I was forced to utter should fall on my body and soul? Is there +any other course open before me in this maddening misery of doubt?" +Emmie made two hurried steps towards the door, and then paused. + +"There is one other course; yes, I see it. I could go myself--alone--to +the dwelling of Jael; there is something of the woman left in her still, +she protected my life from her husband. Bruce may be living still, but +kept in confinement,"--a gleam of hope came with that thought,--"not in +Harper's hovel, which is too small and too close to others to be used as +a hiding-place or a prison, but possibly in Jael's, which stands by +itself. I will go thither. Threats, promises, entreaties, all will I use +to win from her at least some tidings of my lost brother! If I go alone +I break no oath, and Jael will be able henceforth implicitly to trust in +my honour. She may confide to me things which she would effectually +conceal from officers of justice. Yes, I will go alone. Oh, God of +mercy, help and direct me!" + +One measure of precaution suggested itself to the mind of Emmie, who +could not dissociate the idea of personal danger from intercourse with +any of those concerned in the forgery plot. She tore a leaf from her +pocket-book, and wrote upon it the few following lines, to be left on +the dining-room table. "_If there be tidings of my brother, or if I be +long in returning, seek for me at the house of Mrs. Jessel._" "There is +no breach of my oath in writing this," thought Emmie, as she added her +initials to the lines which she had hastily penned. + +Emmie's garden-hat and scarlet shawl were hung up in the hall; she +sought no other equipment for her walk through the wood, though the +clouds were hanging like a pall over the white earth, and the wind was +now furiously high. Emmie did not pursue the path by the drive that +would have led to the hamlet and the highway; there was a short cut +through the woods to the dwelling of Jael, and the maiden took it, +sheltering herself as best she might against the tempest which raged +round her fragile form. The poor girl felt that she was on a dangerous +enterprise. She knew not whom or what she might meet in the place to +which she was going; she had not forgotten the gleam of Harper's sharp +blade, or the fierce threat expressed in his eyes. It may be marvelled +at that one so timid as was Emmie should venture without protection to a +dwelling in which might be lurking those whom she knew to be +criminals,--those who, as she fearfully suspected, might be murderers +also. It was indeed sisterly affection that impelled Emmie onwards, but +her support, her strength, was in prayer. Emmie was trusting now as she +never had trusted before; she was leaning on, clinging to the invisible +arm that could hold her up, to the love which would never forsake her. + +It is not to be supposed that Vibert's miserable position was forgotten +by Emmie in her terrors on account of his brother. But for Vibert the +sister could do nothing but pray; his father was hastening to his aid: +her whole energies, Emmie felt, must be concentrated on her own special +work,--that of discovering the fate of Bruce Trevor. + +Emmie had gone more than half-way to the dwelling of Jael, when the +thunder-cloud above her burst in a storm compared to which that one +which she had encountered on the evening of her arrival was but as the +play of summer lightning. Never before had the trembling girl heard such +deafening peals as those which now shook the welkin, while the rattling +hail descended with fury. Branches above and on either side creaked and +snapped in the gale, and some were whirled with violence across the path +of the maiden. Emmie started, shuddered, and drew her shawl over her +head for protection against the blast and the hail, but still she +struggled onwards. She uttered no shriek, but she gasped forth a prayer; +it was the moan of one in anguish, not the cry of one in despair. + +That storm was one of the most terrible which had ever been known in +England. The newspapers on the following day recorded many a wreck on +the coast, many an accident in inland localities. They told of stacks of +chimneys blown down, and a church spire struck by lightning; they +recorded how cattle had been killed by the fall of a tree, and a +sportsman in the field struck dead with his gun in his hand. Emmie +always remembered that storm as a horrible dream, and wondered how she +had been strengthened to endure what terrified nature so shrank from. +But personal fear was partly neutralized by a yet more absorbing fear; +to gain tidings of Bruce, Emmie felt that she would bear the shock of +the fiercest storm that ever swept over the earth. + +The maiden emerged unharmed from the wood, safe at least from danger of +injury by lightning-struck tree, or branches torn off by the gale. She +had been preserved through one terrible peril; and would not the Power +that had helped her hitherto sustain and protect to the end? + +Emmie had now reached a road which skirted an open heath, and the lone +dwelling of Jael Harper stood not a hundred yards before her. It was a +narrow, two-storied house, standing in a small garden; both house and +garden were whitened with snow, as was the little path which connected +the door with the road. The hail had spent itself in that sharp and +furious downfall, but the blinding lightning flashed faster than ever +its forked, jagged darts through the sky. + +As Emmie with desperate resolution approached the garden-gate of that +dwelling which was as fearful to her as a lion's den might have been, +she noticed on the snow-covered road the tracks of cartwheels, and on +the garden pathway those of feet. The latter were all in a direction +which showed that though several persons might have quitted the house +since the fall of snow on the preceding night, no one could have entered +it. Emmie leaned for a few moments against the low garden-paling to +gather her thoughts; the noise of the storm and the terror of her mind +made it difficult even to think. + +"Footprints from the door to the road, some larger, some smaller as if +made by a woman, and some left by wide nailed boots, all pointing this +way," murmured Emmie; "three persons must have left the house this +morning, and I stand on the track of wheels. All then have +absconded,--they have fled from justice; that den of wickedness must be +empty." Emmie looked across the garden at the door with its iron studs +and large old-fashioned knocker, and felt assured that the loudest +summons on that knocker would not cause that door to open. The shutters +of the windows were all closed, the house was evidently shut up and +deserted. The young lady could not get in; wherefore, then, should she +stay? Would it not be better to return home at once, and hear if the +strict search after Bruce which must have followed her offer of large +reward had been of any avail? + +"Oh! why did I madly come hither?" exclaimed Emmie, personal fear again +rising into terror, as she contemplated returning through the wood +whilst the dreadful storm still raged. "That lightning! oh, how awful +the flash! The heavens seem to be splitting asunder! But do not the +lightnings obey God's bidding? Is it not the voice of my Father which I +hear in the thunder? Even if it bring His summons to His child, should I +fear to go unto Him?" + +While her faith was wrestling thus with her fear, the attention of Emmie +was attracted by a small object near her, almost covered with snow, +which, strangely enough on that winter day, looked something like a +rosebud. Its soft crimson hue contrasted with the whiteness of the snow +under which it was lying half buried. There was something curiously +familiar to Emmie in the appearance of that flower, which did not seem +like a work of nature. The small thing, whatever it might be, was but +two steps from the spot where Emmie stood leaning against the paling. +Emmie turned towards the place where lay the object, and, though she +could scarcely have given a reason for so doing, she stooped and raised +it. With emotions which no pen can describe, the trembling girl drew out +from the snow _a man's slipper_--a slipper which her own fingers had +worked for her brother! Emmie sank on her knees with a faint cry of +anguish. How had that slipper come there, and when? and, oh! where, +where was he who had worn it? Did that deserted house conceal some +fearful-- + +The chain of thought was broken by an explosive crash of heaven's +artillery in the cloud above, and, almost simultaneously with the peal, +a fire-ball struck the house, by the garden-gate of which Emmie was +crouching, still on her knees. The noise was so tremendous that the +maiden for a brief space lost sense of hearing and power of thinking; +she was deafened and bewildered, and remained motionless and breathless, +with the slipper clenched in her grasp. But the thunder-clap was soon +over, and miserable consciousness of her position returned to poor +Emmie. The sight of that slipper roused her to a more sickening fear +than could be caused by lightning or thunder. + +Emmie started to her feet, and again turned her wild gaze on the lonely +house. It had been fast closed against her entrance, but (attracted, +perhaps, by the metal on the door) Heaven's bolt had torn its way +through; it had smashed through woodwork and brickwork, and made a +ghastly breach, charred and blackened, as if a bomb had exploded there +to make an opening for destroyers! There was nothing now but her own +terror to hinder the maiden from exploring the lightning-stricken +dwelling. + +"O Father--mercy--help!" burst in almost unconscious prayer from Emmie's +quivering lips, as she lifted the latch of the gate. With rapid steps +she crossed the little garden by the snow-covered path, and over the +charred and splintered wreck of a door made her way into the house which +she had so much dreaded to enter. To Emmie it seemed as if she were +borne onwards by some invisible power, and were scarcely a voluntary +agent; but this sensation was the effect of excited fancy. + +Emmie was now in the narrow passage of Jael's house; to her right was an +open door, beyond which lay a room, dark indeed, for the shutters of its +window were closed, yet not utterly so, for daylight forced its way in +through chinks, and there was a faint reflected light from the wall of +the passage. Into that room Emmie now turned, groping her way forwards +with hands extended. Her object was to reach the window and throw open +the shutters, and so gain fuller light by which to pursue her dreadful +search for--perhaps a brother's corpse! But ere Emmie could feel her way +to the window, her bare and icy-cold hand came in contact with something +soft and damp--something resembling a human face! Emmie could not stifle +a cry of horror. Her first emotion was that of terror, the next that of +almost ecstatic hope, as the maiden's straining eyes traced through the +deep gloom the outline of a form, not standing upright, but apparently +leaning against or fastened to some heavy piece of furniture. This form, +of which she had accidentally touched the face, was assuredly not dead, +for the flesh had some slight warmth, and the head had slightly moved +when her hand came in contact with it. Emmie sprang to the window, +raised the bar, and flung the shutters wide open. What a sight did +daylight reveal! On his knees, with his back to a table to which he was +bound, while his mouth was gagged with his own neckcloth, Emmie, as she +turned from the window, beheld her brother--her own lost Bruce! + +Almost in the twinkling of an eye the prisoner's mouth was freed from +its bonds. The exclamations "My sister! my preserver!" which burst from +the young man's lips, showed that neither the sense of recognition nor +power of utterance was lost. Emmie then attempted to free the arms of +Bruce, which were bound with a rope behind him; but to accomplish this +work required more time and far greater effort. The knot was not easily +unloosed, and the slender delicate fingers of Emmie, though she exerted +their utmost strength, could not for several minutes accomplish their +difficult task. Whilst Emmie was straining at the tight knot, quickened +in her efforts by a faint moan from her suffering brother, she noticed +not whether lightning flashed or thunder rolled; she seemed for the time +to have lost all personal fear; self-consciousness was swallowed up in +anxious care for another. + +At length the rope end was dragged through the last cruel loop, and +Bruce Trevor was free. Emmie, with thankful delight, threw her arms +round the neck of her brother, and, for the first time on that terrible +day, burst into a flood of tears. Her brother feebly returned her +embrace, and wept like a child. Emmie was surprised, and even alarmed, +at the emotion to which Bruce Trevor gave way. Had it been Vibert who +had wept--Vibert, ever impulsive, and without any self-control--Emmie +would neither have wondered nor feared; but that Bruce, the firm Bruce, +who since childhood had never been known to shed a tear--that Bruce +should actually sob, showed that even his powers of endurance must have +been overstrained at last, and that his strong nerves had been shaken +by torture, either physical or mental. + +And suffering was written on the young man's face; not only in the +ghastly wound which Harper's blow had left on his brow, but in the +hollow eyes, the haggard cheek, the lips which had lost for a while +their expression of calm decision. Bruce had secretly prided himself on +his firmness; he had to be taught that no merely human courage can be +proof against every trial, as his sister had been taught that human +weakness can be raised into heroism by the power of faith and prayer. + +But soon the strong will struggled against human infirmity. Mastering +his emotion by a convulsive effort, Bruce was the first to speak. + +"How came you here? who is with you?" he asked. + +"No one is with me; I think that God led me here," was Emmie's reply. + +"He led you indeed," murmured Bruce. "The cords were cutting into my +flesh, my position was torture; another half-hour and reason or life +must have given way. But for you to come alone, in the storm, and to +such a place as this, is scarcely less than a miracle--you, Emmie, who +dreaded the lightning!" + +"Blessed was the lightning! it did His bidding; it made a way for me to +enter and save you," cried Emmie. + +"But for that crashing bolt you would never have seen me alive," said +Bruce. As he spoke, the young man turned his head with a quick, uneasy +movement, like a sentinel at night who detects the sound of a stealthy +tread. Emmie saw the movement, and her heart throbbed fast with +sympathetic alarm. Could the forgers be returning to make sure of their +victim? But the apprehension expressed in the face of Bruce arose from a +different cause. + +"Mark you not that smell of burning?" he said. "See the smoke rolling in +through the doorway; the bolt has set the house on fire; we must make +our escape before the building be wrapped in flames!" + +Bruce was in so exhausted a state, and his limbs had been so cramped by +the painful position in which he had for hours remained, that without +the support of his sister's slight arm he could scarcely have moved even +a few steps forward. Very strange was it to Emmie to find that her +brother leaned upon her--that it was given to the weak to support the +strong, to the timid to encourage the brave. The relative positions of +brother and sister were reversed at that crisis of danger; the pride of +man was brought low, whilst strength was given to the humble and meek. + +Smoke, blinding and half-suffocating smoke, filled the passage through +which Emmie now guided her brother's faltering steps. Sparks flew +around, the heat was intense, the roaring sound of flames mingled with +the noise of the storm. But there was no actual obstacle to the +departure of the fugitives from the burning house, and over the wreck of +the shattered door they passed forth into outer air. Here they felt +comparatively safe; the snowy waste which spread around them promised +protection at least from any danger from fire. The storm was gradually +abating, and soon the roaring and crackling noise of the conflagration +and the crash of falling timbers were more audible than the muttering of +thunder rolling away to the west. + +With awe that hushed them into silence, the Trevors watched for a while +the progress of the fire. Flames burst forth from windows, and blazed up +from roof, till the whole building seemed swathed in a fiery mantle, +from which the wind scattered myriads of sparks. Fast as rose a column +of black smoke from the conflagration, it was spread by the gale in a +western direction, like a dark pall overshadowing the snow which lay on +the heath. The Trevors had sought the shelter of a hedge, on the side +opposite to that to which flames and smoke were driven; and thus not a +spark fell beside them, though they were near enough to the burning +dwelling to feel its glowing heat. + +"But for you I should now have been _there_!" exclaimed Bruce, after an +interval of silence, as he pointed towards the house, which every minute +was becoming more like a burning fiery furnace. "I could not have +stirred hand or foot; I should have remained bound, like victim at the +stake, waiting till the flames should reach me. You have saved me from +the most horrible of deaths; I owe my life to your courage." + +"Not mine! oh, not mine! it was His gift!" exclaimed Emmie, with a gush +of unutterable thankfulness and joy. "Oh! shall I ever again mistrust +the power and the goodness of God!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +A NIGHT-JOURNEY. + + +The Trevors were not long to remain alone. The flames from the house, +seen far and wide, soon drew to the spot the inmates of farms and +cottages dotted over the neighbouring land. Amongst the first arrivals +at the scene of the conflagration was that of Mr. Trevor's own servant, +who was driving the pony-chaise in which he had returned from S----. +Susan, who had found the paper left by Emmie, and who was alarmed at her +young lady being out in the storm, had despatched Joe with all speed by +the road, after heaping the chaise with warm wraps to protect Miss +Trevor from the cold. Susan herself had accompanied Joe, in whose +intelligence and promptitude no great trust was reposed by the old +family servant. + +Very thankful was Emmie for the arrival of the chaise, which afforded a +means of carrying her brother quickly home; for Bruce was in so +exhausted a state that she feared that he would faint by the way. The +young man let Emmie spread her own cloak around him, and cushion him up +with shawls; his submission to such offices of kindness was so unlike +Bruce's former self, that Emmie saw in it a token of prostration of mind +as well as of body. Not a word was uttered by either during the short +drive back to Myst Court. Bruce leaned back with his eyes closed; his +sister scarcely knew whether or not he were conscious of what was +passing around him. + +"I dare not tell him in his present weak state of what has happened to +Vibert," thought Emmie, whose mind now recurred to the troubles of her +younger brother, which had been for a while forgotten in the excitement +of the late scenes. + +Myst Court was soon reached. Bruce was gently assisted out of the +chaise, which was then at once sent off to S---- to bring a surgeon. +Bruce's wound had never bled much, as it had been inflicted by a blunt +instrument. Susan had offered to bind it, but the sufferer had refused +to let his injured head be touched save by professional hands. A ghastly +sight the young man presented, as he slowly entered the hall of Myst +Court, leaning on the arm of his sister; but it was then that he +startled Emmie with the abrupt question, "Has Vibert returned from +London?" + +"Not yet," was her faltered reply. + +"Then I must go thither at once. When does the next train start?--I have +lost count of time--days, weeks seem to have passed since I was last +here," said Bruce, with an evident effort to collect his scattered +thoughts. He seated himself wearily on one of the large oak chairs in +the hall, and in his own decided manner repeated the words, "When does +the next train start?" + +"Bruce, dearest, you are utterly unable to attempt to take such a +journey," said Emmie soothingly. She feared that her brother's mind was +beginning to wander. Bruce perhaps guessed her suspicion, for calmly +meeting her anxious gaze he reiterated his question, "Only tell me, when +does the next train start for London?" + +"Not till after dark," replied Emmie. + +"Then after dark I go up to London, unless Vibert return," said Bruce. +"I must warn him--I must give notice to the police--I must telegraph at +once," and with an effort the young man rose to his feet. At that moment +the superintendent of police entered the hall, not a little surprised to +see before him, living, the man for whose corpse he and his companions +had been making most diligent search. The appearance of Bruce showed but +too plainly how narrowly he had escaped the fate to which he had been +supposed to have fallen a victim. + +"What brought _him_ here?" cried Bruce, glancing at the official, and +then turning his inquiring eyes on his sister. + +Concealment was no longer possible; Emmie began to break gently the evil +tidings which had come that morning from London, but had scarcely +uttered a sentence before Bruce anticipated all that she was about to +tell him. + +"Vibert has been arrested," he cried, "the dupe of the villany of a +forger. Emmie, I must go to the study with this officer; I can give him +information of the greatest importance. He will send telegraphs to +London and to Liverpool, and he and I will go up to town by the next +train. There is a nefarious plot to be unravelled, and the events of +last night have placed the end of the clue in my hand." + +His sister saw at once that opposition would be useless. The more ill +Bruce felt himself to be, the more resolved he was to speak and act +while the power to do so remained. Till he had had his conference with +the superintendent, the sufferer would take neither rest nor +refreshment, save copious draughts of water, eagerly swallowed to quench +his feverish thirst. Bruce's hand trembled violently as he replenished +the tumbler again and again; but this was but the weakness of the +nerves,--the will of the soul was as strong as ever. + +"Will you not suffer us first to bathe and bind your poor head?" +suggested Emmie, who could not look on the injured brow without a thrill +of pain. + +"There will be time for all that," exclaimed Bruce with impatient +gesture; "more important matters press,--is not our brother's honour at +stake?" + +The condition in which Bruce Trevor appeared, and the circumstances +under which he had been found, had removed from the mind of the police +official all suspicion that he could ever have been leagued with the +forgers. He had evidently barely escaped with life from the hands of the +ruffians, and their shallow device for implicating him in their guilt +was transparent to all. The superintendent eagerly received from Bruce +such information regarding the forgers as was likely to lead to their +apprehension before they should have time to make their escape from the +shores of Britain. + +To Emmie, in her anxiety for her brother, the interview held in the +study seemed to be painfully long; but Bruce had not been half an hour +in the house when a policeman, despatched in haste by the +superintendent, was on his way to S----, commisssioned to telegraph +from thence to Liverpool and to London. + +Then, the immediate strain on his energies being over, Bruce collapsed +for a brief time into a state of utter prostration. When the surgeon +arrived from S----, he found his patient stretched on the drawing-room +sofa in something between a sleep and a swoon, with his pale, anxious +sister watching beside him. + +Emmie remained present while the surgeon performed his part, giving such +trifling aid as she could. When Dr. Weir had done his work and left the +room, Miss Trevor followed him into the hall, most anxious to know his +opinion as to the extent of the injury which her brother had sustained +from the blow. + +"The wound is not in itself of so _very_ serious a character," said the +surgeon gravely, "if the brain itself have not suffered. But there is a +strong tendency to fever, and the patient should be kept as quiet and as +free from excitement as is possible." + +"But he actually insists on travelling to London to-night," cried Emmie; +"and it is so difficult, so impossible to resist the will of my brother +when he thinks that a duty must be performed." + +The surgeon shrugged his shoulders. He, like every one else at S----, +had heard of Vibert's arrest, and could understand that no light cause +drew his brother towards the metropolis. He had seen already also +something of his patient's decided character, and recalled to mind the +well-known words of one who, when told that to travel might be to die, +replied, "It is not necessary that I should live, but it is necessary +that I should go." Bruce had a few minutes before in Dr. Weir's +presence, expressed a similar sentiment. + +"To oppose him would, I fear, bring on the very evil which we would +guard against," said the surgeon, after a minute's reflection. "I dare +not, under existing circumstances, absolutely forbid the journey to +London." Perhaps Dr. Weir, in giving his reluctant consent to what he +saw that he could not prevent, was but making a virtue of necessity. + +"Then I will accompany my brother," said Emmie. + +As soon as the surgeon had departed, Emmie began to make preparations +for the journey, which should at least be made to Bruce as comfortable +and as little fatiguing as it was possible for a night-journey in the +depth of winter to be. + +"My young lady is a changed being," thought Susan, as she found Miss +Trevor actively engaged in packing her brother's carpet-bag. "After all +the dreadful news which she heard this morning, after her exposure to +the most fearful of storms, after the horror of finding her brother +half-murdered, and the narrow escape of both from being burned to +death, I should have expected to have seen my mistress either in +violent hysterics, or in a burning fever! But here is Miss Trevor able +to think of all, arrange all, care for all, speaking no word of fear, +showing no sign of weakness! I never thought that my lady could have +learned so soon how to 'glorify God in the fires!'" + +Before the arrival of the close vehicle ordered by Emmie to convey her +brother and herself to the station, the sister made one more earnest +attempt to dissuade Bruce from making an effort which, in his present +state, would probably bring on serious illness. Was it indeed, she +urged, so needful for him to appear in person in London? + +"Emmie, I have wronged a brother, and shall I not do what I can to right +him?" was Bruce's reply. "Yes," he added, "though I knew that to go to +him now were to go indeed to my grave." Emmie attempted no further +remonstrance. + +The vehicle came, and the travellers started. Susan accompanied the +Trevors as far as the station, to take their railway tickets, and look +after their comforts. Emmie would have been thankful to have taken her +faithful attendant with her all the way to London, but difficulties +stood in the way. Not only had money run short (for Emmie's purse had +been empty, and her brother's had been so poorly supplied that they had +had to borrow from their servant), but Miss Trevor was afraid further to +encroach on the hospitality of her aunt, whose house might already be +full. + +Few persons travelled in winter by the night train, which was chiefly +used for luggage. Bruce and Emmie had the railway carriage to +themselves, and the invalid was thus able to recline as on a couch. Very +few words passed between the brother and sister during that long +wearisome journey; Bruce was reserving the small residue of his strength +for the morrow's effort, and as the light of the dull lamp fell on his +almost corpse-like features, Emmie felt that it would be cruel to +disturb him even by a question. She scarcely knew whether her brother +were thinking or sleeping; but what a full current of thought was +passing through her own mind, as the train rolled on through the +darkness! Emmie reviewed the events of that--to her--most eventful day +with emotions of horror so mixed with fervent thankfulness, that she +could not herself have told which was the uppermost feeling. Emmie had, +as it were, had lions close to her path, but had found that the lions +were chained; she had looked on death very near, but her spirit had been +so braced by prayer that she had not fainted at his awful approach. She +had, for once, conquered mistrust, and by doing so had been the blessed +means of saving the life of her brother. But was she to rest content +with one victory over besetting sin, or could she suppose that the +enemy, though once foiled, would not perpetually be returning to his too +familiar abode? Had vivid light been thrown into her heart's haunted +chamber, only that she should again resign it to darkness? Must not the +young Christian be now constantly on the watch, and resolutely and +prayerfully resolve that the thought "I fear" should never again turn +her feet back from the path of duty? + +Emmie was so absorbed in such reflections that she almost started when +her brother broke silence at last. + +"Emmie, what induced you to go to that house, and alone?" asked Bruce +suddenly, opening his languid eyes, and fixing their gaze on his sister, +who occupied the opposite seat. "Had anything occurred to make you +suspect treachery in that most false of women?" + +The question took Emmie by surprise, and she was about to return a frank +reply, when there came the remembrance of her oath, like the galling of +a hidden chain worn by penitents of old. Even all that had passed had +not set the conscience of the maiden free from the burden of that dread +oath. + +"I cannot tell even you, Bruce, why I suspected Jael,--why I went +through the wood in the storm,--but the thing which decided me to make +my way into the house and search there for my brother was finding one of +his slippers close to the garden-gate." + +A faint smile, the first seen on his lips during that fearful day, +passed over the face of Bruce. "Then it was not for nothing," he said, +"that I contrived to detach that slipper from my foot as the villains +bore me past the hedge to the gate. It was so dark that they did not +notice the trace I was leaving behind me. But wherefore can you not tell +me, Emmie, the cause of that suspicion of Jael which led one so timid as +yourself to her dwelling in the midst of a storm so terrible, that when +the bolt struck the house I thought to have been buried under its +ruins?" + +"Oh! Bruce, do not ask me!" murmured Emmie, shrinking from the searching +gaze of her brother's eyes. + +"I understand," said Bruce to himself, after a pause in which he had +recalled Emmie's mysterious disappearance on the night of the eclipse, +and her subsequent agony of terror. "You are bound by some promise," he +continued, again addressing his sister; "there had been one moment of +weakness, but how nobly redeemed! Emmie, my preserver, fear no +questions from me; it is enough to know that you dared danger and death +for my sake!" The look of deep grateful affection which accompanied the +words repaid Emmie for all that she had suffered. + +This brief conversation alone broke the silence of the Trevors ere their +arrival in London. The tedious journey at length was over, the train had +reached the last station. Emmie had never before travelled without being +relieved of all the petty trouble which a long journey involves; now, on +a night in winter, she had charge of an invalid, and had the care of all +arrangements needed for his comfort. When, trembling with cold, the +travellers stepped out at last on the platform, it was Emmie's part to +see about luggage and cab, and then to procure at the refreshment-room +wine for her almost fainting companion. Such matters, indeed, seem to be +trifles; but they formed part of the discipline which was raising a +self-indulgent girl, accustomed to be the object of constant attention +and care, into the thoughtful and self-forgetting Christian woman. + +While the church clocks of the metropolis were striking the hour of +midnight, Emmie and her silent companion were passing the comparatively +deserted streets on their way to Grosvenor Square. Few persons were +abroad at that hour, especially in the wider streets of the West-end, +save the policeman on his beat, or the waifs and strays who have no +better home than the casual ward of a workhouse. The minds of both Bruce +and his sister were now full of the subject of Vibert's arrest, and +painful anxiety to know whether their younger brother were not at that +moment the occupant of some prison-cell. The Trevors had left Myst Court +just before the arrival of a telegram from their father which would have +relieved their minds from this fear. Vibert had been taken before a +magistrate, but his case had been remanded till the following day, when, +as it was hoped, news might be received of the arrest of Colonel +Standish. Heavy bail had been offered for the unhappy youth's +reappearance before the court, and the securities had been accepted. +Vibert had therefore been permitted to accompany his father back to the +house of his aunt. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +THE BROTHERS' MEETING. + + +With drowsy driver and weary horse, the cab rolled slowly on, till at +length the rumble of its wheels broke the stillness of aristocratic +Grosvenor Square. Bruce roused himself as the conveyance stopped at the +door of Mrs. Montalban. + +As the coming of the Trevors was unexpected, none of the servants were +likely to be up to answer at once the summons of the bell. No light +shone in the hall, all was shut up; and the driver stood clapping his +arms to keep out the cold, until some sleepy lackey should rouse himself +to obey the unwelcome summons. + +But there was one person in that mansion too nervous and too much +excited to have made any preparations, even at past midnight, for +retiring to rest. Vibert was pacing up and down his room when the cab +was drawn up at the door; to him the bell, heard at so late an hour, +announced tidings which must relate to his own unhappy affair. It was +Vibert who, pale with anxiety and distress, rushed down the six flights +of stairs, hurried into the hall, drew back the massive bolts, unloosed +the chain, and threw open the door, while Mrs. Montalban's footman was +yet rubbing his sleepy eyes and yawning, before he attempted to ensconce +himself in his livery coat. + +"Emmie! Bruce!" exclaimed the astonished Vibert, as by the flickering +light of the bed-room candle, which he had brought from his own +apartment, he recognized the travellers who now entered the hall. "For +what have you come, and at such a time?" + +"To stand by you," answered Bruce, grasping the hand of his younger +brother. + +Those brief words--that grasp of the hand--were to the wretched Vibert +like the first gleam of light bursting through clouds of darkness and +storm. Of the bitter drops which had filled the cup of misery which, +since his arrest, Vibert had drained, perhaps none had been more bitter +than the thought of the contempt which his elder brother would feel for +one who had stood in a police-court, accused as a felon. Not that Vibert +supposed that Bruce would believe him capable of knowingly passing +forged notes; but what a selfish prodigal--what a contemptible +dupe--what a disgrace to the family, would he not appear in the eyes of +his high-minded elder brother! Bruce, with his lofty sense of duty,--his +own character so pure from reproach,--how he would despise the companion +and tool of a profligate forger! Vibert, notwithstanding his affected +disregard of the opinions of Bruce, really looked up to him with +respect, though that feeling was largely mixed with that of dislike. The +youth was vain of his own personal advantages; love of approbation was +strong in his soul, and he had resented the stern Mentor-like +superiority assumed by his elder brother. Now that all Bruce's warnings +against Vibert's folly had been more than justified by the event, the +younger brother winced at the idea of the stern judgment on his conduct +which would be passed by him who had warned in vain. The brother's +withering sneer--so thought Vibert, who was selfish even in his +misery--would be harder to bear than even his father's deep +mortification, or Emmie's burst of distress. Now to find sympathy and +support, where he had looked for upbraiding and scorn, touched the heart +of the poor lad, and filled his eyes with tears. + +Bruce's dislike to "cause any fuss in the house" made him decide at once +on accompanying Vibert back to his room, where, as the younger Trevor +said, there were a sofa and a fire. Emmie was to steal up softly to the +apartment of her cousin Cecilia, whose habit it was, as she knew, to sit +up reading novels till midnight. There was to be no noise--no whispering +on the stairs--to rouse the family from their slumbers. Vibert wondered +at the earnestness with which Emmie recommended Bruce to his care; it +was strange to the poor lad, absorbed as he was in his own trouble, that +his sister should appear to be more anxious about Bruce than unhappy +about himself. A feeling of shame had made Vibert scarcely glance at his +brother when he met him in the hall, and he scarcely noticed with how +feeble and slow a step Bruce now mounted the long flights of stairs. If +Vibert thought at all on the subject, as, candle in hand, he led the way +to his room, he deemed that his brother was giving to Emmie, who +accompanied Bruce to the upper landing-place, the support which he was +in reality receiving from the slender arm of his sister. + +Bruce entered his brother's room, into which he had been preceded by +Vibert, with difficulty reached the sofa, and then sank upon it, his +brain reeling, and every object seeming to swim around him. He threw off +the travelling cap which, light as it was, had sat like a weight of lead +on his brow; and then, indeed, Vibert noticed that his brother's head +was bandaged. + +"What has happened to you, Bruce?" he exclaimed. "You look as if you had +just walked out of your grave!" + +Bruce simply replied, "I had a blow;" and Vibert's mind went back at +once to his own affairs. The youth, as he stirred the fire to a brighter +blaze, kept up what could scarcely be termed a conversation, as he +himself was the only speaker. Bruce did not take in the meaning of half +the rapidly-uttered words which fell on his ear,--to his feverish brain +they were as sounds heard in a dream; but he was a silent if not an +attentive listener, and that was enough for Vibert. + +"Can you imagine a more horrid affair than this has been?" exclaimed the +younger Trevor. "I had no more doubt that those notes had been issued +from the Bank of England than I had of my own existence. But I need not +tell you that. No one who knows me could for a moment suspect me of a +dishonourable action, though, as I am ready enough to own, I have acted +with consummate folly. How could I have let myself be so deceived by a +worthless adventurer? I cannot even now understand how Standish gained +such an influence over my mind!" + +Bruce might have replied--"By working on your vanity and self-love;" but +the young man had neither the strength nor the inclination to make such +a remark. Vibert went rambling on with his painful story; he had been +longing for some one to whom he could pour out his heart, and was +agreeably surprised at not being interrupted by any caustic remark from +his brother. + +"The blow fell upon me in so horridly public a way!" cried Vibert. "Just +imagine the scene. There was the large drawing-room full of people,--my +aunt was giving an afternoon party. We had the Montagues, Carpenters, +stately Sir Richard,--the countess and all! The music had struck up; the +couples were placed; I had asked Alice for the first dance; she and I +stood at the top. We were laughing, chatting, and just beginning to +dance. Suddenly the music stopped,--musicians, dancers, every one +looking in one direction. A policeman--astounding apparition!--was +making his way up the room! Even then I was not in the least alarmed. I +remember that I turned to Alice, and jestingly asked her whether she was +to be taken up for stealing hearts! It was no jesting matter for me! +When the fellow in blue laid his grasp on _my_ arm,--when he said that +his business was with _me_,--I should have liked to have struck him to +the earth; and then--I should have liked the floor to have opened +beneath me!" Vibert, as he spoke, plunged the poker fiercely into the +heart of the fire. "Only conceive," he continued, "what it was to have +to walk down that long room, with a policeman's hand on my collar, and +to feel (I dared not look about me to see) that every eye was watching +my movements! I did indeed catch a glimpse of my aunt in her purple +velvet, with her face as full of horror as if she had seen the Gorgon's +head! I did hear Alice's exclamation of pity,--that was almost the worst +of all; for such pity is akin to contempt! Then my poor uncle, +stammering and confused at the dishonour done to his family and house, +would fain have got me out of the clutch of the grim policeman; but he +could not effect anything then, though his bail and my father's were +accepted on the following day when I had been before the magistrate. I +was led off from that grand house--from that gay throng--to--to--O +Bruce! can you imagine your brother in the lock-up for a night! I wonder +that I did not go crazy! And then to have to appear on the next day in a +police-court, on a charge of felony! Horrible! horrible!--most horrible! +I should wish, when this affair is over, to shut myself up in a +hermitage, where no one should ever see or hear of me again. I shall +never be able to endure meeting one of those who beheld me carried off +to jail in charge of the police!" + +Vibert turned suddenly from the fire as he concluded the sentence, and +saw his brother stretched on the sofa, quite unconscious of his +presence, sleeping the sleep of exhaustion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +CHARGED WITH FELONY. + + +The remarkable circumstances attending the arrest of Vibert Trevor, his +high connections, and the official position which his father had for +many years held, made the affair in which he was implicated cause a very +great sensation in the upper ranks of London society. Never before had +the police-court in which Vibert was for the second time to appear been +so crowded by the wearers of fashionable bonnets, sable muffs, and +ermine tippets. Never before had so many carriages (some of them bearing +coronets) blocked up the narrow avenues to the magistrate's court. The +police had some difficulty in clearing a way for aristocratic ladies +through crowds of roughs assembled to see "a gent in the hands of the +bobbies!" Expectation was on the tiptoe. To many of Vibert's gay +companions--the young men with whom he had played at billiards, the +pretty girls with whom he had danced--the sight of him standing at the +bar to answer a charge of passing forged notes, gave a thrill of +excitement more delightful than could have been afforded by the most +sensational novel, or the most charmingly tragical play. + +Information was circulated amidst the mixed throng, where news was +eagerly passed from mouth to mouth, that the police at Liverpool had +been unsuccessful in their attempts to discover and arrest the person +who had called himself Colonel Standish. No person of that name, no one +answering to the description given of his person, had inquired after the +box of jewels at the place to which Vibert was to have sent it. No +individual called Standish had taken his passage in any vessel about to +sail for America. The police were eagerly on the alert, but had, it was +said, discovered no clue that could lead to the arrest of the principal +criminal. + +"The monkey who used the cat's paw to pull the chestnuts out of the +fire, has got clear off to the jungle," observed a fashionable-looking +young man, who had been one of Vibert's most particular friends. "Poor +Grimalkin is caught with the nuts in his claws, and will have something +to bear in addition to the pain of the burning!" The speaker, as he +ended the remark, raised his gold eye-glass to his eyes, to enable him +to see more distinctly every nervous twitch on the face of poor Vibert, +who, attended by his father, uncle, and brother, at that moment +approached the bar. + +"Ah! how changed the poor boy looks--how shamefaced!" whispered Alice to +a companion; for Alice was there in her fashionable hat with its scarlet +feather. "To think that I should have danced and talked nonsense with +one who is standing where all the low thieves and pickpockets stand!" +The little lady rose on tiptoe to have a better view over the shoulders +of those in front of her; but had the grace to hope that the poor +prisoner would not turn his eyes in her direction. There was no danger +of his so doing, the wretched youth could not raise his eyes from their +fixed stare on the floor. + +"Vibert's brother looks more ill than the prisoner does," observed the +companion of Alice; "he has a bandage on his head. One would think that +Bruce had been brought to the bar for prize-fighting, or for leading the +roughs in a row!" + +"Hush! hush! he is going to be sworn as a witness,--some one is giving +him a glass of cold water; I wish that I could hand him my +scent-bottle," whispered Alice, who was touched by Bruce's evident +struggle to overcome physical suffering and mental exhaustion by the +force of strong will. + +Bruce was sworn as a witness. Very simply and concisely he gave +evidence as to what the reader knows already. He told of his hearing a +noise, entering the chamber next to his own, seeing the forgers, and +receiving, while struggling with Standish, a stunning blow from some +heavy instrument wielded by Harper. + +Harper's name had not even been mentioned in the evidence given on the +preceding day, Vibert not being in the slightest degree aware of the +strange old man's complicity in the crime of forging bank-notes. Bruce's +narrative, given in a low but clear and steady voice, commanded +breathless attention. The silence observed in the crowded court was +scarcely broken even by the rustle of a lady's silk dress. + +"You say that you were stunned by the blow given by this man Harper," +observed the magistrate. "Did you long continue in an unconscious +state?" + +"I know not how long I remained senseless," was the answer of Bruce; +"probably the cold night air revived me, for I found, when I came to +life, that the two forgers were bearing me into the wood. I lay +perfectly still, and they doubtless considered me dead, for the men +uttered words to each other which I was certainly not intended to hear." + +"Can you recall to memory any of those words?" the magistrate inquired. + +Bruce had a tenacious memory, and what had passed on that eventful night +had been as it were branded on it, never to be erased. He at once +replied to the magistrate's question. + +"The first words which I remember hearing were some spoken by +Harper--'How could you trust Vibert Trevor to pass my notes?' said he. + +"'I trusted him no more than in angling I trust the fly on my hook,' +answered Standish. 'I use him to make the gudgeons bite; but the fool +knows no more of the nature of the work to which I have put him than +does the senseless fly that covers the barb.'" + +A thrill of satisfaction went through the court. Mr. Trevor could not +restrain a faint exclamation of thankfulness at this clear testimony to +the innocence of his unfortunate son drawn from Standish himself. + +"Proceed, sir, with your evidence," said the magistrate to Bruce Trevor. +The witness went on with his story. + +"'How then is the lad to forward the jewels?' asked Harper. + +"'He is to direct them to me under my assumed name,' replied Standish; +'but I shall be too wary to claim the box myself. Aunt Jael, whom no one +suspects, will call at the office for the jewels, and bring them to us +at the White Raven, where we shall keep close till the _Penguin_ +sails.'" + +"Did you hear anything more regarding the plans of these men?" the +magistrate asked. + +"No; but I had heard enough to put the police on the right scent on my +return to Myst Court," answered Bruce. + +This was all the evidence which young Trevor could give which bore +directly on the charge against his brother; but so much of interest +remained to be learned, that the examination went on. + +"What do you suppose that this man Harper and his accomplice intended to +do with you, when they carried you through the wood?" asked the +magistrate. + +"They intended to throw my corpse into the pond on the heath," answered +Bruce in the same calm tone. "I knew as much from what they muttered, +though I cannot recall the words; and I reserved myself for one last +desperate struggle for life. As we left the wood, Harper found out, +perhaps by some involuntary movement that I made, that I was alive. I +was set down under a hedge, and there followed some conversation between +the two men regarding my fate, of the nature of which I could guess more +than I heard. There was something said about 'gallows' and 'hanging for +it,' so I concluded that the ruffians thought it a more serious matter +to be tried for murder than for the forgery of bank-notes. The men +lifted me up again, and carried me into the house of the woman hitherto +called Jael Jessel, whom I now found to be the wife of the one and the +aunt of the other. In that house I was blindfolded, gagged, and bound to +a table. Half swooning as I was, I knew little of what was passing +around me, save that I judged from the sounds that I heard that the +forgers were moving their goods and leaving the place. How many hours I +passed alone after their departure I cannot tell. A great storm came on, +and at last a fire-bolt struck the dwelling, shattering the door, and +setting the place on fire. Then followed the entrance of my sister, who, +alarmed at my absence, was searching for me, and who found me in the +helpless condition in which the forgers had doubtless hoped that I would +have remained for days undiscovered. I was scarcely likely to have +survived till the evening, had not timely succour arrived." + +Before Bruce had quite finished giving his evidence, tidings were +brought to the magistrate from Liverpool, which excited such interest +amongst the crowd thronging the court that an irrepressible murmur of +satisfaction arose. The police, following the clue given by Bruce +Trevor, had arrested at a low public-house, called the White Raven, +three persons answering to the description given of Harper and his +associates. The woman, it appeared, had inquired at the coach-office for +a box directed to Colonel Standish, which, it could not be doubted, was +that which was to contain the jewels. Other suspicious circumstances +seemed to place it beyond question that the individuals now in custody +were Harper, Standish, and Jael. The first named had been recognized by +a policeman as an engraver, who had been taken up before on a charge of +forgery, but who had been dismissed for want of sufficient evidence to +convict him. Jael, it appeared, was his wife; and Harper had found in +her nephew, Horace Standish, _alias_ John Stobb, an unscrupulous +accomplice in carrying out his guilty designs. It afterwards appeared +that the Harpers and their confederate had taken their passages in the +_Penguin_ under three different assumed names. + +Vibert still stood as a prisoner at the bar, but he was not long to +remain in so humiliating a position. The magistrate, who had from the +first doubted the young man's guilt, was now convinced, by Bruce's +testimony, that the prisoner had never been an accomplice in the crime +of the forgers, but in pure ignorance had passed false notes so +skilfully engraved as almost to defy detection. The magistrate therefore +dismissed the charge against the prisoner, and Vibert once more was +free. + +A louder hum of approbation, accompanied by some clapping of hands, +followed the order for Vibert's release. But to Vibert that release +brought no joyful sense of freedom, and the favourable verdict no +feeling of exultation. The youth was humiliated--even to the dust. He +had only escaped condemnation as a felon, by being convicted of acting +as a fool. He had been the easy dupe, the senseless tool of a designing +villain. His emblem was the gaudy fly hiding the hook of the angler! +Under such circumstances the congratulations of the so-called friends +who now pressed around him were to Vibert but as a stinging insult. His +one wish was to escape all notice, to fly from his fellow-creatures, and +to hide his head where no one should know of his folly and the disgrace +to which it had brought him. Many hands were held out to the late +prisoner, words were spoken which were meant to be kind; but Vibert +would not notice the hands, nor listen to the words. He bent down his +head till his long hair almost hid his cheeks, which were glowing with +shame. Vibert pushed his way through the crowd, scarcely able to draw a +full breath till he had reached the street, rushed into his uncle's +carriage, in which Emmie was anxiously waiting, and pulled down the +blinds to shut himself out from the sight of mankind. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +TREMBLING IN THE BALANCE. + + +Another and a yet sharper trial was further to humble and sober the once +gay and thoughtless Vibert. If ever a gush of warm gratitude had arisen +in his heart, it was drawn forth by the generous effort made in his +behalf by his elder brother. Bruce, when in a state of exhaustion and +suffering which rendered him fit only for the silence and repose of a +sick-chamber, had taken a long journey in winter, and had then +encountered the fatigue and excitement of giving evidence in a +police-court, acting as one who felt that he had no leisure to be ill, +that it was a time for action and not for repose. Bruce had been as a +rider forcing his horse to a leap almost beyond its strength; the brave +steed just clearing the stone wall, and falling on the opposite side, +crushing its rider beneath its weight. An effort had been made, +successfully made; but reaction was certain to follow, and in the case +of Bruce Trevor terrible was that reaction. Ere nightfall straw was laid +down before one of the houses in Grosvenor Square to deaden the sound of +passing wheels, and the most skilful physician in London was counting +the quick throbs in the pulse of a patient in a high delirious fever. + +Emmie had never before watched by a sick-bed; she had been far too young +at the time of her mother's last illness to have had anything to do with +nursing. All those who best knew Emmie, with her delicate nerves and +timid character, declared that she was utterly unfit to nurse in a case +that required both strength and courage; for Bruce's ravings were often +those of a maniac. He had sometimes to be held down in his bed by main +force. But the painful lessons of the last few days had not been taught +to Emmie in vain. The timid nervous girl had learned to go to the Fount +of Strength, and the firmness and faith which she thence received +astonished her father and Vibert. When her younger brother would quit +the sick-room, unable to endure the harrowing sight of Bruce struggling +like a demoniac, Emmie remained at her painful post. The sound of his +sister's voice, the gentle touch of her hand, would sometimes soothe the +poor sufferer when nothing else had the slightest effect. + +"How can you bear to see him thus?" exclaimed Vibert once to his pale +but tearless sister, after one of Bruce's most distressing paroxysms of +brain-fever. + +"I try to trust and not be afraid," the poor girl faintly replied. "I +try to trust him to God, to my--his Heavenly Father. I repeat to myself, +_God is love_. He can--oh! He _will_ make all things, even this most +fearful anguish, work together for good to those who trust Him!" + +But for the ravings of fever, when the mind of Bruce had lost all power +of self-control, never would mortal but himself have known the extent of +the sufferings which he had endured whilst in the power of the forgers, +and during the hours of torture when he had remained pinioned and +gagged. In the police-court Bruce had described with calm brevity the +events of that trying night and morning. But when reason had fled from +the sufferer, what images of horror those events had branded on his mind +was apparent to all who approached him. The dreadful scenes through +which Bruce had passed were, in the delirium of fever, acted over and +over again: now he was struggling with fearful violence to unloose a +murderer's grasp on his throat, calling for help in tones so piercing +that they thrilled to the hearts of those watching beside him, and even +reached the ears of passengers in the street. Then the sufferer seemed +to be listening, gasping and trembling as he listened, to sounds which +none but himself could hear. Bruce would mutter words about the +pool--the deep, black, icy-cold pool--and clutch the bed-clothes, as if +to save himself from being dragged down to a watery grave. At another +time the fever-stricken youth would imagine himself as being again bound +in the house of Jael, would writhe and struggle to free himself from +imaginary cords that cut into his flesh as he struggled; and anon would +convulsively start, as if again he heard the thunderbolt strike the +dwelling close to his head. + +Day after day passed, night after night, in dreadful transitions from +frenzy to stupor, deathlike stupor, only exchanged for more fearful +frenzy, till even Emmie could scarcely wish for a prolongation of the +terrible struggle. Humbly and submissively she prayed that if her loved +brother were indeed now passing through the river of death, one ray of +reason might gleam through the awful darkness around him, and that the +waves and billows might indeed not go over his head. + +But Bruce had youth in his favour, and all that man's skill or woman's +tenderness could throw into the opposite scale to that in which his life +appeared to be gradually sinking. With alternations of hope and fear, +the watchers by the sick-bed marked the trembling of the balance, +scarcely able to believe that from so fearful an attack of fever the +sufferer ever again could rise. But the crisis came at last, and the +worst was over; the maddening fever quitted the suffering Bruce, but +left him helpless as an infant, and more nervous than the most weak and +timid of women. + +For weeks Bruce could hardly endure the noise of a step crossing his +room; a shadow alarmed him, a voice would make every nerve in his frame +quiver. The doctor said that for long his patient would be incapable of +any mental exertion; he who had been so steady and regular in his work, +was condemned to the idleness and inaction which, to a character like +that of Bruce, was in itself a most humiliating trial and +disappointment. + +As soon as the invalid could be with safety removed from London, he was +sent to a watering-place in the south of England. Emmie, whose health +had suffered from her devoted nursing, accompanied her sick brother. +After a while she exchanged places with Vibert, and rejoined at Myst +Court her father, who was actively fulfilling his duties as a landlord +and benefactor to the poor. In the latter character Mr. Trevor needed +the help of his daughter, whose health was now sufficiently restored to +enable her to become his able assistant. + +Vibert had not seen his brother for more than a month when he joined him +at Torquay, and with the sanguine expectations natural to youth he hoped +that the change of air and scene, and the effect of so many weeks passed +in perfect repose, might have brought back health and strength to the +shattered frame of Bruce Trevor. The youth was disappointed to find how +slow had been the progress made by the invalid towards recovery. It was +not merely the hollow eye, the transparent skin, the faint voice and +feeble step that told how far removed convalescence was from vigorous +health, for it seemed to Vibert as if his brother's firmness of mind, +and even his moral courage, were gone. Bruce so shrank from any +allusions to the sufferings of the past, that Vibert, who had come full +of news which he was eager to impart, found that he must avoid even +mentioning the names of the Harpers. For some time Bruce did not hear +the result of the trial of the forgers, who had all been convicted and +condemned to various terms of imprisonment. + +But if Bruce's shattered state was distressing both to himself and to +others, it was evident that the character of the young man was ripening +under the trial. Bruce had been proud in his self-dependence, impatient +of the weakness of others; he had trusted in the power of his own strong +will to overcome all difficulties before him. He was now, in conscious +infirmity, learning to cast himself simply, humbly, unreservedly upon +the strength of his God. The proud soul had had to learn that the +kingdom of heaven can only be entered by those who come in the spirit of +a little child, and that the haughtiness of man must be brought down, +that the Lord alone may be exalted. + +"There are many things in life that one can't understand," observed +Vibert one day, when he had just placed a footstool before the brother +who had formerly taunted him with an effeminate love of luxurious ease. +"It seems natural enough that I should have had some rough discipline, +seeing what a thoughtless, selfish life I had been leading, till I was +pulled up sharp by that horrid affair. But you--the steadiest fellow in +Christendom--you, who never broke bounds, or turned to the right or the +left--I can't see why the heaviest strokes should be laid upon you, or +what good such a long trying illness can possibly do you." + +"Vibert, do you remember what our uncle wrote on those fragments of +paper when we were together at Summer Villa?" + +Vibert nodded an affirmative reply. + +"I have often thought over his words," continued the invalid; "they +conveyed a salutary warning, all the more needed because it raised my +anger against him who had laid his finger upon the tender spot. Vibert, +I, as well as yourself, had my haunted chamber within the heart, and it +has needed the thunderbolt which has smitten me so low to burst open a +way for the light to enter." + +A few months before nothing could have extorted from the lips of Bruce +Trevor such a confession. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +CHANGES. + + +The last month of Bruce's stay at Torquay was passed at the house of a +relative; Vibert had returned to his studies, Emmie's presence and help +were required at home by her father, and the convalescent no longer +needed constant attendance. It was arranged that Bruce should remain at +the sea-side till his uncle's return from his voyage, when he and +Captain Arrows should travel to Myst Court together. + +It is bright sunny noontide in April; earth has long since cast off her +fetters of ice and mantle of snow, and the voice of the west wind has +called forth innumerable flowers to welcome the spring. The apple-trees +and cherry-trees are full of blossom, and the meadows are sheeted with +gold. If some clouds flit over the sky, their light shadows but add the +beauty of contrast to sunshine. If soft drops occasionally fall, they +but make the fair earth the fairer. + +Two travellers have just stepped on the platform of the station of +S----. The pale thoughtful face of the one is familiar to us as that of +Bruce Trevor; in the healthy, bronzed, intelligent countenance of the +other we recognize that of Captain Arrows. + +"Ah! a hearty welcome to you both!" exclaimed Vibert, who had been +awaiting the arrival of the train with impatience. "As the day is so +mild and bright, I have driven over in the pony-chaise to meet you. I +want the captain to have a good view of the country as we drive to Myst +Court." + +The gentlemen were soon in the chaise, which could only conveniently +accommodate three; Joe was to follow with the luggage. The captain and +Vibert sat in front; Bruce preferred occupying the small seat behind. + +Vibert was in the highest spirits, talking and laughing as he drove. It +was well that the pony knew the way, and required no guiding. The youth +often turned half-round in his seat, to address himself to his brother. + +"Doesn't this remind you, Bruce, of my first coming to meet you at this +station, when I ran off with Emmie, and nearly broke both her neck and +my own? What a storm we had then to welcome us into our home!" + +"We've had worse storms since," thought the silent Bruce Trevor. + +Vibert continued his animated conversation with his uncle, pointing out +all the landmarks around, telling of the improvements made by his +father, and giving lively anecdotes of the people whose dwellings they +passed. + +"There now--yon unsightly square fortress of brick is the castle of old +Bullen, the giant whom my father, armed with a roll of law-papers, +boldly attacked and subdued. The stream which runs through our land has +ceased to run purple and crimson; it is now a case of 'Never say _dye_.' +You see yonder builders busy at work? They have made good progress with +the new cottages, designed on the most approved plan. Bruce, don't you +recollect the wretched pig-sties of hovels that stood in that place?" + +Bruce's pale face was lighted up with interest and pleasure; the plans +for the cottages had been made by himself, soon after his arrival in +Wiltshire. That these plans were actually being carried out, had been +purposely kept a secret from him, in order to give him a pleasant +surprise. + +"Yon field seems to be divided into allotments," observed Captain +Arrows. + +"Yes; that's one of the schemes of my father for improving the state of +his peasants; he says that he had the notion from Bruce." + +"And how does Emmie like her new life?" asked the captain. + +"Emmie! why, she's a changed being--changed from the pale, clinging +jessamine, into a bright apple-blossom!" cried Vibert. "Emmie is busy +from morning till night; she drills her awkward squad of pinafored +children in the barn, till a proper school can be built, and has +actually coaxed them into washing their faces! She has a book like a +parish register, with all the tenants' names put down, age, number of +children, and all that sort of dry information; which seems, however, to +interest her. Emmie ventures to enter the dirtiest cottage; but, somehow +or other, soap and water are more freely used now than when she first +came to the place. Emmie is a kind of guardian, or rather +guardian-angel, to the poor. Why, she has even tackled an old ploughman, +who was notoriously fond of his glass; and if he gives up gin and +whisky, it will be all owing to the influence of the young lady. You +will be as much surprised at the change in Emmie, as my father was +yesterday, when old Blair told him that I was a steady, promising young +man!" Vibert leaned back in his seat, and laughed so merrily, that had +not the pony at least been steady, the accident of the first evening +might have been repeated, by the chaise being upset into a ditch. + +Bruce neither shared the merriment nor joined in the conversation. +Though young Trevor's health had by this time been greatly restored, his +shattered nerves had not completely regained their tone. Bruce regarded +Myst Court with extreme aversion, from the painful associations +connected in his mind with the place, and would have been most glad had +his father sold the estate at once. No one knew the shrinking dislike, +almost amounting to loathing, with which Bruce thought of reoccupying +the room next to that hateful bricked-up chamber in which he had +suffered so much. The young man knew that other rooms in Myst Court had +by this time been repaired and furnished, and twice had he taken up his +pen to write a request that his apartment might be exchanged for +another, and twice he had thrown down the pen, ashamed to betray such +childish weakness. + +"I scorned, even in poor Emmie, what I deemed silly superstition," +thought Bruce. "There is nothing that teaches one to feel for the +infirmities of others like suffering, as I now do, from one's own." + +Bruce's aversion to the room adjoining the haunted chamber arose, it +need scarcely be said, from a different cause from that which had made +his sister dread to occupy the apartment. There was neither superstition +nor mistrust in the mind of Bruce; he had no fear of apparitions; but he +did shrink from reviving the images of horror impressed on memory, +which, during his illness, had excited his brain to the point of frenzy. +No one knew of the mental struggle in the mind of the convalescent; not +to his nearest and dearest friend would he confide a weakness for which +he despised himself. Bruce's post of duty was at Myst Court, and he +deemed it a matter of comparatively small importance whether he disliked +that post or not. Young Trevor's habitual self-control was now exercised +in overcoming the infirmity left by long illness; and while Bruce was +accusing himself of being a despicable coward, he had at no period of +his life exercised more that courage which + + "Triumphs over fear, + And nobly dares the danger nature shrinks from." + +Mr. Trevor and his daughter met the travellers at the iron gate which +has been repeatedly mentioned as opening into the grounds of Myst Court. +Emmie's face, radiant with smiles of welcome, and blooming with +happiness and health, did indeed rival the soft beauty of the +apple-blossom. Captain Arrows and his nephews quitted the chaise; and +while Vibert on foot led the pony, the whole party sauntered at an easy +pace along the carriage-drive, Emmie keeping close to the side of her +newly-restored brother. With what tender, thankful joy she looked upon +him whose step, but for her self-conquest, would never have trod that +path again! + +The trees on either side of the road were opening their budding leaves +to the sunshine; the woods were full of the song of birds; and amidst +the copse clusters of violets, primroses, and wood anemones, enamelled +with their varied tints the carpet of moss. + +"You see Myst Court in its beauty," said Vibert to his uncle, as a turn +in the road brought the party in view of the stately mansion. "My first +sight of the haunted house was on a stormy night in November, when poor +Emmie and I arrived dripping and half-drowned, and Bruce welcomed us +home with a scowl and a growl.--Now, Bruce, does not the garden do +credit to Emmie? Look at the flowers in those classically-shaped vases, +and the beds all ablaze with crocuses, purple, golden, and white!" + +"The garden is greatly improved," said Bruce, forcing himself to speak +in a cheerful tone. + +"But what will you say to the interior of the house? it is there that +most has been done," cried Vibert. "Emmie has now her own boudoir, and +I think that you will own that it is a gem! I've done much of the +ornamenting part myself, and am not a little proud of my taste." + +Vibert was so impatient to show the boudoir that, after the party had +entered the hall, he insisted with boyish vehemence upon their at once +proceeding up the broad oaken staircase, which on their first coming had +led only to the sleeping apartments and the corridor upon which they had +opened. Vibert, leading the way, drew back the heavy tapestry curtain, +beyond which lay the two rooms which have so often been mentioned. The +first apartment was that which Bruce had occupied, and which he was to +occupy still; but it was not here that Vibert stopped. A little beyond +it was an open door, and through the doorway the eager youth led the +party into a fairy-like apartment, where sunshine streamed through the +diamond-shaped panes of a mullioned window, while shining mirrors +reflected graceful ornaments within, and pictures wreathed with garlands +of spring wild-flowers, or imaged on their clear surfaces the beauty of +the woodland without. + +"I call this Emmie's boudoir; but she insists that it shall be your +study, Bruce," cried Vibert. "It's a pretty fairy-like retreat for you +to read or for her to sing in." + +"Surely this must be--_the haunted chamber!_" exclaimed the astonished +Bruce. + +"The disenchanted chamber, without its gloom or its spectres," observed +the smiling Emmie. + +"But there was a codicil to the old lady's will which obliged us to keep +this room bricked up," observed Bruce. + +"That codicil was a forgery," interrupted Mr. Trevor. "Harper, as +unprincipled in devising schemes of fraud as he was skilful in carrying +them out, had in this forged codicil attempted to achieve a double +purpose. He made over to his wife a house and property to which she had +no real claim, and he for a while contrived to secure to himself what +was called the haunted chamber. Here were left his graving tools, his +printing-press, and whatever else was required for his nefarious work; +and here he pursued his occupation, shielded from interruption by the +superstitious fears which his wife took pains to instil. The guilty man, +with his associates, now reaps the reward of his crimes." + +Bruce looked around him with admiring wonder. It was impossible to +recognize the place, which he had only once seen before, when fire and +lamp-light threw a red glare on instruments of guilt, and the +threatening countenances of ruffians disturbed at their unhallowed work. +Turning towards his sister with a brightening countenance, young Trevor +exclaimed, "What a change is made by admitting the pure light of +heaven!" + +And it is with these words, taken in a loftier sense, that I would now +close my story. Its object has been to lead the reader to search the +haunted chamber of his own heart, to discover there the lurking +ministers of evil who may, unknown even to himself, have made it their +secret abode. Let us resolutely and prayerfully resolve, at whatever +cost of humiliation or shame, to know ourselves, to recognize and face +the sin that so easily besets us. Let the brickwork of ignorance be +thrown down, and let not spiritual sunshine be shut out from the +self-deceived heart. _Pride_, _Self-love_, cowardly _Mistrust_ of God's +wisdom and goodness, are natural to our fallen nature; but the entrance +of His Word into the heart is as that of the glorious beams of the +day,--joy, brightness, and holiness follow the admission into its +deepest recesses of the pure, life-giving light of Heaven! + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + + Obvious punctuation errors have been repaired. + + Archaic and inconsistent spelling and hyphenation have been preserved. + + The question mark "(?)" on page 14 is in the original. (The slang in + wich some modern ladies(?) indulge would have sounded....) + + "Lizzy" and "Lizzie" occur once in this text. This has been preserved. + + On page 109 "Emma" has been changed to "Emmie". (Emmie was + trembling....) + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Haunted Room, by A. L. O. 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