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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/8429-8.txt b/8429-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bd74adf --- /dev/null +++ b/8429-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3267 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Ancestral Footstep (fragment), by Nathaniel Hawthorne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: The Ancestral Footstep (fragment) + Outlines of an English Romance + +Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne + +Posting Date: September 25, 2014 [EBook #8429] +Release Date: July, 2005 +First Posted: July 9, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP (FRAGMENT) *** + + + + +Produced by Eric Eldred, Thomas Berger, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + +THE DOLLIVER ROMANCE + +FANSHAWE, AND SEPTIMIUS FELTON + +With An Appendix Containing + +THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP + +by + +NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE + + * * * * * + +THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP: + +OUTLINES OF AN ENGLISH ROMANCE. + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE. + +"Septimius Felton" was the outgrowth of a project, formed by Hawthorne +during his residence in England, of writing a romance, the scene of which +should be laid in that country; but this project was afterwards +abandoned, giving place to a new conception in which the visionary search +for means to secure an earthly immortality was to form the principal +interest. The new conception took shape in the uncompleted "Dolliver +Romance." The two themes, of course, were distinct, but, by a curious +process of thought, one grew directly out of the other: the whole history +constitutes, in fact, a chapter in what may be called the genealogy of a +romance. There remained, after "Septimius Felton" had been published, +certain manuscripts connected with the scheme of an English story. One of +these manuscripts was written in the form of a journalized narrative; the +author merely noting the date of what he wrote, as he went along. The +other was a more extended sketch, of much greater bulk, and without date, +but probably produced several years later. It was not originally intended +by those who at the time had charge of Hawthorne's papers that either of +these incomplete writings should be laid before the public; because they +manifestly had not been left by him in a form which he would have +considered as warranting such a course. But since the second and larger +manuscript has been published under the title of "Dr. Grimshawe's +Secret," it has been thought best to issue the present sketch, so that +the two documents may be examined together. Their appearance places in +the hands of readers the entire process of development leading to the +"Septimius" and "The Dolliver Romance." They speak for themselves much +more efficiently than any commentator can expect to do; and little, +therefore, remains to be said beyond a few words of explanation in regard +to the following pages. + +The Note-Books show that the plan of an English romance, turning upon the +fact that an emigrant to America had carried away a family secret which +should give his descendant the power to ruin the family in the mother +country, had occurred to Hawthorne as early as April, 1855. In August of +the same year he visited Smithell's Hall, in Bolton le Moors, concerning +which he had already heard its legend of "The Bloody Footstep," and from +that time on, the idea of this footprint on the threshold-stone of the +ancestral mansion seems to have associated itself inextricably with the +dreamy substance of his yet unshaped romance. Indeed, it leaves its mark +broadly upon Sibyl Dacy's wild legend in "Septimius Felton," and +reappears in the last paragraph of that story. But, so far as we can know +at this day, nothing definite was done until after his departure for +Italy. It was then, while staying in Rome, that he began to put upon +paper that plot which had first occupied his thoughts three years before, +in the scant leisure allowed him by his duties at the Liverpool +consulate. Of leisure there was not a great deal at Rome, either; for, as +the "French and Italian Note-Books" show, sight-seeing and social +intercourse took up a good deal of his time, and the daily record in his +journal likewise had to be kept up. But he set to work resolutely to +embody, so far as he might, his stray imaginings upon the haunting +English theme, and to give them connected form. April 1, 1858, he began; +and then nearly two weeks passed before he found an opportunity to +resume; April 13th being the date of the next passage. By May he gets +fully into swing, so that day after day, with but slight breaks, he +carries on the story, always increasing in interest for us who read as +for him who improvised. Thus it continues until May 19th, by which time +he has made a tolerably complete outline, filled in with a good deal of +detail here and there. Although the sketch is cast in the form of a +regular narrative, one or two gaps occur, indicating that the author had +thought out certain points which he then took for granted without making +note of them. Brief scenes, passages of conversation and of narration, +follow one another after the manner of a finished story, alternating with +synopses of the plot, and queries concerning particulars that needed +further study; confidences of the romancer to himself which form +certainly a valuable contribution to literary history. The manuscript +closes with a rapid sketch of the conclusion, and the way in which it is +to be executed. Succinctly, what we have here is a romance in embryo; +one, moreover, that never attained to a viable stature and constitution. +During his lifetime it naturally would not have been put forward as +demanding public attention; and, in consideration of that fact, it has +since been withheld from the press by the decision of his daughter, in +whom the title to it vests. Students of literary art, however, and many +more general readers will, I think, be likely to discover in it a charm +all the greater for its being in parts only indicated; since, as it +stands, it presents the precise condition of a work of fiction in its +first stage. The unfinished "Grimshawe" was another development of the +same theme, and the "Septimius" a later sketch, with a new element +introduced. But the present experimental fragment, to which it has been +decided to give the title of "The Ancestral Footstep," possesses a +freshness and spontaneity recalling the peculiar fascination of those +chalk or pencil outlines with which great masters in the graphic art have +been wont to arrest their fleeting glimpses of a composition still +unwrought. + +It would not be safe to conclude, from the large amount of preliminary +writing done with a view to that romance, that Hawthorne always adopted +this laborious mode of making several drafts of a book. On the contrary, +it is understood that his habit was to mature a design so thoroughly in +his mind before attempting to give it actual existence on paper that but +little rewriting was needed. The circumstance that he was obliged to +write so much that did not satisfy him in this case may account partly +for his relinquishing the theme, as one which for him had lost its +seductiveness through too much recasting. + +It need be added only that the original manuscript, from which the +following pages are printed through the medium of an exact copy, is +singularly clear and fluent. Not a single correction occurs throughout; +but here and there a word is omitted, obviously by mere accident, and +these omissions have been supplied. The correction in each case is marked +by brackets, in this printed reproduction. The sketch begins abruptly; +but there is no reason to suppose that anything preceded it except the +unrecorded musings in the author's mind, and one or two memoranda in the +"English Note-Books." We must therefore imagine the central figure, +Middleton, who is the American descendant of an old English family, as +having been properly introduced, and then pass at once to the opening +sentences. The rest will explain itself. + +G. P. L. + + * * * * * + +THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP. + +OUTLINES OF AN ENGLISH ROMANCE. + + + + +I. + +April 1, 1858. _Thursday_.--He had now been travelling long in those rich +portions of England where he would most have wished to find the object of +his pursuit; and many had been the scenes which he would willingly have +identified with that mentioned in the ancient, time-yellowed record which +he bore about with him. It is to be observed that, undertaken at first +half as the amusement, the unreal object, of a grown man's play-day, it +had become more and more real to him with every step of the way that he +followed it up; along those green English lanes it seemed as if +everything would bring him close to the mansion that he sought; every +morning he went on with renewed hopes, nor did the evening, though it +brought with it no success, bring with it the gloom and heaviness of a +real disappointment. In all his life, including its earliest and happiest +days, he had never known such a spring and zest as now filled his veins, +and gave lightsomeness to his limbs; this spirit gave to the beautiful +country which he trod a still richer beauty than it had ever borne, and +he sought his ancient home as if he had found his way into Paradise and +were there endeavoring to trace out the sight [site] of Eve's bridal +bower, the birthplace of the human race and its glorious possibilities of +happiness and high performance. + +In these sweet and delightful moods of mind, varying from one dream to +another, he loved indeed the solitude of his way; but likewise he loved +the facility which his pursuit afforded him, of coming in contact with +many varieties of men, and he took advantage of this facility to an +extent which it was not usually his impulse to do. But now he came forth +from all reserves, and offered himself to whomever the chances of the way +offered to him, with a ready sensibility that made its way through every +barrier that even English exclusiveness, in whatever rank of life, could +set up. The plastic character of Middleton was perhaps a variety of +American nature only presenting itself under an individual form; he could +throw off the man of our day, and put on a ruder nature, but then it was +with a certain fineness, that made this only [a] distinction between it +and the central truth. He found less variety of form in the English +character than he had been accustomed to see at home; but perhaps this +was in consequence of the external nature of his acquaintance with it; +for the view of one well accustomed to a people, and of a stranger to +them, differs in this--that the latter sees the homogeneity, the one +universal character, the groundwork of the whole, while the former sees a +thousand little differences, which distinguish the individual men apart, +to such a degree that they seem hardly to have any resemblance among +themselves. + +But just at the period of his journey when we take him up, Middleton had +been for two or three days the companion of an old man who interested him +more than most of his wayside companions; the more especially as he +seemed to be wandering without an object, or with such a dreamy object as +that which led Middleton's own steps onward. He was a plain old man +enough, but with a pale, strong-featured face and white hair, a certain +picturesqueness and venerableness, which Middleton fancied might have +befitted a richer garb than he now wore. In much of their conversation, +too, he was sensible that, though the stranger betrayed no acquaintance +with literature, nor seemed to have conversed with cultivated minds, yet +the results of such acquaintance and converse were here. Middleton was +inclined to think him, however, an old man, one of those itinerants, such +as Wordsworth represented in the "Excursion," who smooth themselves by +the attrition of the world and gain a knowledge equivalent to or better +than that of books from the actual intellect of man awake and active +around them. + +Often, during the short period since their companionship originated, +Middleton had felt impelled to disclose to the old man the object of his +journey, and the wild tale by which, after two hundred years, he had been +blown as it were across the ocean, and drawn onward to commence this +search. The old man's ordinary conversation was of a nature to draw forth +such a confidence as this; frequently turning on the traditions of the +wayside; the reminiscences that lingered on the battle-fields of the +Roses, or of the Parliament, like flowers nurtured by the blood of the +slain, and prolonging their race through the centuries for the wayfarer +to pluck them; or the family histories of the castles, manor-houses, and +seats which, of various epochs, had their park-gates along the roadside +and would be seen with dark gray towers or ancient gables, or more modern +forms of architecture, rising up among clouds of ancient oaks. Middleton +watched earnestly to see if, in any of these tales, there were +circumstances resembling those striking and singular ones which he had +borne so long in his memory, and on which he was now acting in so strange +a manner; but [though] there was a good deal of variety of incident in +them, there never was any combination of incidents having the peculiarity +of this. + +"I suppose," said he to the old man, "the settlers in my country may have +carried away with them traditions long since forgotten in this country, +but which might have an interest and connection, and might even piece out +the broken relics of family history, which have remained perhaps a +mystery for hundreds of years. I can conceive, even, that this might be +of importance in settling the heirships of estates; but which now, only +the two insulated parts of the story being known, remain a riddle, +although the solution of it is actually in the world, if only these two +parts could be united across the sea, like the wires of an electric +telegraph." + +"It is an impressive idea," said the old man. "Do you know any such +tradition as you have hinted at?" + +_April 13th_.--Middleton could not but wonder at the singular chance that +had established him in such a place, and in such society, so strangely +adapted to the purposes with which he had been wandering through England. +He had come hither, hoping as it were to find the past still alive and in +action; and here it was so in this one only spot, and these few persons +into the midst of whom he had suddenly been cast. With these reflections +he looked forth from his window into the old-fashioned garden, and at the +stone sundial, which had numbered all the hours--all the daylight and +serene ones, at least--since his mysterious ancestor left the country. +And [is] this, then, he thought to himself, the establishment of which +some rumor had been preserved? Was it here that the secret had its +hiding-place in the old coffer, in the cupboard, in the secret chamber, +or whatever was indicated by the apparently idle words of the document +which he had preserved? He still smiled at the idea, but it was with a +pleasant, mysterious sense that his life had at last got out of the dusty +real, and that strangeness had mixed itself up with his daily experience. + +With such feelings he prepared himself to go down to dinner with his +host. He found him alone at table, which was placed in a dark old room +modernized with every English comfort and the pleasant spectacle of a +table set with the whitest of napery and the brightest of glass and +china. The friendly old gentleman, as he had found him from the first, +became doubly and trebly so in that position which brings out whatever +warmth of heart an Englishman has, and gives it to him if he has none. +The impressionable and sympathetic character of Middleton answered to the +kindness of his host; and by the time the meal was concluded, the two +were conversing with almost as much zest and friendship as if they were +similar in age, even fellow-countrymen, and had known one another all +their life-time. Middleton's secret, it may be supposed, came often to +the tip of his tongue; but still he kept it within, from a natural +repugnance to bring out the one romance of his life. The talk, however, +necessarily ran much upon topics among which this one would have come in +without any extra attempt to introduce it. + +"This decay of old families," said the Master, "is much greater than +would appear on the surface of things. We have such a reluctance to part +with them, that we are content to see them continued by any fiction, +through any indirections, rather than to dispense with old names. In your +country, I suppose, there is no such reluctance; you are willing that one +generation should blot out all that preceded it, and be itself the newest +and only age of the world." + +"Not quite so," answered Middleton; "at any rate, if there be such a +feeling in the people at large, I doubt whether, even in England, those +who fancy themselves possessed of claims to birth, cherish them more as a +treasure than we do. It is, of course, a thousand times more difficult +for us to keep alive a name amid a thousand difficulties sedulously +thrown around it by our institutions, than for you to do, where your +institutions are anxiously calculated to promote the contrary purpose. It +has occasionally struck me, however, that the ancient lineage might often +be found in America, for a family which has been compelled to prolong +itself here through the female line, and through alien stocks." + +"Indeed, my young friend," said the Master, "if that be the case, I +should like to [speak?] further with you upon it; for, I can assure you, +there are sometimes vicissitudes in old families that make me grieve to +think that a man cannot be made for the occasion." + +All this while, the young lady at table had remained almost silent; and +Middleton had only occasionally been reminded of her by the necessity of +performing some of those offices which put people at table under a +Christian necessity of recognizing one another. He was, to say the truth, +somewhat interested in her, yet not strongly attracted by the neutral +tint of her dress, and the neutral character of her manners. She did not +seem to be handsome, although, with her face full before him, he had not +quite made up his mind on this point. + +_April 14th_.--So here was Middleton, now at length seeing indistinctly a +thread, to which the thread that he had so long held in his hand--the +hereditary thread that ancestor after ancestor had handed down--might +seem ready to join on. He felt as if they were the two points of an +electric chain, which being joined, an instantaneous effect must follow. +Earnestly, as he would have looked forward to this moment (had he in +sober reason ever put any real weight on the fantasy in pursuit of which +he had wandered so far) he now, that it actually appeared to be realizing +itself, paused with a vague sensation of alarm. The mystery was evidently +one of sorrow, if not of crime, and he felt as if that sorrow and crime +might not have been annihilated even by being buried out of human sight +and remembrance so long. He remembered to have heard or read, how that +once an old pit had been dug open, in which were found the remains of +persons that, as the shuddering by-standers traditionally remembered, had +died of an ancient pestilence; and out of that old grave had come a new +plague, that slew the far-off progeny of those who had first died by it. +Might not some fatal treasure like this, in a moral view, be brought to +light by the secret into which he had so strangely been drawn? Such were +the fantasies with which he awaited the return of Alice, whose light +footsteps sounded afar along the passages of the old mansion; and then +all was silent. + +At length he heard the sound, a great way off, as he concluded, of her +returning footstep, approaching from chamber to chamber, and along the +staircases, closing the doors behind her. At first, he paid no great +attention to the character of these sounds, but as they drew nearer, he +became aware that the footstep was unlike those of Alice; indeed, as +unlike as could be, very regular, slow, yet not firm, so that it seemed +to be that of an aged person, sauntering listlessly through the rooms. We +have often alluded to Middleton's sensitiveness, and the quick vibrations +of his sympathies; and there was something in this slow approach that +produced a strange feeling within him; so that he stood breathlessly, +looking towards the door by which these slow footsteps were to enter. At +last, there appeared in the doorway a venerable figure, clad in a rich, +faded dressing-gown, and standing on the threshold looked fixedly at +Middleton, at the same time holding up a light in his left hand. In his +right was some object that Middleton did not distinctly see. But he knew +the figure, and recognized the face. It was the old man, his long since +companion on the journey hitherward. + +"So," said the old man, smiling gravely, "you have thought fit, at last, +to accept the hospitality which I offered you so long ago. It might have +been better for both of us--for all parties--if you had accepted it +then!" + +"You here!" exclaimed Middleton. "And what can be your connection with +all the error and trouble, and involuntary wrong, through which I have +wandered since our last meeting? And is it possible that you even then +held the clue which I was seeking?" + +"No,--no," replied Rothermel. "I was not conscious, at least, of so +doing. And yet had we two sat down there by the wayside, or on that +English stile, which attracted your attention so much; had we sat down +there and thrown forth each his own dream, each his own knowledge, it +would have saved much that we must now forever regret. Are you even now +ready to confide wholly in me?" + +"Alas," said Middleton, with a darkening brow, "there are many reasons, +at this moment, which did not exist then, to incline me to hold my peace. +And why has not Alice returned?--and what is your connection with her?" + +"Let her answer for herself," said Rothermel; and he called her, shouting +through the silent house as if she were at the furthest chamber, and he +were in instant need: "Alice!--Alice!--Alice!--here is one who would know +what is the link between a maiden and her father!" + +Amid the strange uproar which he made Alice came flying back, not in +alarm but only in haste, and put her hand within his own. "Hush, father," +said she. "It is not time." + +Here is an abstract of the plot of this story. The Middleton who +emigrated to America, more than two hundred years ago, had been a dark +and moody man; he came with a beautiful though not young woman for his +wife, and left a family behind him. In this family a certain heirloom had +been preserved, and with it a tradition that grew wilder and stranger +with the passing generations. The tradition had lost, if it ever had, +some of its connecting links; but it referred to a murder, to the +expulsion of a brother from the hereditary house, in some strange way, +and to a Bloody Footstep which he had left impressed into the threshold, +as he turned about to make a last remonstrance. It was rumored, however, +or vaguely understood, that the expelled brother was not altogether an +innocent man; but that there had been wrong done, as well as crime +committed, insomuch that his reasons were strong that led him, +subsequently, to imbibe the most gloomy religious views, and to bury +himself in the Western wilderness. These reasons he had never fully +imparted to his family; but had necessarily made allusions to them, which +had been treasured up and doubtless enlarged upon. At last, one +descendant of the family determines to go to England, with the purpose of +searching out whatever ground there may be for these traditions, carrying +with him certain ancient documents, and other relics; and goes about the +country, half in earnest, and half in sport of fancy, in quest of the old +family mansion. He makes singular discoveries, all of which bring the +book to an end unexpected by everybody, and not satisfactory to the +natural yearnings of novel readers. In the traditions that he brought +over, there was a key to some family secrets that were still unsolved, +and that controlled the descent of estates and titles. His influence upon +these matters involves [him] in divers strange and perilous adventures; +and at last it turns out that he himself is the rightful heir to the +titles and estate, that had passed into another name within the last +half-century. But he respects both, feeling that it is better to make a +virgin soil than to try to make the old name grow in a soil that had been +darkened with so much blood and misfortune as this. + +_April 27th. Tuesday_.--It was with a delightful feeling of release from +ordinary rules, that Middleton found himself brought into this connection +with Alice; and he only hoped that this play-day of his life might last +long enough to rest him from all that he had suffered. In the enjoyment +of his position he almost forgot the pursuit that occupied him, nor might +he have remembered for a long space if, one evening, Alice herself had +not alluded to it. "You are wasting precious days," she suddenly said. +"Why do not you renew your quest?" + +"To what do you allude?" said Middleton, in surprise. "What object do you +suppose me to have?" + +Alice smiled; nay, laughed outright. "You suppose yourself to be a +perfect mystery, no doubt," she replied. "But do not I know you--have not +I known you long--as the holder of the talisman, the owner of the +mysterious cabinet that contains the blood-stained secret?" + +"Nay, Alice, this is certainly a strange coincidence, that you should +know even thus much of a foolish secret that makes me employ this little +holiday time, which I have stolen out of a weary life, in a wild-goose +chase. But, believe me, you allude to matters that are more a mystery to +me than my affairs appear to be to you. Will you explain what you would +suggest by this badinage?" + +Alice shook her head. "You have no claim to know what I know, even if it +would be any addition to your own knowledge. I shall not, and must not +enlighten you. You must burrow for the secret with your own tools, in +your own manner, and in a place of your own choosing. I am bound not to +assist you." + +"Alice, this is wilful, wayward, unjust," cried Middleton, with a flushed +cheek. "I have not told you--yet you know well--the deep and real +importance which this subject has for me. We have been together as +friends, yet, the instant when there comes up an occasion when the +slightest friendly feeling would induce you to do me a good office, you +assume this altered tone." + +"My tone is not in the least altered in respect to you," said Alice. "All +along, as you know, I have reserved myself on this very point; it being, +I candidly tell you, impossible for me to act in your interest in the +matter alluded to. If you choose to consider this unfriendly, as being +less than the terms on which you conceive us to have stood give you a +right to demand of me--you must resent it as you please. I shall not the +less retain for you the regard due to one who has certainly befriended me +in very untoward circumstances." + +This conversation confirmed the previous idea of Middleton, that some +mystery of a peculiarly dark and evil character was connected with the +family secret with which he was himself entangled; but it perplexed him +to imagine in what way this, after the lapse of so many years, should +continue to be a matter of real importance at the present day. All the +actors in the original guilt--if guilt it were--must have been long ago +in their graves; some in the churchyard of the village, with those +moss-grown letters embossing their names; some in the church itself, with +mural tablets recording their names over the family-pew, and one, it +might be, far over the sea, where his grave was first made under the +forest leaves, though now a city had grown up around it. Yet here was he, +the remote descendant of that family, setting his foot at last in the +country, and as secretly as might be; and all at once his mere presence +seemed to revive the buried secret, almost to awake the dead who partook +of that secret and had acted it. There was a vibration from the other +world, continued and prolonged into this, the instant that he stepped +upon the mysterious and haunted ground. + +He knew not in what way to proceed. He could not but feel that there was +something not exactly within the limits of propriety in being here, +disguised--at least, not known in his true character--prying into the +secrets of a proud and secluded Englishman. But then, as he said to +himself on his own side of the question, the secret belonged to himself +by exactly as ancient a tenure and by precisely as strong a claim, as to +the Englishman. His rights here were just as powerful and well-founded as +those of his ancestor had been, nearly three centuries ago; and here the +same feeling came over him that he was that very personage, returned +after all these ages, to see if his foot would fit this bloody footstep +left of old upon the threshold. The result of all his cogitation was, as +the reader will have foreseen, that he decided to continue his +researches, and, his proceedings being pretty defensible, let the result +take care of itself. + +For this purpose he went next day to the hospital, and ringing at the +Master's door, was ushered into the old-fashioned, comfortable library, +where he had spent that well-remembered evening which threw the first ray +of light on the pursuit that now seemed developing into such strange and +unexpected consequences. Being admitted, he was desired by the domestic +to wait, as his Reverence was at that moment engaged with a gentleman on +business. Glancing through the ivy that mantled over the window, +Middleton saw that this interview was taking place in the garden, where +the Master and his visitor were walking to and fro in the avenue of box, +discussing some matter, as it seemed to him, with considerable +earnestness on both sides. He observed, too, that there was warmth, +passion, a disturbed feeling on the stranger's part; while, on that of +the Master, it was a calm, serious, earnest representation of whatever +view he was endeavoring to impress on the other. At last, the interview +appeared to come toward a climax, the Master addressing some words to his +guest, still with undisturbed calmness, to which the latter replied by a +violent and even fierce gesture, as it should seem of menace, not towards +the Master, but some unknown party; and then hastily turning, he left the +garden and was soon heard riding away. The Master looked after him +awhile, and then, shaking his white head, returned into the house and +soon entered the parlor. + +He looked somewhat surprised, and, as it struck Middleton, a little +startled, at finding him there; yet he welcomed him with all his former +cordiality--indeed, with a friendship that thoroughly warmed Middleton's +heart even to its coldest corner. + +"This is strange!" said the old gentleman. "Do you remember our +conversation on that evening when I first had the unlooked-for pleasure +of receiving you as a guest into my house? At that time I spoke to you of +a strange family story, of which there was no denouement, such as a +novel-writer would desire, and which had remained in that unfinished +posture for more than two hundred years! Well; perhaps it will gratify +you to know that there seems a prospect of that wanting termination being +supplied!" + +"Indeed!" said Middleton. + +"Yes," replied the Master. "A gentleman has just parted with me who was +indeed the representative of the family concerned in the story. He is the +descendant of a younger son of that family, to whom the estate devolved +about a century ago, although at that time there was search for the heirs +of the elder son, who had disappeared after the bloody incident which I +related to you. Now, singular as it may appear, at this late day, a +person claiming to be the descendant and heir of that eldest son has +appeared, and if I may credit my friend's account, is disposed not only +to claim the estate, but the dormant title which Eldredge himself has +been so long preparing to claim for himself. Singularly enough, too, the +heir is an American." + +_May 2d, Sunday._--"I believe," said Middleton, "that many English +secrets might find their solution in America, if the two threads of a +story could be brought together, disjoined as they have been by time and +the ocean. But are you at liberty to tell me the nature of the incidents +to which you allude?" + +"I do not see any reason to the contrary," answered the Master; "for the +story has already come in an imperfect way before the public, and the +full and authentic particulars are likely soon to follow. It seems that +the younger brother was ejected from the house on account of a love +affair; the elder having married a young woman with whom the younger was +in love, and, it is said, the wife disappeared on the bridal night, and +was never heard of more. The elder brother remained single during the +rest of his life; and dying childless, and there being still no news of +the second brother, the inheritance and representation of the family +devolved upon the third brother and his posterity. This branch of the +family has ever since remained in possession; and latterly the +representation has become of more importance, on account of a claim to an +old title, which, by the failure of another branch of this ancient +family, has devolved upon the branch here settled. Now, just at this +juncture, comes another heir from America, pretending that he is the +descendant of a marriage between the second son, supposed to have been +murdered on the threshold of the manor-house, and the missing bride! Is +it not a singular story?" + +"It would seem to require very strong evidence to prove it," said +Middleton. "And methinks a Republican should care little for the title, +however he might value the estate." + +"Both--both," said the Master, smiling, "would be equally attractive to +your countryman. But there are further curious particulars in connection +with this claim. You must know, they are a family of singular +characteristics, humorists, sometimes developing their queer traits into +something like insanity; though oftener, I must say, spending stupid +hereditary lives here on their estates, rusting out and dying without +leaving any biography whatever about them. And yet there has always been +one very queer thing about this generally very commonplace family. It is +that each father, on his death-bed, has had an interview with his son, at +which he has imparted some secret that has evidently had an influence on +the character and after life of the son, making him ever after a +discontented man, aspiring for something he has never been able to find. +Now the American, I am told, pretends that he has the clue which has +always been needed to make the secret available; the key whereby the lock +may be opened; the something that the lost son of the family carried away +with him, and by which through these centuries he has impeded the +progress of the race. And, wild as the story seems, he does certainly +seem to bring something that looks very like the proof of what he says." + +"And what are those proofs?" inquired Middleton, wonder-stricken at the +strange reduplication of his own position and pursuits. + +"In the first place," said the Master, "the English marriage-certificate +by a clergyman of that day in London, after publication of the banns, +with a reference to the register of the parish church where the marriage +is recorded. Then, a certified genealogy of the family in New England, +where such matters can be ascertained from town and church records, with +at least as much certainty, it would appear, as in this country. He has +likewise a manuscript in his ancestor's autograph, containing a brief +account of the events which banished him from his own country; the +circumstances which favored the idea that he had been slain, and which he +himself was willing should be received as a belief; the fortune that led +him to America, where he wished to found a new race wholly disconnected +with the past; and this manuscript he sealed up, with directions that it +should not be opened till two hundred years after his death, by which +time, as it was probable to conjecture, it would matter little to any +mortal whether the story was told or not. A whole generation has passed +since the time when the paper was at last unsealed and read, so long it +had no operation; yet now, at last, here comes the American, to disturb +the succession of an ancient family!" + +"There is something very strange in all this," said Middleton. + +And indeed there was something stranger in his view of the matter than he +had yet communicated to the Master. For, taking into consideration the +relation in which he found himself with the present recognized +representative of the family, the thought struck him that his coming +hither had dug up, as it were, a buried secret that immediately assumed +life and activity the moment that it was above ground again. For seven +generations the family had vegetated in the quietude of English country +gentility, doing nothing to make itself known, passing from the cradle to +the tomb amid the same old woods that had waved over it before his +ancestor had impressed the bloody footstep; and yet the instant that he +came back, an influence seemed to be at work that was likely to renew the +old history of the family. He questioned with himself whether it were not +better to leave all as it was; to withdraw himself into the secrecy from +which he had but half emerged, and leave the family to keep on, to the +end of time perhaps, in its rusty innocence, rather than to interfere +with his wild American character to disturb it. The smell of that dark +crime--that brotherly hatred and attempted murder--seemed to breathe out +of the ground as he dug it up. Was it not better that it should remain +forever buried, for what to him was this old English title--what this +estate, so far from his own native land, located amidst feelings and +manners which would never be his own? It was late, to be sure--yet not +too late for him to turn back: the vibration, the fear, which his +footsteps had caused, would subside into peace! Meditating in this way, +he took a hasty leave of the kind old Master, promising to see him again +at an early opportunity. By chance, or however it was, his footsteps +turned to the woods of ---- Chace, and there he wandered through its +glades, deep in thought, yet always with a strange sense that he was +treading on the soil where his ancestors had trodden, and where he +himself had best right of all men to be. It was just in this state of +feeling that he found his course arrested by a hand upon his shoulder. + +"What business have you here?" was the question sounded in his ear; and, +starting, he found himself in the grasp, as his blood tingled to know, of +a gentleman in a shooting-dress, who looked at him with a wrathful brow. +"Are you a poacher, or what?" + +Be the case what it might, Middleton's blood boiled at the grasp of that +hand, as it never before had done in the course of his impulsive life. He +shook himself free, and stood fiercely before his antagonist, confronting +him with his uplifted stick, while the other, likewise, appeared to be +shaken by a strange wrath. + +"Fellow," muttered he--"Yankee blackguard!--impostor--take yourself oil +these grounds. Quick, or it will be the worse for you!" + +Middleton restrained himself. "Mr. Eldredge," said he, "for I believe I +speak to the man who calls himself owner of this land on which we +stand,--Mr. Eldredge, you are acting under a strange misapprehension of +my character. I have come hither with no sinister purpose, and am +entitled, at the hands of a gentleman, to the consideration of an +honorable antagonist, even if you deem me one at all. And perhaps, if you +think upon the blue chamber and the ebony cabinet, and the secret +connected with it,"-- + +"Villain, no more!" said Eldredge; and utterly mad with rage, he +presented his gun at Middleton; but even at the moment of doing so, he +partly restrained himself, so far as, instead of shooting him, to raise +the butt of his gun, and strike a blow at him. It came down heavily on +Middleton's shoulder, though aimed at his head; and the blow was terribly +avenged, even by itself, for the jar caused the hammer to come down; the +gun went off, sending the bullet downwards through the heart of the +unfortunate man, who fell dead upon the ground. Eldredge[1] stood +stupefied, looking at the catastrophe which had so suddenly occurred. + +[1] Evidently a slip of the pen; Middleton being intended. + +_May 3d, Monday._--So here was the secret suddenly made safe in this so +terrible way; its keepers reduced from two parties to one interest; the +other who alone knew of this age-long mystery and trouble now carrying it +into eternity, where a long line of those who partook of the knowledge, +in each successive generation, might now be waiting to inquire of him how +he had held his trust. He had kept it well, there was no doubt of it; for +there he lay dead upon the ground, having betrayed it to no one, though +by a method which none could have foreseen, the whole had come into the +possession of him who had brought hither but half of it. Middleton looked +down in horror upon the form that had just been so full of life and +wrathful vigor--and now lay so quietly. Being wholly unconscious of any +purpose to bring about the catastrophe, it had not at first struck him +that his own position was in any manner affected by the violent death, +under such circumstances, of the unfortunate man. But now it suddenly +occurred to him, that there had been a train of incidents all calculated +to make him the object of suspicion; and he felt that he could not, under +the English administration of law, be suffered to go at large without +rendering a strict account of himself and his relations with the +deceased. He might, indeed, fly; he might still remain in the vicinity, +and possibly escape notice. But was not the risk too great? Was it just +even to be aware of this event, and not relate fully the manner of it, +lest a suspicion of blood-guiltiness should rest upon some innocent head? +But while he was thus cogitating, he heard footsteps approaching along +the wood-path; and half-impulsively, half on purpose, he stept aside into +the shrubbery, but still where he could see the dead body, and what +passed near it. + +The footsteps came on, and at the turning of the path, just where +Middleton had met Eldredge, the new-comer appeared in sight. It was +Hoper, in his usual dress of velveteen, looking now seedy, +poverty-stricken, and altogether in ill-case, trudging moodily along, +with his hat pulled over his brows, so that he did not see the ghastly +object before him till his foot absolutely trod upon the dead man's hand. +Being thus made aware of the proximity of the corpse, he started back a +little, yet evincing such small emotion as did credit to his English +reserve; then uttering a low exclamation,--cautiously low, indeed,--he +stood looking at the corpse a moment or two, apparently in deep +meditation. He then drew near, bent down, and without evincing any horror +at the touch of death in this horrid shape, he opened the dead man's +vest, inspected the wound, satisfied himself that life was extinct, and +then nodded his head and smiled gravely. He next proceeded to examine +seriatim the dead man's pockets, turning each of them inside out and +taking the contents, where they appeared adapted to his needs: for +instance, a silken purse, through the interstices of which some gold was +visible; a watch, which however had been injured by the explosion, and +had stopt just at the moment--twenty-one minutes past five--when the +catastrophe took place. Hoper ascertained, by putting the watch to his +ear, that this was the case; then pocketing it, he continued his +researches. He likewise secured a note-book, on examining which he found +several bank-notes, and some other papers. And having done this, the +thief stood considering what to do next; nothing better occurring to him, +he thrust the pockets back, gave the corpse as nearly as he could the +same appearance that it had worn before he found it, and hastened away, +leaving the horror there on the wood-path. + +He had been gone only a few minutes when another step, a light woman's +step, [was heard] coming along the pathway, and Alice appeared, having on +her usual white mantle, straying along with that fearlessness which +characterized her so strangely, and made her seem like one of the +denizens of nature. She was singing in a low tone some one of those airs +which have become so popular in England, as negro melodies; when +suddenly, looking before her, she saw the blood-stained body on the +grass, the face looking ghastly upward. Alice pressed her hand upon her +heart; it was not her habit to scream, not the habit of that strong, +wild, self-dependent nature; and the exclamation which broke from her was +not for help, but the voice of her heart crying out to herself. For an +instant she hesitated, as [if] not knowing what to do; then approached, +and with her white, maiden hand felt the brow of the dead man, +tremblingly, but yet firm, and satisfied herself that life had wholly +departed. She pressed her hand, that had just touched the dead man's, on +her forehead, and gave a moment to thought. + +What her decision might have been, we cannot say, for while she stood in +this attitude, Middleton stept from his seclusion, and at the noise of +his approach she turned suddenly round, looking more frightened and +agitated than at the moment when she had first seen the dead body. She +faced Middleton, however, and looked him quietly in the eye. "You see +this!" said she, gazing fixedly at him. "It is not at this moment that +you first discover it." + +"No," said Middleton, frankly. "It is not. I was present at the +catastrophe. In one sense, indeed, I was the cause of it; but, Alice, I +need not tell you that I am no murderer." + +"A murderer?--no," said Alice, still looking at him with the same fixed +gaze. "But you and this man were at deadly variance. He would have +rejoiced at any chance that would have laid you cold and bloody on the +earth, as he is now; nay, he would most eagerly have seized on any +fair-looking pretext that would have given him a chance to stretch you +there. The world will scarcely believe, when it knows all about your +relations with him, that his blood is not on your hand. Indeed," said +she, with a strange smile, "I see some of it there now!" + +And, in very truth, so there was; a broad blood-stain that had dried on +Middleton's hand. He shuddered at it, but essayed vainly to rub it off. + +"You see," said she. "It was foreordained that you should shed this man's +blood; foreordained that, by digging into that old pit of pestilence, you +should set the contagion loose again. You should have left it buried +forever. But now what do you mean to do?" + +"To proclaim this catastrophe," replied Middleton. "It is the only honest +and manly way. What else can I do?" + +"You can and ought to leave him on the wood-path, where he has fallen," +said Alice, "and go yourself to take advantage of the state of things +which Providence has brought about. Enter the old house, the hereditary +house, where--now, at least--you alone have a right to tread. Now is the +hour. All is within your grasp. Let the wrong of three hundred years be +righted, and come back thus to your own, to these hereditary fields, this +quiet, long-descended home; to title, to honor." + +Yet as the wild maiden spoke thus, there was a sort of mockery in her +eyes; on her brow; gleaming through all her face, as if she scorned what +she thus pressed upon him, the spoils of the dead man who lay at their +feet. Middleton, with his susceptibility, could not [but] be sensible of +a wild and strange charm, as well as horror, in the situation; it seemed +such a wonder that here, in formal, orderly, well-governed England, so +wild a scene as this should have occurred; that they too [two?] should +stand here, deciding on the descent of an estate, and the inheritance of +a title, holding a court of their own. + +"Come, then," said he, at length. "Let us leave this poor fallen +antagonist in his blood, and go whither you will lead me. I will judge +for myself. At all events, I will not leave my hereditary home without +knowing what my power is." + +"Come," responded Alice; and she turned back; but then returned and threw +a handkerchief over the dead man's face, which while they spoke had +assumed that quiet, ecstatic expression of joy which often is observed to +overspread the faces of those who die of gunshot wounds, however fierce +the passion in which the spirits took their flight. With this strange, +grand, awful joy did the dead man gaze upward into the very eyes and +hearts, as it were, of the two that now bent over him. They looked at one +another. + +"Whence comes this expression?" said Middleton, thoughtfully. "Alice, +methinks he is reconciled to us now; and that we are members of one +reconciled family, all of whom are in heaven but me." + +_Tuesday, May 4th._--"How strange is this whole situation between you and +me," said Middleton, as they went up the winding pathway that led towards +the house. "Shall I ever understand it? Do you mean ever to explain it to +me? That I should find you here with that old man,[2] so mysterious, +apparently so poor, yet so powerful! What [is] his relation to you?" + +[2] The allusion here is apparently to the old man who proclaims + himself Alice's father, in the portion dated April 14th. He figures + hereafter as the old Hospitaller, Hammond. The reader must not take + this present passage as referring to the death of Eldredge, which has + just taken place in the preceding section. The author is now + beginning to elaborate the relation of Middleton and Alice. As will + be seen, farther on, the death of Eldredge is ignored and abandoned; + Eldredge is revived, and the story proceeds in another way.--G. P. L. + +"A close one," replied Alice sadly. "He was my father!" + +"Your father!" repeated Middleton, starting back. "It does but heighten +the wonder! Your father! And yet, by all the tokens that birth and +breeding, and habits of thought and native character can show, you are my +countrywoman. That wild, free spirit was never born in the breast of an +Englishwoman; that slight frame, that slender beauty, that frail +envelopment of a quick, piercing, yet stubborn and patient spirit,--are +those the properties of an English maiden?" + +"Perhaps not," replied Alice quietly. "I am your countrywoman. My father +was an American, and one of whom you have heard--and no good, alas!--for +many a year." + +"And who then was he?" asked Middleton. + +"I know not whether you will hate me for telling you," replied Alice, +looking him sadly though firmly in the face. "There was a man--long years +since, in your childhood--whose plotting brain proved the ruin of himself +and many another; a man whose great designs made him a sort of potentate, +whose schemes became of national importance, and produced results even +upon the history of the country in which he acted. That man was my +father; a man who sought to do great things, and, like many who have had +similar aims, disregarded many small rights, strode over them, on his way +to effect a gigantic purpose. Among other men, your father was trampled +under foot, ruined, done to death, even, by the effects of his ambition." + +"How is it possible!" exclaimed Middleton. "Was it Wentworth?" + +"Even so," said Alice, still with the same sad calmness and not +withdrawing her steady eyes from his face. "After his ruin; after the +catastrophe that overwhelmed him and hundreds more, he took to flight; +guilty, perhaps, but guilty as a fallen conqueror is; guilty to such an +extent that he ceased to be a cheat, as a conqueror ceases to be a +murderer. He came to England. My father had an original nobility of +nature; and his life had not been such as to debase it, but rather such +as to cherish and heighten that self-esteem which at least keeps the +possessor of it from many meaner vices. He took nothing with him; nothing +beyond the bare means of flight, with the world before him, although +thousands of gold would not have been missed out of the scattered +fragments of ruin that lay around him. He found his way hither, led, as +you were, by a desire to reconnect himself with the place whence his +family had originated; for he, too, was of a race which had something to +do with the ancient story which has now been brought to a close. Arrived +here, there were circumstances that chanced to make his talents and +habits of business available to this Mr. Eldredge, a man ignorant and +indolent, unknowing how to make the best of the property that was in his +hands. By degrees, he took the estate into his management, acquiring +necessarily a preponderating influence over such a man." + +"And you," said Middleton. "Have you been all along in England? For you +must have been little more than an infant at the time." + +"A mere infant," said Alice, "and I remained in our own country under the +care of a relative who left me much to my own keeping; much to the +influences of that wild culture which the freedom of our country gives to +its youth. It is only two years that I have been in England." + +"This, then," said Middleton thoughtfully, "accounts for much that has +seemed so strange in the events through which we have passed; for the +knowledge of my identity and my half-defined purpose which has always +glided before me, and thrown so many strange shapes of difficulty in my +path. But whence,--whence came that malevolence which your father's +conduct has so unmistakably shown? I had done him no injury, though I had +suffered much." + +"I have often thought," replied Alice, "that my father, though retaining +a preternatural strength and acuteness of intellect, was really not +altogether sane. And, besides, he had made it his business to keep this +estate, and all the complicated advantages of the representation of this +old family, secure to the person who was deemed to have inherited them. A +succession of ages and generations might be supposed to have blotted out +your claims from existence; for it is not just that there should be no +term of time which can make security for lack of fact and a few +formalities. At all events, he had satisfied himself that his duty was to +act as he has done." + +"Be it so! I do not seek to throw blame on him," said Middleton. +"Besides, Alice, he was your father!" + +"Yes," said she, sadly smiling; "let him [have] what protection that +thought may give him, even though I lose what he may gain. And now here +we are at the house. At last, come in! It is your own; there is none that +can longer forbid you!" + +They entered the door of the old mansion, now a farmhouse, and there were +its old hall, its old chambers, all before them. They ascended the +staircase, and stood on the landing-place above; while Middleton had +again that feeling that had so often made him dizzy,--that sense of being +in one dream and recognizing the scenery and events of a former dream. So +overpowering was this feeling, that he laid his hand on the slender arm +of Alice, to steady himself; and she comprehended the emotion that +agitated him, and looked into his eyes with a tender sympathy, which she +had never before permitted to be visible,--perhaps never before felt. He +steadied himself and followed her till they had entered an ancient +chamber, but one that was finished with all the comfortable luxury +customary to be seen in English homes. + +"Whither have you led me now?" inquired Middleton. + +"Look round," said Alice. "Is there nothing here that you ought to +recognize?--nothing that you kept the memory of, long ago?" + +He looked round the room again and again, and at last, in a somewhat +shadowy corner, he espied an old cabinet made of ebony and inlaid with +pearl; one of those tall, stately, and elaborate pieces of furniture that +are rather articles of architecture than upholstery; and on which a +higher skill, feeling, and genius than now is ever employed on such +things, was expended. Alice drew near the stately cabinet and threw wide +the doors, which, like the portals of a palace, stood between two +pillars; it all seemed to be unlocked, showing within some beautiful old +pictures in the panel of the doors, and a mirror, that opened a long +succession of mimic halls, reflection upon reflection, extending to an +interminable nowhere. + +"And what is this?" said Middleton,--"a cabinet? Why do you draw my +attention so strongly to it?" + +"Look at it well," said she. "Do you recognize nothing there? Have you +forgotten your description? The stately palace with its architecture, +each pillar with its architecture, those pilasters, that frieze; you +ought to know them all. Somewhat less than you imagined in size, perhaps; +a fairy reality, inches for yards; that is the only difference. And you +have the key?" + +And there then was that palace, to which tradition, so false at once and +true, had given such magnitude and magnificence in the traditions of the +Middleton family, around their shifting fireside in America. Looming afar +through the mists of time, the little fact had become a gigantic vision. +Yes, here it was in miniature, all that he had dreamed of; a palace of +four feet high! + +"You have the key of this palace," said Alice; "it has waited--that is, +its secret and precious chamber has, for you to open it, these three +hundred years. Do you know how to find that secret chamber?" + +Middleton, still in that dreamy mood, threw open an inner door of the +cabinet, and applying the old-fashioned key at his watch-chain to a hole +in the mimic pavement within, pressed one of the mosaics, and immediately +the whole floor of the apartment sank, and revealed a receptacle within. +Alice had come forward eagerly, and they both looked into the +hiding-place, expecting what should be there. It was empty! They looked +into each other's faces with blank astonishment. Everything had been so +strangely true, and so strangely false, up to this moment, that they +could not comprehend this failure at the last moment. It was the +strangest, saddest jest! It brought Middleton up with such a sudden +revulsion that he grew dizzy, and the room swam round him and the cabinet +dazzled before his eyes. It had been magnified to a palace; it had +dwindled down to Liliputian size; and yet, up till now, it had seemed to +contain in its diminutiveness all the riches which he had attributed to +its magnitude. This last moment had utterly subverted it; the whole great +structure seemed to vanish. + +"See; here are the dust and ashes of it," observed Alice, taking +something that was indeed only a pinch of dust out of the secret +compartment. "There is nothing else." + + + + +II. + +_May 5th, Wednesday_.--The father of these two sons, an aged man at the +time, took much to heart their enmity; and after the catastrophe, he +never held up his head again. He was not told that his son had perished, +though such was the belief of the family; but imbibed the opinion that he +had left his home and native land to become a wanderer on the face of the +earth, and that some time or other he might return. In this idea he spent +the remainder of his days; in this idea he died. It may be that the +influence of this idea might be traced in the way in which he spent some +of the latter years of his life, and a portion of the wealth which had +become of little value in his eyes, since it had caused dissension and +bloodshed between the sons of one household. It was a common mode of +charity in those days--a common thing for rich men to do--to found an +almshouse or a hospital, and endow it, for the support of a certain +number of old and destitute men or women, generally such as had some +claim of blood upon the founder, or at least were natives of the parish, +the district, the county, where he dwelt. The Eldredge Hospital was +founded for the benefit of twelve old men, who should have been wanderers +upon the face of the earth; men, they should be, of some education, but +defeated and hopeless, cast off by the world for misfortune, but not for +crime. And this charity had subsisted, on terms varying little or nothing +from the original ones, from that day to this; and, at this very time, +twelve old men were not wanting, of various countries, of various +fortunes, but all ending finally in ruin, who had centred here, to live +on the poor pittance that had been assigned to them, three hundred years +ago. What a series of chronicles it would have been if each of the +beneficiaries of this charity, since its foundation, had left a record of +the events which finally led him hither. Middleton often, as he talked +with these old men, regretted that he himself had no turn for authorship, +so rich a volume might he have compiled from the experience, sometimes +sunny and triumphant, though always ending in shadow, which he gathered +here. They were glad to talk to him, and would have been glad and +grateful for any auditor, as they sat on one or another of the stone +benches, in the sunshine of the garden; or at evening, around the great +fireside, or within the chimney-corner, with their pipes and ale. + +There was one old man who attracted much of his attention, by the +venerableness of his aspect; by something dignified, almost haughty and +commanding, in his air. Whatever might have been the intentions and +expectations of the founder, it certainly had happened in these latter +days that there was a difficulty in finding persons of education, of good +manners, of evident respectability, to put into the places made vacant by +deaths of members; whether that the paths of life are surer now than they +used to be, and that men so arrange their lives as not to be left, in any +event, quite without resources as they draw near its close; at any rate, +there was a little tincture of the vagabond running through these twelve +quasi gentlemen,--through several of them, at least. But this old man +could not well be mistaken; in his manners, in his tones, in all his +natural language and deportment, there was evidence that he had been more +than respectable; and, viewing him, Middleton could not help wondering +what statesman had suddenly vanished out of public life and taken refuge +here, for his head was of the statesman-class, and his demeanor that of +one who had exercised influence over large numbers of men. He sometimes +endeavored to set on foot a familiar relation with this old man, but +there was even a sternness in the manner in which he repelled these +advances, that gave little encouragement for their renewal. Nor did it +seem that his companions of the Hospital were more in his confidence than +Middleton himself. They regarded him with a kind of awe, a shyness, and +in most cases with a certain dislike, which denoted an imperfect +understanding of him. To say the truth, there was not generally much love +lost between any of the members of this family; they had met with too +much disappointment in the world to take kindly, now, to one another or +to anything or anybody. I rather suspect that they really had more +pleasure in burying one another, when the time came, than in any other +office of mutual kindness and brotherly love which it was their part to +do; not out of hardness of heart, but merely from soured temper, and +because, when people have met disappointment and have settled down into +final unhappiness, with no more gush and spring of good spirits, there is +nothing any more to create amiability out of. + +So the old people were unamiable and cross to one another, and unamiable +and cross to old Hammond, yet always with a certain respect; and the +result seemed to be such as treated the old man well enough. And thus he +moved about among them, a mystery; the histories of the others, in the +general outline, were well enough known, and perhaps not very uncommon; +this old man's history was known to none, except, of course, to the +trustees of the charity, and to the Master of the Hospital, to whom it +had necessarily been revealed, before the beneficiary could be admitted +as an inmate. It was judged, by the deportment of the Master, that the +old man had once held some eminent position in society; for, though bound +to treat them all as gentlemen, he was thought to show an especial and +solemn courtesy to Hammond. + +Yet by the attraction which two strong and cultivated minds inevitably +have for one another, there did spring up an acquaintanceship, an +intercourse, between Middleton and this old man, which was followed up in +many a conversation which they held together on all subjects that were +supplied by the news of the day, or the history of the past. Middleton +used to make the newspaper the opening for much discussion; and it seemed +to him that the talk of his companion had much of the character of that +of a retired statesman, on matters which, perhaps, he would look at all +the more wisely, because it was impossible he could ever more have a +personal agency in them. Their discussions sometimes turned upon the +affairs of his own country, and its relations with the rest of the world, +especially with England; and Middleton could not help being struck with +the accuracy of the old man's knowledge respecting that country, which so +few Englishmen know anything about; his shrewd appreciation of the +American character,--shrewd and caustic, yet not without a good degree of +justice; the sagacity of his remarks on the past, and prophecies of what +was likely to happen,--prophecies which, in one instance, were singularly +verified, in regard to a complexity which was then arresting the +attention of both countries. + +"You must have been in the United States," said he, one day. + +"Certainly; my remarks imply personal knowledge," was the reply. "But it +was before the days of steam." + +"And not, I should imagine, for a brief visit," said Middleton. "I only +wish the administration of this government had the benefit to-day of your +knowledge of my countrymen. It might be better for both of these kindred +nations." + +"Not a whit," said the old man. "England will never understand America; +for England never does understand a foreign country; and whatever you may +say about kindred, America is as much a foreign country as France itself. +These two hundred years of a different climate and circumstances--of life +on a broad continent instead of in an island, to say nothing of the +endless intermixture of nationalities in every part of the United States, +except New England--have created a new and decidedly original type of +national character. It is as well for both parties that they should not +aim at any very intimate connection. It will never do." + +"I should be sorry to think so," said Middleton; "they are at all events +two noble breeds of men, and ought to appreciate one another. And America +has the breadth of idea to do this for England, whether reciprocated or +not." + +_Thursday, May 6th._--Thus Middleton was established in a singular way +among these old men, in one of the surroundings most unlike anything in +his own country. So old it was that it seemed to him the freshest and +newest thing that he had ever met with. The residence was made infinitely +the more interesting to him by the sense that he was near the place--as +all the indications warned him--which he sought, whither his dreams had +tended from his childhood; that he could wander each day round the park +within which were the old gables of what he believed was his hereditary +home. He had never known anything like the dreamy enjoyment of these +days; so quiet, such a contrast to the turbulent life from which he had +escaped across the sea. And here he set himself, still with that sense of +shadowiness in what he saw and in what he did, in making all the +researches possible to him, about the neighborhood; visiting every little +church that raised its square battlemented Norman tower of gray stone, +for several miles round about; making himself acquainted with each little +village and hamlet that surrounded these churches, clustering about the +graves of those who had dwelt in the same cottages aforetime. He visited +all the towns within a dozen miles; and probably there were few of the +inhabitants who had so good an acquaintance with the neighborhood as this +native American attained within a few weeks after his coming thither. + +In course of these excursions he had several times met with a young +woman,--a young lady, one might term her, but in fact he was in some +doubt what rank she might hold, in England,--who happened to be wandering +about the country with a singular freedom. She was always alone, always +on foot; he would see her sketching some picturesque old church, some +ivied ruin, some fine drooping elm. She was a slight figure, much more so +than English women generally are; and, though healthy of aspect, had not +the ruddy complexion, which he was irreverently inclined to call the +coarse tint, that is believed the great charm of English beauty. There +was a freedom in her step and whole little womanhood, an elasticity, an +irregularity, so to speak, that made her memorable from first sight; and +when he had encountered her three or four times, he felt in a certain way +acquainted with her. She was very simply dressed, and quite as simple in +her deportment; there had been one or two occasions, when they had both +smiled at the same thing; soon afterwards a little conversation had taken +place between them; and thus, without any introduction, and in a way that +somewhat puzzled Middleton himself, they had become acquainted. It was so +unusual that a young English girl should be wandering about the country +entirely alone--so much less usual that she should speak to a +stranger--that Middleton scarcely knew how to account for it, but +meanwhile accepted the fact readily and willingly, for in truth he found +this mysterious personage a very likely and entertaining companion. There +was a strange quality of boldness in her remarks, almost of brusqueness, +that he might have expected to find in a young countrywoman of his own, +if bred up among the strong-minded, but was astonished to find in a young +Englishwoman. Somehow or other she made him think more of home than any +other person or thing he met with; and he could not but feel that she was +in strange contrast with everything about her. She was no beauty; very +piquant; very pleasing; in some points of view and at some moments +pretty; always good-humored, but somewhat too self-possessed for +Middleton's taste. It struck him that she had talked with him as if she +had some knowledge of him and of the purposes with which he was there; +not that this was expressed, but only implied by the fact that, on +looking back to what had passed, he found many strange coincidences in +what she had said with what he was thinking about. + +He perplexed himself much with thinking whence this young woman had come, +where she belonged, and what might be her history; when, the next day, he +again saw her, not this time rambling on foot, but seated in an open +barouche with a young lady. Middleton lifted his hat to her, and she +nodded and smiled to him; and it appeared to Middleton that a +conversation ensued about him with the young lady, her companion. Now, +what still more interested him was the fact that, on the panel of the +barouche were the arms of the family now in possession of the estate of +Smithell's; so that the young lady, his new acquaintance, or the young +lady, her seeming friend, one or the other, was the sister of the present +owner of that estate. He was inclined to think that his acquaintance +could not be the Miss Eldredge, of whose beauty he had heard many tales +among the people of the neighborhood. The other young lady, a tall, +reserved, fair-haired maiden, answered the description considerably +better. He concluded, therefore, that his acquaintance must be a visitor, +perhaps a dependent and companion; though the freedom of her thought, +action, and way of life seemed hardly consistent with this idea. However, +this slight incident served to give him a sort of connection with the +family, and he could but hope that some further chance would introduce +him within what he fondly called his hereditary walls. He had come to +think of this as a dreamland; and it seemed even more a dreamland now +than before it rendered itself into actual substance, an old house of +stone and timber standing within its park, shaded about with its +ancestral trees. + +But thus, at all events, he was getting himself a little wrought into the +net-work of human life around him, secluded as his position had at first +seemed to be, in the farmhouse where he had taken up his lodgings. For, +there was the Hospital and its old inhabitants, in whose monotonous +existence he soon came to pass for something, with his liveliness of +mind, his experience, his good sense, his patience as a listener, his +comparative youth even--his power of adapting himself to these stiff and +crusty characters, a power learned among other things in his political +life, where he had acquired something of the faculty (good or bad as +might be) of making himself all things to all men. But though he amused +himself with them all, there was in truth but one man among them in whom +he really felt much interest; and that one, we need hardly say, was +Hammond. It was not often that he found the old gentleman in a +conversible mood; always courteous, indeed, but generally cool and +reserved; often engaged in his one room, to which Middleton had never yet +been admitted, though he had more than once sent in his name, when +Hammond was not apparent upon the bench which, by common consent of the +Hospital, was appropriated to him. + +One day, however, notwithstanding that the old gentleman was confined to +his room by indisposition, he ventured to inquire at the door, and, +considerably to his surprise, was admitted. He found Hammond in his +easy-chair, at a table, with writing-materials before him; and as +Middleton entered, the old gentleman looked at him with a stern, fixed +regard, which, however, did not seem to imply any particular displeasure +towards this visitor, but rather a severe way of regarding mankind in +general. Middleton looked curiously around the small apartment, to see +what modification the character of the man had had upon the customary +furniture of the Hospital, and how much of individuality he had given to +that general type. There was a shelf of books, and a row of them on the +mantel-piece; works of political economy, they appeared to be, statistics +and things of that sort; very dry reading, with which, however, +Middleton's experience as a politician had made him acquainted. Besides +these there were a few works on local antiquities, a county-history +borrowed from the Master's library, in which Hammond appeared to have +been lately reading. + +"They are delightful reading," observed Middleton, "these old +county-histories, with their great folio volumes and their minute account +of the affairs of families and the genealogies, and descents of estates, +bestowing as much blessed space on a few hundred acres as other +historians give to a principality. I fear that in my own country we shall +never have anything of this kind. Our space is so vast that we shall +never come to know and love it, inch by inch, as the English antiquarians +do the tracts of country with which they deal; and besides, our land is +always likely to lack the interest that belongs to English estates; for +where land changes its ownership every few years, it does not become +imbued with the personalities of the people who live on it. It is but so +much grass; so much dirt, where a succession of people have dwelt too +little to make it really their own. But I have found a pleasure that I +had no conception of before, in reading some of the English local +histories." + +"It is not a usual course of reading for a transitory visitor," said +Hammond. "What could induce you to undertake it?" + +"Simply the wish, so common and natural with Americans," said +Middleton--"the wish to find out something about my kindred--the local +origin of my own family." + +"You do not show your wisdom in this," said his visitor. "America had +better recognize the fact that it has nothing to do with England, and +look upon itself as other nations and people do, as existing on its own +hook. I never heard of any people looking hack to the country of their +remote origin in the way the Anglo-Americans do. For instance, England is +made up of many alien races, German, Danish. Norman, and what not: it has +received large accessions of population at a later date than the +settlement of the United States. Yet these families melt into the great +homogeneous mass of Englishmen, and look hack no more to any other +country. There are in this vicinity many descendants of the French +Huguenots; but they care no more for France than for Timbuctoo, reckoning +themselves only Englishmen, as if they were descendants of the aboriginal +Britons. Let it be so with you." + +"So it might be," replied Middleton, "only that our relations with +England remain far more numerous than our disconnections, through the +bonds of history, of literature, of all that makes up the memories, and +much that makes up the present interests of a people. And therefore I +must still continue to pore over these old folios, and hunt around these +precincts, spending thus the little idle time I am likely to have in a +busy life. Possibly finding little to my purpose; but that is quite a +secondary consideration." + +"If you choose to tell me precisely what your aims are," said Hammond, +"it is possible I might give you some little assistance." + +_May 7th, Friday_.--Middleton was in fact more than half ashamed of the +dreams which he had cherished before coming to England, and which since, +at times, had been very potent with him, assuming as strong a tinge of +reality as those [scenes?] into which he had strayed. He could not +prevail with himself to disclose fully to this severe, and, as he +thought, cynical old man how strong within him was the sentiment that +impelled him to connect himself with the old life of England, to join on +the broken thread of ancestry and descent, and feel every link well +established. But it seemed to him that he ought not to lose this fair +opportunity of gaining some light on the abstruse field of his +researches; and he therefore explained to Hammond that he had reason, +from old family traditions, to believe that he brought with him a +fragment of a history that, if followed out, might lead to curious +results. He told him, in a tone half serious, what he had heard +respecting the quarrel of the two brothers, and the Bloody Footstep, the +impress of which was said to remain, as a lasting memorial of the tragic +termination of that enmity. At this point, Hammond interrupted him. He +had indeed, at various points of the narrative, nodded and smiled +mysteriously, as if looking into his mind and seeing something there +analogous to what he was listening to. He now spoke. + +"This is curious," said he. "Did you know that there is a manor-house in +this neighborhood, the family of which prides itself on having such a +blood-stained threshold as you have now described?" + +"No, indeed!" exclaimed Middleton, greatly interested. "Where?" + +"It is the old manor-house of Smithell's," replied Hammond, "one of those +old wood and timber [plaster?] mansions, which are among the most ancient +specimens of domestic architecture in England. The house has now passed +into the female line, and by marriage has been for two or three +generations in possession of another family. But the blood of the old +inheritors is still in the family. The house itself, or portions of it, +are thought to date back quite as far as the Conquest." + +"Smithell's?" said Middleton. "Why, I have seen that old house from a +distance, and have felt no little interest in its antique aspect. And it +has a Bloody Footstep! Would it be possible for a stranger to get an +opportunity to inspect it?" + +"Unquestionably," said Hammond; "nothing easier. It is but a moderate +distance from here, and if you can moderate your young footsteps, and +your American quick walk, to an old man's pace, I would go there with you +some day. In this languor and ennui of my life, I spend some time in +local antiquarianism, and perhaps I might assist you in tracing out how +far these traditions of yours may have any connection with reality. It +would be curious, would it not, if you had come, after two hundred years, +to piece out a story which may have been as much a mystery in England as +there in America?" + +An engagement was made for a walk to Smithell's the ensuing day; and +meanwhile Middleton entered more fully into what he had received from +family traditions and what he had thought out for himself on the matter +in question. + +"Are you aware," asked Hammond, "that there was formerly a title in this +family, now in abeyance, and which the heirs have at various times +claimed, and are at this moment claiming? Do you know, too,--but you can +scarcely know it,--that it has been surmised by some that there is an +insecurity in the title to the estate, and has always been; so that the +possessors have lived in some apprehension, from time immemorial, that +another heir would appear and take from them the fair inheritance? It is +a singular coincidence." + +"Very strange," exclaimed Middleton. "No; I was not aware of it; and, to +say the truth, I should not altogether like to come forward in the light +of a claimant. But this is a dream, surely!" + +"I assure you, sir," continued the old man, "that you come here in a very +critical moment; and singularly enough there is a perplexity, a +difficulty, that has endured for as long a time as when your ancestors +emigrated, that is still rampant within the bowels, as I may say, of the +family. Of course, it is too like a romance that you should be able to +establish any such claim as would have a valid influence on this matter; +but still, being here on the spot, it may be worth while, if merely as a +matter of amusement, to make some researches into this matter." + +"Surely I will," said Middleton, with a smile, which concealed more +earnestness than he liked to show; "as to the title, a Republican cannot +be supposed to think twice about such a bagatelle. The estate!--that +might be a more serious consideration." + +They continued to talk on the subject; and Middleton learned that the +present possessor of the estates was a gentleman nowise distinguished +from hundreds of other English gentlemen; a country squire modified in +accordance with the type of to-day, a frank, free, friendly sort of a +person enough, who had travelled on the Continent, who employed himself +much in field-sports, who was unmarried, and had a sister who was +reckoned among the beauties of the county. + +While the conversation was thus going on, to Middleton's astonishment +there came a knock at the door of the room, and, without waiting for a +response, it was opened, and there appeared at it the same young woman +whom he had already met. She came in with perfect freedom and +familiarity, and was received quietly by the old gentleman; who, however, +by his manner towards Middleton, indicated that he was now to take his +leave. He did so, after settling the hour at which the excursion of the +next day was to take place. This arranged, he departed, with much to +think of, and a light glimmering through the confused labyrinth of +thoughts which had been unilluminated hitherto. + +To say the truth, he questioned within himself whether it were not better +to get as quickly as he could out of the vicinity; and, at any rate, not +to put anything of earnest in what had hitherto been nothing more than a +romance to him. There was something very dark and sinister in the events +of family history, which now assumed a reality that they had never before +worn; so much tragedy, so much hatred, had been thrown into that deep +pit, and buried under the accumulated debris, the fallen leaves, the rust +and dust of more than two centuries, that it seemed not worth while to +dig it up; for perhaps the deadly influences, which it had taken so much +time to hide, might still be lurking there, and become potent if he now +uncovered them. There was something that startled him, in the strange, +wild light, which gleamed from the old man's eyes, as he threw out the +suggestions which had opened this prospect to him. What right had he--an +American, Republican, disconnected with this country so long, alien from +its habits of thought and life, reverencing none of the things which +Englishmen reverenced--what right had he to come with these musty claims +from the dim past, to disturb them in the life that belonged to them? +There was a higher and a deeper law than any connected with ancestral +claims which he could assert; and he had an idea that the law bade him +keep to the country which his ancestor had chosen and to its +institutions, and not meddle nor make with England. The roots of his +family tree could not reach under the ocean; he was at most but a +seedling from the parent tree. While thus meditating he found that his +footsteps had brought him unawares within sight of the old manor-house of +Smithell's; and that he was wandering in a path which, if he followed it +further, would bring him to an entrance in one of the wings of the +mansion. With a sort of shame upon him, he went forward, and, leaning +against a tree, looked at what he considered the home of his ancestors. + +_May 9th, Sunday_.--At the time appointed, the two companions set out on +their little expedition, the old man in his Hospital uniform, the long +black mantle, with the bear and ragged staff engraved in silver on the +breast, and Middleton in the plain costume which he had adopted in these +wanderings about the country. On their way, Hammond was not very +communicative, occasionally dropping some shrewd remark with a good deal +of acidity in it; now and then, too, favoring his companion with some +reminiscence of local antiquity; but oftenest silent. Thus they went on, +and entered the park of Pemberton Manor by a by-path, over a stile and +one of those footways, which are always so well worth threading out in +England, leading the pedestrian into picturesque and characteristic +scenes, when the highroad would show him nothing except what was +commonplace and uninteresting. Now the gables of the old manor-house +appeared before them, rising amidst the hereditary woods, which doubtless +dated from a time beyond the days which Middleton fondly recalled, when +his ancestors had walked beneath their shade. On each side of them were +thickets and copses of fern, amidst which they saw the hares peeping out +to gaze upon them, occasionally running across the path, and comporting +themselves like creatures that felt themselves under some sort of +protection from the outrages of man, though they knew too much of his +destructive character to trust him too far. Pheasants, too, rose close +beside them, and winged but a little way before they alighted; they +likewise knew, or seemed to know, that their hour was not yet come. On +all sides in these woods, these wastes, these beasts and birds, there was +a character that was neither wild nor tame. Man had laid his grasp on +them all, and done enough to redeem them from barbarism, but had stopped +short of domesticating them; although Nature, in the wildest thing there, +acknowledged the powerful and pervading influence of cultivation. + +Arriving at a side door of the mansion, Hammond rang the bell, and a +servant soon appeared. He seemed to know the old man, and immediately +acceded to his request to be permitted to show his companion the house; +although it was not precisely a show-house, nor was this the hour when +strangers were usually admitted. They entered; and the servant did not +give himself the trouble to act as a cicerone to the two visitants, but +carelessly said to the old gentleman that he knew the rooms, and that he +would leave him to discourse to his friend about them. Accordingly, they +went into the old hall, a dark oaken-panelled room, of no great height, +with many doors opening into it. There was a fire burning on the hearth; +indeed, it was the custom of the house to keep it up from morning to +night; and in the damp, chill climate of England, there is seldom a day +in some part of which a fire is not pleasant to feel. Hammond here +pointed out a stuffed fox, to which some story of a famous chase was +attached; a pair of antlers of enormous size; and some old family +pictures, so blackened with time and neglect that Middleton could not +well distinguish their features, though curious to do so, as hoping to +see there the lineaments of some with whom he might claim kindred. It was +a venerable apartment, and gave a good foretaste of what they might hope +to find in the rest of the mansion. + +But when they had inspected it pretty thoroughly, and were ready to +proceed, an elderly gentleman entered the hall, and, seeing Hammond, +addressed him in a kindly, familiar way; not indeed as an equal friend, +but with a pleasant and not irksome conversation. "I am glad to see you +here again," said he. "What? I have an hour of leisure; for, to say the +truth, the day hangs rather heavy till the shooting season begins. Come; +as you have a friend with you, I will be your cicerone myself about the +house, and show you whatever mouldy objects of interest it contains." + +He then graciously noticed the old man's companion, but without asking or +seeming to expect an introduction; for, after a careless glance at him, +he had evidently set him down as a person without social claims, a young +man in the rank of life fitted to associate with an inmate of Pemberton's +Hospital. And it must be noticed that his treatment of Middleton was not +on that account the less kind, though far from being so elaborately +courteous as if he had met him as an equal. "You have had something of a +walk," said he, "and it is a rather hot day. The beer of Pemberton Manor +has been reckoned good these hundred years; will you taste it?" + +Hammond accepted the offer, and the beer was brought in a foaming +tankard; but Middleton declined it, for in truth there was a singular +emotion in his breast, as if the old enmity, the ancient injuries, were +not yet atoned for, and as if he must not accept the hospitality of one +who represented his hereditary foe. He felt, too, as if there were +something unworthy, a certain want of fairness, in entering clandestinely +the house, and talking with its occupant under a veil, as it were; and +had he seen clearly how to do it, he would perhaps at that moment have +fairly told Mr. Eldredge that he brought with him the character of +kinsman, and must be received on that grade or none. But it was not easy +to do this; and after all, there was no clear reason why he should do it; +so he let the matter pass, merely declining to take the refreshment, and +keeping himself quiet and retired. + +Squire Eldredge seemed to be a good, ordinary sort of gentleman, +reasonably well educated, and with few ideas beyond his estate and +neighborhood, though he had once held a seat in Parliament for part of a +term. Middleton could not but contrast him, with an inward smile, with +the shrewd, alert politicians, their faculties all sharpened to the +utmost, whom he had known and consorted with in the American Congress. +Hammond had slightly informed him that his companion was an American; and +Mr. Eldredge immediately gave proof of the extent of his knowledge of +that country, by inquiring whether he came from the State of New England, +and whether Mr. Webster was still President of the United States; +questions to which Middleton returned answers that led to no further +conversation. These little preliminaries over, they continued their +ramble through the house, going through tortuous passages, up and down +little flights of steps, and entering chambers that had all the charm of +discoveries of hidden regions; loitering about, in short, in a labyrinth +calculated to put the head into a delightful confusion. Some of these +rooms contained their time-honored furniture, all in the best possible +repair, heavy, dark, polished; beds that had been marriage beds and dying +beds over and over again; chairs with carved backs; and all manner of old +world curiosities; family pictures, and samplers, and embroidery; +fragments of tapestry; an inlaid floor; everything having a story to it, +though, to say the truth, the possessor of these curiosities made but a +bungling piece of work in telling the legends connected with them. In one +or two instances Hammond corrected him. + +By and by they came to what had once been the principal bed-room of the +house; though its gloom, and some circumstances of family misfortune that +had happened long ago, had caused it to fall into disrepute in latter +times; and it was now called the Haunted Chamber, or the Ghost's Chamber. +The furniture of this room, however, was particularly rich in its antique +magnificence; and one of the principal objects was a great black cabinet +of ebony and ivory, such as may often be seen in old English houses, and +perhaps often in the palaces of Italy, in which country they perhaps +originated. This present cabinet was known to have been in the house as +long ago as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and how much longer neither +tradition nor record told. Hammond particularly directed Middleton's +attention to it. + +"There is nothing in this house," said he, "better worth your attention +than that cabinet.' Consider its plan; it represents a stately mansion, +with pillars, an entrance, with a lofty flight of steps, windows, and +everything perfect. Examine it well." + +There was such an emphasis in the old man's way of speaking that +Middleton turned suddenly round from all that he had been looking at, and +fixed his whole attention on the cabinet; and strangely enough, it seemed +to be the representative, in small, of something that he had seen in a +dream. To say the truth, if some cunning workman had been employed to +copy his idea of the old family mansion, on a scale of half an inch to a +yard, and in ebony and ivory instead of stone, he could not have produced +a closer imitation. Everything was there. + +"This is miraculous!" exclaimed he. "I do not understand it." + +"Your friend seems to be curious in these matters," said Mr. Eldredge +graciously. "Perhaps he is of some trade that makes this sort of +manufacture particularly interesting to him. You are quite at liberty, my +friend, to open the cabinet and inspect it as minutely as you wish. It is +an article that has a good deal to do with an obscure portion of our +family history. Look, here is the key, and the mode of opening the outer +door of the palace, as we may well call it." So saying, he threw open the +outer door, and disclosed within the mimic likeness of a stately entrance +hall, with a floor chequered of ebony and ivory. There were other doors +that seemed to open into apartments in the interior of the palace; but +when Mr. Eldredge threw them likewise wide, they proved to be drawers and +secret receptacles, where papers, jewels, money, anything that it was +desirable to store away secretly, might be kept. + +"You said, sir," said Middleton, thoughtfully, "that your family history +contained matter of interest in reference to this cabinet. Might I +inquire what those legends are?" + +"Why, yes," said Mr. Eldredge, musing a little. "I see no reason why I +should have any idle concealment about the matter, especially to a +foreigner and a man whom I am never likely to see again. You must know, +then, my friend, that there was once a time when this cabinet was known +to contain the fate of the estate and its possessors; and if it had held +all that it was supposed to hold, I should not now be the lord of +Pemberton Manor, nor the claimant of an ancient title. But my father, and +his father before him, and his father besides, have held the estate and +prospered on it; and I think we may fairly conclude now that the cabinet +contains nothing except what we see." + +And he rapidly again threw open one after another all the numerous +drawers and receptacles of the cabinet. + +"It is an interesting object," said Middleton, after looking very closely +and with great attention at it, being pressed thereto, indeed, by the +owner's good natured satisfaction in possessing this rare article of +vertu. "It is admirable work," repeated he, drawing back. "That mosaic +floor, especially, is done with an art and skill that I never saw +equalled." + +There was something strange and altered in Middleton's tones, that +attracted the notice of Mr. Eldredge. Looking at him, he saw that he had +grown pale, and had a rather bewildered air. + +"Is your friend ill?" said he. "He has not our English ruggedness of +look. He would have done better to take a sip of the cool tankard, and a +slice of the cold beef. He finds no such food and drink as that in his +own country, I warrant." + +"His color has come back," responded Hammond, briefly. "He does not need +any refreshment, I think, except, perhaps, the open air." + +In fact, Middleton, recovering himself, apologized to Mr. Hammond +[Eldredge?]; and as they had now seen nearly the whole of the house, the +two visitants took their leave, with many kindly offers on Mr. Eldredge's +part to permit the young man to view the cabinet whenever he wished. As +they went out of the house (it was by another door than that which gave +them entrance), Hammond laid his hand on Middleton's shoulder and pointed +to a stone on the threshold, on which he was about to set his foot. "Take +care!" said he. "It is the Bloody Footstep." + +Middleton looked down and saw something, indeed, very like the shape of a +footprint, with a hue very like that of blood. It was a twilight sort of +a place, beneath a porch, which was much overshadowed by trees and +shrubbery. It might have been blood; but he rather thought, in his wicked +skepticism, that it was a natural, reddish stain in the stone. He +measured his own foot, however, in the Bloody Footstep, and went on. + +_May 10th, Monday_.--This is the present aspect of the story: Middleton +is the descendant of a family long settled in the United States; his +ancestor having emigrated to New England with the Pilgrims; or, perhaps, +at a still earlier date, to Virginia with Raleigh's colonists. There had +been a family dissension,--a bitter hostility between two brothers in +England; on account, probably, of a love affair, the two both being +attached to the same lady. By the influence of the family on both sides, +the young lady had formed an engagement with the elder brother, although +her affections had settled on the younger. The marriage was about to take +place when the younger brother and the bride both disappeared, and were +never heard of with any certainty afterwards; but it was believed at the +time that he had been killed, and in proof of it a bloody footstep +remained on the threshold of the ancestral mansion. There were rumors, +afterwards, traditionally continued to the present day, that the younger +brother and the bride were seen, and together, in England; and that some +voyager across the sea had found them living together, husband and wife, +on the other side of the Atlantic. But the elder brother became a moody +and reserved man, never married, and left the inheritance to the children +of a third brother, who then became the representative of the family in +England; and the better authenticated story was that the second brother +had really been slain, and that the young lady (for all the parties may +have been Catholic) had gone to the Continent and taken the veil there. +Such was the family history as known or surmised in England, and in the +neighborhood of the manor-house, where the Bloody Footstep still remained +on the threshold; and the posterity of the third brother still held the +estate, and perhaps were claimants of an ancient baronage, long in +abeyance. + +Now, on the other side of the Atlantic, the second brother and the young +lady had really been married, and became the parents of a posterity, +still extant, of which the Middleton of the romance is the surviving +male. Perhaps he had changed his name, being so much tortured with the +evil and wrong that had sprung up in his family, so remorseful, so +outraged, that he wished to disconnect himself with all the past, and +begin life quite anew in a new world. But both he and his wife, though +happy in one another, had been remorsefully and sadly so; and, with such +feelings, they had never again communicated with their respective +families, nor had given their children the means of doing so. There must, +I think, have been something nearly approaching to guilt on the second +brother's part, and the bride should have broken a solemnly plighted +troth to the elder brother, breaking away from him when almost his wife. +The elder brother had been known to have been wounded at the time of the +second brother's disappearance; and it had been the surmise that he had +received this hurt in the personal conflict in which the latter was +slain. But in truth the second brother had stabbed him in the emergency +of being discovered in the act of escaping with the bride; and this was +what weighed upon his conscience throughout life in America. The American +family had prolonged itself through various fortunes, and all the ups and +downs incident to our institutions, until the present day. They had some +old family documents, which had been rather carelessly kept; but the +present representative, being an educated man, had looked over them, and +found one which interested him strongly. It was--what was it?--perhaps a +copy of a letter written by his ancestor on his death-bed, telling his +real name, and relating the above incidents. These incidents had come +down in a vague, wild way, traditionally, in the American family, forming +a wondrous and incredible legend, which Middleton had often laughed at, +yet been greatly interested in; and the discovery of this document seemed +to give a certain aspect of veracity and reality to the tradition. +Perhaps, however, the document only related to the change of name, and +made reference to certain evidences by which, if any descendant of the +family should deem it expedient, he might prove his hereditary identity. +The legend must be accounted for by having been gathered from the talk of +the first ancestor and his wife. There must be in existence, in the early +records of the colony, an authenticated statement of this change of name, +and satisfactory proofs that the American family, long known as +Middleton, were really a branch of the English family of Eldredge, or +whatever. And in the legend, though not in the written document, there +must be an account of a certain magnificent, almost palatial residence, +which Middleton shall presume to be the ancestral home; and in this +palace there shall be said to be a certain secret chamber, or receptacle, +where is reposited a document that shall complete the evidence of the +genealogical descent. + +Middleton is still a young man, but already a distinguished one in his +own country; he has entered early into politics, been sent to Congress, +but having met with some disappointments in his ambitious hopes, and +being disgusted with the fierceness of political contests in our country, +he has come abroad for recreation and rest. His imagination has dwelt +much, in his boyhood, on the legendary story of his family; and the +discovery of the document has revived these dreams. He determines to +search out the family mansion; and thus he arrives, bringing half of a +story, being the only part known in America, to join it on to the other +half, which is the only part known in England. In an introduction I must +do the best I can to state his side of the matter to the reader, he +having communicated it to me in a friendly way, at the Consulate; as many +people have communicated quite as wild pretensions to English +genealogies. + +He comes to the midland counties of England, where he conceives his +claims to lie, and seeks for his ancestral home; but there are +difficulties in the way of finding it, the estates having passed into the +female line, though still remaining in the blood. By and by, however, he +comes to an old town where there is one of the charitable institutions +bearing the name of his family, by whose beneficence it had indeed been +founded, in Queen Elizabeth's time. He of course becomes interested in +this Hospital; he finds it still going on, precisely as it did in the old +days; and all the character and life of the establishment must be +picturesquely described. Here he gets acquainted with an old man, an +inmate of the Hospital, who (if the uncontrollable fatality of the story +will permit) must have an active influence on the ensuing events. I +suppose him to have been an American, but to have fled his country and +taken refuge in England; he shall have been a man of the Nicholas Biddle +stamp, a mighty speculator, the ruin of whose schemes had crushed +hundreds of people, and Middleton's father among the rest. Here he had +quitted the activity of his mind, as well as he could, becoming a local +antiquary, etc., and he has made himself acquainted with the family +history of the Eldredges, knowing more about it than the members of the +family themselves do. He had known in America (from Middleton's father, +who was his friend) the legends preserved in this branch of the family, +and perhaps had been struck by the way in which they fit into the English +legends; at any rate, this strikes him when Middleton tells him his story +and shows him the document respecting the change of name. After various +conversations together (in which, however, the old man keeps the secret +of his own identity, and indeed acts as mysteriously as possible), they +go together to visit the ancestral mansion. Perhaps it should not be in +their first visit that the cabinet, representing the stately mansion, +shall be seen. But the Bloody Footstep may; which shall interest +Middleton much, both because Hammond has told him the English tradition +respecting it, and because too the legends of the American family made +some obscure allusions to his ancestor having left blood--a bloody +footstep--on the ancestral threshold. This is the point to which the +story has now been sketched out. Middleton finds a commonplace old +English country gentleman in possession of the estate, where his +forefathers have lived in peace for many generations; but there must be +circumstances contrived which shall cause Middleton's conduct to be +attended by no end of turmoil and trouble. The old Hospitaller, I +suppose, must be the malicious agent in this; and his malice must be +motived in some satisfactory way. The more serious question, what shall +be the nature of this tragic trouble, and how can it be brought about? + +_May 11th, Tuesday_.--How much better would it have been if this secret, +which seemed so golden, had remained in the obscurity in which two +hundred years had buried it! That deep, old, grass-grown grave being +opened, out from it streamed into the sunshine the old fatalities, the +old crimes, the old misfortunes, the sorrows, that seemed to have +departed from the family forever. But it was too late now to close it up; +he must follow out the thread that led him on,--the thread of fate, if +you choose to call it so; but rather the impulse of an evil will, a +stubborn self-interest, a desire for certain objects of ambition which +were preferred to what yet were recognized as real goods. Thus reasoned, +thus raved, Eldredge, as he considered the things that he had done, and +still intended to do; nor did these perceptions make the slightest +difference in his plans, nor in the activity with which he set about +their performance. For this purpose he sent for his lawyer, and consulted +him on the feasibility of the design which he had already communicated to +him respecting Middleton. But the man of law shook his head, and, though +deferentially, declined to have any active concern with the matter that +threatened to lead him beyond the bounds which he allowed himself, into a +seductive but perilous region. + +"My dear sir," said he, with some earnestness, "you had much better +content yourself with such assistance as I can professionally and +consistently give you. Believe [me], I am willing to do a lawyer's +utmost, and to do more would be as unsafe for the client as for the legal +adviser." + +Thus left without an agent and an instrument, this unfortunate man had to +meditate on what means he would use to gain his ends through his own +unassisted efforts. In the struggle with himself through which he had +passed, he had exhausted pretty much all the feelings that he had to +bestow on this matter; and now he was ready to take hold of almost any +temptation that might present itself, so long as it showed a good +prospect of success and a plausible chance of impunity. While he was thus +musing, he heard a female voice chanting some song, like a bird's among +the pleasant foliage of the trees, and soon he saw at the end of a +wood-walk Alice, with her basket on her arm, passing on toward the +village. She looked towards him as she passed, but made no pause nor yet +hastened her steps, not seeming to think it worth her while to be +influenced by him. He hurried forward and overtook her. + +So there was this poor old gentleman, his comfort utterly overthrown, +decking his white hair and wrinkled brow with the semblance of a coronet, +and only hoping that the reality might crown and bless him before he was +laid in the ancestral tomb. It was a real calamity; though by no means +the greatest that had been fished up out of the pit of domestic discord +that had been opened anew by the advent of the American; and by the use +which had been made of it by the cantankerous old man of the Hospital. +Middleton, as he looked at these evil consequences, sometimes regretted +that he had not listened to those forebodings which had warned him back +on the eve of his enterprise; yet such was the strange entanglement and +interest which had wound about him, that often he rejoiced that for once +he was engaged in something that absorbed him fully, and the zeal for the +development of which made him careless for the result in respect to its +good or evil, but only desirous that it show itself. As for Alice, she +seemed to skim lightly through all these matters, whether as a spirit of +good or ill he could not satisfactorily judge. He could not think her +wicked; yet her actions seemed unaccountable on the plea that she was +otherwise. It was another characteristic thread in the wild web of +madness that had spun itself about all the prominent characters of our +story. And when Middleton thought of these things, he felt as if it might +be his duty (supposing he had the power) to shovel the earth again into +the pit that he had been the means of opening; but also felt that, +whether duty or not, he would never perform it. + +For, you see, on the American's arrival he had found the estate in the +hands of one of the descendants; but some disclosures consequent on his +arrival had thrown it into the hands of another; or, at all events, had +seemed to make it apparent that justice required that it should be so +disposed of. No sooner was the discovery made than the possessor put on a +coronet; the new heir had commenced legal proceedings; the sons of the +respective branches had come to blows and blood; and the devil knows what +other devilish consequences had ensued. Besides this, there was much +falling in love at cross-purposes, and a general animosity of everybody +against everybody else, in proportion to the closeness of the natural +ties and their obligation to love one another. + +The moral, if any moral were to be gathered from these petty and wretched +circumstances, was, "Let the past alone: do not seek to renew it; press +on to higher and better things,--at all events, to other things; and be +assured that the right way can never be that which leads you back to the +identical shapes that you long ago left behind. Onward, onward, onward!" + +"What have you to do here?" said Alice. "Your lot is in another land. +You have seen the birthplace of your forefathers, and have gratified your +natural yearning for it; now return, and cast in your lot with your own +people, let it be what it will. I fully believe that it is such a lot as +the world has never yet seen, and that the faults, the weaknesses, the +errors, of your countrymen will vanish away like morning mists before the +rising sun. You can do nothing better than to go back." + +"This is strange advice, Alice," said Middleton, gazing at her and +smiling. "Go back, with such a fair prospect before me; that were strange +indeed! It is enough to keep me here, that here only I shall see +you,--enough to make me rejoice to have come, that I have found you +here." + +"Do not speak in this foolish way," cried Alice, panting. "I am giving +you the best advice, and speaking in the wisest way I am capable +of,--speaking on good grounds too,--and you turn me aside with a silly +compliment. I tell you that this is no comedy in which we are performers, +but a deep, sad tragedy; and that it depends most upon you whether or no +it shall be pressed to a catastrophe. Think well of it." + +"I have thought, Alice," responded the young man, "and I must let things +take their course; if, indeed, it depends at all upon me, which I see no +present reason to suppose. Yet I wish you would explain to me what you +mean." + +To take up the story from the point where we left it: by the aid of the +American's revelations, some light is thrown upon points of family +history, which induce the English possessor of the estate to suppose that +the time has come for asserting his claim to a title which has long been +in abeyance. He therefore sets about it, and engages in great expenses, +besides contracting the enmity of many persons, with whose interests he +interferes. A further complication is brought about by the secret +interference of the old Hospitaller, and Alice goes singing and dancing +through the whole, in a way that makes her seem like a beautiful devil, +though finally it will be recognized that she is an angel of light. +Middleton, half bewildered, can scarcely tell how much of this is due to +his own agency; how much is independent of him and would have happened +had he stayed on his own side of the water. By and by a further and +unexpected development presents the singular fact that he himself is the +heir to whatever claims there are, whether of property or rank,--all +centring in him as the representative of the eldest brother. On this +discovery there ensues a tragedy in the death of the present possessor of +the estate, who has staked everything upon the issue; and Middleton, +standing amid the ruin and desolation of which he has been the innocent +cause, resigns all the claims which he might now assert, and retires, arm +in arm with Alice, who has encouraged him to take this course, and to act +up to his character. The estate takes a passage into the female line, and +the old name becomes extinct, nor does Middleton seek to continue it by +resuming it in place of the one long ago assumed by his ancestor. Thus he +and his wife become the Adam and Eve of a new epoch, and the fitting +missionaries of a new social faith, of which there must be continual +hints through the book. + +A knot of characters may be introduced as gathering around Middleton, +comprising expatriated Americans of all sorts: the wandering printer who +came to me so often at the Consulate, who said he was a native of +Philadelphia, and could not go home in the thirty years that he had been +trying to do so, for lack of the money to pay his passage; the large +banker; the consul of Leeds; the woman asserting her claims to half +Liverpool; the gifted literary lady, maddened by Shakespeare, &c., &c. +The Yankee who had been driven insane by the Queen's notice, slight as it +was, of the photographs of his two children which he had sent her. I have +not yet struck the true key-note of this Romance, and until I do, and +unless I do, I shall write nothing but tediousness and nonsense. I do not +wish it to be a picture of life, but a Romance, grim, grotesque, quaint, +of which the Hospital might be the fitting scene. It might have so much +of the hues of life that the reader should sometimes think it was +intended for a picture, yet the atmosphere should be such as to excuse +all wildness. In the Introduction, I might disclaim all intention to draw +a real picture, but say that the continual meetings I had with Americans +bent on such errands had suggested this wild story. The descriptions of +scenery, &c., and of the Hospital, might be correct, but there should be +a tinge of the grotesque given to all the characters and events. The +tragic and the gentler pathetic need not be excluded by the tone and +treatment. If I could but write one central scene in this vein, all the +rest of the Romance would readily arrange itself around that nucleus. The +begging-girl would be another American character; the actress too; the +caravan people. It must be humorous work, or nothing. + + + + +III. + +_May 12th, Wednesday_.--Middleton found his abode here becoming daily +more interesting; and he sometimes thought that it was the sympathies +with the place and people, buried under the supergrowth of so many ages, +but now coming forth with the life and vigor of a fountain, that, long +hidden beneath earth and ruins, gushes out singing into the sunshine, as +soon as these are removed. He wandered about the neighborhood with +insatiable interest; sometimes, and often, lying on a hill-side and +gazing at the gray tower of the church; sometimes coming into the village +clustered round that same church, and looking at the old timber and +plaster houses, the same, except that the thatch had probably been often +renewed, that they used to be in his ancestor's days. In those old +cottages still dwelt the families, the ----s, the Prices, the Hopnorts, +the Copleys, that had dwelt there when America was a scattered progeny of +infant colonies; and in the churchyard were the graves of all the +generations since--including the dust of those who had seen his +ancestor's face before his departure. + +The graves, outside the church walls indeed, bore no marks of this +antiquity; for it seems not to have been an early practice in England to +put stones over such graves; and where it has been done, the climate +causes the inscriptions soon to become obliterated and unintelligible. +But, within the church, there were rich words of the personages and times +with whom Middleton's musings held so much converse. + +But one of his greatest employments and pastimes was to ramble through +the grounds of Smithell's, making himself as well acquainted with its +wood paths, its glens, its woods, its venerable trees, as if he had been +bred up there from infancy. Some of those old oaks his ancestor might +have been acquainted with, while they were already sturdy and well-grown +trees; might have climbed them in boyhood; might have mused beneath them +as a lover; might have flung himself at full length on the turf beneath +them, in the bitter anguish that must have preceded his departure forever +from the home of his forefathers. In order to secure an uninterrupted +enjoyment of his rambles here, Middleton had secured the good-will of the +game-keepers and other underlings whom he was likely to meet about the +grounds, by giving them a shilling or a half-crown; and he was now free +to wander where he would, with only the advice rather than the caution, +to keep out of the way of their old master,--for there might be trouble, +if he should meet a stranger on the grounds, in any of his tantrums. But, +in fact, Mr. Eldredge was not much in the habit of walking about the +grounds; and there were hours of every day, during which it was +altogether improbable that he would have emerged from his own apartments +in the manor-house. These were the hours, therefore, when Middleton most +frequented the estate; although, to say the truth, he would gladly have +so timed his visits as to meet and form an acquaintance with the lonely +lord of this beautiful property, his own kinsman, though with so many +ages of dark oblivion between. For Middleton had not that feeling of +infinite distance in the relationship, which he would have had if his +branch of the family had continued in England, and had not intermarried +with the other branch, through such a long waste of years; he rather felt +as if he were the original emigrant who, long resident on a foreign +shore, had now returned, with a heart brimful of tenderness, to revisit +the scenes of his youth, and renew his tender relations with those who +shared his own blood. + +There was not, however, much in what he heard of the character of the +present possessor of the estate--or indeed in the strong family +characteristic that had become hereditary--to encourage him to attempt +any advances. It is very probable that the religion of Mr. Eldredge, as a +Catholic, may have excited a prejudice against him, as it certainly had +insulated the family, in a great degree, from the sympathies of the +neighborhood. Mr. Eldredge, moreover, had resided long on the Continent; +long in Italy; and had come back with habits that little accorded with +those of the gentry of the neighborhood; so that, in fact, he was almost +as much of a stranger, and perhaps quite as little of a real Englishman, +as Middleton himself. Be that as it might, Middleton, when he sought to +learn something about him, heard the strangest stories of his habits of +life, of his temper, and of his employments, from the people with whom he +conversed. The old legend, turning upon the monomania of the family, was +revived in full force in reference to this poor gentleman; and many a +time Middleton's interlocutors shook their wise heads, saying with a +knowing look and under their breath that the old gentleman was looking +for the track of the Bloody Footstep. They fabled--or said, for it might +not have been a false story--that every descendant of this house had a +certain portion of his life, during which he sought the track of that +footstep which was left on the threshold of the mansion; that he sought +it far and wide, over every foot of the estate; not only on the estate, +but throughout the neighborhood; not only in the neighborhood but all +over England; not only throughout England but all about the world. It was +the belief of the neighborhood--at least of some old men and women in +it--that the long period of Mr. Eldredge's absence from England had been +spent in the search for some trace of those departing footsteps that had +never returned. It is very possible--probable, indeed--that there may +have been some ground for this remarkable legend; not that it is to be +credited that the family of Eldredge, being reckoned among sane men, +would seriously have sought, years and generations after the fact, for +the first track of those bloody footsteps which the first rain of drippy +England must have washed away; to say nothing of the leaves that had +fallen and the growth and decay of so many seasons, that covered all +traces of them since. But nothing is more probable than that the +continual recurrence to the family genealogy, which had been necessitated +by the matter of the dormant peerage, had caused the Eldredges, from +father to son, to keep alive an interest in that ancestor who had +disappeared, and who had been supposed to carry some of the most +important family papers with him. But yet it gave Middleton a strange +thrill of pleasure, that had something fearful in it, to think that all +through these ages he had been waited for, sought for, anxiously +expected, as it were; it seemed as if the very ghosts of his kindred, a +long shadowy line, held forth their dim arms to welcome him; a line +stretching back to the ghosts of those who had flourished in the old, old +times; the doubletted and beruffled knightly shades of Queen Elizabeth's +time; a long line, stretching from the mediaeval ages, and their +duskiness, downward, downward, with only one vacant space, that of him +who had left the Bloody Footstep. There was an inexpressible pleasure +(airy and evanescent, gone in a moment if he dwelt upon it too +thoughtfully, but very sweet) to Middleton's imagination, in this idea. +When he reflected, however, that his revelations, if they had any effect +at all, might serve only to quench the hopes of these long expectants, it +of course made him hesitate to declare himself. + +One afternoon, when he was in the midst of musings such as this, he saw +at a distance through the park, in the direction of the manor-house, a +person who seemed to be walking slowly and seeking for something upon the +ground. He was a long way off when Middleton first perceived him; and +there were two clumps of trees and underbrush, with interspersed tracts +of sunny lawn, between them. The person, whoever he was, kept on, and +plunged into the first clump of shrubbery, still keeping his eyes on the +ground, as if intensely searching for something. When he emerged from the +concealment of the first clump of shrubbery, Middleton saw that he was a +tall, thin person, in a dark dress; and this was the chief observation +that the distance enabled him to make, as the figure kept slowly onward, +in a somewhat wavering line, and plunged into the second clump of +shrubbery. From that, too, he emerged; and soon appeared to be a thin +elderly figure, of a dark man with gray hair, bent, as it seemed to +Middleton, with infirmity, for his figure still stooped even in the +intervals when he did not appear to be tracking the ground. But Middleton +could not but be surprised at the singular appearance the figure had of +setting its foot, at every step, just where a previous footstep had been +made, as if he wanted to measure his whole pathway in the track of +somebody who had recently gone over the ground in advance of him. +Middleton was sitting at the foot of an oak; and he began to feel some +awkwardness in the consideration of what he would do if Mr. Eldredge--for +he could not doubt that it was he--were to be led just to this spot, in +pursuit of his singular occupation. And even so it proved. + +Middleton could not feel it manly to fly and hide himself, like a guilty +thing; and indeed the hospitality of the English country gentleman in +many cases gives the neighborhood and the stranger a certain degree of +freedom in the use of the broad expanse of ground in which they and their +forefathers have loved to sequester their residences. The figure kept on, +showing more and more distinctly the tall, meagre, not unvenerable +features of a gentleman in the decline of life, apparently in ill-health; +with a dark face, that might once have been full of energy, but now +seemed enfeebled by time, passion, and perhaps sorrow. But it was strange +to see the earnestness with which he looked on the ground, and the +accuracy with which he at last set his foot, apparently adjusting it +exactly to some footprint before him; and Middleton doubted not that, +having studied and re-studied the family records and the judicial +examinations which described exactly the track that was seen the day +after the memorable disappearance of his ancestor, Mr. Eldredge was now, +in some freak, or for some purpose best known to himself, practically +following it out. And follow it out he did, until at last he lifted up +his eyes, muttering to himself: "At this point the footsteps wholly +disappear." + +Lifting his eyes, as we have said, while thus regretfully and +despairingly muttering these words, he saw Middleton against the oak, +within three paces of him. + +_May 13th, Thursday_.--Mr. Eldredge (for it was he) first kept his eyes +fixed full on Middleton's face, with an expression as if he saw him not; +but gradually--slowly, at first--he seemed to become aware of his +presence; then, with a sudden flush, he took in the idea that he was +encountered by a stranger in his secret mood. A flush of anger or shame, +perhaps both, reddened over his face; his eyes gleamed; and he spoke +hastily and roughly. + +"Who are you?" he said. "How come you here? I allow no intruders in my +park. Begone, fellow!" + +"Really, sir, I did not mean to intrude upon you," said Middleton +blandly. "I am aware that I owe you an apology; but the beauties of your +park must plead my excuse; and the constant kindness of [the] English +gentleman, which admits a stranger to the privilege of enjoying so much +of the beauty in which he himself dwells as the stranger's taste permits +him to enjoy." + +"An artist, perhaps," said Mr. Eldredge, somewhat less uncourteously. "I +am told that they love to come here and sketch those old oaks and their +vistas, and the old mansion yonder. But you are an intrusive set, you +artists, and think that a pencil and a sheet of paper may be your +passport anywhere. You are mistaken, sir. My park is not open to +strangers." + +"I am sorry, then, to have intruded upon you," said Middleton, still in +good humor; for in truth he felt a sort of kindness, a sentiment, +ridiculous as it may appear, of kindred towards the old gentleman, and +besides was not unwilling in any way to prolong a conversation in which +he found a singular interest. "I am sorry, especially as I have not even +the excuse you kindly suggest for me. I am not an artist, only an +American, who have strayed hither to enjoy this gentle, cultivated, tamed +nature which I find in English parks, so contrasting with the wild, +rugged nature of my native land. I beg your pardon, and will retire." + +"An American," repeated Mr. Eldredge, looking curiously at him. "Ah, you +are wild men in that country, I suppose, and cannot conceive that an +English gentleman encloses his grounds--or that his ancestors have done +so before him--for his own pleasure and convenience, and does not +calculate on having it infringed upon by everybody, like your own +forests, as you say. It is a curious country, that of yours; and in Italy +I have seen curious people from it." + +"True, sir," said Middleton, smiling. "We send queer specimens abroad; +but Englishmen should consider that we spring from them, and that we +present after all only a picture of their own characteristics, a little +varied by climate and in situation." + +Mr. Eldredge looked at him with a certain kind of interest, and it seemed +to Middleton that he was not unwilling to continue the conversation, if a +fair way to do so could only be offered to him. A secluded man often +grasps at any opportunity of communicating with his kind, when it is +casually offered to him, and for the nonce is surprisingly familiar, +running out towards his chance-companion with the gush of a dammed-up +torrent, suddenly unlocked. As Middleton made a motion to retire, he put +out his hand with an air of authority to restrain him. + +"Stay," said he. "Now that you are here, the mischief is done, and you +cannot repair it by hastening away. You have interrupted me in my mood of +thought, and must pay the penalty by suggesting other thoughts. I am a +lonely man here, having spent most of my life abroad, and am separated +from my neighbors by various circumstances. You seem to be an intelligent +man. I should like to ask you a few questions about your country." + +He looked at Middleton as he spoke, and seemed to be considering in what +rank of life he should place him; his dress being such as suited a humble +rank. He seemed not to have come to any very certain decision on this +point. + +"I remember," said he, "you have no distinctions of rank in your country; +a convenient thing enough, in some respects. When there are no gentlemen, +all are gentlemen. So let it be. You speak of being Englishmen; and it +has often occurred to me that Englishmen have left this country and been +much missed and sought after, who might perhaps be sought there +successfully." + +"It is certainly so, Mr. Eldredge," said Middleton, lifting his eyes to +his face as he spoke, and then turning them aside. "Many footsteps, the +track of which is lost in England, might be found reappearing on the +other side of the Atlantic; ay, though it be hundreds of years since the +track was lost here." + +Middleton, though he had refrained from looking full at Mr. Eldredge as +he spoke, was conscious that he gave a great start; and he remained +silent for a moment or two, and when he spoke there was the tremor in his +voice of a nerve that had been struck and still vibrated. + +"That is a singular idea of yours," he at length said; "not singular in +itself, but strangely coincident with something that happened to be +occupying my mind. Have you ever heard any such instances as you speak +of?" + +"Yes," replied Middleton. "I have had pointed out to me the rightful heir +to a Scottish earldom, in the person of an American farmer, in his +shirt-sleeves. There are many Americans who believe themselves to hold +similar claims. And I have known one family, at least, who had in their +possession, and had had for two centuries, a secret that might have been +worth wealth and honors if known in England. Indeed, being kindred as we +are, it cannot but be the case." + +Mr. Eldredge appeared to be much struck by these last words, and gazed +wistfully, almost wildly, at Middleton, as if debating with himself +whether to say more. He made a step or two aside; then returned abruptly, +and spoke. + +"Can you tell me the name of the family in which this secret was kept?" +said he; "and the nature of the secret?" + +"The nature of the secret," said Middleton, smiling, "was not likely to +be extended to any one out of the family. The name borne by the family +was Middleton. There is no member of it, so far as I am aware, at this +moment remaining in America." + +"And has the secret died with them?" asked Mr. Eldredge. + +"They communicated it to none," said Middleton. + +"It is a pity! It was a villainous wrong," said Mr. Eldredge. "And so, it +may be, some ancient line, in the old country, is defrauded of its rights +for want of what might have been obtained from this Yankee, whose +democracy has demoralized them to the perception of what is due to the +antiquity of descent, and of the bounden duty that there is, in all +ranks, to keep up the honor of a family that has had potence enough to +preserve itself in distinction for a thousand years." + +"Yes," said Middleton, quietly, "we have sympathy with what is strong and +vivacious to-day; none with what was so yesterday." + +The remark seemed not to please Mr. Eldredge; he frowned, and muttered +something to himself; but recovering himself, addressed Middleton with +more courtesy than at the commencement of their interview; and, with this +graciousness, his face and manner grew very agreeable, almost +fascinating: he [was] still haughty, however. + +"Well, sir," said he, "I am not sorry to have met you. I am a solitary +man, as I have said, and a little communication with a stranger is a +refreshment, which I enjoy seldom enough to be sensible of it. Pray, are +you staying hereabouts?" + +Middleton signified to him that he might probably spend some little time +in the village. + +"Then, during your stay," said Mr. Eldredge, "make free use of the walks +in these grounds; and though it is not probable that you will meet me in +them again, you need apprehend no second questioning of your right to be +here. My house has many points of curiosity that may be of interest to a +stranger from a new country. Perhaps you have heard of some of them." + +"I have heard some wild legend about a Bloody Footstep," answered +Middleton; "indeed, I think I remember hearing something about it in my +own country; and having a fanciful sort of interest in such things, I +took advantage of the hospitable custom which opens the doors of curious +old houses to strangers, to go to see it. It seemed to me, I confess, +only a natural stain in the old stone that forms the doorstep." + +"There, sir," said Mr. Eldredge, "let me say that you came to a very +foolish conclusion; and so, good-by, sir." + +And without further ceremony, he cast an angry glance at Middleton, who +perceived that the old gentleman reckoned the Bloody Footstep among his +ancestral honors, and would probably have parted with his claim to the +peerage almost as soon as have given up the legend. + +Present aspect of the story: Middleton on his arrival becomes acquainted +with the old Hospitaller, and is familiarized at the Hospital. He pays a +visit in his company to the manor-house, but merely glimpses at its +remarkable things, at this visit, among others at the old cabinet, which +does not, at first view, strike him very strongly. But, on musing about +his visit afterwards, he finds the recollection of the cabinet strangely +identifying itself with his previous imaginary picture of the palatial +mansion; so that at last he begins to conceive the mistake he has made. +At this first [visit], he does not have a personal interview with the +possessor of the estate; but, as the Hospitaller and himself go from room +to room, he finds that the owner is preceding them, shyly flitting like a +ghost, so as to avoid them. Then there is a chapter about the character +of the Eldredge of the day, a Catholic, a morbid, shy man, representing +all the peculiarities of an old family, and generally thought to be +insane. And then comes the interview between him and Middleton, where the +latter excites such an interest that he dwells upon the old man's mind, +and the latter probably takes pains to obtain further intercourse with +him, and perhaps invites him to dinner, and [to] spend a night in his +house. If so, this second meeting must lead to the examination of the +cabinet, and the discovery of some family documents in it. Perhaps the +cabinet may be in Middleton's sleeping-chamber, and he examines it by +himself, before going to bed; and finds out a secret which will perplex +him how to deal with it. + +_May 14th, Friday_.--We have spoken several times already of a young +girl, who was seen at this period about the little antiquated village of +Smithells; a girl in manners and in aspect unlike those of the cottages +amid which she dwelt. Middleton had now so often met her, and in solitary +places, that an acquaintance had inevitably established itself between +them. He had ascertained that she had lodgings at a farm-house near by, +and that she was connected in some way with the old Hospitaller, whose +acquaintance had proved of such interest to him; but more than this he +could not learn either from her or others. But he was greatly attracted +and interested by the free spirit and fearlessness of this young woman; +nor could he conceive where, in staid and formal England, she had grown +up to be such as she was, so without manner, so without art, yet so +capable of doing and thinking for herself. She had no reserve, +apparently, yet never seemed to sin against decorum; it never appeared to +restrain her that anything she might wish to do was contrary to custom; +she had nothing of what could be called shyness in her intercourse with +him; and yet he was conscious of an unapproachableness in Alice. Often, +in the old man's presence, she mingled in the conversation that went on +between him and Middleton, and with an acuteness that betokened a sphere +of thought much beyond what could be customary with young English +maidens; and Middleton was often reminded of the theories of those in our +own country, who believe that the amelioration of society depends greatly +on the part that women shall hereafter take, according to their +individual capacity, in all the various pursuits of life. These deeper +thoughts, these higher qualities, surprised him as they showed +themselves, whenever occasion called them forth, under the light, gay, +and frivolous exterior which she had at first seemed to present. +Middleton often amused himself with surmises in what rank of life Alice +could have been bred, being so free of all conventional rule, yet so nice +and delicate in her perception of the true proprieties that she never +shocked him. + +One morning, when they had met in one of Middleton's rambles about the +neighborhood, they began to talk of America; and Middleton described to +Alice the stir that was being made in behalf of women's rights; and he +said that whatever cause was generous and disinterested always, in that +country, derived much of its power from the sympathy of women, and that +the advocates of every such cause were in favor of yielding the whole +field of human effort to be shared with women. + +"I have been surprised," said he, "in the little I have seen and heard of +English women, to discover what a difference there is between them and my +own countrywomen." + +"I have heard," said Alice, with a smile, "that your countrywomen are a +far more delicate and fragile race than Englishwomen; pale, feeble +hot-house plants, unfit for the wear and tear of life, without energy of +character, or any slightest degree of physical strength to base it upon. +If, now, you had these large-framed Englishwomen, you might, I should +imagine, with better hopes, set about changing the system of society, so +as to allow them to struggle in the strife of politics, or any other +strife, hand to hand, or side by side with men." + +"If any countryman of mine has said this of our women," exclaimed +Middleton, indignantly, "he is a slanderous villain, unworthy to have +been borne by an American mother; if an Englishman has said it--as I know +many of them have and do--let it pass as one of the many prejudices only +half believed, with which they strive to console themselves for the +inevitable sense that the American race is destined to higher purposes +than their own. But pardon me; I forgot that I was speaking to an +Englishwoman, for indeed you do not remind me of them. But, I assure you, +the world has not seen such women as make up, I had almost said the mass +of womanhood in my own country; slight in aspect, slender in frame, as +you suggest, but yet capable of bringing forth stalwart men; they +themselves being of inexhaustible courage, patience, energy; soft and +tender, deep of heart, but high of purpose. Gentle, refined, but bold in +every good cause." + +"Oh, yea have said quite enough," replied Alice, who had seemed ready to +laugh outright, during this encomium. "I think I see one of these +paragons now, in a Bloomer, I think you call it, swaggering along with a +Bowie knife at her girdle, smoking a cigar, no doubt, and tippling +sherry-cobblers and mint-juleps. It must be a pleasant life." + +"I should think you, at least, might form a more just idea of what women +become," said Middleton, considerably piqued, "in a country where the +rules of conventionalism are somewhat relaxed; where woman, whatever you +may think, is far more profoundly educated than in England, where a few +ill-taught accomplishments, a little geography, a catechism of science, +make up the sum, under the superintendence of a governess; the mind being +kept entirely inert as to any capacity for thought. They are cowards, +except within certain rules and forms; they spend a life of old +proprieties, and die, and if their souls do not die with them, it is +Heaven's mercy." + +Alice did not appear in the least moved to anger, though considerably to +mirth, by this description of the character of English females. She +laughed as she replied, "I see there is little danger of your leaving +your heart in England." She added more seriously, "And permit me to say, +I trust, Mr. Middleton, that you remain as much American in other +respects as in your preference of your own race of women. The American +who comes hither and persuades himself that he is one with Englishmen, it +seems to me, makes a great mistake; at least, if he is correct in such an +idea he is not worthy of his own country, and the high development that +awaits it. There is much that is seductive in our life, but I think it is +not upon the higher impulses of our nature that such seductions act. I +should think ill of the American who, for any causes of ambition,--any +hope of wealth or rank,--or even for the sake of any of those old, +delightful ideas of the past, the associations of ancestry, the +loveliness of an age-long home,--the old poetry and romance that haunt +these ancient villages and estates of England,--would give up the chance +of acting upon the unmoulded future of America." + +"And you, an Englishwoman, speak thus!" exclaimed Middleton. "You perhaps +speak truly; and it may be that your words go to a point where they are +especially applicable at this moment. But where have you learned these +ideas? And how is it that you know how to awake these sympathies, that +have slept perhaps too long?" + +"Think only if what I have said be truth," replied Alice. "It is no +matter who or what I am that speak it." + +"Do you speak," asked Middleton, from a sudden impulse, "with any secret +knowledge affecting a matter now in my mind?" + +Alice shook her head, as she turned away; but Middleton could not +determine whether the gesture was meant as a negative to his question, or +merely as declining to answer it. She left him; and he found himself +strangely disturbed with thoughts of his own country, of the life that he +ought to be leading there, the struggles in which he ought to be taking +part; and, with these motives in his impressible mind, the motives that +had hitherto kept him in England seemed unworthy to influence him. + +_May 15th, Saturday_.--It was not long after Middleton's meeting with Mr. +Eldredge in the park of Smithells, that he received--what it is precisely +the most common thing to receive--an invitation to dine at the +manor-house and spend the night. The note was written with much +appearance of cordiality, as well as in a respectful style; and Middleton +could not but perceive that Mr. Eldredge must have been making some +inquiries as to his social status, in order to feel him justified in +putting him on this footing of equality. He had no hesitation in +accepting the invitation, and on the appointed day was received in the +old house of his forefathers as a guest. The owner met him, not quite on +the frank and friendly footing expressed in his note, but still with a +perfect and polished courtesy, which however could not hide from the +sensitive Middleton a certain coldness, a something that seemed to him +Italian rather than English; a symbol of a condition of things between +them, undecided, suspicious, doubtful very likely. Middleton's own manner +corresponded to that of his host, and they made few advances towards more +intimate acquaintance. Middleton was however recompensed for his host's +unapproachableness by the society of his daughter, a young lady born +indeed in Italy, but who had been educated in a Catholic family in +England; so that here was another relation--the first female one--to whom +he had been introduced. She was a quiet, shy, undemonstrative young +woman, with a fine bloom and other charms which she kept as much in the +background as possible, with maiden reserve. (There is a Catholic priest +at table.) + +Mr. Eldredge talked chiefly, during dinner, of art, with which his long +residence in Italy had made him thoroughly acquainted, and for which he +seemed to have a genuine taste and enjoyment. It was a subject on which +Middleton knew little; but he felt the interest in it which appears to be +not uncharacteristic of Americans, among the earliest of their +developments of cultivation; nor had he failed to use such few +opportunities as the English public or private galleries offered him to +acquire the rudiments of a taste. He was surprised at the depth of some +of Mr. Eldredge's remarks on the topics thus brought up, and at the +sensibility which appeared to be disclosed by his delicate appreciation +of some of the excellences of those great masters who wrote their epics, +their tender sonnets, or their simple ballads, upon canvas; and Middleton +conceived a respect for him which he had not hitherto felt, and which +possibly Mr. Eldredge did not quite deserve. Taste seems to be a +department of moral sense; and yet it is so little identical with it, and +so little implies conscience, that some of the worst men in the world +have been the most refined. + +After Miss Eldredge had retired, the host appeared to desire to make the +dinner a little more social than it had hitherto been; he called for a +peculiar species of wine from Southern Italy, which he said was the most +delicious production of the grape, and had very seldom, if ever before +been imported pure into England. A delicious perfume came from the +cradled bottle, and bore an ethereal, evanescent testimony to the truth +of what he said: and the taste, though too delicate for wine quaffed in +England, was nevertheless delicious, when minutely dwelt upon. + +"It gives me pleasure to drink your health, Mr. Middleton," said the +host. "We might well meet as friends in England, for I am hardly more an +Englishman than yourself; bred up, as I have been, in Italy, and coming +back hither at my age, unaccustomed to the manners of the country, with +few friends, and insulated from society by a faith which makes most +people regard me as an enemy. I seldom welcome people here, Mr. +Middleton; but you are welcome." + +"I thank you, Mr. Eldredge, and may fairly say that the circumstances to +which you allude make me accept your hospitality with a warmer feeling +than I otherwise might. Strangers, meeting in a strange land, have a sort +of tie in their foreignness to those around them, though there be no +positive relation between themselves." + +"We are friends, then?" said Mr. Eldredge, looking keenly at Middleton, +as if to discover exactly how much was meant by the compact. He +continued, "You know, I suppose, Mr. Middleton, the situation in which I +find myself on returning to my hereditary estate, which has devolved to +me somewhat unexpectedly by the death of a younger man than myself. There +is an old flaw here, as perhaps you have been told, which keeps me out of +a property long kept in the guardianship of the crown, and of a barony, +one of the oldest in England. There is an idea--a tradition--a legend, +founded, however, on evidence of some weight, that there is still in +existence the possibility of finding the proof which we need, to confirm +our cause." + +"I am most happy to hear it, Mr. Eldredge," said Middleton. + +"But," continued his host, "I am bound to remember and to consider that +for several generations there seems to have been the same idea, and the +same expectation; whereas nothing has ever come of it. Now, among other +suppositions--perhaps wild ones--it has occurred to me that this +testimony, the desirable proof, may exist on your side of the Atlantic; +for it has long enough been sought here in vain." + +"As I said in our meeting in your park, Mr. Eldredge," replied Middleton, +"such a suggestion may very possibly be true; yet let me point out that +the long lapse of years, and the continual melting and dissolving of +family institutions--the consequent scattering of family documents, and +the annihilation of traditions from memory, all conspire against its +probability." + +"And yet, Mr. Middleton," said his host, "when we talked together at our +first singular interview, you made use of an expression--of one +remarkable phrase--which dwelt upon my memory and now recurs to it." + +"And what was that, Mr. Eldredge?" asked Middleton. + +"You spoke," replied his host, "of the Bloody Footstep reappearing on the +threshold of the old palace of S------. Now where, let me ask you, did +you ever hear this strange name, which you then spoke, and which I have +since spoken?" + +"From my father's lips, when a child, in America," responded Middleton. + +"It is very strange," said Mr. Eldredge, in a hasty, dissatisfied tone. +"I do not see my way through this." + +_May 16, Sunday._--Middleton had been put into a chamber in the oldest +part of the house, the furniture of which was of antique splendor, well +befitting to have come down for ages, well befitting the hospitality +shown to noble and even royal guests. It was the same room in which, at +his first visit to the house, Middleton's attention had been drawn to the +cabinet, which he had subsequently remembered as the palatial residence +in which he had harbored so many dreams. It still stood in the chamber, +making the principal object in it, indeed; and when Middleton was left +alone, he contemplated it not without a certain awe, which at the same +time he felt to be ridiculous. He advanced towards it, and stood +contemplating the mimic façade, wondering at the singular fact of this +piece of furniture having been preserved in traditionary history, when so +much had been forgotten,--when even the features and architectural +characteristics of the mansion in which it was merely a piece of +furniture had been forgotten. And, as he gazed at it, he half thought +himself an actor in a fairy portal [tale?]; and would not have been +surprised--at least, he would have taken it with the composure of a +dream--if the mimic portal had unclosed, and a form of pigmy majesty had +appeared within, beckoning him to enter and find the revelation of what +had so long perplexed him. The key of the cabinet was in the lock, and +knowing that it was not now the receptacle of anything in the shape of +family papers, he threw it open; and there appeared the mosaic floor, the +representation of a stately, pillared hall, with the doors on either +side, opening, as would seem, into various apartments. And here should +have stood the visionary figures of his ancestry, waiting to welcome the +descendant of their race, who had so long delayed his coming. After +looking and musing a considerable time,--even till the old clock from the +turret of the house told twelve, he turned away with a sigh, and went to +bed. The wind moaned through the ancestral trees; the old house creaked +as with ghostly footsteps; the curtains of his bed seemed to waver. He +was now at home; yes, he had found his home, and was sheltered at last +under the ancestral roof after all those long, long wanderings,--after +the little log-built hut of the early settlement, after the straight roof +of the American house, after all the many roofs of two hundred years, +here he was at last under the one which he had left, on that fatal night, +when the Bloody Footstep was so mysteriously impressed on the threshold. +As he drew nearer and nearer towards sleep, it seemed more and more to +him as if he were the very individual--the self-same one throughout the +whole--who had done, seen, suffered, all these long toils and +vicissitudes, and were now come back to rest, and found his weariness so +great that there could be no rest. + +Nevertheless, he did sleep; and it may be that his dreams went on, and +grew vivid, and perhaps became truer in proportion to their vividness. +When he awoke he had a perception, an intuition, that he had been +dreaming about the cabinet, which, in his sleeping imagination, had again +assumed the magnitude and proportions of a stately mansion, even as he +had seen it afar from the other side of the Atlantic. Some dim +associations remained lingering behind, the dying shadows of very vivid +ones which had just filled his mind; but as he looked at the cabinet, +there was some idea that still seemed to come so near his consciousness +that, every moment, he felt on the point of grasping it. During the +process of dressing, he still kept his eyes turned involuntarily towards +the cabinet, and at last he approached it, and looked within the mimic +portal, still endeavoring to recollect what it was that he had heard or +dreamed about it,--what half obliterated remembrance from childhood, what +fragmentary last night's dream it was, that thus haunted him. It must +have been some association of one or the other nature that led him to +press his finger on one particular square of the mosaic pavement; and as +he did so, the thin plate of polished marble slipt aside. It disclosed, +indeed, no hollow receptacle, but only another leaf of marble, in the +midst of which appeared to be a key-hole: to this Middleton applied the +little antique key to which we have several times alluded, and found it +fit precisely. The instant it was turned, the whole mimic floor of the +hall rose, by the action of a secret spring, and discovered a shallow +recess beneath. Middleton looked eagerly in, and saw that it contained +documents, with antique seals of wax appended; he took but one glance at +them, and closed the receptacle as it was before. + +Why did he do so? He felt that there would be a meanness and wrong in +inspecting these family papers, coming to the knowledge of them, as he +had, through the opportunities offered by the hospitality of the owner of +the estate; nor, on the other hand, did he feel such confidence in his +host, as to make him willing to trust these papers in his hands, with any +certainty that they would be put to an honorable use. The case was one +demanding consideration, and he put a strong curb upon his impatient +curiosity, conscious that, at all events, his first impulsive feeling was +that he ought not to examine these papers without the presence of his +host or some other authorized witness. Had he exercised any casuistry +about the point, however, he might have argued that these papers, +according to all appearance, dated from a period to which his own +hereditary claims ascended, and to circumstances in which his own +rightful interest was as strong as that of Mr. Eldredge. But he had acted +on his first impulse, closed the secret receptacle, and hastening his +toilet descended from his room; and, it being still too early for +breakfast, resolved to ramble about the immediate vicinity of the house. +As he passed the little chapel, he heard within the voice of the priest +performing mass, and felt how strange was this sign of mediaeval religion +and foreign manners in homely England. + +As the story looks now: Eldredge, bred, and perhaps born, in Italy, and a +Catholic, with views to the church before he inherited the estate, has +not the English moral sense and simple honor; can scarcely be called an +Englishman at all. Dark suspicions of past crime, and of the possibility +of future crime, may be thrown around him; an atmosphere of doubt shall +envelop him, though, as regards manners, he may be highly refined. +Middleton shall find in the house a priest; and at his first visit he +shall have seen a small chapel, adorned with the richness, as to marbles, +pictures, and frescoes, of those that we see in the churches at Rome; and +here the Catholic forms of worship shall be kept up. Eldredge shall have +had an Italian mother, and shall have the personal characteristics of an +Italian. There shall be something sinister about him, the more apparent +when Middleton's visit draws to a conclusion; and the latter shall feel +convinced that they part in enmity, so far as Eldredge is concerned. He +shall not speak of his discovery in the cabinet. + +_May 17th, Monday_.--Unquestionably, the appointment of Middleton as +minister to one of the minor Continental courts must take place in the +interval between Eldredge's meeting him in the park, and his inviting him +to his house. After Middleton's appointment, the two encounter each other +at the Mayor's dinner in St. Mary's Hall, and Eldredge, startled at +meeting the vagrant, as he deemed him, under such a character, remembers +the hints of some secret knowledge of the family history, which Middleton +had thrown out. He endeavors, both in person and by the priest, to make +out what Middleton really is, and what he knows, and what he intends; but +Middleton is on his guard, yet cannot help arousing Eldredge's suspicions +that he has views upon the estate and title. It is possible, too, that +Middleton may have come to the knowledge--may have had some knowledge--of +some shameful or criminal fact connected with Mr. Eldredge's life on the +Continent; the old Hospitaller, possibly, may have told him this, from +some secret malignity hereafter to be accounted for. Supposing Eldredge +to attempt his murder, by poison for instance, bringing back into modern +life his old hereditary Italian plots; and into English life a sort of +crime which does not belong to it,--which did not, at least, although at +this very period there have been fresh and numerous instances of it. +There might be a scene in which Middleton and Eldredge come to a fierce +and bitter explanation; for in Eldredge's character there must be the +English surly boldness as well as the Italian subtlety; and here, +Middleton shall tell him what he knows of his past character and life, +and also what he knows of his own hereditary claims. Eldredge might have +committed a murder in Italy; might have been a patriot, and betrayed his +friends to death for a bribe, bearing another name than his own in Italy; +indeed, he might have joined them only as an informer. All this he had +tried to sink, when he came to England in the character of a gentleman of +ancient name and large estate. But this infamy of his previous character +must be foreboded from the first by the manner in which Eldredge is +introduced; and it must make his evil designs on Middleton appear natural +and probable. It may be, that Middleton has learned Eldredge's previous +character, through some Italian patriot who had taken refuge in America, +and there become intimate with him; and it should be a piece of secret +history, not known to the world in general, so that Middleton might seem +to Eldredge the sole depositary of the secret then in England. He feels a +necessity of getting rid of him; and thenceforth Middleton's path lies +always among pitfalls; indeed, the first attempt should follow promptly +and immediately on his rupture with Eldredge. The utmost pains must be +taken with this incident to give it an air of reality; or else it must be +quite removed out of the sphere of reality by an intensified atmosphere +of romance. I think the old Hospitaller must interfere to prevent the +success of this attempt, perhaps through the means of Alice. + +The result of Eldredge's criminal and treacherous designs is, somehow or +other, that he comes to his death; and Middleton and Alice are left to +administer on the remains of the story; perhaps, the Mayor being his +friend, he may be brought into play here. The foreign ecclesiastic shall +likewise come forward, and he shall prove to be a man of subtile policy +perhaps, yet a man of religion and honor; with a Jesuit's principles, but +a Jesuit's devotion and self-sacrifice. The old Hospitaller must die in +his bed, or some other how; or perhaps not--we shall see. He may just as +well be left in the Hospital. Eldredge's attempt on Middleton must be in +some way peculiar to Italy, and which he shall have learned there; and, +by the way, at his dinner-table there shall be a Venice glass, one of the +kind that were supposed to be shattered when poison was put into them. +When Eldredge produces his rare wine, he shall pour it into this, with a +jesting allusion to the legend. Perhaps the mode of Eldredge's attempt on +Middleton's life shall be a reproduction of the attempt made two hundred +years before; and Middleton's knowledge of that incident shall be the +means of his salvation. That would be a good idea; in fact, I think it +must be done so and no otherwise. It is not to be forgotten that there is +a taint of insanity in Eldredge's blood, accounting for much that is wild +and absurd, at the same time that it must be subtile, in his conduct; one +of those perplexing mad people, whose lunacy you are continually +mistaking for wickedness or _vice versa_. This shall be the priest's +explanation and apology for him, after his death. I wish I could get hold +of the Newgate Calendar, the older volumes, or any other book of +murders--the Causes Celébrès, for instance. The legendary murder, or +attempt at it, will bring its own imaginative probability with it, when +repeated by Eldredge; and at the same time it will have a dreamlike +effect; so that Middleton shall hardly know whether he is awake or not. +This incident is very essential towards bringing together the past time +and the present, and the two ends of the story. + +_May 18th, Tuesday._--All down through the ages since Edward had +disappeared from home, leaving that bloody footstep on the threshold, +there had been legends and strange stories of the murder and the manner +of it. These legends differed very much among themselves. According to +some, his brother had awaited him there, and stabbed him on the +threshold. According to others, he had been murdered in his chamber, and +dragged out. A third story told, that he was escaping with his lady love, +when they were overtaken on the threshold, and the young man slain. It +was impossible at this distance of time to ascertain which of these +legends was the true one, or whether either of them had any portion of +truth, further than that the young man had actually disappeared from that +night, and that it never was certainly known to the public that any +intelligence had ever afterwards been received from him. Now, Middleton +may have communicated to Eldredge the truth in regard to the matter; as, +for instance, that he had stabbed him with a certain dagger that was +still kept among the curiosities of the manor-house. Of course, that will +not do. It must be some very ingenious and artificially natural thing, an +artistic affair in its way, that should strike the fancy of such a man as +Eldredge, and appear to him altogether fit, mutatis mutandis, to be +applied to his own requirements and purposes. I do not at present see in +the least how this is to be wrought out. There shall be everything to +make Eldredge look with the utmost horror and alarm at any chance that he +may be superseded and ousted from his possession of the estate; for he +shall only recently have established his claim to it, tracing out his +pedigree, when the family was supposed to be extinct. And he is come to +these comfortable quarters after a life of poverty, uncertainty, +difficulty, hanging loose on society; and therefore he shall be willing +to risk soul and body both, rather than return to his former state. +Perhaps his daughter shall be introduced as a young Italian girl, to whom +Middleton shall decide to leave the estate. + +On the failure of his design, Eldredge may commit suicide, and be found +dead in the wood; at any rate, some suitable end shall be contrived, +adapted to his wants. This character must not be so represented as to +shut him out completely from the reader's sympathies; he shall have +taste, sentiment, even a capacity for affection, nor, I think, ought he +to have any hatred or bitter feeling against the man whom he resolves to +murder. In the closing scenes, when he thinks the fate of Middleton +approaching, there might even be a certain tenderness towards him, a +desire to make the last drops of life delightful; if well done, this +would produce a certain sort of horror, that I do not remember to have +seen effected in literature. Possibly the ancient emigrant might be +supposed to have fallen into an ancient mine, down a precipice, into some +pitfall; no, not so. Into a river; into a moat. As Middleton's +pretensions to birth are not publicly known, there will be no reason why, +at his sudden death, suspicion should fix on Eldredge as the murderer; +and it shall be his object so to contrive his death as that it shall +appear the result of accident. Having failed in effecting Middleton's +death by this excellent way, he shall perhaps think that he cannot do +better than to make his own exit in precisely the same manner. It might +be easy, and as delightful as any death could be; no ugliness in it, no +blood; for the Bloody Footstep of old times might be the result of the +failure of the old plot, not of its success. Poison seems to be the only +elegant method; but poison is vulgar, and in many respects unfit for my +purpose. It won't do. Whatever it may be, it must not come upon the +reader as a sudden and new thing, but as one that might have been +foreseen from afar, though he shall not actually have foreseen it until +it is about to happen. It must be prevented through the agency of Alice. +Alice may have been an artist in Rome, and there have known Eldredge and +his daughter, and thus she may have become their guest in England; or he +may be patronizing her now--at all events she shall be the friend of the +daughter, and shall have a just appreciation of the father's character. +It shall be partly due to her high counsel that Middleton foregoes his +claim to the estate, and prefers the life of an American, with its lofty +possibilities for himself and his race, to the position of an Englishman +of property and title; and she, for her part, shall choose the condition +and prospects of woman in America, to the emptiness of the life of a +woman of rank in England. So they shall depart, lofty and poor, out of +the home which might be their own, if they would stoop to make it so. +Possibly the daughter of Eldredge may be a girl not yet in her teens, for +whom Alice has the affection of an elder sister. + +It should be a very carefully and highly wrought scene, occurring just +before Eldredge's actual attempt on Middleton's life, in which all the +brilliancy of his character--which shall before have gleamed upon the +reader--shall come out, with pathos, with wit, with insight, with +knowledge of life. Middleton shall be inspired by this, and shall vie +with him in exhilaration of spirits; but the ecclesiastic shall look on +with singular attention, and some appearance of alarm; and the suspicion +of Alice shall likewise be aroused. The old Hospitaller may have gained +his situation partly by proving himself a man of the neighborhood, by +right of descent; so that he, too, shall have a hereditary claim to be in +the Romance. + +Eldredge's own position as a foreigner in the midst of English home life, +insulated and dreary, shall represent to Middleton, in some degree, what +his own would be, were he to accept the estate. But Middleton shall not +come to the decision to resign it, without having to repress a deep +yearning for that sense of long, long rest in an age-consecrated home, +which he had felt so deeply to be the happy lot of Englishmen. But this +ought to be rejected, as not belonging to his country, nor to the age, +nor any longer possible. + +_May 19th, Wednesday_.--The connection of the old Hospitaller with the +story is not at all clear. He is an American by birth, but deriving his +English origin from the neighborhood of the Hospital, where he has +finally established himself. Some one of his ancestors may have been +somehow connected with the ancient portion of the story. He has been a +friend of Middleton's father, who reposed entire confidence in him, +trusting him with all his fortune, which the Hospitaller risked in his +enormous speculations, and lost it all. His fame had been great in the +financial world. There were circumstances that made it dangerous for his +whereabouts to be known, and so he had come hither and found refuge in +this institution, where Middleton finds him, but does not know who he is. +In the vacancy of a mind formerly so active, he has taken to the study of +local antiquities; and from his former intimacy with Middleton's father, +he has a knowledge of the American part of the story, which he connects +with the English portion, disclosed by his researches here; so that he is +quite aware that Middleton has claims to the estate, which might be urged +successfully against the present possessor. He is kindly disposed towards +the son of his friend, whom he had so greatly injured; but he is now very +old, and----. Middleton has been directed to this old man by a friend in +America, as one likely to afford him all possible assistance in his +researches; and so he seeks him out and forms an acquaintance with him, +which the old man encourages to a certain extent, taking an evident +interest in him, but does not disclose himself; nor does Middleton +suspect him to be an American. The characteristic life of the Hospital is +brought out, and the individual character of this old man, vegetating +here after an active career, melancholy and miserable; sometimes torpid +with the slow approach of utmost age; sometimes feeble, peevish, +wavering; sometimes shining out with a wisdom resulting from originally +bright faculties, ripened by experience. The character must not be +allowed to get vague, but, with gleams of romance, must yet be kept +homely and natural by little touches of his daily life. + +As for Alice, I see no necessity for her being anywise related to or +connected with the old Hospitaller. As originally conceived, I think she +may be an artist--a sculptress--whom Eldredge had known in Rome. No; she +might be a granddaughter of the old Hospitaller, born and bred in +America, but who had resided two or three years in Rome in the study of +her art, and have there acquired a knowledge of the Eldredges and have +become fond of the little Italian girl his daughter. She has lodgings in +the village, and of course is often at the Hospital, and often at the +Hall; she makes busts and little statues, and is free, wild, tender, +proud, domestic, strange, natural, artistic; and has at bottom the +characteristics of the American woman, with the principles of the +strong-minded sect; and Middleton shall be continually puzzled at meeting +such a phenomenon in England. By and by, the internal influence +[evidence?] of her sentiments (though there shall be nothing to confirm +it in her manner) shall lead him to charge her with being an American. + +Now, as to the arrangement of the Romance;--it begins as an integral and +essential part, with my introduction, giving a pleasant and familiar +summary of my life in the Consulate at Liverpool; the strange species of +Americans, with strange purposes, in England, whom I used to meet there; +and, especially, how my countrymen used to be put out of their senses by +the idea of inheritances of English property. Then I shall particularly +instance one gentleman who called on me on first coming over; a +description of him must be given, with touches that shall puzzle the +reader to decide whether it is not an actual portrait. And then this +Romance shall be offered, half seriously, as the account of the fortunes +that he met with in his search for his hereditary home. Enough of his +ancestral story may be given to explain what is to follow in the Romance; +or perhaps this may be left to the scenes of his intercourse with the old +Hospitaller. + +The Romance proper opens with Middleton's arrival at what he has reason +to think is the neighborhood of his ancestral home, and here he makes +application to the old Hospitaller. Middleton shall be described as +approaching the Hospital, which shall be pretty literally copied after +Leicester's, although the surrounding village must be on a much smaller +scale of course. Much elaborateness may be given to this portion of the +book. Middleton shall have assumed a plain dress, and shall seek to make +no acquaintances except that of the old Hospitaller; the acquaintance of +Alice naturally following. The old Hospitaller and he go together to the +old Hall, where, as they pass through the rooms, they find that the +proprietor is flitting like a ghost before them from chamber to chamber; +they catch his reflection in a glass, &c., &c. When these have been +wrought up sufficiently, shall come the scene in the wood, where Eldredge +is seen yielding to the superstition that he has inherited, respecting +the old secret of the family, on the discovery of which depends the +enforcement of his claim to a title. All this while, Middleton has +appeared in the character of a man of no note; and now, through some +political change, not necessarily told, he receives a packet addressed to +him as an ambassador, and containing a notice of his appointment to that +dignity. A paragraph in the "Times" confirms the fact, and makes it known +in the neighborhood. Middleton immediately becomes an object of +attention; the gentry call upon him; the Mayor of the neighboring +county-town invites him to dinner, which shall be described with all its +antique formalities. Here he meets Eldredge, who is surprised, +remembering the encounter in the wood; but passes it all off, like a man +of the world, makes his acquaintance, and invites him to the Hall. +Perhaps he may make a visit of some time here, and become intimate, to a +certain degree, with all parties; and here things shall ripen themselves +for Eldredge's attempt upon his life. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ancestral Footstep (fragment), by +Nathaniel Hawthorne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP (FRAGMENT) *** + +***** This file should be named 8429-8.txt or 8429-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/4/2/8429/ + +Produced by Eric Eldred, Thomas Berger, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search +facility: www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/8429-8.zip b/8429-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e2d4c16 --- /dev/null +++ b/8429-8.zip diff --git a/8429.txt b/8429.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1c36256 --- /dev/null +++ b/8429.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3267 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Ancestral Footstep (fragment), by Nathaniel Hawthorne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: The Ancestral Footstep (fragment) + Outlines of an English Romance + +Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne + +Posting Date: September 25, 2014 [EBook #8429] +Release Date: July, 2005 +First Posted: July 9, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP (FRAGMENT) *** + + + + +Produced by Eric Eldred, Thomas Berger, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + +THE DOLLIVER ROMANCE + +FANSHAWE, AND SEPTIMIUS FELTON + +With An Appendix Containing + +THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP + +by + +NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE + + * * * * * + +THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP: + +OUTLINES OF AN ENGLISH ROMANCE. + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE. + +"Septimius Felton" was the outgrowth of a project, formed by Hawthorne +during his residence in England, of writing a romance, the scene of which +should be laid in that country; but this project was afterwards +abandoned, giving place to a new conception in which the visionary search +for means to secure an earthly immortality was to form the principal +interest. The new conception took shape in the uncompleted "Dolliver +Romance." The two themes, of course, were distinct, but, by a curious +process of thought, one grew directly out of the other: the whole history +constitutes, in fact, a chapter in what may be called the genealogy of a +romance. There remained, after "Septimius Felton" had been published, +certain manuscripts connected with the scheme of an English story. One of +these manuscripts was written in the form of a journalized narrative; the +author merely noting the date of what he wrote, as he went along. The +other was a more extended sketch, of much greater bulk, and without date, +but probably produced several years later. It was not originally intended +by those who at the time had charge of Hawthorne's papers that either of +these incomplete writings should be laid before the public; because they +manifestly had not been left by him in a form which he would have +considered as warranting such a course. But since the second and larger +manuscript has been published under the title of "Dr. Grimshawe's +Secret," it has been thought best to issue the present sketch, so that +the two documents may be examined together. Their appearance places in +the hands of readers the entire process of development leading to the +"Septimius" and "The Dolliver Romance." They speak for themselves much +more efficiently than any commentator can expect to do; and little, +therefore, remains to be said beyond a few words of explanation in regard +to the following pages. + +The Note-Books show that the plan of an English romance, turning upon the +fact that an emigrant to America had carried away a family secret which +should give his descendant the power to ruin the family in the mother +country, had occurred to Hawthorne as early as April, 1855. In August of +the same year he visited Smithell's Hall, in Bolton le Moors, concerning +which he had already heard its legend of "The Bloody Footstep," and from +that time on, the idea of this footprint on the threshold-stone of the +ancestral mansion seems to have associated itself inextricably with the +dreamy substance of his yet unshaped romance. Indeed, it leaves its mark +broadly upon Sibyl Dacy's wild legend in "Septimius Felton," and +reappears in the last paragraph of that story. But, so far as we can know +at this day, nothing definite was done until after his departure for +Italy. It was then, while staying in Rome, that he began to put upon +paper that plot which had first occupied his thoughts three years before, +in the scant leisure allowed him by his duties at the Liverpool +consulate. Of leisure there was not a great deal at Rome, either; for, as +the "French and Italian Note-Books" show, sight-seeing and social +intercourse took up a good deal of his time, and the daily record in his +journal likewise had to be kept up. But he set to work resolutely to +embody, so far as he might, his stray imaginings upon the haunting +English theme, and to give them connected form. April 1, 1858, he began; +and then nearly two weeks passed before he found an opportunity to +resume; April 13th being the date of the next passage. By May he gets +fully into swing, so that day after day, with but slight breaks, he +carries on the story, always increasing in interest for us who read as +for him who improvised. Thus it continues until May 19th, by which time +he has made a tolerably complete outline, filled in with a good deal of +detail here and there. Although the sketch is cast in the form of a +regular narrative, one or two gaps occur, indicating that the author had +thought out certain points which he then took for granted without making +note of them. Brief scenes, passages of conversation and of narration, +follow one another after the manner of a finished story, alternating with +synopses of the plot, and queries concerning particulars that needed +further study; confidences of the romancer to himself which form +certainly a valuable contribution to literary history. The manuscript +closes with a rapid sketch of the conclusion, and the way in which it is +to be executed. Succinctly, what we have here is a romance in embryo; +one, moreover, that never attained to a viable stature and constitution. +During his lifetime it naturally would not have been put forward as +demanding public attention; and, in consideration of that fact, it has +since been withheld from the press by the decision of his daughter, in +whom the title to it vests. Students of literary art, however, and many +more general readers will, I think, be likely to discover in it a charm +all the greater for its being in parts only indicated; since, as it +stands, it presents the precise condition of a work of fiction in its +first stage. The unfinished "Grimshawe" was another development of the +same theme, and the "Septimius" a later sketch, with a new element +introduced. But the present experimental fragment, to which it has been +decided to give the title of "The Ancestral Footstep," possesses a +freshness and spontaneity recalling the peculiar fascination of those +chalk or pencil outlines with which great masters in the graphic art have +been wont to arrest their fleeting glimpses of a composition still +unwrought. + +It would not be safe to conclude, from the large amount of preliminary +writing done with a view to that romance, that Hawthorne always adopted +this laborious mode of making several drafts of a book. On the contrary, +it is understood that his habit was to mature a design so thoroughly in +his mind before attempting to give it actual existence on paper that but +little rewriting was needed. The circumstance that he was obliged to +write so much that did not satisfy him in this case may account partly +for his relinquishing the theme, as one which for him had lost its +seductiveness through too much recasting. + +It need be added only that the original manuscript, from which the +following pages are printed through the medium of an exact copy, is +singularly clear and fluent. Not a single correction occurs throughout; +but here and there a word is omitted, obviously by mere accident, and +these omissions have been supplied. The correction in each case is marked +by brackets, in this printed reproduction. The sketch begins abruptly; +but there is no reason to suppose that anything preceded it except the +unrecorded musings in the author's mind, and one or two memoranda in the +"English Note-Books." We must therefore imagine the central figure, +Middleton, who is the American descendant of an old English family, as +having been properly introduced, and then pass at once to the opening +sentences. The rest will explain itself. + +G. P. L. + + * * * * * + +THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP. + +OUTLINES OF AN ENGLISH ROMANCE. + + + + +I. + +April 1, 1858. _Thursday_.--He had now been travelling long in those rich +portions of England where he would most have wished to find the object of +his pursuit; and many had been the scenes which he would willingly have +identified with that mentioned in the ancient, time-yellowed record which +he bore about with him. It is to be observed that, undertaken at first +half as the amusement, the unreal object, of a grown man's play-day, it +had become more and more real to him with every step of the way that he +followed it up; along those green English lanes it seemed as if +everything would bring him close to the mansion that he sought; every +morning he went on with renewed hopes, nor did the evening, though it +brought with it no success, bring with it the gloom and heaviness of a +real disappointment. In all his life, including its earliest and happiest +days, he had never known such a spring and zest as now filled his veins, +and gave lightsomeness to his limbs; this spirit gave to the beautiful +country which he trod a still richer beauty than it had ever borne, and +he sought his ancient home as if he had found his way into Paradise and +were there endeavoring to trace out the sight [site] of Eve's bridal +bower, the birthplace of the human race and its glorious possibilities of +happiness and high performance. + +In these sweet and delightful moods of mind, varying from one dream to +another, he loved indeed the solitude of his way; but likewise he loved +the facility which his pursuit afforded him, of coming in contact with +many varieties of men, and he took advantage of this facility to an +extent which it was not usually his impulse to do. But now he came forth +from all reserves, and offered himself to whomever the chances of the way +offered to him, with a ready sensibility that made its way through every +barrier that even English exclusiveness, in whatever rank of life, could +set up. The plastic character of Middleton was perhaps a variety of +American nature only presenting itself under an individual form; he could +throw off the man of our day, and put on a ruder nature, but then it was +with a certain fineness, that made this only [a] distinction between it +and the central truth. He found less variety of form in the English +character than he had been accustomed to see at home; but perhaps this +was in consequence of the external nature of his acquaintance with it; +for the view of one well accustomed to a people, and of a stranger to +them, differs in this--that the latter sees the homogeneity, the one +universal character, the groundwork of the whole, while the former sees a +thousand little differences, which distinguish the individual men apart, +to such a degree that they seem hardly to have any resemblance among +themselves. + +But just at the period of his journey when we take him up, Middleton had +been for two or three days the companion of an old man who interested him +more than most of his wayside companions; the more especially as he +seemed to be wandering without an object, or with such a dreamy object as +that which led Middleton's own steps onward. He was a plain old man +enough, but with a pale, strong-featured face and white hair, a certain +picturesqueness and venerableness, which Middleton fancied might have +befitted a richer garb than he now wore. In much of their conversation, +too, he was sensible that, though the stranger betrayed no acquaintance +with literature, nor seemed to have conversed with cultivated minds, yet +the results of such acquaintance and converse were here. Middleton was +inclined to think him, however, an old man, one of those itinerants, such +as Wordsworth represented in the "Excursion," who smooth themselves by +the attrition of the world and gain a knowledge equivalent to or better +than that of books from the actual intellect of man awake and active +around them. + +Often, during the short period since their companionship originated, +Middleton had felt impelled to disclose to the old man the object of his +journey, and the wild tale by which, after two hundred years, he had been +blown as it were across the ocean, and drawn onward to commence this +search. The old man's ordinary conversation was of a nature to draw forth +such a confidence as this; frequently turning on the traditions of the +wayside; the reminiscences that lingered on the battle-fields of the +Roses, or of the Parliament, like flowers nurtured by the blood of the +slain, and prolonging their race through the centuries for the wayfarer +to pluck them; or the family histories of the castles, manor-houses, and +seats which, of various epochs, had their park-gates along the roadside +and would be seen with dark gray towers or ancient gables, or more modern +forms of architecture, rising up among clouds of ancient oaks. Middleton +watched earnestly to see if, in any of these tales, there were +circumstances resembling those striking and singular ones which he had +borne so long in his memory, and on which he was now acting in so strange +a manner; but [though] there was a good deal of variety of incident in +them, there never was any combination of incidents having the peculiarity +of this. + +"I suppose," said he to the old man, "the settlers in my country may have +carried away with them traditions long since forgotten in this country, +but which might have an interest and connection, and might even piece out +the broken relics of family history, which have remained perhaps a +mystery for hundreds of years. I can conceive, even, that this might be +of importance in settling the heirships of estates; but which now, only +the two insulated parts of the story being known, remain a riddle, +although the solution of it is actually in the world, if only these two +parts could be united across the sea, like the wires of an electric +telegraph." + +"It is an impressive idea," said the old man. "Do you know any such +tradition as you have hinted at?" + +_April 13th_.--Middleton could not but wonder at the singular chance that +had established him in such a place, and in such society, so strangely +adapted to the purposes with which he had been wandering through England. +He had come hither, hoping as it were to find the past still alive and in +action; and here it was so in this one only spot, and these few persons +into the midst of whom he had suddenly been cast. With these reflections +he looked forth from his window into the old-fashioned garden, and at the +stone sundial, which had numbered all the hours--all the daylight and +serene ones, at least--since his mysterious ancestor left the country. +And [is] this, then, he thought to himself, the establishment of which +some rumor had been preserved? Was it here that the secret had its +hiding-place in the old coffer, in the cupboard, in the secret chamber, +or whatever was indicated by the apparently idle words of the document +which he had preserved? He still smiled at the idea, but it was with a +pleasant, mysterious sense that his life had at last got out of the dusty +real, and that strangeness had mixed itself up with his daily experience. + +With such feelings he prepared himself to go down to dinner with his +host. He found him alone at table, which was placed in a dark old room +modernized with every English comfort and the pleasant spectacle of a +table set with the whitest of napery and the brightest of glass and +china. The friendly old gentleman, as he had found him from the first, +became doubly and trebly so in that position which brings out whatever +warmth of heart an Englishman has, and gives it to him if he has none. +The impressionable and sympathetic character of Middleton answered to the +kindness of his host; and by the time the meal was concluded, the two +were conversing with almost as much zest and friendship as if they were +similar in age, even fellow-countrymen, and had known one another all +their life-time. Middleton's secret, it may be supposed, came often to +the tip of his tongue; but still he kept it within, from a natural +repugnance to bring out the one romance of his life. The talk, however, +necessarily ran much upon topics among which this one would have come in +without any extra attempt to introduce it. + +"This decay of old families," said the Master, "is much greater than +would appear on the surface of things. We have such a reluctance to part +with them, that we are content to see them continued by any fiction, +through any indirections, rather than to dispense with old names. In your +country, I suppose, there is no such reluctance; you are willing that one +generation should blot out all that preceded it, and be itself the newest +and only age of the world." + +"Not quite so," answered Middleton; "at any rate, if there be such a +feeling in the people at large, I doubt whether, even in England, those +who fancy themselves possessed of claims to birth, cherish them more as a +treasure than we do. It is, of course, a thousand times more difficult +for us to keep alive a name amid a thousand difficulties sedulously +thrown around it by our institutions, than for you to do, where your +institutions are anxiously calculated to promote the contrary purpose. It +has occasionally struck me, however, that the ancient lineage might often +be found in America, for a family which has been compelled to prolong +itself here through the female line, and through alien stocks." + +"Indeed, my young friend," said the Master, "if that be the case, I +should like to [speak?] further with you upon it; for, I can assure you, +there are sometimes vicissitudes in old families that make me grieve to +think that a man cannot be made for the occasion." + +All this while, the young lady at table had remained almost silent; and +Middleton had only occasionally been reminded of her by the necessity of +performing some of those offices which put people at table under a +Christian necessity of recognizing one another. He was, to say the truth, +somewhat interested in her, yet not strongly attracted by the neutral +tint of her dress, and the neutral character of her manners. She did not +seem to be handsome, although, with her face full before him, he had not +quite made up his mind on this point. + +_April 14th_.--So here was Middleton, now at length seeing indistinctly a +thread, to which the thread that he had so long held in his hand--the +hereditary thread that ancestor after ancestor had handed down--might +seem ready to join on. He felt as if they were the two points of an +electric chain, which being joined, an instantaneous effect must follow. +Earnestly, as he would have looked forward to this moment (had he in +sober reason ever put any real weight on the fantasy in pursuit of which +he had wandered so far) he now, that it actually appeared to be realizing +itself, paused with a vague sensation of alarm. The mystery was evidently +one of sorrow, if not of crime, and he felt as if that sorrow and crime +might not have been annihilated even by being buried out of human sight +and remembrance so long. He remembered to have heard or read, how that +once an old pit had been dug open, in which were found the remains of +persons that, as the shuddering by-standers traditionally remembered, had +died of an ancient pestilence; and out of that old grave had come a new +plague, that slew the far-off progeny of those who had first died by it. +Might not some fatal treasure like this, in a moral view, be brought to +light by the secret into which he had so strangely been drawn? Such were +the fantasies with which he awaited the return of Alice, whose light +footsteps sounded afar along the passages of the old mansion; and then +all was silent. + +At length he heard the sound, a great way off, as he concluded, of her +returning footstep, approaching from chamber to chamber, and along the +staircases, closing the doors behind her. At first, he paid no great +attention to the character of these sounds, but as they drew nearer, he +became aware that the footstep was unlike those of Alice; indeed, as +unlike as could be, very regular, slow, yet not firm, so that it seemed +to be that of an aged person, sauntering listlessly through the rooms. We +have often alluded to Middleton's sensitiveness, and the quick vibrations +of his sympathies; and there was something in this slow approach that +produced a strange feeling within him; so that he stood breathlessly, +looking towards the door by which these slow footsteps were to enter. At +last, there appeared in the doorway a venerable figure, clad in a rich, +faded dressing-gown, and standing on the threshold looked fixedly at +Middleton, at the same time holding up a light in his left hand. In his +right was some object that Middleton did not distinctly see. But he knew +the figure, and recognized the face. It was the old man, his long since +companion on the journey hitherward. + +"So," said the old man, smiling gravely, "you have thought fit, at last, +to accept the hospitality which I offered you so long ago. It might have +been better for both of us--for all parties--if you had accepted it +then!" + +"You here!" exclaimed Middleton. "And what can be your connection with +all the error and trouble, and involuntary wrong, through which I have +wandered since our last meeting? And is it possible that you even then +held the clue which I was seeking?" + +"No,--no," replied Rothermel. "I was not conscious, at least, of so +doing. And yet had we two sat down there by the wayside, or on that +English stile, which attracted your attention so much; had we sat down +there and thrown forth each his own dream, each his own knowledge, it +would have saved much that we must now forever regret. Are you even now +ready to confide wholly in me?" + +"Alas," said Middleton, with a darkening brow, "there are many reasons, +at this moment, which did not exist then, to incline me to hold my peace. +And why has not Alice returned?--and what is your connection with her?" + +"Let her answer for herself," said Rothermel; and he called her, shouting +through the silent house as if she were at the furthest chamber, and he +were in instant need: "Alice!--Alice!--Alice!--here is one who would know +what is the link between a maiden and her father!" + +Amid the strange uproar which he made Alice came flying back, not in +alarm but only in haste, and put her hand within his own. "Hush, father," +said she. "It is not time." + +Here is an abstract of the plot of this story. The Middleton who +emigrated to America, more than two hundred years ago, had been a dark +and moody man; he came with a beautiful though not young woman for his +wife, and left a family behind him. In this family a certain heirloom had +been preserved, and with it a tradition that grew wilder and stranger +with the passing generations. The tradition had lost, if it ever had, +some of its connecting links; but it referred to a murder, to the +expulsion of a brother from the hereditary house, in some strange way, +and to a Bloody Footstep which he had left impressed into the threshold, +as he turned about to make a last remonstrance. It was rumored, however, +or vaguely understood, that the expelled brother was not altogether an +innocent man; but that there had been wrong done, as well as crime +committed, insomuch that his reasons were strong that led him, +subsequently, to imbibe the most gloomy religious views, and to bury +himself in the Western wilderness. These reasons he had never fully +imparted to his family; but had necessarily made allusions to them, which +had been treasured up and doubtless enlarged upon. At last, one +descendant of the family determines to go to England, with the purpose of +searching out whatever ground there may be for these traditions, carrying +with him certain ancient documents, and other relics; and goes about the +country, half in earnest, and half in sport of fancy, in quest of the old +family mansion. He makes singular discoveries, all of which bring the +book to an end unexpected by everybody, and not satisfactory to the +natural yearnings of novel readers. In the traditions that he brought +over, there was a key to some family secrets that were still unsolved, +and that controlled the descent of estates and titles. His influence upon +these matters involves [him] in divers strange and perilous adventures; +and at last it turns out that he himself is the rightful heir to the +titles and estate, that had passed into another name within the last +half-century. But he respects both, feeling that it is better to make a +virgin soil than to try to make the old name grow in a soil that had been +darkened with so much blood and misfortune as this. + +_April 27th. Tuesday_.--It was with a delightful feeling of release from +ordinary rules, that Middleton found himself brought into this connection +with Alice; and he only hoped that this play-day of his life might last +long enough to rest him from all that he had suffered. In the enjoyment +of his position he almost forgot the pursuit that occupied him, nor might +he have remembered for a long space if, one evening, Alice herself had +not alluded to it. "You are wasting precious days," she suddenly said. +"Why do not you renew your quest?" + +"To what do you allude?" said Middleton, in surprise. "What object do you +suppose me to have?" + +Alice smiled; nay, laughed outright. "You suppose yourself to be a +perfect mystery, no doubt," she replied. "But do not I know you--have not +I known you long--as the holder of the talisman, the owner of the +mysterious cabinet that contains the blood-stained secret?" + +"Nay, Alice, this is certainly a strange coincidence, that you should +know even thus much of a foolish secret that makes me employ this little +holiday time, which I have stolen out of a weary life, in a wild-goose +chase. But, believe me, you allude to matters that are more a mystery to +me than my affairs appear to be to you. Will you explain what you would +suggest by this badinage?" + +Alice shook her head. "You have no claim to know what I know, even if it +would be any addition to your own knowledge. I shall not, and must not +enlighten you. You must burrow for the secret with your own tools, in +your own manner, and in a place of your own choosing. I am bound not to +assist you." + +"Alice, this is wilful, wayward, unjust," cried Middleton, with a flushed +cheek. "I have not told you--yet you know well--the deep and real +importance which this subject has for me. We have been together as +friends, yet, the instant when there comes up an occasion when the +slightest friendly feeling would induce you to do me a good office, you +assume this altered tone." + +"My tone is not in the least altered in respect to you," said Alice. "All +along, as you know, I have reserved myself on this very point; it being, +I candidly tell you, impossible for me to act in your interest in the +matter alluded to. If you choose to consider this unfriendly, as being +less than the terms on which you conceive us to have stood give you a +right to demand of me--you must resent it as you please. I shall not the +less retain for you the regard due to one who has certainly befriended me +in very untoward circumstances." + +This conversation confirmed the previous idea of Middleton, that some +mystery of a peculiarly dark and evil character was connected with the +family secret with which he was himself entangled; but it perplexed him +to imagine in what way this, after the lapse of so many years, should +continue to be a matter of real importance at the present day. All the +actors in the original guilt--if guilt it were--must have been long ago +in their graves; some in the churchyard of the village, with those +moss-grown letters embossing their names; some in the church itself, with +mural tablets recording their names over the family-pew, and one, it +might be, far over the sea, where his grave was first made under the +forest leaves, though now a city had grown up around it. Yet here was he, +the remote descendant of that family, setting his foot at last in the +country, and as secretly as might be; and all at once his mere presence +seemed to revive the buried secret, almost to awake the dead who partook +of that secret and had acted it. There was a vibration from the other +world, continued and prolonged into this, the instant that he stepped +upon the mysterious and haunted ground. + +He knew not in what way to proceed. He could not but feel that there was +something not exactly within the limits of propriety in being here, +disguised--at least, not known in his true character--prying into the +secrets of a proud and secluded Englishman. But then, as he said to +himself on his own side of the question, the secret belonged to himself +by exactly as ancient a tenure and by precisely as strong a claim, as to +the Englishman. His rights here were just as powerful and well-founded as +those of his ancestor had been, nearly three centuries ago; and here the +same feeling came over him that he was that very personage, returned +after all these ages, to see if his foot would fit this bloody footstep +left of old upon the threshold. The result of all his cogitation was, as +the reader will have foreseen, that he decided to continue his +researches, and, his proceedings being pretty defensible, let the result +take care of itself. + +For this purpose he went next day to the hospital, and ringing at the +Master's door, was ushered into the old-fashioned, comfortable library, +where he had spent that well-remembered evening which threw the first ray +of light on the pursuit that now seemed developing into such strange and +unexpected consequences. Being admitted, he was desired by the domestic +to wait, as his Reverence was at that moment engaged with a gentleman on +business. Glancing through the ivy that mantled over the window, +Middleton saw that this interview was taking place in the garden, where +the Master and his visitor were walking to and fro in the avenue of box, +discussing some matter, as it seemed to him, with considerable +earnestness on both sides. He observed, too, that there was warmth, +passion, a disturbed feeling on the stranger's part; while, on that of +the Master, it was a calm, serious, earnest representation of whatever +view he was endeavoring to impress on the other. At last, the interview +appeared to come toward a climax, the Master addressing some words to his +guest, still with undisturbed calmness, to which the latter replied by a +violent and even fierce gesture, as it should seem of menace, not towards +the Master, but some unknown party; and then hastily turning, he left the +garden and was soon heard riding away. The Master looked after him +awhile, and then, shaking his white head, returned into the house and +soon entered the parlor. + +He looked somewhat surprised, and, as it struck Middleton, a little +startled, at finding him there; yet he welcomed him with all his former +cordiality--indeed, with a friendship that thoroughly warmed Middleton's +heart even to its coldest corner. + +"This is strange!" said the old gentleman. "Do you remember our +conversation on that evening when I first had the unlooked-for pleasure +of receiving you as a guest into my house? At that time I spoke to you of +a strange family story, of which there was no denouement, such as a +novel-writer would desire, and which had remained in that unfinished +posture for more than two hundred years! Well; perhaps it will gratify +you to know that there seems a prospect of that wanting termination being +supplied!" + +"Indeed!" said Middleton. + +"Yes," replied the Master. "A gentleman has just parted with me who was +indeed the representative of the family concerned in the story. He is the +descendant of a younger son of that family, to whom the estate devolved +about a century ago, although at that time there was search for the heirs +of the elder son, who had disappeared after the bloody incident which I +related to you. Now, singular as it may appear, at this late day, a +person claiming to be the descendant and heir of that eldest son has +appeared, and if I may credit my friend's account, is disposed not only +to claim the estate, but the dormant title which Eldredge himself has +been so long preparing to claim for himself. Singularly enough, too, the +heir is an American." + +_May 2d, Sunday._--"I believe," said Middleton, "that many English +secrets might find their solution in America, if the two threads of a +story could be brought together, disjoined as they have been by time and +the ocean. But are you at liberty to tell me the nature of the incidents +to which you allude?" + +"I do not see any reason to the contrary," answered the Master; "for the +story has already come in an imperfect way before the public, and the +full and authentic particulars are likely soon to follow. It seems that +the younger brother was ejected from the house on account of a love +affair; the elder having married a young woman with whom the younger was +in love, and, it is said, the wife disappeared on the bridal night, and +was never heard of more. The elder brother remained single during the +rest of his life; and dying childless, and there being still no news of +the second brother, the inheritance and representation of the family +devolved upon the third brother and his posterity. This branch of the +family has ever since remained in possession; and latterly the +representation has become of more importance, on account of a claim to an +old title, which, by the failure of another branch of this ancient +family, has devolved upon the branch here settled. Now, just at this +juncture, comes another heir from America, pretending that he is the +descendant of a marriage between the second son, supposed to have been +murdered on the threshold of the manor-house, and the missing bride! Is +it not a singular story?" + +"It would seem to require very strong evidence to prove it," said +Middleton. "And methinks a Republican should care little for the title, +however he might value the estate." + +"Both--both," said the Master, smiling, "would be equally attractive to +your countryman. But there are further curious particulars in connection +with this claim. You must know, they are a family of singular +characteristics, humorists, sometimes developing their queer traits into +something like insanity; though oftener, I must say, spending stupid +hereditary lives here on their estates, rusting out and dying without +leaving any biography whatever about them. And yet there has always been +one very queer thing about this generally very commonplace family. It is +that each father, on his death-bed, has had an interview with his son, at +which he has imparted some secret that has evidently had an influence on +the character and after life of the son, making him ever after a +discontented man, aspiring for something he has never been able to find. +Now the American, I am told, pretends that he has the clue which has +always been needed to make the secret available; the key whereby the lock +may be opened; the something that the lost son of the family carried away +with him, and by which through these centuries he has impeded the +progress of the race. And, wild as the story seems, he does certainly +seem to bring something that looks very like the proof of what he says." + +"And what are those proofs?" inquired Middleton, wonder-stricken at the +strange reduplication of his own position and pursuits. + +"In the first place," said the Master, "the English marriage-certificate +by a clergyman of that day in London, after publication of the banns, +with a reference to the register of the parish church where the marriage +is recorded. Then, a certified genealogy of the family in New England, +where such matters can be ascertained from town and church records, with +at least as much certainty, it would appear, as in this country. He has +likewise a manuscript in his ancestor's autograph, containing a brief +account of the events which banished him from his own country; the +circumstances which favored the idea that he had been slain, and which he +himself was willing should be received as a belief; the fortune that led +him to America, where he wished to found a new race wholly disconnected +with the past; and this manuscript he sealed up, with directions that it +should not be opened till two hundred years after his death, by which +time, as it was probable to conjecture, it would matter little to any +mortal whether the story was told or not. A whole generation has passed +since the time when the paper was at last unsealed and read, so long it +had no operation; yet now, at last, here comes the American, to disturb +the succession of an ancient family!" + +"There is something very strange in all this," said Middleton. + +And indeed there was something stranger in his view of the matter than he +had yet communicated to the Master. For, taking into consideration the +relation in which he found himself with the present recognized +representative of the family, the thought struck him that his coming +hither had dug up, as it were, a buried secret that immediately assumed +life and activity the moment that it was above ground again. For seven +generations the family had vegetated in the quietude of English country +gentility, doing nothing to make itself known, passing from the cradle to +the tomb amid the same old woods that had waved over it before his +ancestor had impressed the bloody footstep; and yet the instant that he +came back, an influence seemed to be at work that was likely to renew the +old history of the family. He questioned with himself whether it were not +better to leave all as it was; to withdraw himself into the secrecy from +which he had but half emerged, and leave the family to keep on, to the +end of time perhaps, in its rusty innocence, rather than to interfere +with his wild American character to disturb it. The smell of that dark +crime--that brotherly hatred and attempted murder--seemed to breathe out +of the ground as he dug it up. Was it not better that it should remain +forever buried, for what to him was this old English title--what this +estate, so far from his own native land, located amidst feelings and +manners which would never be his own? It was late, to be sure--yet not +too late for him to turn back: the vibration, the fear, which his +footsteps had caused, would subside into peace! Meditating in this way, +he took a hasty leave of the kind old Master, promising to see him again +at an early opportunity. By chance, or however it was, his footsteps +turned to the woods of ---- Chace, and there he wandered through its +glades, deep in thought, yet always with a strange sense that he was +treading on the soil where his ancestors had trodden, and where he +himself had best right of all men to be. It was just in this state of +feeling that he found his course arrested by a hand upon his shoulder. + +"What business have you here?" was the question sounded in his ear; and, +starting, he found himself in the grasp, as his blood tingled to know, of +a gentleman in a shooting-dress, who looked at him with a wrathful brow. +"Are you a poacher, or what?" + +Be the case what it might, Middleton's blood boiled at the grasp of that +hand, as it never before had done in the course of his impulsive life. He +shook himself free, and stood fiercely before his antagonist, confronting +him with his uplifted stick, while the other, likewise, appeared to be +shaken by a strange wrath. + +"Fellow," muttered he--"Yankee blackguard!--impostor--take yourself oil +these grounds. Quick, or it will be the worse for you!" + +Middleton restrained himself. "Mr. Eldredge," said he, "for I believe I +speak to the man who calls himself owner of this land on which we +stand,--Mr. Eldredge, you are acting under a strange misapprehension of +my character. I have come hither with no sinister purpose, and am +entitled, at the hands of a gentleman, to the consideration of an +honorable antagonist, even if you deem me one at all. And perhaps, if you +think upon the blue chamber and the ebony cabinet, and the secret +connected with it,"-- + +"Villain, no more!" said Eldredge; and utterly mad with rage, he +presented his gun at Middleton; but even at the moment of doing so, he +partly restrained himself, so far as, instead of shooting him, to raise +the butt of his gun, and strike a blow at him. It came down heavily on +Middleton's shoulder, though aimed at his head; and the blow was terribly +avenged, even by itself, for the jar caused the hammer to come down; the +gun went off, sending the bullet downwards through the heart of the +unfortunate man, who fell dead upon the ground. Eldredge[1] stood +stupefied, looking at the catastrophe which had so suddenly occurred. + +[1] Evidently a slip of the pen; Middleton being intended. + +_May 3d, Monday._--So here was the secret suddenly made safe in this so +terrible way; its keepers reduced from two parties to one interest; the +other who alone knew of this age-long mystery and trouble now carrying it +into eternity, where a long line of those who partook of the knowledge, +in each successive generation, might now be waiting to inquire of him how +he had held his trust. He had kept it well, there was no doubt of it; for +there he lay dead upon the ground, having betrayed it to no one, though +by a method which none could have foreseen, the whole had come into the +possession of him who had brought hither but half of it. Middleton looked +down in horror upon the form that had just been so full of life and +wrathful vigor--and now lay so quietly. Being wholly unconscious of any +purpose to bring about the catastrophe, it had not at first struck him +that his own position was in any manner affected by the violent death, +under such circumstances, of the unfortunate man. But now it suddenly +occurred to him, that there had been a train of incidents all calculated +to make him the object of suspicion; and he felt that he could not, under +the English administration of law, be suffered to go at large without +rendering a strict account of himself and his relations with the +deceased. He might, indeed, fly; he might still remain in the vicinity, +and possibly escape notice. But was not the risk too great? Was it just +even to be aware of this event, and not relate fully the manner of it, +lest a suspicion of blood-guiltiness should rest upon some innocent head? +But while he was thus cogitating, he heard footsteps approaching along +the wood-path; and half-impulsively, half on purpose, he stept aside into +the shrubbery, but still where he could see the dead body, and what +passed near it. + +The footsteps came on, and at the turning of the path, just where +Middleton had met Eldredge, the new-comer appeared in sight. It was +Hoper, in his usual dress of velveteen, looking now seedy, +poverty-stricken, and altogether in ill-case, trudging moodily along, +with his hat pulled over his brows, so that he did not see the ghastly +object before him till his foot absolutely trod upon the dead man's hand. +Being thus made aware of the proximity of the corpse, he started back a +little, yet evincing such small emotion as did credit to his English +reserve; then uttering a low exclamation,--cautiously low, indeed,--he +stood looking at the corpse a moment or two, apparently in deep +meditation. He then drew near, bent down, and without evincing any horror +at the touch of death in this horrid shape, he opened the dead man's +vest, inspected the wound, satisfied himself that life was extinct, and +then nodded his head and smiled gravely. He next proceeded to examine +seriatim the dead man's pockets, turning each of them inside out and +taking the contents, where they appeared adapted to his needs: for +instance, a silken purse, through the interstices of which some gold was +visible; a watch, which however had been injured by the explosion, and +had stopt just at the moment--twenty-one minutes past five--when the +catastrophe took place. Hoper ascertained, by putting the watch to his +ear, that this was the case; then pocketing it, he continued his +researches. He likewise secured a note-book, on examining which he found +several bank-notes, and some other papers. And having done this, the +thief stood considering what to do next; nothing better occurring to him, +he thrust the pockets back, gave the corpse as nearly as he could the +same appearance that it had worn before he found it, and hastened away, +leaving the horror there on the wood-path. + +He had been gone only a few minutes when another step, a light woman's +step, [was heard] coming along the pathway, and Alice appeared, having on +her usual white mantle, straying along with that fearlessness which +characterized her so strangely, and made her seem like one of the +denizens of nature. She was singing in a low tone some one of those airs +which have become so popular in England, as negro melodies; when +suddenly, looking before her, she saw the blood-stained body on the +grass, the face looking ghastly upward. Alice pressed her hand upon her +heart; it was not her habit to scream, not the habit of that strong, +wild, self-dependent nature; and the exclamation which broke from her was +not for help, but the voice of her heart crying out to herself. For an +instant she hesitated, as [if] not knowing what to do; then approached, +and with her white, maiden hand felt the brow of the dead man, +tremblingly, but yet firm, and satisfied herself that life had wholly +departed. She pressed her hand, that had just touched the dead man's, on +her forehead, and gave a moment to thought. + +What her decision might have been, we cannot say, for while she stood in +this attitude, Middleton stept from his seclusion, and at the noise of +his approach she turned suddenly round, looking more frightened and +agitated than at the moment when she had first seen the dead body. She +faced Middleton, however, and looked him quietly in the eye. "You see +this!" said she, gazing fixedly at him. "It is not at this moment that +you first discover it." + +"No," said Middleton, frankly. "It is not. I was present at the +catastrophe. In one sense, indeed, I was the cause of it; but, Alice, I +need not tell you that I am no murderer." + +"A murderer?--no," said Alice, still looking at him with the same fixed +gaze. "But you and this man were at deadly variance. He would have +rejoiced at any chance that would have laid you cold and bloody on the +earth, as he is now; nay, he would most eagerly have seized on any +fair-looking pretext that would have given him a chance to stretch you +there. The world will scarcely believe, when it knows all about your +relations with him, that his blood is not on your hand. Indeed," said +she, with a strange smile, "I see some of it there now!" + +And, in very truth, so there was; a broad blood-stain that had dried on +Middleton's hand. He shuddered at it, but essayed vainly to rub it off. + +"You see," said she. "It was foreordained that you should shed this man's +blood; foreordained that, by digging into that old pit of pestilence, you +should set the contagion loose again. You should have left it buried +forever. But now what do you mean to do?" + +"To proclaim this catastrophe," replied Middleton. "It is the only honest +and manly way. What else can I do?" + +"You can and ought to leave him on the wood-path, where he has fallen," +said Alice, "and go yourself to take advantage of the state of things +which Providence has brought about. Enter the old house, the hereditary +house, where--now, at least--you alone have a right to tread. Now is the +hour. All is within your grasp. Let the wrong of three hundred years be +righted, and come back thus to your own, to these hereditary fields, this +quiet, long-descended home; to title, to honor." + +Yet as the wild maiden spoke thus, there was a sort of mockery in her +eyes; on her brow; gleaming through all her face, as if she scorned what +she thus pressed upon him, the spoils of the dead man who lay at their +feet. Middleton, with his susceptibility, could not [but] be sensible of +a wild and strange charm, as well as horror, in the situation; it seemed +such a wonder that here, in formal, orderly, well-governed England, so +wild a scene as this should have occurred; that they too [two?] should +stand here, deciding on the descent of an estate, and the inheritance of +a title, holding a court of their own. + +"Come, then," said he, at length. "Let us leave this poor fallen +antagonist in his blood, and go whither you will lead me. I will judge +for myself. At all events, I will not leave my hereditary home without +knowing what my power is." + +"Come," responded Alice; and she turned back; but then returned and threw +a handkerchief over the dead man's face, which while they spoke had +assumed that quiet, ecstatic expression of joy which often is observed to +overspread the faces of those who die of gunshot wounds, however fierce +the passion in which the spirits took their flight. With this strange, +grand, awful joy did the dead man gaze upward into the very eyes and +hearts, as it were, of the two that now bent over him. They looked at one +another. + +"Whence comes this expression?" said Middleton, thoughtfully. "Alice, +methinks he is reconciled to us now; and that we are members of one +reconciled family, all of whom are in heaven but me." + +_Tuesday, May 4th._--"How strange is this whole situation between you and +me," said Middleton, as they went up the winding pathway that led towards +the house. "Shall I ever understand it? Do you mean ever to explain it to +me? That I should find you here with that old man,[2] so mysterious, +apparently so poor, yet so powerful! What [is] his relation to you?" + +[2] The allusion here is apparently to the old man who proclaims + himself Alice's father, in the portion dated April 14th. He figures + hereafter as the old Hospitaller, Hammond. The reader must not take + this present passage as referring to the death of Eldredge, which has + just taken place in the preceding section. The author is now + beginning to elaborate the relation of Middleton and Alice. As will + be seen, farther on, the death of Eldredge is ignored and abandoned; + Eldredge is revived, and the story proceeds in another way.--G. P. L. + +"A close one," replied Alice sadly. "He was my father!" + +"Your father!" repeated Middleton, starting back. "It does but heighten +the wonder! Your father! And yet, by all the tokens that birth and +breeding, and habits of thought and native character can show, you are my +countrywoman. That wild, free spirit was never born in the breast of an +Englishwoman; that slight frame, that slender beauty, that frail +envelopment of a quick, piercing, yet stubborn and patient spirit,--are +those the properties of an English maiden?" + +"Perhaps not," replied Alice quietly. "I am your countrywoman. My father +was an American, and one of whom you have heard--and no good, alas!--for +many a year." + +"And who then was he?" asked Middleton. + +"I know not whether you will hate me for telling you," replied Alice, +looking him sadly though firmly in the face. "There was a man--long years +since, in your childhood--whose plotting brain proved the ruin of himself +and many another; a man whose great designs made him a sort of potentate, +whose schemes became of national importance, and produced results even +upon the history of the country in which he acted. That man was my +father; a man who sought to do great things, and, like many who have had +similar aims, disregarded many small rights, strode over them, on his way +to effect a gigantic purpose. Among other men, your father was trampled +under foot, ruined, done to death, even, by the effects of his ambition." + +"How is it possible!" exclaimed Middleton. "Was it Wentworth?" + +"Even so," said Alice, still with the same sad calmness and not +withdrawing her steady eyes from his face. "After his ruin; after the +catastrophe that overwhelmed him and hundreds more, he took to flight; +guilty, perhaps, but guilty as a fallen conqueror is; guilty to such an +extent that he ceased to be a cheat, as a conqueror ceases to be a +murderer. He came to England. My father had an original nobility of +nature; and his life had not been such as to debase it, but rather such +as to cherish and heighten that self-esteem which at least keeps the +possessor of it from many meaner vices. He took nothing with him; nothing +beyond the bare means of flight, with the world before him, although +thousands of gold would not have been missed out of the scattered +fragments of ruin that lay around him. He found his way hither, led, as +you were, by a desire to reconnect himself with the place whence his +family had originated; for he, too, was of a race which had something to +do with the ancient story which has now been brought to a close. Arrived +here, there were circumstances that chanced to make his talents and +habits of business available to this Mr. Eldredge, a man ignorant and +indolent, unknowing how to make the best of the property that was in his +hands. By degrees, he took the estate into his management, acquiring +necessarily a preponderating influence over such a man." + +"And you," said Middleton. "Have you been all along in England? For you +must have been little more than an infant at the time." + +"A mere infant," said Alice, "and I remained in our own country under the +care of a relative who left me much to my own keeping; much to the +influences of that wild culture which the freedom of our country gives to +its youth. It is only two years that I have been in England." + +"This, then," said Middleton thoughtfully, "accounts for much that has +seemed so strange in the events through which we have passed; for the +knowledge of my identity and my half-defined purpose which has always +glided before me, and thrown so many strange shapes of difficulty in my +path. But whence,--whence came that malevolence which your father's +conduct has so unmistakably shown? I had done him no injury, though I had +suffered much." + +"I have often thought," replied Alice, "that my father, though retaining +a preternatural strength and acuteness of intellect, was really not +altogether sane. And, besides, he had made it his business to keep this +estate, and all the complicated advantages of the representation of this +old family, secure to the person who was deemed to have inherited them. A +succession of ages and generations might be supposed to have blotted out +your claims from existence; for it is not just that there should be no +term of time which can make security for lack of fact and a few +formalities. At all events, he had satisfied himself that his duty was to +act as he has done." + +"Be it so! I do not seek to throw blame on him," said Middleton. +"Besides, Alice, he was your father!" + +"Yes," said she, sadly smiling; "let him [have] what protection that +thought may give him, even though I lose what he may gain. And now here +we are at the house. At last, come in! It is your own; there is none that +can longer forbid you!" + +They entered the door of the old mansion, now a farmhouse, and there were +its old hall, its old chambers, all before them. They ascended the +staircase, and stood on the landing-place above; while Middleton had +again that feeling that had so often made him dizzy,--that sense of being +in one dream and recognizing the scenery and events of a former dream. So +overpowering was this feeling, that he laid his hand on the slender arm +of Alice, to steady himself; and she comprehended the emotion that +agitated him, and looked into his eyes with a tender sympathy, which she +had never before permitted to be visible,--perhaps never before felt. He +steadied himself and followed her till they had entered an ancient +chamber, but one that was finished with all the comfortable luxury +customary to be seen in English homes. + +"Whither have you led me now?" inquired Middleton. + +"Look round," said Alice. "Is there nothing here that you ought to +recognize?--nothing that you kept the memory of, long ago?" + +He looked round the room again and again, and at last, in a somewhat +shadowy corner, he espied an old cabinet made of ebony and inlaid with +pearl; one of those tall, stately, and elaborate pieces of furniture that +are rather articles of architecture than upholstery; and on which a +higher skill, feeling, and genius than now is ever employed on such +things, was expended. Alice drew near the stately cabinet and threw wide +the doors, which, like the portals of a palace, stood between two +pillars; it all seemed to be unlocked, showing within some beautiful old +pictures in the panel of the doors, and a mirror, that opened a long +succession of mimic halls, reflection upon reflection, extending to an +interminable nowhere. + +"And what is this?" said Middleton,--"a cabinet? Why do you draw my +attention so strongly to it?" + +"Look at it well," said she. "Do you recognize nothing there? Have you +forgotten your description? The stately palace with its architecture, +each pillar with its architecture, those pilasters, that frieze; you +ought to know them all. Somewhat less than you imagined in size, perhaps; +a fairy reality, inches for yards; that is the only difference. And you +have the key?" + +And there then was that palace, to which tradition, so false at once and +true, had given such magnitude and magnificence in the traditions of the +Middleton family, around their shifting fireside in America. Looming afar +through the mists of time, the little fact had become a gigantic vision. +Yes, here it was in miniature, all that he had dreamed of; a palace of +four feet high! + +"You have the key of this palace," said Alice; "it has waited--that is, +its secret and precious chamber has, for you to open it, these three +hundred years. Do you know how to find that secret chamber?" + +Middleton, still in that dreamy mood, threw open an inner door of the +cabinet, and applying the old-fashioned key at his watch-chain to a hole +in the mimic pavement within, pressed one of the mosaics, and immediately +the whole floor of the apartment sank, and revealed a receptacle within. +Alice had come forward eagerly, and they both looked into the +hiding-place, expecting what should be there. It was empty! They looked +into each other's faces with blank astonishment. Everything had been so +strangely true, and so strangely false, up to this moment, that they +could not comprehend this failure at the last moment. It was the +strangest, saddest jest! It brought Middleton up with such a sudden +revulsion that he grew dizzy, and the room swam round him and the cabinet +dazzled before his eyes. It had been magnified to a palace; it had +dwindled down to Liliputian size; and yet, up till now, it had seemed to +contain in its diminutiveness all the riches which he had attributed to +its magnitude. This last moment had utterly subverted it; the whole great +structure seemed to vanish. + +"See; here are the dust and ashes of it," observed Alice, taking +something that was indeed only a pinch of dust out of the secret +compartment. "There is nothing else." + + + + +II. + +_May 5th, Wednesday_.--The father of these two sons, an aged man at the +time, took much to heart their enmity; and after the catastrophe, he +never held up his head again. He was not told that his son had perished, +though such was the belief of the family; but imbibed the opinion that he +had left his home and native land to become a wanderer on the face of the +earth, and that some time or other he might return. In this idea he spent +the remainder of his days; in this idea he died. It may be that the +influence of this idea might be traced in the way in which he spent some +of the latter years of his life, and a portion of the wealth which had +become of little value in his eyes, since it had caused dissension and +bloodshed between the sons of one household. It was a common mode of +charity in those days--a common thing for rich men to do--to found an +almshouse or a hospital, and endow it, for the support of a certain +number of old and destitute men or women, generally such as had some +claim of blood upon the founder, or at least were natives of the parish, +the district, the county, where he dwelt. The Eldredge Hospital was +founded for the benefit of twelve old men, who should have been wanderers +upon the face of the earth; men, they should be, of some education, but +defeated and hopeless, cast off by the world for misfortune, but not for +crime. And this charity had subsisted, on terms varying little or nothing +from the original ones, from that day to this; and, at this very time, +twelve old men were not wanting, of various countries, of various +fortunes, but all ending finally in ruin, who had centred here, to live +on the poor pittance that had been assigned to them, three hundred years +ago. What a series of chronicles it would have been if each of the +beneficiaries of this charity, since its foundation, had left a record of +the events which finally led him hither. Middleton often, as he talked +with these old men, regretted that he himself had no turn for authorship, +so rich a volume might he have compiled from the experience, sometimes +sunny and triumphant, though always ending in shadow, which he gathered +here. They were glad to talk to him, and would have been glad and +grateful for any auditor, as they sat on one or another of the stone +benches, in the sunshine of the garden; or at evening, around the great +fireside, or within the chimney-corner, with their pipes and ale. + +There was one old man who attracted much of his attention, by the +venerableness of his aspect; by something dignified, almost haughty and +commanding, in his air. Whatever might have been the intentions and +expectations of the founder, it certainly had happened in these latter +days that there was a difficulty in finding persons of education, of good +manners, of evident respectability, to put into the places made vacant by +deaths of members; whether that the paths of life are surer now than they +used to be, and that men so arrange their lives as not to be left, in any +event, quite without resources as they draw near its close; at any rate, +there was a little tincture of the vagabond running through these twelve +quasi gentlemen,--through several of them, at least. But this old man +could not well be mistaken; in his manners, in his tones, in all his +natural language and deportment, there was evidence that he had been more +than respectable; and, viewing him, Middleton could not help wondering +what statesman had suddenly vanished out of public life and taken refuge +here, for his head was of the statesman-class, and his demeanor that of +one who had exercised influence over large numbers of men. He sometimes +endeavored to set on foot a familiar relation with this old man, but +there was even a sternness in the manner in which he repelled these +advances, that gave little encouragement for their renewal. Nor did it +seem that his companions of the Hospital were more in his confidence than +Middleton himself. They regarded him with a kind of awe, a shyness, and +in most cases with a certain dislike, which denoted an imperfect +understanding of him. To say the truth, there was not generally much love +lost between any of the members of this family; they had met with too +much disappointment in the world to take kindly, now, to one another or +to anything or anybody. I rather suspect that they really had more +pleasure in burying one another, when the time came, than in any other +office of mutual kindness and brotherly love which it was their part to +do; not out of hardness of heart, but merely from soured temper, and +because, when people have met disappointment and have settled down into +final unhappiness, with no more gush and spring of good spirits, there is +nothing any more to create amiability out of. + +So the old people were unamiable and cross to one another, and unamiable +and cross to old Hammond, yet always with a certain respect; and the +result seemed to be such as treated the old man well enough. And thus he +moved about among them, a mystery; the histories of the others, in the +general outline, were well enough known, and perhaps not very uncommon; +this old man's history was known to none, except, of course, to the +trustees of the charity, and to the Master of the Hospital, to whom it +had necessarily been revealed, before the beneficiary could be admitted +as an inmate. It was judged, by the deportment of the Master, that the +old man had once held some eminent position in society; for, though bound +to treat them all as gentlemen, he was thought to show an especial and +solemn courtesy to Hammond. + +Yet by the attraction which two strong and cultivated minds inevitably +have for one another, there did spring up an acquaintanceship, an +intercourse, between Middleton and this old man, which was followed up in +many a conversation which they held together on all subjects that were +supplied by the news of the day, or the history of the past. Middleton +used to make the newspaper the opening for much discussion; and it seemed +to him that the talk of his companion had much of the character of that +of a retired statesman, on matters which, perhaps, he would look at all +the more wisely, because it was impossible he could ever more have a +personal agency in them. Their discussions sometimes turned upon the +affairs of his own country, and its relations with the rest of the world, +especially with England; and Middleton could not help being struck with +the accuracy of the old man's knowledge respecting that country, which so +few Englishmen know anything about; his shrewd appreciation of the +American character,--shrewd and caustic, yet not without a good degree of +justice; the sagacity of his remarks on the past, and prophecies of what +was likely to happen,--prophecies which, in one instance, were singularly +verified, in regard to a complexity which was then arresting the +attention of both countries. + +"You must have been in the United States," said he, one day. + +"Certainly; my remarks imply personal knowledge," was the reply. "But it +was before the days of steam." + +"And not, I should imagine, for a brief visit," said Middleton. "I only +wish the administration of this government had the benefit to-day of your +knowledge of my countrymen. It might be better for both of these kindred +nations." + +"Not a whit," said the old man. "England will never understand America; +for England never does understand a foreign country; and whatever you may +say about kindred, America is as much a foreign country as France itself. +These two hundred years of a different climate and circumstances--of life +on a broad continent instead of in an island, to say nothing of the +endless intermixture of nationalities in every part of the United States, +except New England--have created a new and decidedly original type of +national character. It is as well for both parties that they should not +aim at any very intimate connection. It will never do." + +"I should be sorry to think so," said Middleton; "they are at all events +two noble breeds of men, and ought to appreciate one another. And America +has the breadth of idea to do this for England, whether reciprocated or +not." + +_Thursday, May 6th._--Thus Middleton was established in a singular way +among these old men, in one of the surroundings most unlike anything in +his own country. So old it was that it seemed to him the freshest and +newest thing that he had ever met with. The residence was made infinitely +the more interesting to him by the sense that he was near the place--as +all the indications warned him--which he sought, whither his dreams had +tended from his childhood; that he could wander each day round the park +within which were the old gables of what he believed was his hereditary +home. He had never known anything like the dreamy enjoyment of these +days; so quiet, such a contrast to the turbulent life from which he had +escaped across the sea. And here he set himself, still with that sense of +shadowiness in what he saw and in what he did, in making all the +researches possible to him, about the neighborhood; visiting every little +church that raised its square battlemented Norman tower of gray stone, +for several miles round about; making himself acquainted with each little +village and hamlet that surrounded these churches, clustering about the +graves of those who had dwelt in the same cottages aforetime. He visited +all the towns within a dozen miles; and probably there were few of the +inhabitants who had so good an acquaintance with the neighborhood as this +native American attained within a few weeks after his coming thither. + +In course of these excursions he had several times met with a young +woman,--a young lady, one might term her, but in fact he was in some +doubt what rank she might hold, in England,--who happened to be wandering +about the country with a singular freedom. She was always alone, always +on foot; he would see her sketching some picturesque old church, some +ivied ruin, some fine drooping elm. She was a slight figure, much more so +than English women generally are; and, though healthy of aspect, had not +the ruddy complexion, which he was irreverently inclined to call the +coarse tint, that is believed the great charm of English beauty. There +was a freedom in her step and whole little womanhood, an elasticity, an +irregularity, so to speak, that made her memorable from first sight; and +when he had encountered her three or four times, he felt in a certain way +acquainted with her. She was very simply dressed, and quite as simple in +her deportment; there had been one or two occasions, when they had both +smiled at the same thing; soon afterwards a little conversation had taken +place between them; and thus, without any introduction, and in a way that +somewhat puzzled Middleton himself, they had become acquainted. It was so +unusual that a young English girl should be wandering about the country +entirely alone--so much less usual that she should speak to a +stranger--that Middleton scarcely knew how to account for it, but +meanwhile accepted the fact readily and willingly, for in truth he found +this mysterious personage a very likely and entertaining companion. There +was a strange quality of boldness in her remarks, almost of brusqueness, +that he might have expected to find in a young countrywoman of his own, +if bred up among the strong-minded, but was astonished to find in a young +Englishwoman. Somehow or other she made him think more of home than any +other person or thing he met with; and he could not but feel that she was +in strange contrast with everything about her. She was no beauty; very +piquant; very pleasing; in some points of view and at some moments +pretty; always good-humored, but somewhat too self-possessed for +Middleton's taste. It struck him that she had talked with him as if she +had some knowledge of him and of the purposes with which he was there; +not that this was expressed, but only implied by the fact that, on +looking back to what had passed, he found many strange coincidences in +what she had said with what he was thinking about. + +He perplexed himself much with thinking whence this young woman had come, +where she belonged, and what might be her history; when, the next day, he +again saw her, not this time rambling on foot, but seated in an open +barouche with a young lady. Middleton lifted his hat to her, and she +nodded and smiled to him; and it appeared to Middleton that a +conversation ensued about him with the young lady, her companion. Now, +what still more interested him was the fact that, on the panel of the +barouche were the arms of the family now in possession of the estate of +Smithell's; so that the young lady, his new acquaintance, or the young +lady, her seeming friend, one or the other, was the sister of the present +owner of that estate. He was inclined to think that his acquaintance +could not be the Miss Eldredge, of whose beauty he had heard many tales +among the people of the neighborhood. The other young lady, a tall, +reserved, fair-haired maiden, answered the description considerably +better. He concluded, therefore, that his acquaintance must be a visitor, +perhaps a dependent and companion; though the freedom of her thought, +action, and way of life seemed hardly consistent with this idea. However, +this slight incident served to give him a sort of connection with the +family, and he could but hope that some further chance would introduce +him within what he fondly called his hereditary walls. He had come to +think of this as a dreamland; and it seemed even more a dreamland now +than before it rendered itself into actual substance, an old house of +stone and timber standing within its park, shaded about with its +ancestral trees. + +But thus, at all events, he was getting himself a little wrought into the +net-work of human life around him, secluded as his position had at first +seemed to be, in the farmhouse where he had taken up his lodgings. For, +there was the Hospital and its old inhabitants, in whose monotonous +existence he soon came to pass for something, with his liveliness of +mind, his experience, his good sense, his patience as a listener, his +comparative youth even--his power of adapting himself to these stiff and +crusty characters, a power learned among other things in his political +life, where he had acquired something of the faculty (good or bad as +might be) of making himself all things to all men. But though he amused +himself with them all, there was in truth but one man among them in whom +he really felt much interest; and that one, we need hardly say, was +Hammond. It was not often that he found the old gentleman in a +conversible mood; always courteous, indeed, but generally cool and +reserved; often engaged in his one room, to which Middleton had never yet +been admitted, though he had more than once sent in his name, when +Hammond was not apparent upon the bench which, by common consent of the +Hospital, was appropriated to him. + +One day, however, notwithstanding that the old gentleman was confined to +his room by indisposition, he ventured to inquire at the door, and, +considerably to his surprise, was admitted. He found Hammond in his +easy-chair, at a table, with writing-materials before him; and as +Middleton entered, the old gentleman looked at him with a stern, fixed +regard, which, however, did not seem to imply any particular displeasure +towards this visitor, but rather a severe way of regarding mankind in +general. Middleton looked curiously around the small apartment, to see +what modification the character of the man had had upon the customary +furniture of the Hospital, and how much of individuality he had given to +that general type. There was a shelf of books, and a row of them on the +mantel-piece; works of political economy, they appeared to be, statistics +and things of that sort; very dry reading, with which, however, +Middleton's experience as a politician had made him acquainted. Besides +these there were a few works on local antiquities, a county-history +borrowed from the Master's library, in which Hammond appeared to have +been lately reading. + +"They are delightful reading," observed Middleton, "these old +county-histories, with their great folio volumes and their minute account +of the affairs of families and the genealogies, and descents of estates, +bestowing as much blessed space on a few hundred acres as other +historians give to a principality. I fear that in my own country we shall +never have anything of this kind. Our space is so vast that we shall +never come to know and love it, inch by inch, as the English antiquarians +do the tracts of country with which they deal; and besides, our land is +always likely to lack the interest that belongs to English estates; for +where land changes its ownership every few years, it does not become +imbued with the personalities of the people who live on it. It is but so +much grass; so much dirt, where a succession of people have dwelt too +little to make it really their own. But I have found a pleasure that I +had no conception of before, in reading some of the English local +histories." + +"It is not a usual course of reading for a transitory visitor," said +Hammond. "What could induce you to undertake it?" + +"Simply the wish, so common and natural with Americans," said +Middleton--"the wish to find out something about my kindred--the local +origin of my own family." + +"You do not show your wisdom in this," said his visitor. "America had +better recognize the fact that it has nothing to do with England, and +look upon itself as other nations and people do, as existing on its own +hook. I never heard of any people looking hack to the country of their +remote origin in the way the Anglo-Americans do. For instance, England is +made up of many alien races, German, Danish. Norman, and what not: it has +received large accessions of population at a later date than the +settlement of the United States. Yet these families melt into the great +homogeneous mass of Englishmen, and look hack no more to any other +country. There are in this vicinity many descendants of the French +Huguenots; but they care no more for France than for Timbuctoo, reckoning +themselves only Englishmen, as if they were descendants of the aboriginal +Britons. Let it be so with you." + +"So it might be," replied Middleton, "only that our relations with +England remain far more numerous than our disconnections, through the +bonds of history, of literature, of all that makes up the memories, and +much that makes up the present interests of a people. And therefore I +must still continue to pore over these old folios, and hunt around these +precincts, spending thus the little idle time I am likely to have in a +busy life. Possibly finding little to my purpose; but that is quite a +secondary consideration." + +"If you choose to tell me precisely what your aims are," said Hammond, +"it is possible I might give you some little assistance." + +_May 7th, Friday_.--Middleton was in fact more than half ashamed of the +dreams which he had cherished before coming to England, and which since, +at times, had been very potent with him, assuming as strong a tinge of +reality as those [scenes?] into which he had strayed. He could not +prevail with himself to disclose fully to this severe, and, as he +thought, cynical old man how strong within him was the sentiment that +impelled him to connect himself with the old life of England, to join on +the broken thread of ancestry and descent, and feel every link well +established. But it seemed to him that he ought not to lose this fair +opportunity of gaining some light on the abstruse field of his +researches; and he therefore explained to Hammond that he had reason, +from old family traditions, to believe that he brought with him a +fragment of a history that, if followed out, might lead to curious +results. He told him, in a tone half serious, what he had heard +respecting the quarrel of the two brothers, and the Bloody Footstep, the +impress of which was said to remain, as a lasting memorial of the tragic +termination of that enmity. At this point, Hammond interrupted him. He +had indeed, at various points of the narrative, nodded and smiled +mysteriously, as if looking into his mind and seeing something there +analogous to what he was listening to. He now spoke. + +"This is curious," said he. "Did you know that there is a manor-house in +this neighborhood, the family of which prides itself on having such a +blood-stained threshold as you have now described?" + +"No, indeed!" exclaimed Middleton, greatly interested. "Where?" + +"It is the old manor-house of Smithell's," replied Hammond, "one of those +old wood and timber [plaster?] mansions, which are among the most ancient +specimens of domestic architecture in England. The house has now passed +into the female line, and by marriage has been for two or three +generations in possession of another family. But the blood of the old +inheritors is still in the family. The house itself, or portions of it, +are thought to date back quite as far as the Conquest." + +"Smithell's?" said Middleton. "Why, I have seen that old house from a +distance, and have felt no little interest in its antique aspect. And it +has a Bloody Footstep! Would it be possible for a stranger to get an +opportunity to inspect it?" + +"Unquestionably," said Hammond; "nothing easier. It is but a moderate +distance from here, and if you can moderate your young footsteps, and +your American quick walk, to an old man's pace, I would go there with you +some day. In this languor and ennui of my life, I spend some time in +local antiquarianism, and perhaps I might assist you in tracing out how +far these traditions of yours may have any connection with reality. It +would be curious, would it not, if you had come, after two hundred years, +to piece out a story which may have been as much a mystery in England as +there in America?" + +An engagement was made for a walk to Smithell's the ensuing day; and +meanwhile Middleton entered more fully into what he had received from +family traditions and what he had thought out for himself on the matter +in question. + +"Are you aware," asked Hammond, "that there was formerly a title in this +family, now in abeyance, and which the heirs have at various times +claimed, and are at this moment claiming? Do you know, too,--but you can +scarcely know it,--that it has been surmised by some that there is an +insecurity in the title to the estate, and has always been; so that the +possessors have lived in some apprehension, from time immemorial, that +another heir would appear and take from them the fair inheritance? It is +a singular coincidence." + +"Very strange," exclaimed Middleton. "No; I was not aware of it; and, to +say the truth, I should not altogether like to come forward in the light +of a claimant. But this is a dream, surely!" + +"I assure you, sir," continued the old man, "that you come here in a very +critical moment; and singularly enough there is a perplexity, a +difficulty, that has endured for as long a time as when your ancestors +emigrated, that is still rampant within the bowels, as I may say, of the +family. Of course, it is too like a romance that you should be able to +establish any such claim as would have a valid influence on this matter; +but still, being here on the spot, it may be worth while, if merely as a +matter of amusement, to make some researches into this matter." + +"Surely I will," said Middleton, with a smile, which concealed more +earnestness than he liked to show; "as to the title, a Republican cannot +be supposed to think twice about such a bagatelle. The estate!--that +might be a more serious consideration." + +They continued to talk on the subject; and Middleton learned that the +present possessor of the estates was a gentleman nowise distinguished +from hundreds of other English gentlemen; a country squire modified in +accordance with the type of to-day, a frank, free, friendly sort of a +person enough, who had travelled on the Continent, who employed himself +much in field-sports, who was unmarried, and had a sister who was +reckoned among the beauties of the county. + +While the conversation was thus going on, to Middleton's astonishment +there came a knock at the door of the room, and, without waiting for a +response, it was opened, and there appeared at it the same young woman +whom he had already met. She came in with perfect freedom and +familiarity, and was received quietly by the old gentleman; who, however, +by his manner towards Middleton, indicated that he was now to take his +leave. He did so, after settling the hour at which the excursion of the +next day was to take place. This arranged, he departed, with much to +think of, and a light glimmering through the confused labyrinth of +thoughts which had been unilluminated hitherto. + +To say the truth, he questioned within himself whether it were not better +to get as quickly as he could out of the vicinity; and, at any rate, not +to put anything of earnest in what had hitherto been nothing more than a +romance to him. There was something very dark and sinister in the events +of family history, which now assumed a reality that they had never before +worn; so much tragedy, so much hatred, had been thrown into that deep +pit, and buried under the accumulated debris, the fallen leaves, the rust +and dust of more than two centuries, that it seemed not worth while to +dig it up; for perhaps the deadly influences, which it had taken so much +time to hide, might still be lurking there, and become potent if he now +uncovered them. There was something that startled him, in the strange, +wild light, which gleamed from the old man's eyes, as he threw out the +suggestions which had opened this prospect to him. What right had he--an +American, Republican, disconnected with this country so long, alien from +its habits of thought and life, reverencing none of the things which +Englishmen reverenced--what right had he to come with these musty claims +from the dim past, to disturb them in the life that belonged to them? +There was a higher and a deeper law than any connected with ancestral +claims which he could assert; and he had an idea that the law bade him +keep to the country which his ancestor had chosen and to its +institutions, and not meddle nor make with England. The roots of his +family tree could not reach under the ocean; he was at most but a +seedling from the parent tree. While thus meditating he found that his +footsteps had brought him unawares within sight of the old manor-house of +Smithell's; and that he was wandering in a path which, if he followed it +further, would bring him to an entrance in one of the wings of the +mansion. With a sort of shame upon him, he went forward, and, leaning +against a tree, looked at what he considered the home of his ancestors. + +_May 9th, Sunday_.--At the time appointed, the two companions set out on +their little expedition, the old man in his Hospital uniform, the long +black mantle, with the bear and ragged staff engraved in silver on the +breast, and Middleton in the plain costume which he had adopted in these +wanderings about the country. On their way, Hammond was not very +communicative, occasionally dropping some shrewd remark with a good deal +of acidity in it; now and then, too, favoring his companion with some +reminiscence of local antiquity; but oftenest silent. Thus they went on, +and entered the park of Pemberton Manor by a by-path, over a stile and +one of those footways, which are always so well worth threading out in +England, leading the pedestrian into picturesque and characteristic +scenes, when the highroad would show him nothing except what was +commonplace and uninteresting. Now the gables of the old manor-house +appeared before them, rising amidst the hereditary woods, which doubtless +dated from a time beyond the days which Middleton fondly recalled, when +his ancestors had walked beneath their shade. On each side of them were +thickets and copses of fern, amidst which they saw the hares peeping out +to gaze upon them, occasionally running across the path, and comporting +themselves like creatures that felt themselves under some sort of +protection from the outrages of man, though they knew too much of his +destructive character to trust him too far. Pheasants, too, rose close +beside them, and winged but a little way before they alighted; they +likewise knew, or seemed to know, that their hour was not yet come. On +all sides in these woods, these wastes, these beasts and birds, there was +a character that was neither wild nor tame. Man had laid his grasp on +them all, and done enough to redeem them from barbarism, but had stopped +short of domesticating them; although Nature, in the wildest thing there, +acknowledged the powerful and pervading influence of cultivation. + +Arriving at a side door of the mansion, Hammond rang the bell, and a +servant soon appeared. He seemed to know the old man, and immediately +acceded to his request to be permitted to show his companion the house; +although it was not precisely a show-house, nor was this the hour when +strangers were usually admitted. They entered; and the servant did not +give himself the trouble to act as a cicerone to the two visitants, but +carelessly said to the old gentleman that he knew the rooms, and that he +would leave him to discourse to his friend about them. Accordingly, they +went into the old hall, a dark oaken-panelled room, of no great height, +with many doors opening into it. There was a fire burning on the hearth; +indeed, it was the custom of the house to keep it up from morning to +night; and in the damp, chill climate of England, there is seldom a day +in some part of which a fire is not pleasant to feel. Hammond here +pointed out a stuffed fox, to which some story of a famous chase was +attached; a pair of antlers of enormous size; and some old family +pictures, so blackened with time and neglect that Middleton could not +well distinguish their features, though curious to do so, as hoping to +see there the lineaments of some with whom he might claim kindred. It was +a venerable apartment, and gave a good foretaste of what they might hope +to find in the rest of the mansion. + +But when they had inspected it pretty thoroughly, and were ready to +proceed, an elderly gentleman entered the hall, and, seeing Hammond, +addressed him in a kindly, familiar way; not indeed as an equal friend, +but with a pleasant and not irksome conversation. "I am glad to see you +here again," said he. "What? I have an hour of leisure; for, to say the +truth, the day hangs rather heavy till the shooting season begins. Come; +as you have a friend with you, I will be your cicerone myself about the +house, and show you whatever mouldy objects of interest it contains." + +He then graciously noticed the old man's companion, but without asking or +seeming to expect an introduction; for, after a careless glance at him, +he had evidently set him down as a person without social claims, a young +man in the rank of life fitted to associate with an inmate of Pemberton's +Hospital. And it must be noticed that his treatment of Middleton was not +on that account the less kind, though far from being so elaborately +courteous as if he had met him as an equal. "You have had something of a +walk," said he, "and it is a rather hot day. The beer of Pemberton Manor +has been reckoned good these hundred years; will you taste it?" + +Hammond accepted the offer, and the beer was brought in a foaming +tankard; but Middleton declined it, for in truth there was a singular +emotion in his breast, as if the old enmity, the ancient injuries, were +not yet atoned for, and as if he must not accept the hospitality of one +who represented his hereditary foe. He felt, too, as if there were +something unworthy, a certain want of fairness, in entering clandestinely +the house, and talking with its occupant under a veil, as it were; and +had he seen clearly how to do it, he would perhaps at that moment have +fairly told Mr. Eldredge that he brought with him the character of +kinsman, and must be received on that grade or none. But it was not easy +to do this; and after all, there was no clear reason why he should do it; +so he let the matter pass, merely declining to take the refreshment, and +keeping himself quiet and retired. + +Squire Eldredge seemed to be a good, ordinary sort of gentleman, +reasonably well educated, and with few ideas beyond his estate and +neighborhood, though he had once held a seat in Parliament for part of a +term. Middleton could not but contrast him, with an inward smile, with +the shrewd, alert politicians, their faculties all sharpened to the +utmost, whom he had known and consorted with in the American Congress. +Hammond had slightly informed him that his companion was an American; and +Mr. Eldredge immediately gave proof of the extent of his knowledge of +that country, by inquiring whether he came from the State of New England, +and whether Mr. Webster was still President of the United States; +questions to which Middleton returned answers that led to no further +conversation. These little preliminaries over, they continued their +ramble through the house, going through tortuous passages, up and down +little flights of steps, and entering chambers that had all the charm of +discoveries of hidden regions; loitering about, in short, in a labyrinth +calculated to put the head into a delightful confusion. Some of these +rooms contained their time-honored furniture, all in the best possible +repair, heavy, dark, polished; beds that had been marriage beds and dying +beds over and over again; chairs with carved backs; and all manner of old +world curiosities; family pictures, and samplers, and embroidery; +fragments of tapestry; an inlaid floor; everything having a story to it, +though, to say the truth, the possessor of these curiosities made but a +bungling piece of work in telling the legends connected with them. In one +or two instances Hammond corrected him. + +By and by they came to what had once been the principal bed-room of the +house; though its gloom, and some circumstances of family misfortune that +had happened long ago, had caused it to fall into disrepute in latter +times; and it was now called the Haunted Chamber, or the Ghost's Chamber. +The furniture of this room, however, was particularly rich in its antique +magnificence; and one of the principal objects was a great black cabinet +of ebony and ivory, such as may often be seen in old English houses, and +perhaps often in the palaces of Italy, in which country they perhaps +originated. This present cabinet was known to have been in the house as +long ago as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and how much longer neither +tradition nor record told. Hammond particularly directed Middleton's +attention to it. + +"There is nothing in this house," said he, "better worth your attention +than that cabinet.' Consider its plan; it represents a stately mansion, +with pillars, an entrance, with a lofty flight of steps, windows, and +everything perfect. Examine it well." + +There was such an emphasis in the old man's way of speaking that +Middleton turned suddenly round from all that he had been looking at, and +fixed his whole attention on the cabinet; and strangely enough, it seemed +to be the representative, in small, of something that he had seen in a +dream. To say the truth, if some cunning workman had been employed to +copy his idea of the old family mansion, on a scale of half an inch to a +yard, and in ebony and ivory instead of stone, he could not have produced +a closer imitation. Everything was there. + +"This is miraculous!" exclaimed he. "I do not understand it." + +"Your friend seems to be curious in these matters," said Mr. Eldredge +graciously. "Perhaps he is of some trade that makes this sort of +manufacture particularly interesting to him. You are quite at liberty, my +friend, to open the cabinet and inspect it as minutely as you wish. It is +an article that has a good deal to do with an obscure portion of our +family history. Look, here is the key, and the mode of opening the outer +door of the palace, as we may well call it." So saying, he threw open the +outer door, and disclosed within the mimic likeness of a stately entrance +hall, with a floor chequered of ebony and ivory. There were other doors +that seemed to open into apartments in the interior of the palace; but +when Mr. Eldredge threw them likewise wide, they proved to be drawers and +secret receptacles, where papers, jewels, money, anything that it was +desirable to store away secretly, might be kept. + +"You said, sir," said Middleton, thoughtfully, "that your family history +contained matter of interest in reference to this cabinet. Might I +inquire what those legends are?" + +"Why, yes," said Mr. Eldredge, musing a little. "I see no reason why I +should have any idle concealment about the matter, especially to a +foreigner and a man whom I am never likely to see again. You must know, +then, my friend, that there was once a time when this cabinet was known +to contain the fate of the estate and its possessors; and if it had held +all that it was supposed to hold, I should not now be the lord of +Pemberton Manor, nor the claimant of an ancient title. But my father, and +his father before him, and his father besides, have held the estate and +prospered on it; and I think we may fairly conclude now that the cabinet +contains nothing except what we see." + +And he rapidly again threw open one after another all the numerous +drawers and receptacles of the cabinet. + +"It is an interesting object," said Middleton, after looking very closely +and with great attention at it, being pressed thereto, indeed, by the +owner's good natured satisfaction in possessing this rare article of +vertu. "It is admirable work," repeated he, drawing back. "That mosaic +floor, especially, is done with an art and skill that I never saw +equalled." + +There was something strange and altered in Middleton's tones, that +attracted the notice of Mr. Eldredge. Looking at him, he saw that he had +grown pale, and had a rather bewildered air. + +"Is your friend ill?" said he. "He has not our English ruggedness of +look. He would have done better to take a sip of the cool tankard, and a +slice of the cold beef. He finds no such food and drink as that in his +own country, I warrant." + +"His color has come back," responded Hammond, briefly. "He does not need +any refreshment, I think, except, perhaps, the open air." + +In fact, Middleton, recovering himself, apologized to Mr. Hammond +[Eldredge?]; and as they had now seen nearly the whole of the house, the +two visitants took their leave, with many kindly offers on Mr. Eldredge's +part to permit the young man to view the cabinet whenever he wished. As +they went out of the house (it was by another door than that which gave +them entrance), Hammond laid his hand on Middleton's shoulder and pointed +to a stone on the threshold, on which he was about to set his foot. "Take +care!" said he. "It is the Bloody Footstep." + +Middleton looked down and saw something, indeed, very like the shape of a +footprint, with a hue very like that of blood. It was a twilight sort of +a place, beneath a porch, which was much overshadowed by trees and +shrubbery. It might have been blood; but he rather thought, in his wicked +skepticism, that it was a natural, reddish stain in the stone. He +measured his own foot, however, in the Bloody Footstep, and went on. + +_May 10th, Monday_.--This is the present aspect of the story: Middleton +is the descendant of a family long settled in the United States; his +ancestor having emigrated to New England with the Pilgrims; or, perhaps, +at a still earlier date, to Virginia with Raleigh's colonists. There had +been a family dissension,--a bitter hostility between two brothers in +England; on account, probably, of a love affair, the two both being +attached to the same lady. By the influence of the family on both sides, +the young lady had formed an engagement with the elder brother, although +her affections had settled on the younger. The marriage was about to take +place when the younger brother and the bride both disappeared, and were +never heard of with any certainty afterwards; but it was believed at the +time that he had been killed, and in proof of it a bloody footstep +remained on the threshold of the ancestral mansion. There were rumors, +afterwards, traditionally continued to the present day, that the younger +brother and the bride were seen, and together, in England; and that some +voyager across the sea had found them living together, husband and wife, +on the other side of the Atlantic. But the elder brother became a moody +and reserved man, never married, and left the inheritance to the children +of a third brother, who then became the representative of the family in +England; and the better authenticated story was that the second brother +had really been slain, and that the young lady (for all the parties may +have been Catholic) had gone to the Continent and taken the veil there. +Such was the family history as known or surmised in England, and in the +neighborhood of the manor-house, where the Bloody Footstep still remained +on the threshold; and the posterity of the third brother still held the +estate, and perhaps were claimants of an ancient baronage, long in +abeyance. + +Now, on the other side of the Atlantic, the second brother and the young +lady had really been married, and became the parents of a posterity, +still extant, of which the Middleton of the romance is the surviving +male. Perhaps he had changed his name, being so much tortured with the +evil and wrong that had sprung up in his family, so remorseful, so +outraged, that he wished to disconnect himself with all the past, and +begin life quite anew in a new world. But both he and his wife, though +happy in one another, had been remorsefully and sadly so; and, with such +feelings, they had never again communicated with their respective +families, nor had given their children the means of doing so. There must, +I think, have been something nearly approaching to guilt on the second +brother's part, and the bride should have broken a solemnly plighted +troth to the elder brother, breaking away from him when almost his wife. +The elder brother had been known to have been wounded at the time of the +second brother's disappearance; and it had been the surmise that he had +received this hurt in the personal conflict in which the latter was +slain. But in truth the second brother had stabbed him in the emergency +of being discovered in the act of escaping with the bride; and this was +what weighed upon his conscience throughout life in America. The American +family had prolonged itself through various fortunes, and all the ups and +downs incident to our institutions, until the present day. They had some +old family documents, which had been rather carelessly kept; but the +present representative, being an educated man, had looked over them, and +found one which interested him strongly. It was--what was it?--perhaps a +copy of a letter written by his ancestor on his death-bed, telling his +real name, and relating the above incidents. These incidents had come +down in a vague, wild way, traditionally, in the American family, forming +a wondrous and incredible legend, which Middleton had often laughed at, +yet been greatly interested in; and the discovery of this document seemed +to give a certain aspect of veracity and reality to the tradition. +Perhaps, however, the document only related to the change of name, and +made reference to certain evidences by which, if any descendant of the +family should deem it expedient, he might prove his hereditary identity. +The legend must be accounted for by having been gathered from the talk of +the first ancestor and his wife. There must be in existence, in the early +records of the colony, an authenticated statement of this change of name, +and satisfactory proofs that the American family, long known as +Middleton, were really a branch of the English family of Eldredge, or +whatever. And in the legend, though not in the written document, there +must be an account of a certain magnificent, almost palatial residence, +which Middleton shall presume to be the ancestral home; and in this +palace there shall be said to be a certain secret chamber, or receptacle, +where is reposited a document that shall complete the evidence of the +genealogical descent. + +Middleton is still a young man, but already a distinguished one in his +own country; he has entered early into politics, been sent to Congress, +but having met with some disappointments in his ambitious hopes, and +being disgusted with the fierceness of political contests in our country, +he has come abroad for recreation and rest. His imagination has dwelt +much, in his boyhood, on the legendary story of his family; and the +discovery of the document has revived these dreams. He determines to +search out the family mansion; and thus he arrives, bringing half of a +story, being the only part known in America, to join it on to the other +half, which is the only part known in England. In an introduction I must +do the best I can to state his side of the matter to the reader, he +having communicated it to me in a friendly way, at the Consulate; as many +people have communicated quite as wild pretensions to English +genealogies. + +He comes to the midland counties of England, where he conceives his +claims to lie, and seeks for his ancestral home; but there are +difficulties in the way of finding it, the estates having passed into the +female line, though still remaining in the blood. By and by, however, he +comes to an old town where there is one of the charitable institutions +bearing the name of his family, by whose beneficence it had indeed been +founded, in Queen Elizabeth's time. He of course becomes interested in +this Hospital; he finds it still going on, precisely as it did in the old +days; and all the character and life of the establishment must be +picturesquely described. Here he gets acquainted with an old man, an +inmate of the Hospital, who (if the uncontrollable fatality of the story +will permit) must have an active influence on the ensuing events. I +suppose him to have been an American, but to have fled his country and +taken refuge in England; he shall have been a man of the Nicholas Biddle +stamp, a mighty speculator, the ruin of whose schemes had crushed +hundreds of people, and Middleton's father among the rest. Here he had +quitted the activity of his mind, as well as he could, becoming a local +antiquary, etc., and he has made himself acquainted with the family +history of the Eldredges, knowing more about it than the members of the +family themselves do. He had known in America (from Middleton's father, +who was his friend) the legends preserved in this branch of the family, +and perhaps had been struck by the way in which they fit into the English +legends; at any rate, this strikes him when Middleton tells him his story +and shows him the document respecting the change of name. After various +conversations together (in which, however, the old man keeps the secret +of his own identity, and indeed acts as mysteriously as possible), they +go together to visit the ancestral mansion. Perhaps it should not be in +their first visit that the cabinet, representing the stately mansion, +shall be seen. But the Bloody Footstep may; which shall interest +Middleton much, both because Hammond has told him the English tradition +respecting it, and because too the legends of the American family made +some obscure allusions to his ancestor having left blood--a bloody +footstep--on the ancestral threshold. This is the point to which the +story has now been sketched out. Middleton finds a commonplace old +English country gentleman in possession of the estate, where his +forefathers have lived in peace for many generations; but there must be +circumstances contrived which shall cause Middleton's conduct to be +attended by no end of turmoil and trouble. The old Hospitaller, I +suppose, must be the malicious agent in this; and his malice must be +motived in some satisfactory way. The more serious question, what shall +be the nature of this tragic trouble, and how can it be brought about? + +_May 11th, Tuesday_.--How much better would it have been if this secret, +which seemed so golden, had remained in the obscurity in which two +hundred years had buried it! That deep, old, grass-grown grave being +opened, out from it streamed into the sunshine the old fatalities, the +old crimes, the old misfortunes, the sorrows, that seemed to have +departed from the family forever. But it was too late now to close it up; +he must follow out the thread that led him on,--the thread of fate, if +you choose to call it so; but rather the impulse of an evil will, a +stubborn self-interest, a desire for certain objects of ambition which +were preferred to what yet were recognized as real goods. Thus reasoned, +thus raved, Eldredge, as he considered the things that he had done, and +still intended to do; nor did these perceptions make the slightest +difference in his plans, nor in the activity with which he set about +their performance. For this purpose he sent for his lawyer, and consulted +him on the feasibility of the design which he had already communicated to +him respecting Middleton. But the man of law shook his head, and, though +deferentially, declined to have any active concern with the matter that +threatened to lead him beyond the bounds which he allowed himself, into a +seductive but perilous region. + +"My dear sir," said he, with some earnestness, "you had much better +content yourself with such assistance as I can professionally and +consistently give you. Believe [me], I am willing to do a lawyer's +utmost, and to do more would be as unsafe for the client as for the legal +adviser." + +Thus left without an agent and an instrument, this unfortunate man had to +meditate on what means he would use to gain his ends through his own +unassisted efforts. In the struggle with himself through which he had +passed, he had exhausted pretty much all the feelings that he had to +bestow on this matter; and now he was ready to take hold of almost any +temptation that might present itself, so long as it showed a good +prospect of success and a plausible chance of impunity. While he was thus +musing, he heard a female voice chanting some song, like a bird's among +the pleasant foliage of the trees, and soon he saw at the end of a +wood-walk Alice, with her basket on her arm, passing on toward the +village. She looked towards him as she passed, but made no pause nor yet +hastened her steps, not seeming to think it worth her while to be +influenced by him. He hurried forward and overtook her. + +So there was this poor old gentleman, his comfort utterly overthrown, +decking his white hair and wrinkled brow with the semblance of a coronet, +and only hoping that the reality might crown and bless him before he was +laid in the ancestral tomb. It was a real calamity; though by no means +the greatest that had been fished up out of the pit of domestic discord +that had been opened anew by the advent of the American; and by the use +which had been made of it by the cantankerous old man of the Hospital. +Middleton, as he looked at these evil consequences, sometimes regretted +that he had not listened to those forebodings which had warned him back +on the eve of his enterprise; yet such was the strange entanglement and +interest which had wound about him, that often he rejoiced that for once +he was engaged in something that absorbed him fully, and the zeal for the +development of which made him careless for the result in respect to its +good or evil, but only desirous that it show itself. As for Alice, she +seemed to skim lightly through all these matters, whether as a spirit of +good or ill he could not satisfactorily judge. He could not think her +wicked; yet her actions seemed unaccountable on the plea that she was +otherwise. It was another characteristic thread in the wild web of +madness that had spun itself about all the prominent characters of our +story. And when Middleton thought of these things, he felt as if it might +be his duty (supposing he had the power) to shovel the earth again into +the pit that he had been the means of opening; but also felt that, +whether duty or not, he would never perform it. + +For, you see, on the American's arrival he had found the estate in the +hands of one of the descendants; but some disclosures consequent on his +arrival had thrown it into the hands of another; or, at all events, had +seemed to make it apparent that justice required that it should be so +disposed of. No sooner was the discovery made than the possessor put on a +coronet; the new heir had commenced legal proceedings; the sons of the +respective branches had come to blows and blood; and the devil knows what +other devilish consequences had ensued. Besides this, there was much +falling in love at cross-purposes, and a general animosity of everybody +against everybody else, in proportion to the closeness of the natural +ties and their obligation to love one another. + +The moral, if any moral were to be gathered from these petty and wretched +circumstances, was, "Let the past alone: do not seek to renew it; press +on to higher and better things,--at all events, to other things; and be +assured that the right way can never be that which leads you back to the +identical shapes that you long ago left behind. Onward, onward, onward!" + +"What have you to do here?" said Alice. "Your lot is in another land. +You have seen the birthplace of your forefathers, and have gratified your +natural yearning for it; now return, and cast in your lot with your own +people, let it be what it will. I fully believe that it is such a lot as +the world has never yet seen, and that the faults, the weaknesses, the +errors, of your countrymen will vanish away like morning mists before the +rising sun. You can do nothing better than to go back." + +"This is strange advice, Alice," said Middleton, gazing at her and +smiling. "Go back, with such a fair prospect before me; that were strange +indeed! It is enough to keep me here, that here only I shall see +you,--enough to make me rejoice to have come, that I have found you +here." + +"Do not speak in this foolish way," cried Alice, panting. "I am giving +you the best advice, and speaking in the wisest way I am capable +of,--speaking on good grounds too,--and you turn me aside with a silly +compliment. I tell you that this is no comedy in which we are performers, +but a deep, sad tragedy; and that it depends most upon you whether or no +it shall be pressed to a catastrophe. Think well of it." + +"I have thought, Alice," responded the young man, "and I must let things +take their course; if, indeed, it depends at all upon me, which I see no +present reason to suppose. Yet I wish you would explain to me what you +mean." + +To take up the story from the point where we left it: by the aid of the +American's revelations, some light is thrown upon points of family +history, which induce the English possessor of the estate to suppose that +the time has come for asserting his claim to a title which has long been +in abeyance. He therefore sets about it, and engages in great expenses, +besides contracting the enmity of many persons, with whose interests he +interferes. A further complication is brought about by the secret +interference of the old Hospitaller, and Alice goes singing and dancing +through the whole, in a way that makes her seem like a beautiful devil, +though finally it will be recognized that she is an angel of light. +Middleton, half bewildered, can scarcely tell how much of this is due to +his own agency; how much is independent of him and would have happened +had he stayed on his own side of the water. By and by a further and +unexpected development presents the singular fact that he himself is the +heir to whatever claims there are, whether of property or rank,--all +centring in him as the representative of the eldest brother. On this +discovery there ensues a tragedy in the death of the present possessor of +the estate, who has staked everything upon the issue; and Middleton, +standing amid the ruin and desolation of which he has been the innocent +cause, resigns all the claims which he might now assert, and retires, arm +in arm with Alice, who has encouraged him to take this course, and to act +up to his character. The estate takes a passage into the female line, and +the old name becomes extinct, nor does Middleton seek to continue it by +resuming it in place of the one long ago assumed by his ancestor. Thus he +and his wife become the Adam and Eve of a new epoch, and the fitting +missionaries of a new social faith, of which there must be continual +hints through the book. + +A knot of characters may be introduced as gathering around Middleton, +comprising expatriated Americans of all sorts: the wandering printer who +came to me so often at the Consulate, who said he was a native of +Philadelphia, and could not go home in the thirty years that he had been +trying to do so, for lack of the money to pay his passage; the large +banker; the consul of Leeds; the woman asserting her claims to half +Liverpool; the gifted literary lady, maddened by Shakespeare, &c., &c. +The Yankee who had been driven insane by the Queen's notice, slight as it +was, of the photographs of his two children which he had sent her. I have +not yet struck the true key-note of this Romance, and until I do, and +unless I do, I shall write nothing but tediousness and nonsense. I do not +wish it to be a picture of life, but a Romance, grim, grotesque, quaint, +of which the Hospital might be the fitting scene. It might have so much +of the hues of life that the reader should sometimes think it was +intended for a picture, yet the atmosphere should be such as to excuse +all wildness. In the Introduction, I might disclaim all intention to draw +a real picture, but say that the continual meetings I had with Americans +bent on such errands had suggested this wild story. The descriptions of +scenery, &c., and of the Hospital, might be correct, but there should be +a tinge of the grotesque given to all the characters and events. The +tragic and the gentler pathetic need not be excluded by the tone and +treatment. If I could but write one central scene in this vein, all the +rest of the Romance would readily arrange itself around that nucleus. The +begging-girl would be another American character; the actress too; the +caravan people. It must be humorous work, or nothing. + + + + +III. + +_May 12th, Wednesday_.--Middleton found his abode here becoming daily +more interesting; and he sometimes thought that it was the sympathies +with the place and people, buried under the supergrowth of so many ages, +but now coming forth with the life and vigor of a fountain, that, long +hidden beneath earth and ruins, gushes out singing into the sunshine, as +soon as these are removed. He wandered about the neighborhood with +insatiable interest; sometimes, and often, lying on a hill-side and +gazing at the gray tower of the church; sometimes coming into the village +clustered round that same church, and looking at the old timber and +plaster houses, the same, except that the thatch had probably been often +renewed, that they used to be in his ancestor's days. In those old +cottages still dwelt the families, the ----s, the Prices, the Hopnorts, +the Copleys, that had dwelt there when America was a scattered progeny of +infant colonies; and in the churchyard were the graves of all the +generations since--including the dust of those who had seen his +ancestor's face before his departure. + +The graves, outside the church walls indeed, bore no marks of this +antiquity; for it seems not to have been an early practice in England to +put stones over such graves; and where it has been done, the climate +causes the inscriptions soon to become obliterated and unintelligible. +But, within the church, there were rich words of the personages and times +with whom Middleton's musings held so much converse. + +But one of his greatest employments and pastimes was to ramble through +the grounds of Smithell's, making himself as well acquainted with its +wood paths, its glens, its woods, its venerable trees, as if he had been +bred up there from infancy. Some of those old oaks his ancestor might +have been acquainted with, while they were already sturdy and well-grown +trees; might have climbed them in boyhood; might have mused beneath them +as a lover; might have flung himself at full length on the turf beneath +them, in the bitter anguish that must have preceded his departure forever +from the home of his forefathers. In order to secure an uninterrupted +enjoyment of his rambles here, Middleton had secured the good-will of the +game-keepers and other underlings whom he was likely to meet about the +grounds, by giving them a shilling or a half-crown; and he was now free +to wander where he would, with only the advice rather than the caution, +to keep out of the way of their old master,--for there might be trouble, +if he should meet a stranger on the grounds, in any of his tantrums. But, +in fact, Mr. Eldredge was not much in the habit of walking about the +grounds; and there were hours of every day, during which it was +altogether improbable that he would have emerged from his own apartments +in the manor-house. These were the hours, therefore, when Middleton most +frequented the estate; although, to say the truth, he would gladly have +so timed his visits as to meet and form an acquaintance with the lonely +lord of this beautiful property, his own kinsman, though with so many +ages of dark oblivion between. For Middleton had not that feeling of +infinite distance in the relationship, which he would have had if his +branch of the family had continued in England, and had not intermarried +with the other branch, through such a long waste of years; he rather felt +as if he were the original emigrant who, long resident on a foreign +shore, had now returned, with a heart brimful of tenderness, to revisit +the scenes of his youth, and renew his tender relations with those who +shared his own blood. + +There was not, however, much in what he heard of the character of the +present possessor of the estate--or indeed in the strong family +characteristic that had become hereditary--to encourage him to attempt +any advances. It is very probable that the religion of Mr. Eldredge, as a +Catholic, may have excited a prejudice against him, as it certainly had +insulated the family, in a great degree, from the sympathies of the +neighborhood. Mr. Eldredge, moreover, had resided long on the Continent; +long in Italy; and had come back with habits that little accorded with +those of the gentry of the neighborhood; so that, in fact, he was almost +as much of a stranger, and perhaps quite as little of a real Englishman, +as Middleton himself. Be that as it might, Middleton, when he sought to +learn something about him, heard the strangest stories of his habits of +life, of his temper, and of his employments, from the people with whom he +conversed. The old legend, turning upon the monomania of the family, was +revived in full force in reference to this poor gentleman; and many a +time Middleton's interlocutors shook their wise heads, saying with a +knowing look and under their breath that the old gentleman was looking +for the track of the Bloody Footstep. They fabled--or said, for it might +not have been a false story--that every descendant of this house had a +certain portion of his life, during which he sought the track of that +footstep which was left on the threshold of the mansion; that he sought +it far and wide, over every foot of the estate; not only on the estate, +but throughout the neighborhood; not only in the neighborhood but all +over England; not only throughout England but all about the world. It was +the belief of the neighborhood--at least of some old men and women in +it--that the long period of Mr. Eldredge's absence from England had been +spent in the search for some trace of those departing footsteps that had +never returned. It is very possible--probable, indeed--that there may +have been some ground for this remarkable legend; not that it is to be +credited that the family of Eldredge, being reckoned among sane men, +would seriously have sought, years and generations after the fact, for +the first track of those bloody footsteps which the first rain of drippy +England must have washed away; to say nothing of the leaves that had +fallen and the growth and decay of so many seasons, that covered all +traces of them since. But nothing is more probable than that the +continual recurrence to the family genealogy, which had been necessitated +by the matter of the dormant peerage, had caused the Eldredges, from +father to son, to keep alive an interest in that ancestor who had +disappeared, and who had been supposed to carry some of the most +important family papers with him. But yet it gave Middleton a strange +thrill of pleasure, that had something fearful in it, to think that all +through these ages he had been waited for, sought for, anxiously +expected, as it were; it seemed as if the very ghosts of his kindred, a +long shadowy line, held forth their dim arms to welcome him; a line +stretching back to the ghosts of those who had flourished in the old, old +times; the doubletted and beruffled knightly shades of Queen Elizabeth's +time; a long line, stretching from the mediaeval ages, and their +duskiness, downward, downward, with only one vacant space, that of him +who had left the Bloody Footstep. There was an inexpressible pleasure +(airy and evanescent, gone in a moment if he dwelt upon it too +thoughtfully, but very sweet) to Middleton's imagination, in this idea. +When he reflected, however, that his revelations, if they had any effect +at all, might serve only to quench the hopes of these long expectants, it +of course made him hesitate to declare himself. + +One afternoon, when he was in the midst of musings such as this, he saw +at a distance through the park, in the direction of the manor-house, a +person who seemed to be walking slowly and seeking for something upon the +ground. He was a long way off when Middleton first perceived him; and +there were two clumps of trees and underbrush, with interspersed tracts +of sunny lawn, between them. The person, whoever he was, kept on, and +plunged into the first clump of shrubbery, still keeping his eyes on the +ground, as if intensely searching for something. When he emerged from the +concealment of the first clump of shrubbery, Middleton saw that he was a +tall, thin person, in a dark dress; and this was the chief observation +that the distance enabled him to make, as the figure kept slowly onward, +in a somewhat wavering line, and plunged into the second clump of +shrubbery. From that, too, he emerged; and soon appeared to be a thin +elderly figure, of a dark man with gray hair, bent, as it seemed to +Middleton, with infirmity, for his figure still stooped even in the +intervals when he did not appear to be tracking the ground. But Middleton +could not but be surprised at the singular appearance the figure had of +setting its foot, at every step, just where a previous footstep had been +made, as if he wanted to measure his whole pathway in the track of +somebody who had recently gone over the ground in advance of him. +Middleton was sitting at the foot of an oak; and he began to feel some +awkwardness in the consideration of what he would do if Mr. Eldredge--for +he could not doubt that it was he--were to be led just to this spot, in +pursuit of his singular occupation. And even so it proved. + +Middleton could not feel it manly to fly and hide himself, like a guilty +thing; and indeed the hospitality of the English country gentleman in +many cases gives the neighborhood and the stranger a certain degree of +freedom in the use of the broad expanse of ground in which they and their +forefathers have loved to sequester their residences. The figure kept on, +showing more and more distinctly the tall, meagre, not unvenerable +features of a gentleman in the decline of life, apparently in ill-health; +with a dark face, that might once have been full of energy, but now +seemed enfeebled by time, passion, and perhaps sorrow. But it was strange +to see the earnestness with which he looked on the ground, and the +accuracy with which he at last set his foot, apparently adjusting it +exactly to some footprint before him; and Middleton doubted not that, +having studied and re-studied the family records and the judicial +examinations which described exactly the track that was seen the day +after the memorable disappearance of his ancestor, Mr. Eldredge was now, +in some freak, or for some purpose best known to himself, practically +following it out. And follow it out he did, until at last he lifted up +his eyes, muttering to himself: "At this point the footsteps wholly +disappear." + +Lifting his eyes, as we have said, while thus regretfully and +despairingly muttering these words, he saw Middleton against the oak, +within three paces of him. + +_May 13th, Thursday_.--Mr. Eldredge (for it was he) first kept his eyes +fixed full on Middleton's face, with an expression as if he saw him not; +but gradually--slowly, at first--he seemed to become aware of his +presence; then, with a sudden flush, he took in the idea that he was +encountered by a stranger in his secret mood. A flush of anger or shame, +perhaps both, reddened over his face; his eyes gleamed; and he spoke +hastily and roughly. + +"Who are you?" he said. "How come you here? I allow no intruders in my +park. Begone, fellow!" + +"Really, sir, I did not mean to intrude upon you," said Middleton +blandly. "I am aware that I owe you an apology; but the beauties of your +park must plead my excuse; and the constant kindness of [the] English +gentleman, which admits a stranger to the privilege of enjoying so much +of the beauty in which he himself dwells as the stranger's taste permits +him to enjoy." + +"An artist, perhaps," said Mr. Eldredge, somewhat less uncourteously. "I +am told that they love to come here and sketch those old oaks and their +vistas, and the old mansion yonder. But you are an intrusive set, you +artists, and think that a pencil and a sheet of paper may be your +passport anywhere. You are mistaken, sir. My park is not open to +strangers." + +"I am sorry, then, to have intruded upon you," said Middleton, still in +good humor; for in truth he felt a sort of kindness, a sentiment, +ridiculous as it may appear, of kindred towards the old gentleman, and +besides was not unwilling in any way to prolong a conversation in which +he found a singular interest. "I am sorry, especially as I have not even +the excuse you kindly suggest for me. I am not an artist, only an +American, who have strayed hither to enjoy this gentle, cultivated, tamed +nature which I find in English parks, so contrasting with the wild, +rugged nature of my native land. I beg your pardon, and will retire." + +"An American," repeated Mr. Eldredge, looking curiously at him. "Ah, you +are wild men in that country, I suppose, and cannot conceive that an +English gentleman encloses his grounds--or that his ancestors have done +so before him--for his own pleasure and convenience, and does not +calculate on having it infringed upon by everybody, like your own +forests, as you say. It is a curious country, that of yours; and in Italy +I have seen curious people from it." + +"True, sir," said Middleton, smiling. "We send queer specimens abroad; +but Englishmen should consider that we spring from them, and that we +present after all only a picture of their own characteristics, a little +varied by climate and in situation." + +Mr. Eldredge looked at him with a certain kind of interest, and it seemed +to Middleton that he was not unwilling to continue the conversation, if a +fair way to do so could only be offered to him. A secluded man often +grasps at any opportunity of communicating with his kind, when it is +casually offered to him, and for the nonce is surprisingly familiar, +running out towards his chance-companion with the gush of a dammed-up +torrent, suddenly unlocked. As Middleton made a motion to retire, he put +out his hand with an air of authority to restrain him. + +"Stay," said he. "Now that you are here, the mischief is done, and you +cannot repair it by hastening away. You have interrupted me in my mood of +thought, and must pay the penalty by suggesting other thoughts. I am a +lonely man here, having spent most of my life abroad, and am separated +from my neighbors by various circumstances. You seem to be an intelligent +man. I should like to ask you a few questions about your country." + +He looked at Middleton as he spoke, and seemed to be considering in what +rank of life he should place him; his dress being such as suited a humble +rank. He seemed not to have come to any very certain decision on this +point. + +"I remember," said he, "you have no distinctions of rank in your country; +a convenient thing enough, in some respects. When there are no gentlemen, +all are gentlemen. So let it be. You speak of being Englishmen; and it +has often occurred to me that Englishmen have left this country and been +much missed and sought after, who might perhaps be sought there +successfully." + +"It is certainly so, Mr. Eldredge," said Middleton, lifting his eyes to +his face as he spoke, and then turning them aside. "Many footsteps, the +track of which is lost in England, might be found reappearing on the +other side of the Atlantic; ay, though it be hundreds of years since the +track was lost here." + +Middleton, though he had refrained from looking full at Mr. Eldredge as +he spoke, was conscious that he gave a great start; and he remained +silent for a moment or two, and when he spoke there was the tremor in his +voice of a nerve that had been struck and still vibrated. + +"That is a singular idea of yours," he at length said; "not singular in +itself, but strangely coincident with something that happened to be +occupying my mind. Have you ever heard any such instances as you speak +of?" + +"Yes," replied Middleton. "I have had pointed out to me the rightful heir +to a Scottish earldom, in the person of an American farmer, in his +shirt-sleeves. There are many Americans who believe themselves to hold +similar claims. And I have known one family, at least, who had in their +possession, and had had for two centuries, a secret that might have been +worth wealth and honors if known in England. Indeed, being kindred as we +are, it cannot but be the case." + +Mr. Eldredge appeared to be much struck by these last words, and gazed +wistfully, almost wildly, at Middleton, as if debating with himself +whether to say more. He made a step or two aside; then returned abruptly, +and spoke. + +"Can you tell me the name of the family in which this secret was kept?" +said he; "and the nature of the secret?" + +"The nature of the secret," said Middleton, smiling, "was not likely to +be extended to any one out of the family. The name borne by the family +was Middleton. There is no member of it, so far as I am aware, at this +moment remaining in America." + +"And has the secret died with them?" asked Mr. Eldredge. + +"They communicated it to none," said Middleton. + +"It is a pity! It was a villainous wrong," said Mr. Eldredge. "And so, it +may be, some ancient line, in the old country, is defrauded of its rights +for want of what might have been obtained from this Yankee, whose +democracy has demoralized them to the perception of what is due to the +antiquity of descent, and of the bounden duty that there is, in all +ranks, to keep up the honor of a family that has had potence enough to +preserve itself in distinction for a thousand years." + +"Yes," said Middleton, quietly, "we have sympathy with what is strong and +vivacious to-day; none with what was so yesterday." + +The remark seemed not to please Mr. Eldredge; he frowned, and muttered +something to himself; but recovering himself, addressed Middleton with +more courtesy than at the commencement of their interview; and, with this +graciousness, his face and manner grew very agreeable, almost +fascinating: he [was] still haughty, however. + +"Well, sir," said he, "I am not sorry to have met you. I am a solitary +man, as I have said, and a little communication with a stranger is a +refreshment, which I enjoy seldom enough to be sensible of it. Pray, are +you staying hereabouts?" + +Middleton signified to him that he might probably spend some little time +in the village. + +"Then, during your stay," said Mr. Eldredge, "make free use of the walks +in these grounds; and though it is not probable that you will meet me in +them again, you need apprehend no second questioning of your right to be +here. My house has many points of curiosity that may be of interest to a +stranger from a new country. Perhaps you have heard of some of them." + +"I have heard some wild legend about a Bloody Footstep," answered +Middleton; "indeed, I think I remember hearing something about it in my +own country; and having a fanciful sort of interest in such things, I +took advantage of the hospitable custom which opens the doors of curious +old houses to strangers, to go to see it. It seemed to me, I confess, +only a natural stain in the old stone that forms the doorstep." + +"There, sir," said Mr. Eldredge, "let me say that you came to a very +foolish conclusion; and so, good-by, sir." + +And without further ceremony, he cast an angry glance at Middleton, who +perceived that the old gentleman reckoned the Bloody Footstep among his +ancestral honors, and would probably have parted with his claim to the +peerage almost as soon as have given up the legend. + +Present aspect of the story: Middleton on his arrival becomes acquainted +with the old Hospitaller, and is familiarized at the Hospital. He pays a +visit in his company to the manor-house, but merely glimpses at its +remarkable things, at this visit, among others at the old cabinet, which +does not, at first view, strike him very strongly. But, on musing about +his visit afterwards, he finds the recollection of the cabinet strangely +identifying itself with his previous imaginary picture of the palatial +mansion; so that at last he begins to conceive the mistake he has made. +At this first [visit], he does not have a personal interview with the +possessor of the estate; but, as the Hospitaller and himself go from room +to room, he finds that the owner is preceding them, shyly flitting like a +ghost, so as to avoid them. Then there is a chapter about the character +of the Eldredge of the day, a Catholic, a morbid, shy man, representing +all the peculiarities of an old family, and generally thought to be +insane. And then comes the interview between him and Middleton, where the +latter excites such an interest that he dwells upon the old man's mind, +and the latter probably takes pains to obtain further intercourse with +him, and perhaps invites him to dinner, and [to] spend a night in his +house. If so, this second meeting must lead to the examination of the +cabinet, and the discovery of some family documents in it. Perhaps the +cabinet may be in Middleton's sleeping-chamber, and he examines it by +himself, before going to bed; and finds out a secret which will perplex +him how to deal with it. + +_May 14th, Friday_.--We have spoken several times already of a young +girl, who was seen at this period about the little antiquated village of +Smithells; a girl in manners and in aspect unlike those of the cottages +amid which she dwelt. Middleton had now so often met her, and in solitary +places, that an acquaintance had inevitably established itself between +them. He had ascertained that she had lodgings at a farm-house near by, +and that she was connected in some way with the old Hospitaller, whose +acquaintance had proved of such interest to him; but more than this he +could not learn either from her or others. But he was greatly attracted +and interested by the free spirit and fearlessness of this young woman; +nor could he conceive where, in staid and formal England, she had grown +up to be such as she was, so without manner, so without art, yet so +capable of doing and thinking for herself. She had no reserve, +apparently, yet never seemed to sin against decorum; it never appeared to +restrain her that anything she might wish to do was contrary to custom; +she had nothing of what could be called shyness in her intercourse with +him; and yet he was conscious of an unapproachableness in Alice. Often, +in the old man's presence, she mingled in the conversation that went on +between him and Middleton, and with an acuteness that betokened a sphere +of thought much beyond what could be customary with young English +maidens; and Middleton was often reminded of the theories of those in our +own country, who believe that the amelioration of society depends greatly +on the part that women shall hereafter take, according to their +individual capacity, in all the various pursuits of life. These deeper +thoughts, these higher qualities, surprised him as they showed +themselves, whenever occasion called them forth, under the light, gay, +and frivolous exterior which she had at first seemed to present. +Middleton often amused himself with surmises in what rank of life Alice +could have been bred, being so free of all conventional rule, yet so nice +and delicate in her perception of the true proprieties that she never +shocked him. + +One morning, when they had met in one of Middleton's rambles about the +neighborhood, they began to talk of America; and Middleton described to +Alice the stir that was being made in behalf of women's rights; and he +said that whatever cause was generous and disinterested always, in that +country, derived much of its power from the sympathy of women, and that +the advocates of every such cause were in favor of yielding the whole +field of human effort to be shared with women. + +"I have been surprised," said he, "in the little I have seen and heard of +English women, to discover what a difference there is between them and my +own countrywomen." + +"I have heard," said Alice, with a smile, "that your countrywomen are a +far more delicate and fragile race than Englishwomen; pale, feeble +hot-house plants, unfit for the wear and tear of life, without energy of +character, or any slightest degree of physical strength to base it upon. +If, now, you had these large-framed Englishwomen, you might, I should +imagine, with better hopes, set about changing the system of society, so +as to allow them to struggle in the strife of politics, or any other +strife, hand to hand, or side by side with men." + +"If any countryman of mine has said this of our women," exclaimed +Middleton, indignantly, "he is a slanderous villain, unworthy to have +been borne by an American mother; if an Englishman has said it--as I know +many of them have and do--let it pass as one of the many prejudices only +half believed, with which they strive to console themselves for the +inevitable sense that the American race is destined to higher purposes +than their own. But pardon me; I forgot that I was speaking to an +Englishwoman, for indeed you do not remind me of them. But, I assure you, +the world has not seen such women as make up, I had almost said the mass +of womanhood in my own country; slight in aspect, slender in frame, as +you suggest, but yet capable of bringing forth stalwart men; they +themselves being of inexhaustible courage, patience, energy; soft and +tender, deep of heart, but high of purpose. Gentle, refined, but bold in +every good cause." + +"Oh, yea have said quite enough," replied Alice, who had seemed ready to +laugh outright, during this encomium. "I think I see one of these +paragons now, in a Bloomer, I think you call it, swaggering along with a +Bowie knife at her girdle, smoking a cigar, no doubt, and tippling +sherry-cobblers and mint-juleps. It must be a pleasant life." + +"I should think you, at least, might form a more just idea of what women +become," said Middleton, considerably piqued, "in a country where the +rules of conventionalism are somewhat relaxed; where woman, whatever you +may think, is far more profoundly educated than in England, where a few +ill-taught accomplishments, a little geography, a catechism of science, +make up the sum, under the superintendence of a governess; the mind being +kept entirely inert as to any capacity for thought. They are cowards, +except within certain rules and forms; they spend a life of old +proprieties, and die, and if their souls do not die with them, it is +Heaven's mercy." + +Alice did not appear in the least moved to anger, though considerably to +mirth, by this description of the character of English females. She +laughed as she replied, "I see there is little danger of your leaving +your heart in England." She added more seriously, "And permit me to say, +I trust, Mr. Middleton, that you remain as much American in other +respects as in your preference of your own race of women. The American +who comes hither and persuades himself that he is one with Englishmen, it +seems to me, makes a great mistake; at least, if he is correct in such an +idea he is not worthy of his own country, and the high development that +awaits it. There is much that is seductive in our life, but I think it is +not upon the higher impulses of our nature that such seductions act. I +should think ill of the American who, for any causes of ambition,--any +hope of wealth or rank,--or even for the sake of any of those old, +delightful ideas of the past, the associations of ancestry, the +loveliness of an age-long home,--the old poetry and romance that haunt +these ancient villages and estates of England,--would give up the chance +of acting upon the unmoulded future of America." + +"And you, an Englishwoman, speak thus!" exclaimed Middleton. "You perhaps +speak truly; and it may be that your words go to a point where they are +especially applicable at this moment. But where have you learned these +ideas? And how is it that you know how to awake these sympathies, that +have slept perhaps too long?" + +"Think only if what I have said be truth," replied Alice. "It is no +matter who or what I am that speak it." + +"Do you speak," asked Middleton, from a sudden impulse, "with any secret +knowledge affecting a matter now in my mind?" + +Alice shook her head, as she turned away; but Middleton could not +determine whether the gesture was meant as a negative to his question, or +merely as declining to answer it. She left him; and he found himself +strangely disturbed with thoughts of his own country, of the life that he +ought to be leading there, the struggles in which he ought to be taking +part; and, with these motives in his impressible mind, the motives that +had hitherto kept him in England seemed unworthy to influence him. + +_May 15th, Saturday_.--It was not long after Middleton's meeting with Mr. +Eldredge in the park of Smithells, that he received--what it is precisely +the most common thing to receive--an invitation to dine at the +manor-house and spend the night. The note was written with much +appearance of cordiality, as well as in a respectful style; and Middleton +could not but perceive that Mr. Eldredge must have been making some +inquiries as to his social status, in order to feel him justified in +putting him on this footing of equality. He had no hesitation in +accepting the invitation, and on the appointed day was received in the +old house of his forefathers as a guest. The owner met him, not quite on +the frank and friendly footing expressed in his note, but still with a +perfect and polished courtesy, which however could not hide from the +sensitive Middleton a certain coldness, a something that seemed to him +Italian rather than English; a symbol of a condition of things between +them, undecided, suspicious, doubtful very likely. Middleton's own manner +corresponded to that of his host, and they made few advances towards more +intimate acquaintance. Middleton was however recompensed for his host's +unapproachableness by the society of his daughter, a young lady born +indeed in Italy, but who had been educated in a Catholic family in +England; so that here was another relation--the first female one--to whom +he had been introduced. She was a quiet, shy, undemonstrative young +woman, with a fine bloom and other charms which she kept as much in the +background as possible, with maiden reserve. (There is a Catholic priest +at table.) + +Mr. Eldredge talked chiefly, during dinner, of art, with which his long +residence in Italy had made him thoroughly acquainted, and for which he +seemed to have a genuine taste and enjoyment. It was a subject on which +Middleton knew little; but he felt the interest in it which appears to be +not uncharacteristic of Americans, among the earliest of their +developments of cultivation; nor had he failed to use such few +opportunities as the English public or private galleries offered him to +acquire the rudiments of a taste. He was surprised at the depth of some +of Mr. Eldredge's remarks on the topics thus brought up, and at the +sensibility which appeared to be disclosed by his delicate appreciation +of some of the excellences of those great masters who wrote their epics, +their tender sonnets, or their simple ballads, upon canvas; and Middleton +conceived a respect for him which he had not hitherto felt, and which +possibly Mr. Eldredge did not quite deserve. Taste seems to be a +department of moral sense; and yet it is so little identical with it, and +so little implies conscience, that some of the worst men in the world +have been the most refined. + +After Miss Eldredge had retired, the host appeared to desire to make the +dinner a little more social than it had hitherto been; he called for a +peculiar species of wine from Southern Italy, which he said was the most +delicious production of the grape, and had very seldom, if ever before +been imported pure into England. A delicious perfume came from the +cradled bottle, and bore an ethereal, evanescent testimony to the truth +of what he said: and the taste, though too delicate for wine quaffed in +England, was nevertheless delicious, when minutely dwelt upon. + +"It gives me pleasure to drink your health, Mr. Middleton," said the +host. "We might well meet as friends in England, for I am hardly more an +Englishman than yourself; bred up, as I have been, in Italy, and coming +back hither at my age, unaccustomed to the manners of the country, with +few friends, and insulated from society by a faith which makes most +people regard me as an enemy. I seldom welcome people here, Mr. +Middleton; but you are welcome." + +"I thank you, Mr. Eldredge, and may fairly say that the circumstances to +which you allude make me accept your hospitality with a warmer feeling +than I otherwise might. Strangers, meeting in a strange land, have a sort +of tie in their foreignness to those around them, though there be no +positive relation between themselves." + +"We are friends, then?" said Mr. Eldredge, looking keenly at Middleton, +as if to discover exactly how much was meant by the compact. He +continued, "You know, I suppose, Mr. Middleton, the situation in which I +find myself on returning to my hereditary estate, which has devolved to +me somewhat unexpectedly by the death of a younger man than myself. There +is an old flaw here, as perhaps you have been told, which keeps me out of +a property long kept in the guardianship of the crown, and of a barony, +one of the oldest in England. There is an idea--a tradition--a legend, +founded, however, on evidence of some weight, that there is still in +existence the possibility of finding the proof which we need, to confirm +our cause." + +"I am most happy to hear it, Mr. Eldredge," said Middleton. + +"But," continued his host, "I am bound to remember and to consider that +for several generations there seems to have been the same idea, and the +same expectation; whereas nothing has ever come of it. Now, among other +suppositions--perhaps wild ones--it has occurred to me that this +testimony, the desirable proof, may exist on your side of the Atlantic; +for it has long enough been sought here in vain." + +"As I said in our meeting in your park, Mr. Eldredge," replied Middleton, +"such a suggestion may very possibly be true; yet let me point out that +the long lapse of years, and the continual melting and dissolving of +family institutions--the consequent scattering of family documents, and +the annihilation of traditions from memory, all conspire against its +probability." + +"And yet, Mr. Middleton," said his host, "when we talked together at our +first singular interview, you made use of an expression--of one +remarkable phrase--which dwelt upon my memory and now recurs to it." + +"And what was that, Mr. Eldredge?" asked Middleton. + +"You spoke," replied his host, "of the Bloody Footstep reappearing on the +threshold of the old palace of S------. Now where, let me ask you, did +you ever hear this strange name, which you then spoke, and which I have +since spoken?" + +"From my father's lips, when a child, in America," responded Middleton. + +"It is very strange," said Mr. Eldredge, in a hasty, dissatisfied tone. +"I do not see my way through this." + +_May 16, Sunday._--Middleton had been put into a chamber in the oldest +part of the house, the furniture of which was of antique splendor, well +befitting to have come down for ages, well befitting the hospitality +shown to noble and even royal guests. It was the same room in which, at +his first visit to the house, Middleton's attention had been drawn to the +cabinet, which he had subsequently remembered as the palatial residence +in which he had harbored so many dreams. It still stood in the chamber, +making the principal object in it, indeed; and when Middleton was left +alone, he contemplated it not without a certain awe, which at the same +time he felt to be ridiculous. He advanced towards it, and stood +contemplating the mimic facade, wondering at the singular fact of this +piece of furniture having been preserved in traditionary history, when so +much had been forgotten,--when even the features and architectural +characteristics of the mansion in which it was merely a piece of +furniture had been forgotten. And, as he gazed at it, he half thought +himself an actor in a fairy portal [tale?]; and would not have been +surprised--at least, he would have taken it with the composure of a +dream--if the mimic portal had unclosed, and a form of pigmy majesty had +appeared within, beckoning him to enter and find the revelation of what +had so long perplexed him. The key of the cabinet was in the lock, and +knowing that it was not now the receptacle of anything in the shape of +family papers, he threw it open; and there appeared the mosaic floor, the +representation of a stately, pillared hall, with the doors on either +side, opening, as would seem, into various apartments. And here should +have stood the visionary figures of his ancestry, waiting to welcome the +descendant of their race, who had so long delayed his coming. After +looking and musing a considerable time,--even till the old clock from the +turret of the house told twelve, he turned away with a sigh, and went to +bed. The wind moaned through the ancestral trees; the old house creaked +as with ghostly footsteps; the curtains of his bed seemed to waver. He +was now at home; yes, he had found his home, and was sheltered at last +under the ancestral roof after all those long, long wanderings,--after +the little log-built hut of the early settlement, after the straight roof +of the American house, after all the many roofs of two hundred years, +here he was at last under the one which he had left, on that fatal night, +when the Bloody Footstep was so mysteriously impressed on the threshold. +As he drew nearer and nearer towards sleep, it seemed more and more to +him as if he were the very individual--the self-same one throughout the +whole--who had done, seen, suffered, all these long toils and +vicissitudes, and were now come back to rest, and found his weariness so +great that there could be no rest. + +Nevertheless, he did sleep; and it may be that his dreams went on, and +grew vivid, and perhaps became truer in proportion to their vividness. +When he awoke he had a perception, an intuition, that he had been +dreaming about the cabinet, which, in his sleeping imagination, had again +assumed the magnitude and proportions of a stately mansion, even as he +had seen it afar from the other side of the Atlantic. Some dim +associations remained lingering behind, the dying shadows of very vivid +ones which had just filled his mind; but as he looked at the cabinet, +there was some idea that still seemed to come so near his consciousness +that, every moment, he felt on the point of grasping it. During the +process of dressing, he still kept his eyes turned involuntarily towards +the cabinet, and at last he approached it, and looked within the mimic +portal, still endeavoring to recollect what it was that he had heard or +dreamed about it,--what half obliterated remembrance from childhood, what +fragmentary last night's dream it was, that thus haunted him. It must +have been some association of one or the other nature that led him to +press his finger on one particular square of the mosaic pavement; and as +he did so, the thin plate of polished marble slipt aside. It disclosed, +indeed, no hollow receptacle, but only another leaf of marble, in the +midst of which appeared to be a key-hole: to this Middleton applied the +little antique key to which we have several times alluded, and found it +fit precisely. The instant it was turned, the whole mimic floor of the +hall rose, by the action of a secret spring, and discovered a shallow +recess beneath. Middleton looked eagerly in, and saw that it contained +documents, with antique seals of wax appended; he took but one glance at +them, and closed the receptacle as it was before. + +Why did he do so? He felt that there would be a meanness and wrong in +inspecting these family papers, coming to the knowledge of them, as he +had, through the opportunities offered by the hospitality of the owner of +the estate; nor, on the other hand, did he feel such confidence in his +host, as to make him willing to trust these papers in his hands, with any +certainty that they would be put to an honorable use. The case was one +demanding consideration, and he put a strong curb upon his impatient +curiosity, conscious that, at all events, his first impulsive feeling was +that he ought not to examine these papers without the presence of his +host or some other authorized witness. Had he exercised any casuistry +about the point, however, he might have argued that these papers, +according to all appearance, dated from a period to which his own +hereditary claims ascended, and to circumstances in which his own +rightful interest was as strong as that of Mr. Eldredge. But he had acted +on his first impulse, closed the secret receptacle, and hastening his +toilet descended from his room; and, it being still too early for +breakfast, resolved to ramble about the immediate vicinity of the house. +As he passed the little chapel, he heard within the voice of the priest +performing mass, and felt how strange was this sign of mediaeval religion +and foreign manners in homely England. + +As the story looks now: Eldredge, bred, and perhaps born, in Italy, and a +Catholic, with views to the church before he inherited the estate, has +not the English moral sense and simple honor; can scarcely be called an +Englishman at all. Dark suspicions of past crime, and of the possibility +of future crime, may be thrown around him; an atmosphere of doubt shall +envelop him, though, as regards manners, he may be highly refined. +Middleton shall find in the house a priest; and at his first visit he +shall have seen a small chapel, adorned with the richness, as to marbles, +pictures, and frescoes, of those that we see in the churches at Rome; and +here the Catholic forms of worship shall be kept up. Eldredge shall have +had an Italian mother, and shall have the personal characteristics of an +Italian. There shall be something sinister about him, the more apparent +when Middleton's visit draws to a conclusion; and the latter shall feel +convinced that they part in enmity, so far as Eldredge is concerned. He +shall not speak of his discovery in the cabinet. + +_May 17th, Monday_.--Unquestionably, the appointment of Middleton as +minister to one of the minor Continental courts must take place in the +interval between Eldredge's meeting him in the park, and his inviting him +to his house. After Middleton's appointment, the two encounter each other +at the Mayor's dinner in St. Mary's Hall, and Eldredge, startled at +meeting the vagrant, as he deemed him, under such a character, remembers +the hints of some secret knowledge of the family history, which Middleton +had thrown out. He endeavors, both in person and by the priest, to make +out what Middleton really is, and what he knows, and what he intends; but +Middleton is on his guard, yet cannot help arousing Eldredge's suspicions +that he has views upon the estate and title. It is possible, too, that +Middleton may have come to the knowledge--may have had some knowledge--of +some shameful or criminal fact connected with Mr. Eldredge's life on the +Continent; the old Hospitaller, possibly, may have told him this, from +some secret malignity hereafter to be accounted for. Supposing Eldredge +to attempt his murder, by poison for instance, bringing back into modern +life his old hereditary Italian plots; and into English life a sort of +crime which does not belong to it,--which did not, at least, although at +this very period there have been fresh and numerous instances of it. +There might be a scene in which Middleton and Eldredge come to a fierce +and bitter explanation; for in Eldredge's character there must be the +English surly boldness as well as the Italian subtlety; and here, +Middleton shall tell him what he knows of his past character and life, +and also what he knows of his own hereditary claims. Eldredge might have +committed a murder in Italy; might have been a patriot, and betrayed his +friends to death for a bribe, bearing another name than his own in Italy; +indeed, he might have joined them only as an informer. All this he had +tried to sink, when he came to England in the character of a gentleman of +ancient name and large estate. But this infamy of his previous character +must be foreboded from the first by the manner in which Eldredge is +introduced; and it must make his evil designs on Middleton appear natural +and probable. It may be, that Middleton has learned Eldredge's previous +character, through some Italian patriot who had taken refuge in America, +and there become intimate with him; and it should be a piece of secret +history, not known to the world in general, so that Middleton might seem +to Eldredge the sole depositary of the secret then in England. He feels a +necessity of getting rid of him; and thenceforth Middleton's path lies +always among pitfalls; indeed, the first attempt should follow promptly +and immediately on his rupture with Eldredge. The utmost pains must be +taken with this incident to give it an air of reality; or else it must be +quite removed out of the sphere of reality by an intensified atmosphere +of romance. I think the old Hospitaller must interfere to prevent the +success of this attempt, perhaps through the means of Alice. + +The result of Eldredge's criminal and treacherous designs is, somehow or +other, that he comes to his death; and Middleton and Alice are left to +administer on the remains of the story; perhaps, the Mayor being his +friend, he may be brought into play here. The foreign ecclesiastic shall +likewise come forward, and he shall prove to be a man of subtile policy +perhaps, yet a man of religion and honor; with a Jesuit's principles, but +a Jesuit's devotion and self-sacrifice. The old Hospitaller must die in +his bed, or some other how; or perhaps not--we shall see. He may just as +well be left in the Hospital. Eldredge's attempt on Middleton must be in +some way peculiar to Italy, and which he shall have learned there; and, +by the way, at his dinner-table there shall be a Venice glass, one of the +kind that were supposed to be shattered when poison was put into them. +When Eldredge produces his rare wine, he shall pour it into this, with a +jesting allusion to the legend. Perhaps the mode of Eldredge's attempt on +Middleton's life shall be a reproduction of the attempt made two hundred +years before; and Middleton's knowledge of that incident shall be the +means of his salvation. That would be a good idea; in fact, I think it +must be done so and no otherwise. It is not to be forgotten that there is +a taint of insanity in Eldredge's blood, accounting for much that is wild +and absurd, at the same time that it must be subtile, in his conduct; one +of those perplexing mad people, whose lunacy you are continually +mistaking for wickedness or _vice versa_. This shall be the priest's +explanation and apology for him, after his death. I wish I could get hold +of the Newgate Calendar, the older volumes, or any other book of +murders--the Causes Celebres, for instance. The legendary murder, or +attempt at it, will bring its own imaginative probability with it, when +repeated by Eldredge; and at the same time it will have a dreamlike +effect; so that Middleton shall hardly know whether he is awake or not. +This incident is very essential towards bringing together the past time +and the present, and the two ends of the story. + +_May 18th, Tuesday._--All down through the ages since Edward had +disappeared from home, leaving that bloody footstep on the threshold, +there had been legends and strange stories of the murder and the manner +of it. These legends differed very much among themselves. According to +some, his brother had awaited him there, and stabbed him on the +threshold. According to others, he had been murdered in his chamber, and +dragged out. A third story told, that he was escaping with his lady love, +when they were overtaken on the threshold, and the young man slain. It +was impossible at this distance of time to ascertain which of these +legends was the true one, or whether either of them had any portion of +truth, further than that the young man had actually disappeared from that +night, and that it never was certainly known to the public that any +intelligence had ever afterwards been received from him. Now, Middleton +may have communicated to Eldredge the truth in regard to the matter; as, +for instance, that he had stabbed him with a certain dagger that was +still kept among the curiosities of the manor-house. Of course, that will +not do. It must be some very ingenious and artificially natural thing, an +artistic affair in its way, that should strike the fancy of such a man as +Eldredge, and appear to him altogether fit, mutatis mutandis, to be +applied to his own requirements and purposes. I do not at present see in +the least how this is to be wrought out. There shall be everything to +make Eldredge look with the utmost horror and alarm at any chance that he +may be superseded and ousted from his possession of the estate; for he +shall only recently have established his claim to it, tracing out his +pedigree, when the family was supposed to be extinct. And he is come to +these comfortable quarters after a life of poverty, uncertainty, +difficulty, hanging loose on society; and therefore he shall be willing +to risk soul and body both, rather than return to his former state. +Perhaps his daughter shall be introduced as a young Italian girl, to whom +Middleton shall decide to leave the estate. + +On the failure of his design, Eldredge may commit suicide, and be found +dead in the wood; at any rate, some suitable end shall be contrived, +adapted to his wants. This character must not be so represented as to +shut him out completely from the reader's sympathies; he shall have +taste, sentiment, even a capacity for affection, nor, I think, ought he +to have any hatred or bitter feeling against the man whom he resolves to +murder. In the closing scenes, when he thinks the fate of Middleton +approaching, there might even be a certain tenderness towards him, a +desire to make the last drops of life delightful; if well done, this +would produce a certain sort of horror, that I do not remember to have +seen effected in literature. Possibly the ancient emigrant might be +supposed to have fallen into an ancient mine, down a precipice, into some +pitfall; no, not so. Into a river; into a moat. As Middleton's +pretensions to birth are not publicly known, there will be no reason why, +at his sudden death, suspicion should fix on Eldredge as the murderer; +and it shall be his object so to contrive his death as that it shall +appear the result of accident. Having failed in effecting Middleton's +death by this excellent way, he shall perhaps think that he cannot do +better than to make his own exit in precisely the same manner. It might +be easy, and as delightful as any death could be; no ugliness in it, no +blood; for the Bloody Footstep of old times might be the result of the +failure of the old plot, not of its success. Poison seems to be the only +elegant method; but poison is vulgar, and in many respects unfit for my +purpose. It won't do. Whatever it may be, it must not come upon the +reader as a sudden and new thing, but as one that might have been +foreseen from afar, though he shall not actually have foreseen it until +it is about to happen. It must be prevented through the agency of Alice. +Alice may have been an artist in Rome, and there have known Eldredge and +his daughter, and thus she may have become their guest in England; or he +may be patronizing her now--at all events she shall be the friend of the +daughter, and shall have a just appreciation of the father's character. +It shall be partly due to her high counsel that Middleton foregoes his +claim to the estate, and prefers the life of an American, with its lofty +possibilities for himself and his race, to the position of an Englishman +of property and title; and she, for her part, shall choose the condition +and prospects of woman in America, to the emptiness of the life of a +woman of rank in England. So they shall depart, lofty and poor, out of +the home which might be their own, if they would stoop to make it so. +Possibly the daughter of Eldredge may be a girl not yet in her teens, for +whom Alice has the affection of an elder sister. + +It should be a very carefully and highly wrought scene, occurring just +before Eldredge's actual attempt on Middleton's life, in which all the +brilliancy of his character--which shall before have gleamed upon the +reader--shall come out, with pathos, with wit, with insight, with +knowledge of life. Middleton shall be inspired by this, and shall vie +with him in exhilaration of spirits; but the ecclesiastic shall look on +with singular attention, and some appearance of alarm; and the suspicion +of Alice shall likewise be aroused. The old Hospitaller may have gained +his situation partly by proving himself a man of the neighborhood, by +right of descent; so that he, too, shall have a hereditary claim to be in +the Romance. + +Eldredge's own position as a foreigner in the midst of English home life, +insulated and dreary, shall represent to Middleton, in some degree, what +his own would be, were he to accept the estate. But Middleton shall not +come to the decision to resign it, without having to repress a deep +yearning for that sense of long, long rest in an age-consecrated home, +which he had felt so deeply to be the happy lot of Englishmen. But this +ought to be rejected, as not belonging to his country, nor to the age, +nor any longer possible. + +_May 19th, Wednesday_.--The connection of the old Hospitaller with the +story is not at all clear. He is an American by birth, but deriving his +English origin from the neighborhood of the Hospital, where he has +finally established himself. Some one of his ancestors may have been +somehow connected with the ancient portion of the story. He has been a +friend of Middleton's father, who reposed entire confidence in him, +trusting him with all his fortune, which the Hospitaller risked in his +enormous speculations, and lost it all. His fame had been great in the +financial world. There were circumstances that made it dangerous for his +whereabouts to be known, and so he had come hither and found refuge in +this institution, where Middleton finds him, but does not know who he is. +In the vacancy of a mind formerly so active, he has taken to the study of +local antiquities; and from his former intimacy with Middleton's father, +he has a knowledge of the American part of the story, which he connects +with the English portion, disclosed by his researches here; so that he is +quite aware that Middleton has claims to the estate, which might be urged +successfully against the present possessor. He is kindly disposed towards +the son of his friend, whom he had so greatly injured; but he is now very +old, and----. Middleton has been directed to this old man by a friend in +America, as one likely to afford him all possible assistance in his +researches; and so he seeks him out and forms an acquaintance with him, +which the old man encourages to a certain extent, taking an evident +interest in him, but does not disclose himself; nor does Middleton +suspect him to be an American. The characteristic life of the Hospital is +brought out, and the individual character of this old man, vegetating +here after an active career, melancholy and miserable; sometimes torpid +with the slow approach of utmost age; sometimes feeble, peevish, +wavering; sometimes shining out with a wisdom resulting from originally +bright faculties, ripened by experience. The character must not be +allowed to get vague, but, with gleams of romance, must yet be kept +homely and natural by little touches of his daily life. + +As for Alice, I see no necessity for her being anywise related to or +connected with the old Hospitaller. As originally conceived, I think she +may be an artist--a sculptress--whom Eldredge had known in Rome. No; she +might be a granddaughter of the old Hospitaller, born and bred in +America, but who had resided two or three years in Rome in the study of +her art, and have there acquired a knowledge of the Eldredges and have +become fond of the little Italian girl his daughter. She has lodgings in +the village, and of course is often at the Hospital, and often at the +Hall; she makes busts and little statues, and is free, wild, tender, +proud, domestic, strange, natural, artistic; and has at bottom the +characteristics of the American woman, with the principles of the +strong-minded sect; and Middleton shall be continually puzzled at meeting +such a phenomenon in England. By and by, the internal influence +[evidence?] of her sentiments (though there shall be nothing to confirm +it in her manner) shall lead him to charge her with being an American. + +Now, as to the arrangement of the Romance;--it begins as an integral and +essential part, with my introduction, giving a pleasant and familiar +summary of my life in the Consulate at Liverpool; the strange species of +Americans, with strange purposes, in England, whom I used to meet there; +and, especially, how my countrymen used to be put out of their senses by +the idea of inheritances of English property. Then I shall particularly +instance one gentleman who called on me on first coming over; a +description of him must be given, with touches that shall puzzle the +reader to decide whether it is not an actual portrait. And then this +Romance shall be offered, half seriously, as the account of the fortunes +that he met with in his search for his hereditary home. Enough of his +ancestral story may be given to explain what is to follow in the Romance; +or perhaps this may be left to the scenes of his intercourse with the old +Hospitaller. + +The Romance proper opens with Middleton's arrival at what he has reason +to think is the neighborhood of his ancestral home, and here he makes +application to the old Hospitaller. Middleton shall be described as +approaching the Hospital, which shall be pretty literally copied after +Leicester's, although the surrounding village must be on a much smaller +scale of course. Much elaborateness may be given to this portion of the +book. Middleton shall have assumed a plain dress, and shall seek to make +no acquaintances except that of the old Hospitaller; the acquaintance of +Alice naturally following. The old Hospitaller and he go together to the +old Hall, where, as they pass through the rooms, they find that the +proprietor is flitting like a ghost before them from chamber to chamber; +they catch his reflection in a glass, &c., &c. When these have been +wrought up sufficiently, shall come the scene in the wood, where Eldredge +is seen yielding to the superstition that he has inherited, respecting +the old secret of the family, on the discovery of which depends the +enforcement of his claim to a title. All this while, Middleton has +appeared in the character of a man of no note; and now, through some +political change, not necessarily told, he receives a packet addressed to +him as an ambassador, and containing a notice of his appointment to that +dignity. A paragraph in the "Times" confirms the fact, and makes it known +in the neighborhood. Middleton immediately becomes an object of +attention; the gentry call upon him; the Mayor of the neighboring +county-town invites him to dinner, which shall be described with all its +antique formalities. Here he meets Eldredge, who is surprised, +remembering the encounter in the wood; but passes it all off, like a man +of the world, makes his acquaintance, and invites him to the Hall. +Perhaps he may make a visit of some time here, and become intimate, to a +certain degree, with all parties; and here things shall ripen themselves +for Eldredge's attempt upon his life. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ancestral Footstep (fragment), by +Nathaniel Hawthorne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP (FRAGMENT) *** + +***** This file should be named 8429.txt or 8429.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/4/2/8429/ + +Produced by Eric Eldred, Thomas Berger, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Ancestral Footstep (fragment) + Outlines of an English Romance + +Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne + +Release Date: July, 2005 [EBook #8429] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on July 9, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP (FRAGMENT) *** + + + + +Produced by Eric Eldred, Thomas Berger, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +THE DOLLIVER ROMANCE + +FANSHAWE, AND SEPTIMIUS FELTON + +With An Appendix Containing + +THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP + +by + +NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE + + * * * * * + +THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP: + +OUTLINES OF AN ENGLISH ROMANCE. + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE. + +"Septimius Felton" was the outgrowth of a project, formed by Hawthorne +during his residence in England, of writing a romance, the scene of which +should be laid in that country; but this project was afterwards +abandoned, giving place to a new conception in which the visionary search +for means to secure an earthly immortality was to form the principal +interest. The new conception took shape in the uncompleted "Dolliver +Romance." The two themes, of course, were distinct, but, by a curious +process of thought, one grew directly out of the other: the whole history +constitutes, in fact, a chapter in what may be called the genealogy of a +romance. There remained, after "Septimius Felton" had been published, +certain manuscripts connected with the scheme of an English story. One of +these manuscripts was written in the form of a journalized narrative; the +author merely noting the date of what he wrote, as he went along. The +other was a more extended sketch, of much greater bulk, and without date, +but probably produced several years later. It was not originally intended +by those who at the time had charge of Hawthorne's papers that either of +these incomplete writings should be laid before the public; because they +manifestly had not been left by him in a form which he would have +considered as warranting such a course. But since the second and larger +manuscript has been published under the title of "Dr. Grimshawe's +Secret," it has been thought best to issue the present sketch, so that +the two documents may be examined together. Their appearance places in +the hands of readers the entire process of development leading to the +"Septimius" and "The Dolliver Romance." They speak for themselves much +more efficiently than any commentator can expect to do; and little, +therefore, remains to be said beyond a few words of explanation in regard +to the following pages. + +The Note-Books show that the plan of an English romance, turning upon the +fact that an emigrant to America had carried away a family secret which +should give his descendant the power to ruin the family in the mother +country, had occurred to Hawthorne as early as April, 1855. In August of +the same year he visited Smithell's Hall, in Bolton le Moors, concerning +which he had already heard its legend of "The Bloody Footstep," and from +that time on, the idea of this footprint on the threshold-stone of the +ancestral mansion seems to have associated itself inextricably with the +dreamy substance of his yet unshaped romance. Indeed, it leaves its mark +broadly upon Sibyl Dacy's wild legend in "Septimius Felton," and +reappears in the last paragraph of that story. But, so far as we can know +at this day, nothing definite was done until after his departure for +Italy. It was then, while staying in Rome, that he began to put upon +paper that plot which had first occupied his thoughts three years before, +in the scant leisure allowed him by his duties at the Liverpool +consulate. Of leisure there was not a great deal at Rome, either; for, as +the "French and Italian Note-Books" show, sight-seeing and social +intercourse took up a good deal of his time, and the daily record in his +journal likewise had to be kept up. But he set to work resolutely to +embody, so far as he might, his stray imaginings upon the haunting +English theme, and to give them connected form. April 1, 1858, he began; +and then nearly two weeks passed before he found an opportunity to +resume; April 13th being the date of the next passage. By May he gets +fully into swing, so that day after day, with but slight breaks, he +carries on the story, always increasing in interest for us who read as +for him who improvised. Thus it continues until May 19th, by which time +he has made a tolerably complete outline, filled in with a good deal of +detail here and there. Although the sketch is cast in the form of a +regular narrative, one or two gaps occur, indicating that the author had +thought out certain points which he then took for granted without making +note of them. Brief scenes, passages of conversation and of narration, +follow one another after the manner of a finished story, alternating with +synopses of the plot, and queries concerning particulars that needed +further study; confidences of the romancer to himself which form +certainly a valuable contribution to literary history. The manuscript +closes with a rapid sketch of the conclusion, and the way in which it is +to be executed. Succinctly, what we have here is a romance in embryo; +one, moreover, that never attained to a viable stature and constitution. +During his lifetime it naturally would not have been put forward as +demanding public attention; and, in consideration of that fact, it has +since been withheld from the press by the decision of his daughter, in +whom the title to it vests. Students of literary art, however, and many +more general readers will, I think, be likely to discover in it a charm +all the greater for its being in parts only indicated; since, as it +stands, it presents the precise condition of a work of fiction in its +first stage. The unfinished "Grimshawe" was another development of the +same theme, and the "Septimius" a later sketch, with a new element +introduced. But the present experimental fragment, to which it has been +decided to give the title of "The Ancestral Footstep," possesses a +freshness and spontaneity recalling the peculiar fascination of those +chalk or pencil outlines with which great masters in the graphic art have +been wont to arrest their fleeting glimpses of a composition still +unwrought. + +It would not be safe to conclude, from the large amount of preliminary +writing done with a view to that romance, that Hawthorne always adopted +this laborious mode of making several drafts of a book. On the contrary, +it is understood that his habit was to mature a design so thoroughly in +his mind before attempting to give it actual existence on paper that but +little rewriting was needed. The circumstance that he was obliged to +write so much that did not satisfy him in this case may account partly +for his relinquishing the theme, as one which for him had lost its +seductiveness through too much recasting. + +It need be added only that the original manuscript, from which the +following pages are printed through the medium of an exact copy, is +singularly clear and fluent. Not a single correction occurs throughout; +but here and there a word is omitted, obviously by mere accident, and +these omissions have been supplied. The correction in each case is marked +by brackets, in this printed reproduction. The sketch begins abruptly; +but there is no reason to suppose that anything preceded it except the +unrecorded musings in the author's mind, and one or two memoranda in the +"English Note-Books." We must therefore imagine the central figure, +Middleton, who is the American descendant of an old English family, as +having been properly introduced, and then pass at once to the opening +sentences. The rest will explain itself. + +G. P. L. + + * * * * * + +THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP. + +OUTLINES OF AN ENGLISH ROMANCE. + + + + +I. + +April 1, 1858. _Thursday_.--He had now been travelling long in those rich +portions of England where he would most have wished to find the object of +his pursuit; and many had been the scenes which he would willingly have +identified with that mentioned in the ancient, time-yellowed record which +he bore about with him. It is to be observed that, undertaken at first +half as the amusement, the unreal object, of a grown man's play-day, it +had become more and more real to him with every step of the way that he +followed it up; along those green English lanes it seemed as if +everything would bring him close to the mansion that he sought; every +morning he went on with renewed hopes, nor did the evening, though it +brought with it no success, bring with it the gloom and heaviness of a +real disappointment. In all his life, including its earliest and happiest +days, he had never known such a spring and zest as now filled his veins, +and gave lightsomeness to his limbs; this spirit gave to the beautiful +country which he trod a still richer beauty than it had ever borne, and +he sought his ancient home as if he had found his way into Paradise and +were there endeavoring to trace out the sight [site] of Eve's bridal +bower, the birthplace of the human race and its glorious possibilities of +happiness and high performance. + +In these sweet and delightful moods of mind, varying from one dream to +another, he loved indeed the solitude of his way; but likewise he loved +the facility which his pursuit afforded him, of coming in contact with +many varieties of men, and he took advantage of this facility to an +extent which it was not usually his impulse to do. But now he came forth +from all reserves, and offered himself to whomever the chances of the way +offered to him, with a ready sensibility that made its way through every +barrier that even English exclusiveness, in whatever rank of life, could +set up. The plastic character of Middleton was perhaps a variety of +American nature only presenting itself under an individual form; he could +throw off the man of our day, and put on a ruder nature, but then it was +with a certain fineness, that made this only [a] distinction between it +and the central truth. He found less variety of form in the English +character than he had been accustomed to see at home; but perhaps this +was in consequence of the external nature of his acquaintance with it; +for the view of one well accustomed to a people, and of a stranger to +them, differs in this--that the latter sees the homogeneity, the one +universal character, the groundwork of the whole, while the former sees a +thousand little differences, which distinguish the individual men apart, +to such a degree that they seem hardly to have any resemblance among +themselves. + +But just at the period of his journey when we take him up, Middleton had +been for two or three days the companion of an old man who interested him +more than most of his wayside companions; the more especially as he +seemed to be wandering without an object, or with such a dreamy object as +that which led Middleton's own steps onward. He was a plain old man +enough, but with a pale, strong-featured face and white hair, a certain +picturesqueness and venerableness, which Middleton fancied might have +befitted a richer garb than he now wore. In much of their conversation, +too, he was sensible that, though the stranger betrayed no acquaintance +with literature, nor seemed to have conversed with cultivated minds, yet +the results of such acquaintance and converse were here. Middleton was +inclined to think him, however, an old man, one of those itinerants, such +as Wordsworth represented in the "Excursion," who smooth themselves by +the attrition of the world and gain a knowledge equivalent to or better +than that of books from the actual intellect of man awake and active +around them. + +Often, during the short period since their companionship originated, +Middleton had felt impelled to disclose to the old man the object of his +journey, and the wild tale by which, after two hundred years, he had been +blown as it were across the ocean, and drawn onward to commence this +search. The old man's ordinary conversation was of a nature to draw forth +such a confidence as this; frequently turning on the traditions of the +wayside; the reminiscences that lingered on the battle-fields of the +Roses, or of the Parliament, like flowers nurtured by the blood of the +slain, and prolonging their race through the centuries for the wayfarer +to pluck them; or the family histories of the castles, manor-houses, and +seats which, of various epochs, had their park-gates along the roadside +and would be seen with dark gray towers or ancient gables, or more modern +forms of architecture, rising up among clouds of ancient oaks. Middleton +watched earnestly to see if, in any of these tales, there were +circumstances resembling those striking and singular ones which he had +borne so long in his memory, and on which he was now acting in so strange +a manner; but [though] there was a good deal of variety of incident in +them, there never was any combination of incidents having the peculiarity +of this. + +"I suppose," said he to the old man, "the settlers in my country may have +carried away with them traditions long since forgotten in this country, +but which might have an interest and connection, and might even piece out +the broken relics of family history, which have remained perhaps a +mystery for hundreds of years. I can conceive, even, that this might be +of importance in settling the heirships of estates; but which now, only +the two insulated parts of the story being known, remain a riddle, +although the solution of it is actually in the world, if only these two +parts could he united across the sea, like the wires of an electric +telegraph." + +"It is an impressive idea," said the old man. "Do you know any such +tradition as you have hinted at?" + +_April 13th_.--Middleton could not but wonder at the singular chance that +had established him in such a place, and in such society, so strangely +adapted to the purposes with which he had been wandering through England. +He had come hither, hoping as it were to find the past still alive and in +action; and here it was so in this one only spot, and these few persons +into the midst of whom he had suddenly been cast. With these reflections +he looked forth from his window into the old-fashioned garden, and at the +stone sundial, which had numbered all the hours--all the daylight and +serene ones, at least--since his mysterious ancestor left the country. +And [is] this, then, he thought to himself, the establishment of which +some rumor had been preserved? Was it here that the secret had its +hiding-place in the old coffer, in the cupboard, in the secret chamber, +or whatever was indicated by the apparently idle words of the document +which he had preserved? He still smiled at the idea, but it was with a +pleasant, mysterious sense that his life had at last got out of the dusty +real, and that strangeness had mixed itself up with his daily experience. + +With such feelings he prepared himself to go down to dinner with his +host. He found him alone at table, which was placed in a dark old room +modernized with every English comfort and the pleasant spectacle of a +table set with the whitest of napery and the brightest of glass and +china. The friendly old gentleman, as he had found him from the first, +became doubly and trebly so in that position which brings out whatever +warmth of heart an Englishman has, and gives it to him if he has none. +The impressionable and sympathetic character of Middleton answered to the +kindness of his host; and by the time the meal was concluded, the two +were conversing with almost as much zest and friendship as if they were +similar in age, even fellow-countrymen, and had known one another all +their life-time. Middleton's secret, it may be supposed, came often to +the tip of his tongue; but still he kept it within, from a natural +repugnance to bring out the one romance of his life. The talk, however, +necessarily ran much upon topics among which this one would have come in +without any extra attempt to introduce it. + +"This decay of old families," said the Master, "is much greater than +would appear on the surface of things. We have such a reluctance to part +with them, that we are content to see them continued by any fiction, +through any indirections, rather than to dispense with old names. In your +country, I suppose, there is no such reluctance; you are willing that one +generation should blot out all that preceded it, and be itself the newest +and only age of the world." + +"Not quite so," answered Middleton; "at any rate, if there be such a +feeling in the people at large, I doubt whether, even in England, those +who fancy themselves possessed of claims to birth, cherish them more as a +treasure than we do. It is, of course, a thousand times more difficult +for us to keep alive a name amid a thousand difficulties sedulously +thrown around it by our institutions, than for you to do, where your +institutions are anxiously calculated to promote the contrary purpose. It +has occasionally struck me, however, that the ancient lineage might often +be found in America, for a family which has been compelled to prolong +itself here through the female line, and through alien stocks." + +"Indeed, my young friend," said the Master, "if that be the case, I +should like to [speak?] further with you upon it; for, I can assure you, +there are sometimes vicissitudes in old families that make me grieve to +think that a man cannot be made for the occasion." + +All this while, the young lady at table had remained almost silent; and +Middleton had only occasionally been reminded of her by the necessity of +performing some of those offices which put people at table under a +Christian necessity of recognizing one another. He was, to say the truth, +somewhat interested in her, yet not strongly attracted by the neutral +tint of her dress, and the neutral character of her manners. She did not +seem to be handsome, although, with her face full before him, he had not +quite made up his mind on this point. + +_April 14th_.--So here was Middleton, now at length seeing indistinctly a +thread, to which the thread that he had so long held in his hand--the +hereditary thread that ancestor after ancestor had handed down--might +seem ready to join on. He felt as if they were the two points of an +electric chain, which being joined, an instantaneous effect must follow. +Earnestly, as he would have looked forward to this moment (had he in +sober reason ever put any real weight on the fantasy in pursuit of which +he had wandered so far) he now, that it actually appeared to be realizing +itself, paused with a vague sensation of alarm. The mystery was evidently +one of sorrow, if not of crime, and he felt as if that sorrow and crime +might not have been annihilated even by being buried out of human sight +and remembrance so long. He remembered to have heard or read, how that +once an old pit had been dug open, in which were found the remains of +persons that, as the shuddering by-standers traditionally remembered, had +died of an ancient pestilence; and out of that old grave had come a new +plague, that slew the far-off progeny of those who had first died by it. +Might not some fatal treasure like this, in a moral view, be brought to +light by the secret into which he had so strangely been drawn? Such were +the fantasies with which he awaited the return of Alice, whose light +footsteps sounded afar along the passages of the old mansion; and then +all was silent. + +At length he heard the sound, a great way off, as he concluded, of her +returning footstep, approaching from chamber to chamber, and along the +staircases, closing the doors behind her. At first, he paid no great +attention to the character of these sounds, but as they drew nearer, he +became aware that the footstep was unlike those of Alice; indeed, as +unlike as could be, very regular, slow, yet not firm, so that it seemed +to be that of an aged person, sauntering listlessly through the rooms. We +have often alluded to Middleton's sensitiveness, and the quick vibrations +of his sympathies; and there was something in this slow approach that +produced a strange feeling within him; so that he stood breathlessly, +looking towards the door by which these slow footsteps were to enter. At +last, there appeared in the doorway a venerable figure, clad in a rich, +faded dressing-gown, and standing on the threshold looked fixedly at +Middleton, at the same time holding up a light in his left hand. In his +right was some object that Middleton did not distinctly see. But he knew +the figure, and recognized the face. It was the old man, his long since +companion on the journey hitherward. + +"So," said the old man, smiling gravely, "you have thought fit, at last, +to accept the hospitality which I offered you so long ago. It might have +been better for both of us--for all parties--if you had accepted it +then!" + +"You here!" exclaimed Middleton. "And what can be your connection with +all the error and trouble, and involuntary wrong, through which I have +wandered since our last meeting? And is it possible that you even then +held the clue which I was seeking?" + +"No,--no," replied Rothermel. "I was not conscious, at least, of so +doing. And yet had we two sat down there by the wayside, or on that +English stile, which attracted your attention so much; had we sat down +there and thrown forth each his own dream, each his own knowledge, it +would have saved much that we must now forever regret. Are you even now +ready to confide wholly in me?" + +"Alas," said Middleton, with a darkening brow, "there are many reasons, +at this moment, which did not exist then, to incline me to hold my peace. +And why has not Alice returned?--and what is your connection with her?" + +"Let her answer for herself," said Rothermel; and he called her, shouting +through the silent house as if she were at the furthest chamber, and he +were in instant need: "Alice!--Alice!--Alice!--here is one who would know +what is the link between a maiden and her father!" + +Amid the strange uproar which he made Alice came flying back, not in +alarm but only in haste, and put her hand within his own. "Hush, father," +said she. "It is not time." + +Here is an abstract of the plot of this story. The Middleton who +emigrated to America, more than two hundred years ago, had been a dark +and moody man; he came with a beautiful though not young woman for his +wife, and left a family behind him. In this family a certain heirloom had +been preserved, and with it a tradition that grew wilder and stranger +with the passing generations. The tradition had lost, if it ever had, +some of its connecting links; but it referred to a murder, to the +expulsion of a brother from the hereditary house, in some strange way, +and to a Bloody Footstep which he had left impressed into the threshold, +as he turned about to make a last remonstrance. It was rumored, however, +or vaguely understood, that the expelled brother was not altogether an +innocent man; but that there had been wrong done, as well as crime +committed, insomuch that his reasons were strong that led him, +subsequently, to imbibe the most gloomy religious views, and to bury +himself in the Western wilderness. These reasons he had never fully +imparted to his family; but had necessarily made allusions to them, which +had been treasured up and doubtless enlarged upon. At last, one +descendant of the family determines to go to England, with the purpose of +searching out whatever ground there may be for these traditions, carrying +with him certain ancient documents, and other relics; and goes about the +country, half in earnest, and half in sport of fancy, in quest of the old +family mansion. He makes singular discoveries, all of which bring the +book to an end unexpected by everybody, and not satisfactory to the +natural yearnings of novel readers. In the traditions that he brought +over, there was a key to some family secrets that were still unsolved, +and that controlled the descent of estates and titles. His influence upon +these matters involves [him] in divers strange and perilous adventures; +and at last it turns out that he himself is the rightful heir to the +titles and estate, that had passed into another name within the last +half-century. But he respects both, feeling that it is better to make a +virgin soil than to try to make the old name grow in a soil that had been +darkened with so much blood and misfortune as this. + +_April 27th. Tuesday_.--It was with a delightful feeling of release from +ordinary rules, that Middleton found himself brought into this connection +with Alice; and he only hoped that this play-day of his life might last +long enough to rest him from all that he had suffered. In the enjoyment +of his position he almost forgot the pursuit that occupied him, nor might +he have remembered for a long space if, one evening, Alice herself had +not alluded to it. "You are wasting precious days," she suddenly said. +"Why do not you renew your quest?" + +"To what do you allude?" said Middleton, in surprise. "What object do you +suppose me to have?" + +Alice smiled; nay, laughed outright. "You suppose yourself to be a +perfect mystery, no doubt," she replied. "But do not I know you--have not +I known you long--as the holder of the talisman, the owner of the +mysterious cabinet that contains the blood-stained secret?" + +"Nay, Alice, this is certainly a strange coincidence, that you should +know even thus much of a foolish secret that makes me employ this little +holiday time, which I have stolen out of a weary life, in a wild-goose +chase. But, believe me, you allude to matters that are more a mystery to +me than my affairs appear to be to you. Will you explain what you would +suggest by this badinage?" + +Alice shook her head. "You have no claim to know what I know, even if it +would be any addition to your own knowledge. I shall not, and must not +enlighten you. You must burrow for the secret with your own tools, in +your own manner, and in a place of your own choosing. I am bound not to +assist you." + +"Alice, this is wilful, wayward, unjust," cried Middleton, with a flushed +cheek. "I have not told you--yet you know well--the deep and real +importance which this subject has for me. We have been together as +friends, yet, the instant when there comes up an occasion when the +slightest friendly feeling would induce you to do me a good office, you +assume this altered tone." + +"My tone is not in the least altered in respect to you," said Alice. "All +along, as you know, I have reserved myself on this very point; it being, +I candidly tell you, impossible for me to act in your interest in the +matter alluded to. If you choose to consider this unfriendly, as being +less than the terms on which you conceive us to have stood give you a +right to demand of me--you must resent it as you please. I shall not the +less retain for you the regard due to one who has certainly befriended me +in very untoward circumstances." + +This conversation confirmed the previous idea of Middleton, that some +mystery of a peculiarly dark and evil character was connected with the +family secret with which he was himself entangled; but it perplexed him +to imagine in what way this, after the lapse of so many years, should +continue to be a matter of real importance at the present day. All the +actors in the original guilt--if guilt it were--must have been long ago +in their graves; some in the churchyard of the village, with those +moss-grown letters embossing their names; some in the church itself, with +mural tablets recording their names over the family-pew, and one, it +might be, far over the sea, where his grave was first made under the +forest leaves, though now a city had grown up around it. Yet here was he, +the remote descendant of that family, setting his foot at last in the +country, and as secretly as might be; and all at once his mere presence +seemed to revive the buried secret, almost to awake the dead who partook +of that secret and had acted it. There was a vibration from the other +world, continued and prolonged into this, the instant that he stepped +upon the mysterious and haunted ground. + +He knew not in what way to proceed. He could not but feel that there was +something not exactly within the limits of propriety in being here, +disguised--at least, not known in his true character--prying into the +secrets of a proud and secluded Englishman. But then, as he said to +himself on his own side of the question, the secret belonged to himself +by exactly as ancient a tenure and by precisely as strong a claim, as to +the Englishman. His rights here were just as powerful and well-founded as +those of his ancestor had been, nearly three centuries ago; and here the +same feeling came over him that he was that very personage, returned +after all these ages, to see if his foot would fit this bloody footstep +left of old upon the threshold. The result of all his cogitation was, as +the reader will have foreseen, that he decided to continue his +researches, and, his proceedings being pretty defensible, let the result +take care of itself. + +For this purpose he went next day to the hospital, and ringing at the +Master's door, was ushered into the old-fashioned, comfortable library, +where he had spent that well-remembered evening which threw the first ray +of light on the pursuit that now seemed developing into such strange and +unexpected consequences. Being admitted, he was desired by the domestic +to wait, as his Reverence was at that moment engaged with a gentleman on +business. Glancing through the ivy that mantled over the window, +Middleton saw that this interview was taking place in the garden, where +the Master and his visitor were walking to and fro in the avenue of box, +discussing some matter, as it seemed to him, with considerable +earnestness on both sides. He observed, too, that there was warmth, +passion, a disturbed feeling on the stranger's part; while, on that of +the Master, it was a calm, serious, earnest representation of whatever +view he was endeavoring to impress on the other. At last, the interview +appeared to come toward a climax, the Master addressing some words to his +guest, still with undisturbed calmness, to which the latter replied by a +violent and even fierce gesture, as it should seem of menace, not towards +the Master, but some unknown party; and then hastily turning, he left the +garden and was soon heard riding away. The Master looked after him +awhile, and then, shaking his white head, returned into the house and +soon entered the parlor. + +He looked somewhat surprised, and, as it struck Middleton, a little +startled, at finding him there; yet he welcomed him with all his former +cordiality--indeed, with a friendship that thoroughly warmed Middleton's +heart even to its coldest corner. + +"This is strange!" said the old gentleman. "Do you remember our +conversation on that evening when I first had the unlooked-for pleasure +of receiving you as a guest into my house? At that time I spoke to you of +a strange family story, of which there was no denouement, such as a +novel-writer would desire, and which had remained in that unfinished +posture for more than two hundred years! Well; perhaps it will gratify +you to know that there seems a prospect of that wanting termination being +supplied!" + +"Indeed!" said Middleton. + +"Yes," replied the Master. "A gentleman has just parted with me who was +indeed the representative of the family concerned in the story. He is the +descendant of a younger son of that family, to whom the estate devolved +about a century ago, although at that time there was search for the heirs +of the elder son, who had disappeared after the bloody incident which I +related to you. Now, singular as it may appear, at this late day, a +person claiming to be the descendant and heir of that eldest son has +appeared, and if I may credit my friend's account, is disposed not only +to claim the estate, but the dormant title which Eldredge himself has +been so long preparing to claim for himself. Singularly enough, too, the +heir is an American." + +_May 2d, Sunday._--"I believe," said Middleton, "that many English +secrets might find their solution in America, if the two threads of a +story could be brought together, disjoined as they have been by time and +the ocean. But are you at liberty to tell me the nature of the incidents +to which you allude?" + +"I do not see any reason to the contrary," answered the Master; "for the +story has already come in an imperfect way before the public, and the +full and authentic particulars are likely soon to follow. It seems that +the younger brother was ejected from the house on account of a love +affair; the elder having married a young woman with whom the younger was +in love, and, it is said, the wife disappeared on the bridal night, and +was never heard of more. The elder brother remained single during the +rest of his life; and dying childless, and there being still no news of +the second brother, the inheritance and representation of the family +devolved upon the third brother and his posterity. This branch of the +family has ever since remained in possession; and latterly the +representation has become of more importance, on account of a claim to an +old title, which, by the failure of another branch of this ancient +family, has devolved upon the branch here settled. Now, just at this +juncture, comes another heir from America, pretending that he is the +descendant of a marriage between the second son, supposed to have been +murdered on the threshold of the manor-house, and the missing bride! Is +it not a singular story?" + +"It would seem to require very strong evidence to prove it," said +Middleton. "And methinks a Republican should care little for the title, +however he might value the estate." + +"Both--both," said the Master, smiling, "would be equally attractive to +your countryman. But there are further curious particulars in connection +with this claim. You must know, they are a family of singular +characteristics, humorists, sometimes developing their queer traits into +something like insanity; though oftener, I must say, spending stupid +hereditary lives here on their estates, rusting out and dying without +leaving any biography whatever about them. And yet there has always been +one very queer thing about this generally very commonplace family. It is +that each father, on his death-bed, has had an interview with his son, at +which he has imparted some secret that has evidently had an influence on +the character and after life of the son, making him ever after a +discontented man, aspiring for something he has never been able to find. +Now the American, I am told, pretends that he has the clue which has +always been needed to make the secret available; the key whereby the lock +may be opened; the something that the lost son of the family carried away +with him, and by which through these centuries he has impeded the +progress of the race. And, wild as the story seems, he does certainly +seem to bring something that looks very like the proof of what he says." + +"And what are those proofs?" inquired Middleton, wonder-stricken at the +strange reduplication of his own position and pursuits. + +"In the first place," said the Master, "the English marriage-certificate +by a clergyman of that day in London, after publication of the banns, +with a reference to the register of the parish church where the marriage +is recorded. Then, a certified genealogy of the family in New England, +where such matters can be ascertained from town and church records, with +at least as much certainty, it would appear, as in this country. He has +likewise a manuscript in his ancestor's autograph, containing a brief +account of the events which banished him from his own country; the +circumstances which favored the idea that he had been slain, and which he +himself was willing should be received as a belief; the fortune that led +him to America, where he wished to found a new race wholly disconnected +with the past; and this manuscript he sealed up, with directions that it +should not be opened till two hundred years after his death, by which +time, as it was probable to conjecture, it would matter little to any +mortal whether the story was told or not. A whole generation has passed +since the time when the paper was at last unsealed and read, so long it +had no operation; yet now, at last, here comes the American, to disturb +the succession of an ancient family!" + +"There is something very strange in all this," said Middleton. + +And indeed there was something stranger in his view of the matter than he +had yet communicated to the Master. For, taking into consideration the +relation in which he found himself with the present recognized +representative of the family, the thought struck him that his coming +hither had dug up, as it were, a buried secret that immediately assumed +life and activity the moment that it was above ground again. For seven +generations the family had vegetated in the quietude of English country +gentility, doing nothing to make itself known, passing from the cradle to +the tomb amid the same old woods that had waved over it before his +ancestor had impressed the bloody footstep; and yet the instant that he +came back, an influence seemed to be at work that was likely to renew the +old history of the family. He questioned with himself whether it were not +better to leave all as it was; to withdraw himself into the secrecy from +which he had but half emerged, and leave the family to keep on, to the +end of time perhaps, in its rusty innocence, rather than to interfere +with his wild American character to disturb it. The smell of that dark +crime--that brotherly hatred and attempted murder--seemed to breathe out +of the ground as he dug it up. Was it not better that it should remain +forever buried, for what to him was this old English title--what this +estate, so far from his own native land, located amidst feelings and +manners which would never be his own? It was late, to be sure--yet not +too late for him to turn back: the vibration, the fear, which his +footsteps had caused, would subside into peace! Meditating in this way, +he took a hasty leave of the kind old Master, promising to see him again +at an early opportunity. By chance, or however it was, his footsteps +turned to the woods of ---- Chace, and there he wandered through its +glades, deep in thought, yet always with a strange sense that he was +treading on the soil where his ancestors had trodden, and where he +himself had best right of all men to be. It was just in this state of +feeling that he found his course arrested by a hand upon his shoulder. + +"What business have you here?" was the question sounded in his ear; and, +starting, he found himself in the grasp, as his blood tingled to know, of +a gentleman in a shooting-dress, who looked at him with a wrathful brow. +"Are you a poacher, or what?" + +Be the case what it might, Middleton's blood boiled at the grasp of that +hand, as it never before had done in the course of his impulsive life. He +shook himself free, and stood fiercely before his antagonist, confronting +him with his uplifted stick, while the other, likewise, appeared to be +shaken by a strange wrath. + +"Fellow," muttered he--"Yankee blackguard!--impostor--take yourself oil +these grounds. Quick, or it will be the worse for you!" + +Middleton restrained himself. "Mr. Eldredge," said he, "for I believe I +speak to the man who calls himself owner of this land on which we +stand,--Mr. Eldredge, you are acting under a strange misapprehension of +my character. I have come hither with no sinister purpose, and am +entitled, at the hands of a gentleman, to the consideration of an +honorable antagonist, even if you deem me one at all. And perhaps, if you +think upon the blue chamber and the ebony cabinet, and the secret +connected with it,"-- + +"Villain, no more!" said Eldredge; and utterly mad with rage, he +presented his gun at Middleton; but even at the moment of doing so, he +partly restrained himself, so far as, instead of shooting him, to raise +the butt of his gun, and strike a blow at him. It came down heavily on +Middleton's shoulder, though aimed at his head; and the blow was terribly +avenged, even by itself, for the jar caused the hammer to come down; the +gun went off, sending the bullet downwards through the heart of the +unfortunate man, who fell dead upon the ground. Eldredge[1] stood +stupefied, looking at the catastrophe which had so suddenly occurred. + +[1] Evidently a slip of the pen; Middleton being intended. + +_May 3d, Monday._--So here was the secret suddenly made safe in this so +terrible way; its keepers reduced from two parties to one interest; the +other who alone knew of this age-long mystery and trouble now carrying it +into eternity, where a long line of those who partook of the knowledge, +in each successive generation, might now be waiting to inquire of him how +he had held his trust. He had kept it well, there was no doubt of it; for +there he lay dead upon the ground, having betrayed it to no one, though +by a method which none could have foreseen, the whole had come into the +possession of him who had brought hither but half of it. Middleton looked +down in horror upon the form that had just been so full of life and +wrathful vigor--and now lay so quietly. Being wholly unconscious of any +purpose to bring about the catastrophe, it had not at first struck him +that his own position was in any manner affected by the violent death, +under such circumstances, of the unfortunate man. But now it suddenly +occurred to him, that there had been a train of incidents all calculated +to make him the object of suspicion; and he felt that he could not, under +the English administration of law, be suffered to go at large without +rendering a strict account of himself and his relations with the +deceased. He might, indeed, fly; he might still remain in the vicinity, +and possibly escape notice. But was not the risk too great? Was it just +even to be aware of this event, and not relate fully the manner of it, +lest a suspicion of blood-guiltiness should rest upon some innocent head? +But while he was thus cogitating, he heard footsteps approaching along +the wood-path; and half-impulsively, half on purpose, he stept aside into +the shrubbery, but still where he could see the dead body, and what +passed near it. + +The footsteps came on, and at the turning of the path, just where +Middleton had met Eldredge, the new-comer appeared in sight. It was +Hoper, in his usual dress of velveteen, looking now seedy, +poverty-stricken, and altogether in ill-case, trudging moodily along, +with his hat pulled over his brows, so that he did not see the ghastly +object before him till his foot absolutely trod upon the dead man's hand. +Being thus made aware of the proximity of the corpse, he started back a +little, yet evincing such small emotion as did credit to his English +reserve; then uttering a low exclamation,--cautiously low, indeed,--he +stood looking at the corpse a moment or two, apparently in deep +meditation. He then drew near, bent down, and without evincing any horror +at the touch of death in this horrid shape, he opened the dead man's +vest, inspected the wound, satisfied himself that life was extinct, and +then nodded his head and smiled gravely. He next proceeded to examine +seriatim the dead man's pockets, turning each of them inside out and +taking the contents, where they appeared adapted to his needs: for +instance, a silken purse, through the interstices of which some gold was +visible; a watch, which however had been injured by the explosion, and +had stopt just at the moment--twenty-one minutes past five--when the +catastrophe took place. Hoper ascertained, by putting the watch to his +ear, that this was the case; then pocketing it, he continued his +researches. He likewise secured a note-book, on examining which he found +several bank-notes, and some other papers. And having done this, the +thief stood considering what to do next; nothing better occurring to him, +he thrust the pockets back, gave the corpse as nearly as he could the +same appearance that it had worn before he found it, and hastened away, +leaving the horror there on the wood-path. + +He had been gone only a few minutes when another step, a light woman's +step, [was heard] coming along the pathway, and Alice appeared, having on +her usual white mantle, straying along with that fearlessness which +characterized her so strangely, and made her seem like one of the +denizens of nature. She was singing in a low tone some one of those airs +which have become so popular in England, as negro melodies; when +suddenly, looking before her, she saw the blood-stained body on the +grass, the face looking ghastly upward. Alice pressed her hand upon her +heart; it was not her habit to scream, not the habit of that strong, +wild, self-dependent nature; and the exclamation which broke from her was +not for help, but the voice of her heart crying out to herself. For an +instant she hesitated, as [if] not knowing what to do; then approached, +and with her white, maiden hand felt the brow of the dead man, +tremblingly, but yet firm, and satisfied herself that life had wholly +departed. She pressed her hand, that had just touched the dead man's, on +her forehead, and gave a moment to thought. + +What her decision might have been, we cannot say, for while she stood in +this attitude, Middleton stept from his seclusion, and at the noise of +his approach she turned suddenly round, looking more frightened and +agitated than at the moment when she had first seen the dead body. She +faced Middleton, however, and looked him quietly in the eye. "You see +this!" said she, gazing fixedly at him. "It is not at this moment that +you first discover it." + +"No," said Middleton, frankly. "It is not. I was present at the +catastrophe. In one sense, indeed, I was the cause of it; but, Alice, I +need not tell you that I am no murderer." + +"A murderer?--no," said Alice, still looking at him with the same fixed +gaze. "But you and this man were at deadly variance. He would have +rejoiced at any chance that would have laid you cold and bloody on the +earth, as he is now; nay, he would most eagerly have seized on any +fair-looking pretext that would have given him a chance to stretch you +there. The world will scarcely believe, when it knows all about your +relations with him, that his blood is not on your hand. Indeed," said +she, with a strange smile, "I see some of it there now!" + +And, in very truth, so there was; a broad blood-stain that had dried on +Middleton's hand. He shuddered at it, but essayed vainly to rub it off. + +"You see," said she. "It was foreordained that you should shed this man's +blood; foreordained that, by digging into that old pit of pestilence, you +should set the contagion loose again. You should have left it buried +forever. But now what do you mean to do?" + +"To proclaim this catastrophe," replied Middleton. "It is the only honest +and manly way. What else can I do?" + +"You can and ought to leave him on the wood-path, where he has fallen," +said Alice, "and go yourself to take advantage of the state of things +which Providence has brought about. Enter the old house, the hereditary +house, where--now, at least--you alone have a right to tread. Now is the +hour. All is within your grasp. Let the wrong of three hundred years be +righted, and come back thus to your own, to these hereditary fields, this +quiet, long-descended home; to title, to honor." + +Yet as the wild maiden spoke thus, there was a sort of mockery in her +eyes; on her brow; gleaming through all her face, as if she scorned what +she thus pressed upon him, the spoils of the dead man who lay at their +feet. Middleton, with his susceptibility, could not [but] be sensible of +a wild and strange charm, as well as horror, in the situation; it seemed +such a wonder that here, in formal, orderly, well-governed England, so +wild a scene as this should have occurred; that they too [two?] should +stand here, deciding on the descent of an estate, and the inheritance of +a title, holding a court of their own. + +"Come, then," said he, at length. "Let us leave this poor fallen +antagonist in his blood, and go whither you will lead me. I will judge +for myself. At all events, I will not leave my hereditary home without +knowing what my power is." + +"Come," responded Alice; and she turned back; but then returned and threw +a handkerchief over the dead man's face, which while they spoke had +assumed that quiet, ecstatic expression of joy which often is observed to +overspread the faces of those who die of gunshot wounds, however fierce +the passion in which the spirits took their flight. With this strange, +grand, awful joy did the dead man gaze upward into the very eyes and +hearts, as it were, of the two that now bent over him. They looked at one +another. + +"Whence comes this expression?" said Middleton, thoughtfully. "Alice, +methinks he is reconciled to us now; and that we are members of one +reconciled family, all of whom are in heaven but me." + +_Tuesday, May 4th._--"How strange is this whole situation between you and +me," said Middleton, as they went up the winding pathway that led towards +the house. "Shall I ever understand it? Do you mean ever to explain it to +me? That I should find you here with that old man,[2] so mysterious, +apparently so poor, yet so powerful! What [is] his relation to you?" + +[2] The allusion here is apparently to the old man who proclaims + himself Alice's father, in the portion dated April 14th. He figures + hereafter as the old Hospitaller, Hammond. The reader must not take + this present passage as referring to the death of Eldredge, which has + just taken place in the preceding section. The author is now + beginning to elaborate the relation of Middleton and Alice. As will + be seen, farther on, the death of Eldredge is ignored and abandoned; + Eldredge is revived, and the story proceeds in another way.--G. P. L. + +"A close one," replied Alice sadly. "He was my father!" + +"Your father!" repeated Middleton, starting back. "It does but heighten +the wonder! Your father! And yet, by all the tokens that birth and +breeding, and habits of thought and native character can show, you are my +countrywoman. That wild, free spirit was never born in the breast of an +Englishwoman; that slight frame, that slender beauty, that frail +envelopment of a quick, piercing, yet stubborn and patient spirit,--are +those the properties of an English maiden?" + +"Perhaps not," replied Alice quietly. "I am your countrywoman. My father +was an American, and one of whom you have heard--and no good, alas!--for +many a year." + +"And who then was he?" asked Middleton. + +"I know not whether you will hate me for telling you," replied Alice, +looking him sadly though firmly in the face. "There was a man--long years +since, in your childhood--whose plotting brain proved the ruin of himself +and many another; a man whose great designs made him a sort of potentate, +whose schemes became of national importance, and produced results even +upon the history of the country in which he acted. That man was my +father; a man who sought to do great things, and, like many who have had +similar aims, disregarded many small rights, strode over them, on his way +to effect a gigantic purpose. Among other men, your father was trampled +under foot, ruined, done to death, even, by the effects of his ambition." + +"How is it possible!" exclaimed Middleton. "Was it Wentworth?" + +"Even so," said Alice, still with the same sad calmness and not +withdrawing her steady eyes from his face. "After his ruin; after the +catastrophe that overwhelmed him and hundreds more, he took to flight; +guilty, perhaps, but guilty as a fallen conqueror is; guilty to such an +extent that he ceased to be a cheat, as a conqueror ceases to be a +murderer. He came to England. My father had an original nobility of +nature; and his life had not been such as to debase it, but rather such +as to cherish and heighten that self-esteem which at least keeps the +possessor of it from many meaner vices. He took nothing with him; nothing +beyond the bare means of flight, with the world before him, although +thousands of gold would not have been missed out of the scattered +fragments of ruin that lay around him. He found his way hither, led, as +you were, by a desire to reconnect himself with the place whence his +family had originated; for he, too, was of a race which had something to +do with the ancient story which has now been brought to a close. Arrived +here, there were circumstances that chanced to make his talents and +habits of business available to this Mr. Eldredge, a man ignorant and +indolent, unknowing how to make the best of the property that was in his +hands. By degrees, he took the estate into his management, acquiring +necessarily a preponderating influence over such a man." + +"And you," said Middleton. "Have you been all along in England? For you +must have been little more than an infant at the time." + +"A mere infant," said Alice, "and I remained in our own country under the +care of a relative who left me much to my own keeping; much to the +influences of that wild culture which the freedom of our country gives to +its youth. It is only two years that I have been in England." + +"This, then," said Middleton thoughtfully, "accounts for much that has +seemed so strange in the events through which we have passed; for the +knowledge of my identity and my half-defined purpose which has always +glided before me, and thrown so many strange shapes of difficulty in my +path. But whence,--whence came that malevolence which your father's +conduct has so unmistakably shown? I had done him no injury, though I had +suffered much." + +"I have often thought," replied Alice, "that my father, though retaining +a preternatural strength and acuteness of intellect, was really not +altogether sane. And, besides, he had made it his business to keep this +estate, and all the complicated advantages of the representation of this +old family, secure to the person who was deemed to have inherited them. A +succession of ages and generations might be supposed to have blotted out +your claims from existence; for it is not just that there should be no +term of time which can make security for lack of fact and a few +formalities. At all events, he had satisfied himself that his duty was to +act as he has done." + +"Be it so! I do not seek to throw blame on him," said Middleton. +"Besides, Alice, he was your father!" + +"Yes," said she, sadly smiling; "let him [have] what protection that +thought may give him, even though I lose what he may gain. And now here +we are at the house. At last, come in! It is your own; there is none that +can longer forbid you!" + +They entered the door of the old mansion, now a farmhouse, and there were +its old hall, its old chambers, all before them. They ascended the +staircase, and stood on the landing-place above; while Middleton had +again that feeling that had so often made him dizzy,--that sense of being +in one dream and recognizing the scenery and events of a former dream. So +overpowering was this feeling, that he laid his hand on the slender arm +of Alice, to steady himself; and she comprehended the emotion that +agitated him, and looked into his eyes with a tender sympathy, which she +had never before permitted to be visible,--perhaps never before felt. He +steadied himself and followed her till they had entered an ancient +chamber, but one that was finished with all the comfortable luxury +customary to be seen in English homes. + +"Whither have you led me now?" inquired Middleton. + +"Look round," said Alice. "Is there nothing here that you ought to +recognize?--nothing that you kept the memory of, long ago?" + +He looked round the room again and again, and at last, in a somewhat +shadowy corner, he espied an old cabinet made of ebony and inlaid with +pearl; one of those tall, stately, and elaborate pieces of furniture that +are rather articles of architecture than upholstery; and on which a +higher skill, feeling, and genius than now is ever employed on such +things, was expended. Alice drew near the stately cabinet and threw wide +the doors, which, like the portals of a palace, stood between two +pillars; it all seemed to be unlocked, showing within some beautiful old +pictures in the panel of the doors, and a mirror, that opened a long +succession of mimic halls, reflection upon reflection, extending to an +interminable nowhere. + +"And what is this?" said Middleton,--"a cabinet? Why do you draw my +attention so strongly to it?" + +"Look at it well," said she. "Do you recognize nothing there? Have you +forgotten your description? The stately palace with its architecture, +each pillar with its architecture, those pilasters, that frieze; you +ought to know them all. Somewhat less than you imagined in size, perhaps; +a fairy reality, inches for yards; that is the only difference. And you +have the key?" + +And there then was that palace, to which tradition, so false at once and +true, had given such magnitude and magnificence in the traditions of the +Middleton family, around their shifting fireside in America. Looming afar +through the mists of time, the little fact had become a gigantic vision. +Yes, here it was in miniature, all that he had dreamed of; a palace of +four feet high! + +"You have the key of this palace," said Alice; "it has waited--that is, +its secret and precious chamber has, for you to open it, these three +hundred years. Do you know how to find that secret chamber?" + +Middleton, still in that dreamy mood, threw open an inner door of the +cabinet, and applying the old-fashioned key at his watch-chain to a hole +in the mimic pavement within, pressed one of the mosaics, and immediately +the whole floor of the apartment sank, and revealed a receptacle within. +Alice had come forward eagerly, and they both looked into the +hiding-place, expecting what should be there. It was empty! They looked +into each other's faces with blank astonishment. Everything had been so +strangely true, and so strangely false, up to this moment, that they +could not comprehend this failure at the last moment. It was the +strangest, saddest jest! It brought Middleton up with such a sudden +revulsion that he grew dizzy, and the room swam round him and the cabinet +dazzled before his eyes. It had been magnified to a palace; it had +dwindled down to Liliputian size; and yet, up till now, it had seemed to +contain in its diminutiveness all the riches which he had attributed to +its magnitude. This last moment had utterly subverted it; the whole great +structure seemed to vanish. + +"See; here are the dust and ashes of it," observed Alice, taking +something that was indeed only a pinch of dust out of the secret +compartment. "There is nothing else." + + + + +II. + +_May 5th, Wednesday_.--The father of these two sons, an aged man at the +time, took much to heart their enmity; and after the catastrophe, he +never held up his head again. He was not told that his son had perished, +though such was the belief of the family; but imbibed the opinion that he +had left his home and native land to become a wanderer on the face of the +earth, and that some time or other he might return. In this idea he spent +the remainder of his days; in this idea he died. It may be that the +influence of this idea might be traced in the way in which he spent some +of the latter years of his life, and a portion of the wealth which had +become of little value in his eyes, since it had caused dissension and +bloodshed between the sons of one household. It was a common mode of +charity in those days--a common thing for rich men to do--to found an +almshouse or a hospital, and endow it, for the support of a certain +number of old and destitute men or women, generally such as had some +claim of blood upon the founder, or at least were natives of the parish, +the district, the county, where he dwelt. The Eldredge Hospital was +founded for the benefit of twelve old men, who should have been wanderers +upon the face of the earth; men, they should be, of some education, but +defeated and hopeless, cast off by the world for misfortune, but not for +crime. And this charity had subsisted, on terms varying little or nothing +from the original ones, from that day to this; and, at this very time, +twelve old men were not wanting, of various countries, of various +fortunes, but all ending finally in ruin, who had centred here, to live +on the poor pittance that had been assigned to them, three hundred years +ago. What a series of chronicles it would have been if each of the +beneficiaries of this charity, since its foundation, had left a record of +the events which finally led him hither. Middleton often, as he talked +with these old men, regretted that he himself had no turn for authorship, +so rich a volume might he have compiled from the experience, sometimes +sunny and triumphant, though always ending in shadow, which he gathered +here. They were glad to talk to him, and would have been glad and +grateful for any auditor, as they sat on one or another of the stone +benches, in the sunshine of the garden; or at evening, around the great +fireside, or within the chimney-corner, with their pipes and ale. + +There was one old man who attracted much of his attention, by the +venerableness of his aspect; by something dignified, almost haughty and +commanding, in his air. Whatever might have been the intentions and +expectations of the founder, it certainly had happened in these latter +days that there was a difficulty in finding persons of education, of good +manners, of evident respectability, to put into the places made vacant by +deaths of members; whether that the paths of life are surer now than they +used to be, and that men so arrange their lives as not to be left, in any +event, quite without resources as they draw near its close; at any rate, +there was a little tincture of the vagabond running through these twelve +quasi gentlemen,--through several of them, at least. But this old man +could not well be mistaken; in his manners, in his tones, in all his +natural language and deportment, there was evidence that he had been more +than respectable; and, viewing him, Middleton could not help wondering +what statesman had suddenly vanished out of public life and taken refuge +here, for his head was of the statesman-class, and his demeanor that of +one who had exercised influence over large numbers of men. He sometimes +endeavored to set on foot a familiar relation with this old man, but +there was even a sternness in the manner in which he repelled these +advances, that gave little encouragement for their renewal. Nor did it +seem that his companions of the Hospital were more in his confidence than +Middleton himself. They regarded him with a kind of awe, a shyness, and +in most cases with a certain dislike, which denoted an imperfect +understanding of him. To say the truth, there was not generally much love +lost between any of the members of this family; they had met with too +much disappointment in the world to take kindly, now, to one another or +to anything or anybody. I rather suspect that they really had more +pleasure in burying one another, when the time came, than in any other +office of mutual kindness and brotherly love which it was their part to +do; not out of hardness of heart, but merely from soured temper, and +because, when people have met disappointment and have settled down into +final unhappiness, with no more gush and spring of good spirits, there is +nothing any more to create amiability out of. + +So the old people were unamiable and cross to one another, and unamiable +and cross to old Hammond, yet always with a certain respect; and the +result seemed to be such as treated the old man well enough. And thus he +moved about among them, a mystery; the histories of the others, in the +general outline, were well enough known, and perhaps not very uncommon; +this old man's history was known to none, except, of course, to the +trustees of the charity, and to the Master of the Hospital, to whom it +had necessarily been revealed, before the beneficiary could be admitted +as an inmate. It was judged, by the deportment of the Master, that the +old man had once held some eminent position in society; for, though bound +to treat them all as gentlemen, he was thought to show an especial and +solemn courtesy to Hammond. + +Yet by the attraction which two strong and cultivated minds inevitably +have for one another, there did spring up an acquaintanceship, an +intercourse, between Middleton and this old man, which was followed up in +many a conversation which they held together on all subjects that were +supplied by the news of the day, or the history of the past. Middleton +used to make the newspaper the opening for much discussion; and it seemed +to him that the talk of his companion had much of the character of that +of a retired statesman, on matters which, perhaps, he would look at all +the more wisely, because it was impossible he could ever more have a +personal agency in them. Their discussions sometimes turned upon the +affairs of his own country, and its relations with the rest of the world, +especially with England; and Middleton could not help being struck with +the accuracy of the old man's knowledge respecting that country, which so +few Englishmen know anything about; his shrewd appreciation of the +American character,--shrewd and caustic, yet not without a good degree of +justice; the sagacity of his remarks on the past, and prophecies of what +was likely to happen,--prophecies which, in one instance, were singularly +verified, in regard to a complexity which was then arresting the +attention of both countries. + +"You must have been in the United States," said he, one day. + +"Certainly; my remarks imply personal knowledge," was the reply. "But it +was before the days of steam." + +"And not, I should imagine, for a brief visit," said Middleton. "I only +wish the administration of this government had the benefit to-day of your +knowledge of my countrymen. It might be better for both of these kindred +nations." + +"Not a whit," said the old man. "England will never understand America; +for England never does understand a foreign country; and whatever you may +say about kindred, America is as much a foreign country as France itself. +These two hundred years of a different climate and circumstances--of life +on a broad continent instead of in an island, to say nothing of the +endless intermixture of nationalities in every part of the United States, +except New England--have created a new and decidedly original type of +national character. It is as well for both parties that they should not +aim at any very intimate connection. It will never do." + +"I should be sorry to think so," said Middleton; "they are at all events +two noble breeds of men, and ought to appreciate one another. And America +has the breadth of idea to do this for England, whether reciprocated or +not." + +_Thursday, May 6th._--Thus Middleton was established in a singular way +among these old men, in one of the surroundings most unlike anything in +his own country. So old it was that it seemed to him the freshest and +newest thing that he had ever met with. The residence was made infinitely +the more interesting to him by the sense that he was near the place--as +all the indications warned him--which he sought, whither his dreams had +tended from his childhood; that he could wander each day round the park +within which were the old gables of what he believed was his hereditary +home. He had never known anything like the dreamy enjoyment of these +days; so quiet, such a contrast to the turbulent life from which he had +escaped across the sea. And here he set himself, still with that sense of +shadowiness in what he saw and in what he did, in making all the +researches possible to him, about the neighborhood; visiting every little +church that raised its square battlemented Norman tower of gray stone, +for several miles round about; making himself acquainted with each little +village and hamlet that surrounded these churches, clustering about the +graves of those who had dwelt in the same cottages aforetime. He visited +all the towns within a dozen miles; and probably there were few of the +inhabitants who had so good an acquaintance with the neighborhood as this +native American attained within a few weeks after his coming thither. + +In course of these excursions he had several times met with a young +woman,--a young lady, one might term her, but in fact he was in some +doubt what rank she might hold, in England,--who happened to be wandering +about the country with a singular freedom. She was always alone, always +on foot; he would see her sketching some picturesque old church, some +ivied ruin, some fine drooping elm. She was a slight figure, much more so +than English women generally are; and, though healthy of aspect, had not +the ruddy complexion, which he was irreverently inclined to call the +coarse tint, that is believed the great charm of English beauty. There +was a freedom in her step and whole little womanhood, an elasticity, an +irregularity, so to speak, that made her memorable from first sight; and +when he had encountered her three or four times, he felt in a certain way +acquainted with her. She was very simply dressed, and quite as simple in +her deportment; there had been one or two occasions, when they had both +smiled at the same thing; soon afterwards a little conversation had taken +place between them; and thus, without any introduction, and in a way that +somewhat puzzled Middleton himself, they had become acquainted. It was so +unusual that a young English girl should be wandering about the country +entirely alone--so much less usual that she should speak to a +stranger--that Middleton scarcely knew how to account for it, but +meanwhile accepted the fact readily and willingly, for in truth he found +this mysterious personage a very likely and entertaining companion. There +was a strange quality of boldness in her remarks, almost of brusqueness, +that he might have expected to find in a young countrywoman of his own, +if bred up among the strong-minded, but was astonished to find in a young +Englishwoman. Somehow or other she made him think more of home than any +other person or thing he met with; and he could not but feel that she was +in strange contrast with everything about her. She was no beauty; very +piquant; very pleasing; in some points of view and at some moments +pretty; always good-humored, but somewhat too self-possessed for +Middleton's taste. It struck him that she had talked with him as if she +had some knowledge of him and of the purposes with which he was there; +not that this was expressed, but only implied by the fact that, on +looking back to what had passed, he found many strange coincidences in +what she had said with what he was thinking about. + +He perplexed himself much with thinking whence this young woman had come, +where she belonged, and what might be her history; when, the next day, he +again saw her, not this time rambling on foot, but seated in an open +barouche with a young lady. Middleton lifted his hat to her, and she +nodded and smiled to him; and it appeared to Middleton that a +conversation ensued about him with the young lady, her companion. Now, +what still more interested him was the fact that, on the panel of the +barouche were the arms of the family now in possession of the estate of +Smithell's; so that the young lady, his new acquaintance, or the young +lady, her seeming friend, one or the other, was the sister of the present +owner of that estate. He was inclined to think that his acquaintance +could not be the Miss Eldredge, of whose beauty he had heard many tales +among the people of the neighborhood. The other young lady, a tall, +reserved, fair-haired maiden, answered the description considerably +better. He concluded, therefore, that his acquaintance must be a visitor, +perhaps a dependent and companion; though the freedom of her thought, +action, and way of life seemed hardly consistent with this idea. However, +this slight incident served to give him a sort of connection with the +family, and he could but hope that some further chance would introduce +him within what he fondly called his hereditary walls. He had come to +think of this as a dreamland; and it seemed even more a dreamland now +than before it rendered itself into actual substance, an old house of +stone and timber standing within its park, shaded about with its +ancestral trees. + +But thus, at all events, he was getting himself a little wrought into the +net-work of human life around him, secluded as his position had at first +seemed to be, in the farmhouse where he had taken up his lodgings. For, +there was the Hospital and its old inhabitants, in whose monotonous +existence he soon came to pass for something, with his liveliness of +mind, his experience, his good sense, his patience as a listener, his +comparative youth even--his power of adapting himself to these stiff and +crusty characters, a power learned among other things in his political +life, where he had acquired something of the faculty (good or bad as +might be) of making himself all things to all men. But though he amused +himself with them all, there was in truth but one man among them in whom +he really felt much interest; and that one, we need hardly say, was +Hammond. It was not often that he found the old gentleman in a +conversible mood; always courteous, indeed, but generally cool and +reserved; often engaged in his one room, to which Middleton had never yet +been admitted, though he had more than once sent in his name, when +Hammond was not apparent upon the bench which, by common consent of the +Hospital, was appropriated to him. + +One day, however, notwithstanding that the old gentleman was confined to +his room by indisposition, he ventured to inquire at the door, and, +considerably to his surprise, was admitted. He found Hammond in his +easy-chair, at a table, with writing-materials before him; and as +Middleton entered, the old gentleman looked at him with a stern, fixed +regard, which, however, did not seem to imply any particular displeasure +towards this visitor, but rather a severe way of regarding mankind in +general. Middleton looked curiously around the small apartment, to see +what modification the character of the man had had upon the customary +furniture of the Hospital, and how much of individuality he had given to +that general type. There was a shelf of books, and a row of them on the +mantel-piece; works of political economy, they appeared to be, statistics +and things of that sort; very dry reading, with which, however, +Middleton's experience as a politician had made him acquainted. Besides +these there were a few works on local antiquities, a county-history +borrowed from the Master's library, in which Hammond appeared to have +been lately reading. + +"They are delightful reading," observed Middleton, "these old +county-histories, with their great folio volumes and their minute account +of the affairs of families and the genealogies, and descents of estates, +bestowing as much blessed space on a few hundred acres as other +historians give to a principality. I fear that in my own country we shall +never have anything of this kind. Our space is so vast that we shall +never come to know and love it, inch by inch, as the English antiquarians +do the tracts of country with which they deal; and besides, our land is +always likely to lack the interest that belongs to English estates; for +where land changes its ownership every few years, it does not become +imbued with the personalities of the people who live on it. It is but so +much grass; so much dirt, where a succession of people have dwelt too +little to make it really their own. But I have found a pleasure that I +had no conception of before, in reading some of the English local +histories." + +"It is not a usual course of reading for a transitory visitor," said +Hammond. "What could induce you to undertake it?" + +"Simply the wish, so common and natural with Americans," said +Middleton--"the wish to find out something about my kindred--the local +origin of my own family." + +"You do not show your wisdom in this," said his visitor. "America had +better recognize the fact that it has nothing to do with England, and +look upon itself as other nations and people do, as existing on its own +hook. I never heard of any people looking hack to the country of their +remote origin in the way the Anglo-Americans do. For instance, England is +made up of many alien races, German, Danish. Norman, and what not: it has +received large accessions of population at a later date than the +settlement of the United States. Yet these families melt into the great +homogeneous mass of Englishmen, and look hack no more to any other +country. There are in this vicinity many descendants of the French +Huguenots; but they care no more for France than for Timbuctoo, reckoning +themselves only Englishmen, as if they were descendants of the aboriginal +Britons. Let it he so with you." + +"So it might be," replied Middleton, "only that our relations with +England remain far more numerous than our disconnections, through the +bonds of history, of literature, of all that makes up the memories, and +much that makes up the present interests of a people. And therefore I +must still continue to pore over these old folios, and hunt around these +precincts, spending thus the little idle time I am likely to have in a +busy life. Possibly finding little to my purpose; but that is quite a +secondary consideration." + +"If you choose to tell me precisely what your aims are," said Hammond, +"it is possible I might give you some little assistance." + +_May 7th, Friday_.--Middleton was in fact more than half ashamed of the +dreams which he had cherished before coming to England, and which since, +at times, had been very potent with him, assuming as strong a tinge of +reality as those [scenes?] into which he had strayed. He could not +prevail with himself to disclose fully to this severe, and, as he +thought, cynical old man how strong within him was the sentiment that +impelled him to connect himself with the old life of England, to join on +the broken thread of ancestry and descent, and feel every link well +established. But it seemed to him that he ought not to lose this fair +opportunity of gaining some light on the abstruse field of his +researches; and he therefore explained to Hammond that he had reason, +from old family traditions, to believe that he brought with him a +fragment of a history that, if followed out, might lead to curious +results. He told him, in a tone half serious, what he had heard +respecting the quarrel of the two brothers, and the Bloody Footstep, the +impress of which was said to remain, as a lasting memorial of the tragic +termination of that enmity. At this point, Hammond interrupted him. He +had indeed, at various points of the narrative, nodded and smiled +mysteriously, as if looking into his mind and seeing something there +analogous to what he was listening to. He now spoke. + +"This is curious," said he. "Did you know that there is a manor-house in +this neighborhood, the family of which prides itself on having such a +blood-stained threshold as you have now described?" + +"No, indeed!" exclaimed Middleton, greatly interested. "Where?" + +"It is the old manor-house of Smithell's," replied Hammond, "one of those +old wood and timber [plaster?] mansions, which are among the most ancient +specimens of domestic architecture in England. The house has now passed +into the female line, and by marriage has been for two or three +generations in possession of another family. But the blood of the old +inheritors is still in the family. The house itself, or portions of it, +are thought to date back quite as far as the Conquest." + +"Smithell's?" said Middleton. "Why, I have seen that old house from a +distance, and have felt no little interest in its antique aspect. And it +has a Bloody Footstep! Would it be possible for a stranger to get an +opportunity to inspect it?" + +"Unquestionably," said Hammond; "nothing easier. It is but a moderate +distance from here, and if you can moderate your young footsteps, and +your American quick walk, to an old man's pace, I would go there with you +some day. In this languor and ennui of my life, I spend some time in +local antiquarianism, and perhaps I might assist you in tracing out how +far these traditions of yours may have any connection with reality. It +would be curious, would it not, if you had come, after two hundred years, +to piece out a story which may have been as much a mystery in England as +there in America?" + +An engagement was made for a walk to Smithell's the ensuing day; and +meanwhile Middleton entered more fully into what he had received from +family traditions and what he had thought out for himself on the matter +in question. + +"Are you aware," asked Hammond, "that there was formerly a title in this +family, now in abeyance, and which the heirs have at various times +claimed, and are at this moment claiming? Do you know, too,--but you can +scarcely know it,--that it has been surmised by some that there is an +insecurity in the title to the estate, and has always been; so that the +possessors have lived in some apprehension, from time immemorial, that +another heir would appear and take from them the fair inheritance? It is +a singular coincidence." + +"Very strange," exclaimed Middleton. "No; I was not aware of it; and, to +say the truth, I should not altogether like to come forward in the light +of a claimant. But this is a dream, surely!" + +"I assure you, sir," continued the old man, "that you come here in a very +critical moment; and singularly enough there is a perplexity, a +difficulty, that has endured for as long a time as when your ancestors +emigrated, that is still rampant within the bowels, as I may say, of the +family. Of course, it is too like a romance that you should be able to +establish any such claim as would have a valid influence on this matter; +but still, being here on the spot, it may be worth while, if merely as a +matter of amusement, to make some researches into this matter." + +"Surely I will," said Middleton, with a smile, which concealed more +earnestness than he liked to show; "as to the title, a Republican cannot +be supposed to think twice about such a bagatelle. The estate!--that +might be a more serious consideration." + +They continued to talk on the subject; and Middleton learned that the +present possessor of the estates was a gentleman nowise distinguished +from hundreds of other English gentlemen; a country squire modified in +accordance with the type of to-day, a frank, free, friendly sort of a +person enough, who had travelled on the Continent, who employed himself +much in field-sports, who was unmarried, and had a sister who was +reckoned among the beauties of the county. + +While the conversation was thus going on, to Middleton's astonishment +there came a knock at the door of the room, and, without waiting for a +response, it was opened, and there appeared at it the same young woman +whom he had already met. She came in with perfect freedom and +familiarity, and was received quietly by the old gentleman; who, however, +by his manner towards Middleton, indicated that he was now to take his +leave. He did so, after settling the hour at which the excursion of the +next day was to take place. This arranged, he departed, with much to +think of, and a light glimmering through the confused labyrinth of +thoughts which had been unilluminated hitherto. + +To say the truth, he questioned within himself whether it were not better +to get as quickly as he could out of the vicinity; and, at any rate, not +to put anything of earnest in what had hitherto been nothing more than a +romance to him. There was something very dark and sinister in the events +of family history, which now assumed a reality that they had never before +worn; so much tragedy, so much hatred, had been thrown into that deep +pit, and buried under the accumulated debris, the fallen leaves, the rust +and dust of more than two centuries, that it seemed not worth while to +dig it up; for perhaps the deadly influences, which it had taken so much +time to hide, might still be lurking there, and become potent if he now +uncovered them. There was something that startled him, in the strange, +wild light, which gleamed from the old man's eyes, as he threw out the +suggestions which had opened this prospect to him. What right had he--an +American, Republican, disconnected with this country so long, alien from +its habits of thought and life, reverencing none of the things which +Englishmen reverenced--what right had he to come with these musty claims +from the dim past, to disturb them in the life that belonged to them? +There was a higher and a deeper law than any connected with ancestral +claims which he could assert; and he had an idea that the law bade him +keep to the country which his ancestor had chosen and to its +institutions, and not meddle nor make with England. The roots of his +family tree could not reach under the ocean; he was at most but a +seedling from the parent tree. While thus meditating he found that his +footsteps had brought him unawares within sight of the old manor-house of +Smithell's; and that he was wandering in a path which, if he followed it +further, would bring him to an entrance in one of the wings of the +mansion. With a sort of shame upon him, he went forward, and, leaning +against a tree, looked at what he considered the home of his ancestors. + +_May 9th, Sunday_.--At the time appointed, the two companions set out on +their little expedition, the old man in his Hospital uniform, the long +black mantle, with the bear and ragged staff engraved in silver on the +breast, and Middleton in the plain costume which he had adopted in these +wanderings about the country. On their way, Hammond was not very +communicative, occasionally dropping some shrewd remark with a good deal +of acidity in it; now and then, too, favoring his companion with some +reminiscence of local antiquity; but oftenest silent. Thus they went on, +and entered the park of Pemberton Manor by a by-path, over a stile and +one of those footways, which are always so well worth threading out in +England, leading the pedestrian into picturesque and characteristic +scenes, when the highroad would show him nothing except what was +commonplace and uninteresting. Now the gables of the old manor-house +appeared before them, rising amidst the hereditary woods, which doubtless +dated from a time beyond the days which Middleton fondly recalled, when +his ancestors had walked beneath their shade. On each side of them were +thickets and copses of fern, amidst which they saw the hares peeping out +to gaze upon them, occasionally running across the path, and comporting +themselves like creatures that felt themselves under some sort of +protection from the outrages of man, though they knew too much of his +destructive character to trust him too far. Pheasants, too, rose close +beside them, and winged but a little way before they alighted; they +likewise knew, or seemed to know, that their hour was not yet come. On +all sides in these woods, these wastes, these beasts and birds, there was +a character that was neither wild nor tame. Man had laid his grasp on +them all, and done enough to redeem them from barbarism, but had stopped +short of domesticating them; although Nature, in the wildest thing there, +acknowledged the powerful and pervading influence of cultivation. + +Arriving at a side door of the mansion, Hammond rang the bell, and a +servant soon appeared. He seemed to know the old man, and immediately +acceded to his request to be permitted to show his companion the house; +although it was not precisely a show-house, nor was this the hour when +strangers were usually admitted. They entered; and the servant did not +give himself the trouble to act as a cicerone to the two visitants, but +carelessly said to the old gentleman that he knew the rooms, and that he +would leave him to discourse to his friend about them. Accordingly, they +went into the old hall, a dark oaken-panelled room, of no great height, +with many doors opening into it. There was a fire burning on the hearth; +indeed, it was the custom of the house to keep it up from morning to +night; and in the damp, chill climate of England, there is seldom a day +in some part of which a fire is not pleasant to feel. Hammond here +pointed out a stuffed fox, to which some story of a famous chase was +attached; a pair of antlers of enormous size; and some old family +pictures, so blackened with time and neglect that Middleton could not +well distinguish their features, though curious to do so, as hoping to +see there the lineaments of some with whom he might claim kindred. It was +a venerable apartment, and gave a good foretaste of what they might hope +to find in the rest of the mansion. + +But when they had inspected it pretty thoroughly, and were ready to +proceed, an elderly gentleman entered the hall, and, seeing Hammond, +addressed him in a kindly, familiar way; not indeed as an equal friend, +but with a pleasant and not irksome conversation. "I am glad to see you +here again," said he. "What? I have an hour of leisure; for, to say the +truth, the day hangs rather heavy till the shooting season begins. Come; +as you have a friend with you, I will be your cicerone myself about the +house, and show you whatever mouldy objects of interest it contains." + +He then graciously noticed the old man's companion, but without asking or +seeming to expect an introduction; for, after a careless glance at him, +he had evidently set him down as a person without social claims, a young +man in the rank of life fitted to associate with an inmate of Pemberton's +Hospital. And it must be noticed that his treatment of Middleton was not +on that account the less kind, though far from being so elaborately +courteous as if he had met him as an equal. "You have had something of a +walk," said he, "and it is a rather hot day. The beer of Pemberton Manor +has been reckoned good these hundred years; will you taste it?" + +Hammond accepted the offer, and the beer was brought in a foaming +tankard; but Middleton declined it, for in truth there was a singular +emotion in his breast, as if the old enmity, the ancient injuries, were +not yet atoned for, and as if he must not accept the hospitality of one +who represented his hereditary foe. He felt, too, as if there were +something unworthy, a certain want of fairness, in entering clandestinely +the house, and talking with its occupant under a veil, as it were; and +had he seen clearly how to do it, he would perhaps at that moment have +fairly told Mr. Eldredge that he brought with him the character of +kinsman, and must be received on that grade or none. But it was not easy +to do this; and after all, there was no clear reason why he should do it; +so he let the matter pass, merely declining to take the refreshment, and +keeping himself quiet and retired. + +Squire Eldredge seemed to be a good, ordinary sort of gentleman, +reasonably well educated, and with few ideas beyond his estate and +neighborhood, though he had once held a seat in Parliament for part of a +term. Middleton could not but contrast him, with an inward smile, with +the shrewd, alert politicians, their faculties all sharpened to the +utmost, whom he had known and consorted with in the American Congress. +Hammond had slightly informed him that his companion was an American; and +Mr. Eldredge immediately gave proof of the extent of his knowledge of +that country, by inquiring whether he came from the State of New England, +and whether Mr. Webster was still President of the United States; +questions to which Middleton returned answers that led to no further +conversation. These little preliminaries over, they continued their +ramble through the house, going through tortuous passages, up and down +little flights of steps, and entering chambers that had all the charm of +discoveries of hidden regions; loitering about, in short, in a labyrinth +calculated to put the head into a delightful confusion. Some of these +rooms contained their time-honored furniture, all in the best possible +repair, heavy, dark, polished; beds that had been marriage beds and dying +beds over and over again; chairs with carved backs; and all manner of old +world curiosities; family pictures, and samplers, and embroidery; +fragments of tapestry; an inlaid floor; everything having a story to it, +though, to say the truth, the possessor of these curiosities made but a +bungling piece of work in telling the legends connected with them. In one +or two instances Hammond corrected him. + +By and by they came to what had once been the principal bed-room of the +house; though its gloom, and some circumstances of family misfortune that +had happened long ago, had caused it to fall into disrepute in latter +times; and it was now called the Haunted Chamber, or the Ghost's Chamber. +The furniture of this room, however, was particularly rich in its antique +magnificence; and one of the principal objects was a great black cabinet +of ebony and ivory, such as may often be seen in old English houses, and +perhaps often in the palaces of Italy, in which country they perhaps +originated. This present cabinet was known to have been in the house as +long ago as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and how much longer neither +tradition nor record told. Hammond particularly directed Middleton's +attention to it. + +"There is nothing in this house," said he, "better worth your attention +than that cabinet.' Consider its plan; it represents a stately mansion, +with pillars, an entrance, with a lofty flight of steps, windows, and +everything perfect. Examine it well." + +There was such an emphasis in the old man's way of speaking that +Middleton turned suddenly round from all that he had been looking at, and +fixed his whole attention on the cabinet; and strangely enough, it seemed +to be the representative, in small, of something that he had seen in a +dream. To say the truth, if some cunning workman had been employed to +copy his idea of the old family mansion, on a scale of half an inch to a +yard, and in ebony and ivory instead of stone, he could not have produced +a closer imitation. Everything was there. + +"This is miraculous!" exclaimed he. "I do not understand it." + +"Your friend seems to be curious in these matters," said Mr. Eldredge +graciously. "Perhaps he is of some trade that makes this sort of +manufacture particularly interesting to him. You are quite at liberty, my +friend, to open the cabinet and inspect it as minutely as you wish. It is +an article that has a good deal to do with an obscure portion of our +family history. Look, here is the key, and the mode of opening the outer +door of the palace, as we may well call it." So saying, he threw open the +outer door, and disclosed within the mimic likeness of a stately entrance +hall, with a floor chequered of ebony and ivory. There were other doors +that seemed to open into apartments in the interior of the palace; but +when Mr. Eldredge threw them likewise wide, they proved to be drawers and +secret receptacles, where papers, jewels, money, anything that it was +desirable to store away secretly, might be kept. + +"You said, sir," said Middleton, thoughtfully, "that your family history +contained matter of interest in reference to this cabinet. Might I +inquire what those legends are?" + +"Why, yes," said Mr. Eldredge, musing a little. "I see no reason why I +should have any idle concealment about the matter, especially to a +foreigner and a man whom I am never likely to see again. You must know, +then, my friend, that there was once a time when this cabinet was known +to contain the fate of the estate and its possessors; and if it had held +all that it was supposed to hold, I should not now be the lord of +Pemberton Manor, nor the claimant of an ancient title. But my father, and +his father before him, and his father besides, have held the estate and +prospered on it; and I think we may fairly conclude now that the cabinet +contains nothing except what we see." + +And he rapidly again threw open one after another all the numerous +drawers and receptacles of the cabinet. + +"It is an interesting object," said Middleton, after looking very closely +and with great attention at it, being pressed thereto, indeed, by the +owner's good natured satisfaction in possessing this rare article of +vertu. "It is admirable work," repeated he, drawing back. "That mosaic +floor, especially, is done with an art and skill that I never saw +equalled." + +There was something strange and altered in Middleton's tones, that +attracted the notice of Mr. Eldredge. Looking at him, he saw that he had +grown pale, and had a rather bewildered air. + +"Is your friend ill?" said he. "He has not our English ruggedness of +look. He would have done better to take a sip of the cool tankard, and a +slice of the cold beef. He finds no such food and drink as that in his +own country, I warrant." + +"His color has come back," responded Hammond, briefly. "He does not need +any refreshment, I think, except, perhaps, the open air." + +In fact, Middleton, recovering himself, apologized to Mr. Hammond +[Eldredge?]; and as they had now seen nearly the whole of the house, the +two visitants took their leave, with many kindly offers on Mr. Eldredge's +part to permit the young man to view the cabinet whenever he wished. As +they went out of the house (it was by another door than that which gave +them entrance), Hammond laid his hand on Middleton's shoulder and pointed +to a stone on the threshold, on which he was about to set his foot. "Take +care!" said he. "It is the Bloody Footstep." + +Middleton looked down and saw something, indeed, very like the shape of a +footprint, with a hue very like that of blood. It was a twilight sort of +a place, beneath a porch, which was much overshadowed by trees and +shrubbery. It might have been blood; but he rather thought, in his wicked +skepticism, that it was a natural, reddish stain in the stone. He +measured his own foot, however, in the Bloody Footstep, and went on. + +_May 10th, Monday_.--This is the present aspect of the story: Middleton +is the descendant of a family long settled in the United States; his +ancestor having emigrated to New England with the Pilgrims; or, perhaps, +at a still earlier date, to Virginia with Raleigh's colonists. There had +been a family dissension,--a bitter hostility between two brothers in +England; on account, probably, of a love affair, the two both being +attached to the same lady. By the influence of the family on both sides, +the young lady had formed an engagement with the elder brother, although +her affections had settled on the younger. The marriage was about to take +place when the younger brother and the bride both disappeared, and were +never heard of with any certainty afterwards; but it was believed at the +time that he had been killed, and in proof of it a bloody footstep +remained on the threshold of the ancestral mansion. There were rumors, +afterwards, traditionally continued to the present day, that the younger +brother and the bride were seen, and together, in England; and that some +voyager across the sea had found them living together, husband and wife, +on the other side of the Atlantic. But the elder brother became a moody +and reserved man, never married, and left the inheritance to the children +of a third brother, who then became the representative of the family in +England; and the better authenticated story was that the second brother +had really been slain, and that the young lady (for all the parties may +have been Catholic) had gone to the Continent and taken the veil there. +Such was the family history as known or surmised in England, and in the +neighborhood of the manor-house, where the Bloody Footstep still remained +on the threshold; and the posterity of the third brother still held the +estate, and perhaps were claimants of an ancient baronage, long in +abeyance. + +Now, on the other side of the Atlantic, the second brother and the young +lady had really been married, and became the parents of a posterity, +still extant, of which the Middleton of the romance is the surviving +male. Perhaps he had changed his name, being so much tortured with the +evil and wrong that had sprung up in his family, so remorseful, so +outraged, that he wished to disconnect himself with all the past, and +begin life quite anew in a new world. But both he and his wife, though +happy in one another, had been remorsefully and sadly so; and, with such +feelings, they had never again communicated with their respective +families, nor had given their children the means of doing so. There must, +I think, have been something nearly approaching to guilt on the second +brother's part, and the bride should have broken a solemnly plighted +troth to the elder brother, breaking away from him when almost his wife. +The elder brother had been known to have been wounded at the time of the +second brother's disappearance; and it had been the surmise that he had +received this hurt in the personal conflict in which the latter was +slain. But in truth the second brother had stabbed him in the emergency +of being discovered in the act of escaping with the bride; and this was +what weighed upon his conscience throughout life in America. The American +family had prolonged itself through various fortunes, and all the ups and +downs incident to our institutions, until the present day. They had some +old family documents, which had been rather carelessly kept; but the +present representative, being an educated man, had looked over them, and +found one which interested him strongly. It was--what was it?--perhaps a +copy of a letter written by his ancestor on his death-bed, telling his +real name, and relating the above incidents. These incidents had come +down in a vague, wild way, traditionally, in the American family, forming +a wondrous and incredible legend, which Middleton had often laughed at, +yet been greatly interested in; and the discovery of this document seemed +to give a certain aspect of veracity and reality to the tradition. +Perhaps, however, the document only related to the change of name, and +made reference to certain evidences by which, if any descendant of the +family should deem it expedient, he might prove his hereditary identity. +The legend must be accounted for by having been gathered from the talk of +the first ancestor and his wife. There must be in existence, in the early +records of the colony, an authenticated statement of this change of name, +and satisfactory proofs that the American family, long known as +Middleton, were really a branch of the English family of Eldredge, or +whatever. And in the legend, though not in the written document, there +must be an account of a certain magnificent, almost palatial residence, +which Middleton shall presume to be the ancestral home; and in this +palace there shall be said to be a certain secret chamber, or receptacle, +where is reposited a document that shall complete the evidence of the +genealogical descent. + +Middleton is still a young man, but already a distinguished one in his +own country; he has entered early into politics, been sent to Congress, +but having met with some disappointments in his ambitious hopes, and +being disgusted with the fierceness of political contests in our country, +he has come abroad for recreation and rest. His imagination has dwelt +much, in his boyhood, on the legendary story of his family; and the +discovery of the document has revived these dreams. He determines to +search out the family mansion; and thus he arrives, bringing half of a +story, being the only part known in America, to join it on to the other +half, which is the only part known in England. In an introduction I must +do the best I can to state his side of the matter to the reader, he +having communicated it to me in a friendly way, at the Consulate; as many +people have communicated quite as wild pretensions to English +genealogies. + +He comes to the midland counties of England, where he conceives his +claims to lie, and seeks for his ancestral home; but there are +difficulties in the way of finding it, the estates having passed into the +female line, though still remaining in the blood. By and by, however, he +comes to an old town where there is one of the charitable institutions +bearing the name of his family, by whose beneficence it had indeed been +founded, in Queen Elizabeth's time. He of course becomes interested in +this Hospital; he finds it still going on, precisely as it did in the old +days; and all the character and life of the establishment must be +picturesquely described. Here he gets acquainted with an old man, an +inmate of the Hospital, who (if the uncontrollable fatality of the story +will permit) must have an active influence on the ensuing events. I +suppose him to have been an American, but to have fled his country and +taken refuge in England; he shall have been a man of the Nicholas Biddle +stamp, a mighty speculator, the ruin of whose schemes had crushed +hundreds of people, and Middleton's father among the rest. Here he had +quitted the activity of his mind, as well as he could, becoming a local +antiquary, etc., and he has made himself acquainted with the family +history of the Eldredges, knowing more about it than the members of the +family themselves do. He had known in America (from Middleton's father, +who was his friend) the legends preserved in this branch of the family, +and perhaps had been struck by the way in which they fit into the English +legends; at any rate, this strikes him when Middleton tells him his story +and shows him the document respecting the change of name. After various +conversations together (in which, however, the old man keeps the secret +of his own identity, and indeed acts as mysteriously as possible), they +go together to visit the ancestral mansion. Perhaps it should not be in +their first visit that the cabinet, representing the stately mansion, +shall be seen. But the Bloody Footstep may; which shall interest +Middleton much, both because Hammond has told him the English tradition +respecting it, and because too the legends of the American family made +some obscure allusions to his ancestor having left blood--a bloody +footstep--on the ancestral threshold. This is the point to which the +story has now been sketched out. Middleton finds a commonplace old +English country gentleman in possession of the estate, where his +forefathers have lived in peace for many generations; but there must be +circumstances contrived which shall cause Middleton's conduct to be +attended by no end of turmoil and trouble. The old Hospitaller, I +suppose, must be the malicious agent in this; and his malice must be +motived in some satisfactory way. The more serious question, what shall +be the nature of this tragic trouble, and how can it be brought about? + +_May 11th, Tuesday_.--How much better would it have been if this secret, +which seemed so golden, had remained in the obscurity in which two +hundred years had buried it! That deep, old, grass-grown grave being +opened, out from it streamed into the sunshine the old fatalities, the +old crimes, the old misfortunes, the sorrows, that seemed to have +departed from the family forever. But it was too late now to close it up; +he must follow out the thread that led him on,--the thread of fate, if +you choose to call it so; but rather the impulse of an evil will, a +stubborn self-interest, a desire for certain objects of ambition which +were preferred to what yet were recognized as real goods. Thus reasoned, +thus raved, Eldredge, as he considered the things that he had done, and +still intended to do; nor did these perceptions make the slightest +difference in his plans, nor in the activity with which he set about +their performance. For this purpose he sent for his lawyer, and consulted +him on the feasibility of the design which he had already communicated to +him respecting Middleton. But the man of law shook his head, and, though +deferentially, declined to have any active concern with the matter that +threatened to lead him beyond the bounds which he allowed himself, into a +seductive but perilous region. + +"My dear sir," said he, with some earnestness, "you had much better +content yourself with such assistance as I can professionally and +consistently give you. Believe [me], I am willing to do a lawyer's +utmost, and to do more would be as unsafe for the client as for the legal +adviser." + +Thus left without an agent and an instrument, this unfortunate man had to +meditate on what means he would use to gain his ends through his own +unassisted efforts. In the struggle with himself through which he had +passed, he had exhausted pretty much all the feelings that he had to +bestow on this matter; and now he was ready to take hold of almost any +temptation that might present itself, so long as it showed a good +prospect of success and a plausible chance of impunity. While he was thus +musing, he heard a female voice chanting some song, like a bird's among +the pleasant foliage of the trees, and soon he saw at the end of a +wood-walk Alice, with her basket on her arm, passing on toward the +village. She looked towards him as she passed, but made no pause nor yet +hastened her steps, not seeming to think it worth her while to be +influenced by him. He hurried forward and overtook her. + +So there was this poor old gentleman, his comfort utterly overthrown, +decking his white hair and wrinkled brow with the semblance of a coronet, +and only hoping that the reality might crown and bless him before he was +laid in the ancestral tomb. It was a real calamity; though by no means +the greatest that had been fished up out of the pit of domestic discord +that had been opened anew by the advent of the American; and by the use +which had been made of it by the cantankerous old man of the Hospital. +Middleton, as he looked at these evil consequences, sometimes regretted +that he had not listened to those forebodings which had warned him back +on the eve of his enterprise; yet such was the strange entanglement and +interest which had wound about him, that often he rejoiced that for once +he was engaged in something that absorbed him fully, and the zeal for the +development of which made him careless for the result in respect to its +good or evil, but only desirous that it show itself. As for Alice, she +seemed to skim lightly through all these matters, whether as a spirit of +good or ill he could not satisfactorily judge. He could not think her +wicked; yet her actions seemed unaccountable on the plea that she was +otherwise. It was another characteristic thread in the wild web of +madness that had spun itself about all the prominent characters of our +story. And when Middleton thought of these things, he felt as if it might +be his duty (supposing he had the power) to shovel the earth again into +the pit that he had been the means of opening; but also felt that, +whether duty or not, he would never perform it. + +For, you see, on the American's arrival he had found the estate in the +hands of one of the descendants; but some disclosures consequent on his +arrival had thrown it into the hands of another; or, at all events, had +seemed to make it apparent that justice required that it should be so +disposed of. No sooner was the discovery made than the possessor put on a +coronet; the new heir had commenced legal proceedings; the sons of the +respective branches had come to blows and blood; and the devil knows what +other devilish consequences had ensued. Besides this, there was much +falling in love at cross-purposes, and a general animosity of everybody +against everybody else, in proportion to the closeness of the natural +ties and their obligation to love one another. + +The moral, if any moral were to be gathered from these petty and wretched +circumstances, was, "Let the past alone: do not seek to renew it; press +on to higher and better things,--at all events, to other things; and be +assured that the right way can never be that which leads you back to the +identical shapes that you long ago left behind. Onward, onward, onward!" + +"What have you to do here?" said Alice. "Your lot is in another land. +You have seen the birthplace of your forefathers, and have gratified your +natural yearning for it; now return, and cast in your lot with your own +people, let it be what it will. I fully believe that it is such a lot as +the world has never yet seen, and that the faults, the weaknesses, the +errors, of your countrymen will vanish away like morning mists before the +rising sun. You can do nothing better than to go back." + +"This is strange advice, Alice," said Middleton, gazing at her and +smiling. "Go back, with such a fair prospect before me; that were strange +indeed! It is enough to keep me here, that here only I shall see +you,--enough to make me rejoice to have come, that I have found you +here." + +"Do not speak in this foolish way," cried Alice, panting. "I am giving +you the best advice, and speaking in the wisest way I am capable +of,--speaking on good grounds too,--and you turn me aside with a silly +compliment. I tell you that this is no comedy in which we are performers, +but a deep, sad tragedy; and that it depends most upon you whether or no +it shall be pressed to a catastrophe. Think well of it." + +"I have thought, Alice," responded the young man, "and I must let things +take their course; if, indeed, it depends at all upon me, which I see no +present reason to suppose. Yet I wish you would explain to me what you +mean." + +To take up the story from the point where we left it: by the aid of the +American's revelations, some light is thrown upon points of family +history, which induce the English possessor of the estate to suppose that +the time has come for asserting his claim to a title which has long been +in abeyance. He therefore sets about it, and engages in great expenses, +besides contracting the enmity of many persons, with whose interests he +interferes. A further complication is brought about by the secret +interference of the old Hospitaller, and Alice goes singing and dancing +through the whole, in a way that makes her seem like a beautiful devil, +though finally it will be recognized that she is an angel of light. +Middleton, half bewildered, can scarcely tell how much of this is due to +his own agency; how much is independent of him and would have happened +had he stayed on his own side of the water. By and by a further and +unexpected development presents the singular fact that he himself is the +heir to whatever claims there are, whether of property or rank,--all +centring in him as the representative of the eldest brother. On this +discovery there ensues a tragedy in the death of the present possessor of +the estate, who has staked everything upon the issue; and Middleton, +standing amid the ruin and desolation of which he has been the innocent +cause, resigns all the claims which he might now assert, and retires, arm +in arm with Alice, who has encouraged him to take this course, and to act +up to his character. The estate takes a passage into the female line, and +the old name becomes extinct, nor does Middleton seek to continue it by +resuming it in place of the one long ago assumed by his ancestor. Thus he +and his wife become the Adam and Eve of a new epoch, and the fitting +missionaries of a new social faith, of which there must be continual +hints through the book. + +A knot of characters may be introduced as gathering around Middleton, +comprising expatriated Americans of all sorts: the wandering printer who +came to me so often at the Consulate, who said he was a native of +Philadelphia, and could not go home in the thirty years that he had been +trying to do so, for lack of the money to pay his passage; the large +banker; the consul of Leeds; the woman asserting her claims to half +Liverpool; the gifted literary lady, maddened by Shakespeare, &c., &c. +The Yankee who had been driven insane by the Queen's notice, slight as it +was, of the photographs of his two children which he had sent her. I have +not yet struck the true key-note of this Romance, and until I do, and +unless I do, I shall write nothing but tediousness and nonsense. I do not +wish it to be a picture of life, but a Romance, grim, grotesque, quaint, +of which the Hospital might be the fitting scene. It might have so much +of the hues of life that the reader should sometimes think it was +intended for a picture, yet the atmosphere should be such as to excuse +all wildness. In the Introduction, I might disclaim all intention to draw +a real picture, but say that the continual meetings I had with Americans +bent on such errands had suggested this wild story. The descriptions of +scenery, &c., and of the Hospital, might be correct, but there should be +a tinge of the grotesque given to all the characters and events. The +tragic and the gentler pathetic need not be excluded by the tone and +treatment. If I could but write one central scene in this vein, all the +rest of the Romance would readily arrange itself around that nucleus. The +begging-girl would be another American character; the actress too; the +caravan people. It must be humorous work, or nothing. + + + + +III. + +_May 12th, Wednesday_.--Middleton found his abode here becoming daily +more interesting; and he sometimes thought that it was the sympathies +with the place and people, buried under the supergrowth of so many ages, +but now coming forth with the life and vigor of a fountain, that, long +hidden beneath earth and ruins, gushes out singing into the sunshine, as +soon as these are removed. He wandered about the neighborhood with +insatiable interest; sometimes, and often, lying on a hill-side and +gazing at the gray tower of the church; sometimes coming into the village +clustered round that same church, and looking at the old timber and +plaster houses, the same, except that the thatch had probably been often +renewed, that they used to be in his ancestor's days. In those old +cottages still dwelt the families, the ----s, the Prices, the Hopnorts, +the Copleys, that had dwelt there when America was a scattered progeny of +infant colonies; and in the churchyard were the graves of all the +generations since--including the dust of those who had seen his +ancestor's face before his departure. + +The graves, outside the church walls indeed, bore no marks of this +antiquity; for it seems not to have been an early practice in England to +put stones over such graves; and where it has been done, the climate +causes the inscriptions soon to become obliterated and unintelligible. +But, within the church, there were rich words of the personages and times +with whom Middleton's musings held so much converse. + +But one of his greatest employments and pastimes was to ramble through +the grounds of Smithell's, making himself as well acquainted with its +wood paths, its glens, its woods, its venerable trees, as if he had been +bred up there from infancy. Some of those old oaks his ancestor might +have been acquainted with, while they were already sturdy and well-grown +trees; might have climbed them in boyhood; might have mused beneath them +as a lover; might have flung himself at full length on the turf beneath +them, in the bitter anguish that must have preceded his departure forever +from the home of his forefathers. In order to secure an uninterrupted +enjoyment of his rambles here, Middleton had secured the good-will of the +game-keepers and other underlings whom he was likely to meet about the +grounds, by giving them a shilling or a half-crown; and he was now free +to wander where he would, with only the advice rather than the caution, +to keep out of the way of their old master,--for there might be trouble, +if he should meet a stranger on the grounds, in any of his tantrums. But, +in fact, Mr. Eldredge was not much in the habit of walking about the +grounds; and there were hours of every day, during which it was +altogether improbable that he would have emerged from his own apartments +in the manor-house. These were the hours, therefore, when Middleton most +frequented the estate; although, to say the truth, he would gladly have +so timed his visits as to meet and form an acquaintance with the lonely +lord of this beautiful property, his own kinsman, though with so many +ages of dark oblivion between. For Middleton had not that feeling of +infinite distance in the relationship, which he would have had if his +branch of the family had continued in England, and had not intermarried +with the other branch, through such a long waste of years; he rather felt +as if he were the original emigrant who, long resident on a foreign +shore, had now returned, with a heart brimful of tenderness, to revisit +the scenes of his youth, and renew his tender relations with those who +shared his own blood. + +There was not, however, much in what he heard of the character of the +present possessor of the estate--or indeed in the strong family +characteristic that had become hereditary--to encourage him to attempt +any advances. It is very probable that the religion of Mr. Eldredge, as a +Catholic, may have excited a prejudice against him, as it certainly had +insulated the family, in a great degree, from the sympathies of the +neighborhood. Mr. Eldredge, moreover, had resided long on the Continent; +long in Italy; and had come back with habits that little accorded with +those of the gentry of the neighborhood; so that, in fact, he was almost +as much of a stranger, and perhaps quite as little of a real Englishman, +as Middleton himself. Be that as it might, Middleton, when he sought to +learn something about him, heard the strangest stories of his habits of +life, of his temper, and of his employments, from the people with whom he +conversed. The old legend, turning upon the monomania of the family, was +revived in full force in reference to this poor gentleman; and many a +time Middleton's interlocutors shook their wise heads, saying with a +knowing look and under their breath that the old gentleman was looking +for the track of the Bloody Footstep. They fabled--or said, for it might +not have been a false story--that every descendant of this house had a +certain portion of his life, during which he sought the track of that +footstep which was left on the threshold of the mansion; that he sought +it far and wide, over every foot of the estate; not only on the estate, +but throughout the neighborhood; not only in the neighborhood but all +over England; not only throughout England but all about the world. It was +the belief of the neighborhood--at least of some old men and women in +it--that the long period of Mr. Eldredge's absence from England had been +spent in the search for some trace of those departing footsteps that had +never returned. It is very possible--probable, indeed--that there may +have been some ground for this remarkable legend; not that it is to be +credited that the family of Eldredge, being reckoned among sane men, +would seriously have sought, years and generations after the fact, for +the first track of those bloody footsteps which the first rain of drippy +England must have washed away; to say nothing of the leaves that had +fallen and the growth and decay of so many seasons, that covered all +traces of them since. But nothing is more probable than that the +continual recurrence to the family genealogy, which had been necessitated +by the matter of the dormant peerage, had caused the Eldredges, from +father to son, to keep alive an interest in that ancestor who had +disappeared, and who had been supposed to carry some of the most +important family papers with him. But yet it gave Middleton a strange +thrill of pleasure, that had something fearful in it, to think that all +through these ages he had been waited for, sought for, anxiously +expected, as it were; it seemed as if the very ghosts of his kindred, a +long shadowy line, held forth their dim arms to welcome him; a line +stretching back to the ghosts of those who had flourished in the old, old +times; the doubletted and beruffled knightly shades of Queen Elizabeth's +time; a long line, stretching from the mediaeval ages, and their +duskiness, downward, downward, with only one vacant space, that of him +who had left the Bloody Footstep. There was an inexpressible pleasure +(airy and evanescent, gone in a moment if he dwelt upon it too +thoughtfully, but very sweet) to Middleton's imagination, in this idea. +When he reflected, however, that his revelations, if they had any effect +at all, might serve only to quench the hopes of these long expectants, it +of course made him hesitate to declare himself. + +One afternoon, when he was in the midst of musings such as this, he saw +at a distance through the park, in the direction of the manor-house, a +person who seemed to be walking slowly and seeking for something upon the +ground. He was a long way off when Middleton first perceived him; and +there were two clumps of trees and underbrush, with interspersed tracts +of sunny lawn, between them. The person, whoever he was, kept on, and +plunged into the first clump of shrubbery, still keeping his eyes on the +ground, as if intensely searching for something. When he emerged from the +concealment of the first clump of shrubbery, Middleton saw that he was a +tall, thin person, in a dark dress; and this was the chief observation +that the distance enabled him to make, as the figure kept slowly onward, +in a somewhat wavering line, and plunged into the second clump of +shrubbery. From that, too, he emerged; and soon appeared to be a thin +elderly figure, of a dark man with gray hair, bent, as it seemed to +Middleton, with infirmity, for his figure still stooped even in the +intervals when he did not appear to be tracking the ground. But Middleton +could not but be surprised at the singular appearance the figure had of +setting its foot, at every step, just where a previous footstep had been +made, as if he wanted to measure his whole pathway in the track of +somebody who had recently gone over the ground in advance of him. +Middleton was sitting at the foot of an oak; and he began to feel some +awkwardness in the consideration of what he would do if Mr. Eldredge--for +he could not doubt that it was he--were to be led just to this spot, in +pursuit of his singular occupation. And even so it proved. + +Middleton could not feel it manly to fly and hide himself, like a guilty +thing; and indeed the hospitality of the English country gentleman in +many cases gives the neighborhood and the stranger a certain degree of +freedom in the use of the broad expanse of ground in which they and their +forefathers have loved to sequester their residences. The figure kept on, +showing more and more distinctly the tall, meagre, not unvenerable +features of a gentleman in the decline of life, apparently in ill-health; +with a dark face, that might once have been full of energy, but now +seemed enfeebled by time, passion, and perhaps sorrow. But it was strange +to see the earnestness with which he looked on the ground, and the +accuracy with which he at last set his foot, apparently adjusting it +exactly to some footprint before him; and Middleton doubted not that, +having studied and re-studied the family records and the judicial +examinations which described exactly the track that was seen the day +after the memorable disappearance of his ancestor, Mr. Eldredge was now, +in some freak, or for some purpose best known to himself, practically +following it out. And follow it out he did, until at last he lifted up +his eyes, muttering to himself: "At this point the footsteps wholly +disappear." + +Lifting his eyes, as we have said, while thus regretfully and +despairingly muttering these words, he saw Middleton against the oak, +within three paces of him. + +_May 13th, Thursday_.--Mr. Eldredge (for it was he) first kept his eyes +fixed full on Middleton's face, with an expression as if he saw him not; +but gradually--slowly, at first--he seemed to become aware of his +presence; then, with a sudden flush, he took in the idea that he was +encountered by a stranger in his secret mood. A flush of anger or shame, +perhaps both, reddened over his face; his eyes gleamed; and he spoke +hastily and roughly. + +"Who are you?" he said. "How come you here? I allow no intruders in my +park. Begone, fellow!" + +"Really, sir, I did not mean to intrude upon you," said Middleton +blandly. "I am aware that I owe you an apology; but the beauties of your +park must plead my excuse; and the constant kindness of [the] English +gentleman, which admits a stranger to the privilege of enjoying so much +of the beauty in which he himself dwells as the stranger's taste permits +him to enjoy." + +"An artist, perhaps," said Mr. Eldredge, somewhat less uncourteously. "I +am told that they love to come here and sketch those old oaks and their +vistas, and the old mansion yonder. But you are an intrusive set, you +artists, and think that a pencil and a sheet of paper may be your +passport anywhere. You are mistaken, sir. My park is not open to +strangers." + +"I am sorry, then, to have intruded upon you," said Middleton, still in +good humor; for in truth he felt a sort of kindness, a sentiment, +ridiculous as it may appear, of kindred towards the old gentleman, and +besides was not unwilling in any way to prolong a conversation in which +he found a singular interest. "I am sorry, especially as I have not even +the excuse you kindly suggest for me. I am not an artist, only an +American, who have strayed hither to enjoy this gentle, cultivated, tamed +nature which I find in English parks, so contrasting with the wild, +rugged nature of my native land. I beg your pardon, and will retire." + +"An American," repeated Mr. Eldredge, looking curiously at him. "Ah, you +are wild men in that country, I suppose, and cannot conceive that an +English gentleman encloses his grounds--or that his ancestors have done +so before him--for his own pleasure and convenience, and does not +calculate on having it infringed upon by everybody, like your own +forests, as you say. It is a curious country, that of yours; and in Italy +I have seen curious people from it." + +"True, sir," said Middleton, smiling. "We send queer specimens abroad; +but Englishmen should consider that we spring from them, and that we +present after all only a picture of their own characteristics, a little +varied by climate and in situation." + +Mr. Eldredge looked at him with a certain kind of interest, and it seemed +to Middleton that he was not unwilling to continue the conversation, if a +fair way to do so could only be offered to him. A secluded man often +grasps at any opportunity of communicating with his kind, when it is +casually offered to him, and for the nonce is surprisingly familiar, +running out towards his chance-companion with the gush of a dammed-up +torrent, suddenly unlocked. As Middleton made a motion to retire, he put +out his hand with an air of authority to restrain him. + +"Stay," said he. "Now that you are here, the mischief is done, and you +cannot repair it by hastening away. You have interrupted me in my mood of +thought, and must pay the penalty by suggesting other thoughts. I am a +lonely man here, having spent most of my life abroad, and am separated +from my neighbors by various circumstances. You seem to be an intelligent +man. I should like to ask you a few questions about your country." + +He looked at Middleton as he spoke, and seemed to be considering in what +rank of life he should place him; his dress being such as suited a humble +rank. He seemed not to have come to any very certain decision on this +point. + +"I remember," said he, "you have no distinctions of rank in your country; +a convenient thing enough, in some respects. When there are no gentlemen, +all are gentlemen. So let it be. You speak of being Englishmen; and it +has often occurred to me that Englishmen have left this country and been +much missed and sought after, who might perhaps be sought there +successfully." + +"It is certainly so, Mr. Eldredge," said Middleton, lifting his eyes to +his face as he spoke, and then turning them aside. "Many footsteps, the +track of which is lost in England, might be found reappearing on the +other side of the Atlantic; ay, though it be hundreds of years since the +track was lost here." + +Middleton, though he had refrained from looking full at Mr. Eldredge as +he spoke, was conscious that he gave a great start; and he remained +silent for a moment or two, and when he spoke there was the tremor in his +voice of a nerve that had been struck and still vibrated. + +"That is a singular idea of yours," he at length said; "not singular in +itself, but strangely coincident with something that happened to be +occupying my mind. Have you ever heard any such instances as you speak +of?" + +"Yes," replied Middleton. "I have had pointed out to me the rightful heir +to a Scottish earldom, in the person of an American farmer, in his +shirt-sleeves. There are many Americans who believe themselves to hold +similar claims. And I have known one family, at least, who had in their +possession, and had had for two centuries, a secret that might have been +worth wealth and honors if known in England. Indeed, being kindred as we +are, it cannot but be the case." + +Mr. Eldredge appeared to be much struck by these last words, and gazed +wistfully, almost wildly, at Middleton, as if debating with himself +whether to say more. He made a step or two aside; then returned abruptly, +and spoke. + +"Can you tell me the name of the family in which this secret was kept?" +said he; "and the nature of the secret?" + +"The nature of the secret," said Middleton, smiling, "was not likely to +be extended to any one out of the family. The name borne by the family +was Middleton. There is no member of it, so far as I am aware, at this +moment remaining in America." + +"And has the secret died with them?" asked Mr. Eldredge. + +"They communicated it to none," said Middleton. + +"It is a pity! It was a villainous wrong," said Mr. Eldredge. "And so, it +may be, some ancient line, in the old country, is defrauded of its rights +for want of what might have been obtained from this Yankee, whose +democracy has demoralized them to the perception of what is due to the +antiquity of descent, and of the bounden duty that there is, in all +ranks, to keep up the honor of a family that has had potence enough to +preserve itself in distinction for a thousand years." + +"Yes," said Middleton, quietly, "we have sympathy with what is strong and +vivacious to-day; none with what was so yesterday." + +The remark seemed not to please Mr. Eldredge; he frowned, and muttered +something to himself; but recovering himself, addressed Middleton with +more courtesy than at the commencement of their interview; and, with this +graciousness, his face and manner grew very agreeable, almost +fascinating: he [was] still haughty, however. + +"Well, sir," said he, "I am not sorry to have met you. I am a solitary +man, as I have said, and a little communication with a stranger is a +refreshment, which I enjoy seldom enough to be sensible of it. Pray, are +you staying hereabouts?" + +Middleton signified to him that he might probably spend some little time +in the village. + +"Then, during your stay," said Mr. Eldredge, "make free use of the walks +in these grounds; and though it is not probable that you will meet me in +them again, you need apprehend no second questioning of your right to be +here. My house has many points of curiosity that may be of interest to a +stranger from a new country. Perhaps you have heard of some of them." + +"I have heard some wild legend about a Bloody Footstep," answered +Middleton; "indeed, I think I remember hearing something about it in my +own country; and having a fanciful sort of interest in such things, I +took advantage of the hospitable custom which opens the doors of curious +old houses to strangers, to go to see it. It seemed to me, I confess, +only a natural stain in the old stone that forms the doorstep." + +"There, sir," said Mr. Eldredge, "let me say that you came to a very +foolish conclusion; and so, good-by, sir." + +And without further ceremony, he cast an angry glance at Middleton, who +perceived that the old gentleman reckoned the Bloody Footstep among his +ancestral honors, and would probably have parted with his claim to the +peerage almost as soon as have given up the legend. + +Present aspect of the story: Middleton on his arrival becomes acquainted +with the old Hospitaller, and is familiarized at the Hospital. He pays a +visit in his company to the manor-house, but merely glimpses at its +remarkable things, at this visit, among others at the old cabinet, which +does not, at first view, strike him very strongly. But, on musing about +his visit afterwards, he finds the recollection of the cabinet strangely +identifying itself with his previous imaginary picture of the palatial +mansion; so that at last he begins to conceive the mistake he has made. +At this first [visit], he does not have a personal interview with the +possessor of the estate; but, as the Hospitaller and himself go from room +to room, he finds that the owner is preceding them, shyly flitting like a +ghost, so as to avoid them. Then there is a chapter about the character +of the Eldredge of the day, a Catholic, a morbid, shy man, representing +all the peculiarities of an old family, and generally thought to be +insane. And then comes the interview between him and Middleton, where the +latter excites such an interest that he dwells upon the old man's mind, +and the latter probably takes pains to obtain further intercourse with +him, and perhaps invites him to dinner, and [to] spend a night in his +house. If so, this second meeting must lead to the examination of the +cabinet, and the discovery of some family documents in it. Perhaps the +cabinet may be in Middleton's sleeping-chamber, and he examines it by +himself, before going to bed; and finds out a secret which will perplex +him how to deal with it. + +_May 14th, Friday_.--We have spoken several times already of a young +girl, who was seen at this period about the little antiquated village of +Smithells; a girl in manners and in aspect unlike those of the cottages +amid which she dwelt. Middleton had now so often met her, and in solitary +places, that an acquaintance had inevitably established itself between +them. He had ascertained that she had lodgings at a farm-house near by, +and that she was connected in some way with the old Hospitaller, whose +acquaintance had proved of such interest to him; but more than this he +could not learn either from her or others. But he was greatly attracted +and interested by the free spirit and fearlessness of this young woman; +nor could he conceive where, in staid and formal England, she had grown +up to be such as she was, so without manner, so without art, yet so +capable of doing and thinking for herself. She had no reserve, +apparently, yet never seemed to sin against decorum; it never appeared to +restrain her that anything she might wish to do was contrary to custom; +she had nothing of what could be called shyness in her intercourse with +him; and yet he was conscious of an unapproachableness in Alice. Often, +in the old man's presence, she mingled in the conversation that went on +between him and Middleton, and with an acuteness that betokened a sphere +of thought much beyond what could be customary with young English +maidens; and Middleton was often reminded of the theories of those in our +own country, who believe that the amelioration of society depends greatly +on the part that women shall hereafter take, according to their +individual capacity, in all the various pursuits of life. These deeper +thoughts, these higher qualities, surprised him as they showed +themselves, whenever occasion called them forth, under the light, gay, +and frivolous exterior which she had at first seemed to present. +Middleton often amused himself with surmises in what rank of life Alice +could have been bred, being so free of all conventional rule, yet so nice +and delicate in her perception of the true proprieties that she never +shocked him. + +One morning, when they had met in one of Middleton's rambles about the +neighborhood, they began to talk of America; and Middleton described to +Alice the stir that was being made in behalf of women's rights; and he +said that whatever cause was generous and disinterested always, in that +country, derived much of its power from the sympathy of women, and that +the advocates of every such cause were in favor of yielding the whole +field of human effort to be shared with women. + +"I have been surprised," said he, "in the little I have seen and heard of +English women, to discover what a difference there is between them and my +own countrywomen." + +"I have heard," said Alice, with a smile, "that your countrywomen are a +far more delicate and fragile race than Englishwomen; pale, feeble +hot-house plants, unfit for the wear and tear of life, without energy of +character, or any slightest degree of physical strength to base it upon. +If, now, you had these large-framed Englishwomen, you might, I should +imagine, with better hopes, set about changing the system of society, so +as to allow them to struggle in the strife of politics, or any other +strife, hand to hand, or side by side with men." + +"If any countryman of mine has said this of our women," exclaimed +Middleton, indignantly, "he is a slanderous villain, unworthy to have +been borne by an American mother; if an Englishman has said it--as I know +many of them have and do--let it pass as one of the many prejudices only +half believed, with which they strive to console themselves for the +inevitable sense that the American race is destined to higher purposes +than their own. But pardon me; I forgot that I was speaking to an +Englishwoman, for indeed you do not remind me of them. But, I assure you, +the world has not seen such women as make up, I had almost said the mass +of womanhood in my own country; slight in aspect, slender in frame, as +you suggest, but yet capable of bringing forth stalwart men; they +themselves being of inexhaustible courage, patience, energy; soft and +tender, deep of heart, but high of purpose. Gentle, refined, but bold in +every good cause." + +"Oh, yea have said quite enough," replied Alice, who had seemed ready to +laugh outright, during this encomium. "I think I see one of these +paragons now, in a Bloomer, I think you call it, swaggering along with a +Bowie knife at her girdle, smoking a cigar, no doubt, and tippling +sherry-cobblers and mint-juleps. It must be a pleasant life." + +"I should think you, at least, might form a more just idea of what women +become," said Middleton, considerably piqued, "in a country where the +rules of conventionalism are somewhat relaxed; where woman, whatever you +may think, is far more profoundly educated than in England, where a few +ill-taught accomplishments, a little geography, a catechism of science, +make up the sum, under the superintendence of a governess; the mind being +kept entirely inert as to any capacity for thought. They are cowards, +except within certain rules and forms; they spend a life of old +proprieties, and die, and if their souls do not die with them, it is +Heaven's mercy." + +Alice did not appear in the least moved to anger, though considerably to +mirth, by this description of the character of English females. She +laughed as she replied, "I see there is little danger of your leaving +your heart in England." She added more seriously, "And permit me to say, +I trust, Mr. Middleton, that you remain as much American in other +respects as in your preference of your own race of women. The American +who comes hither and persuades himself that he is one with Englishmen, it +seems to me, makes a great mistake; at least, if he is correct in such an +idea he is not worthy of his own country, and the high development that +awaits it. There is much that is seductive in our life, but I think it is +not upon the higher impulses of our nature that such seductions act. I +should think ill of the American who, for any causes of ambition,--any +hope of wealth or rank,--or even for the sake of any of those old, +delightful ideas of the past, the associations of ancestry, the +loveliness of an age-long home,--the old poetry and romance that haunt +these ancient villages and estates of England,--would give up the chance +of acting upon the unmoulded future of America." + +"And you, an Englishwoman, speak thus!" exclaimed Middleton. "You perhaps +speak truly; and it may be that your words go to a point where they are +especially applicable at this moment. But where have you learned these +ideas? And how is it that you know how to awake these sympathies, that +have slept perhaps too long?" + +"Think only if what I have said be truth," replied Alice. "It is no +matter who or what I am that speak it." + +"Do you speak," asked Middleton, from a sudden impulse, "with any secret +knowledge affecting a matter now in my mind?" + +Alice shook her head, as she turned away; but Middleton could not +determine whether the gesture was meant as a negative to his question, or +merely as declining to answer it. She left him; and he found himself +strangely disturbed with thoughts of his own country, of the life that he +ought to be leading there, the struggles in which he ought to be taking +part; and, with these motives in his impressible mind, the motives that +had hitherto kept him in England seemed unworthy to influence him. + +_May 15th, Saturday_.--It was not long after Middleton's meeting with Mr. +Eldredge in the park of Smithells, that he received--what it is precisely +the most common thing to receive--an invitation to dine at the +manor-house and spend the night. The note was written with much +appearance of cordiality, as well as in a respectful style; and Middleton +could not but perceive that Mr. Eldredge must have been making some +inquiries as to his social status, in order to feel him justified in +putting him on this footing of equality. He had no hesitation in +accepting the invitation, and on the appointed day was received in the +old house of his forefathers as a guest. The owner met him, not quite on +the frank and friendly footing expressed in his note, but still with a +perfect and polished courtesy, which however could not hide from the +sensitive Middleton a certain coldness, a something that seemed to him +Italian rather than English; a symbol of a condition of things between +them, undecided, suspicious, doubtful very likely. Middleton's own manner +corresponded to that of his host, and they made few advances towards more +intimate acquaintance. Middleton was however recompensed for his host's +unapproachableness by the society of his daughter, a young lady born +indeed in Italy, but who had been educated in a Catholic family in +England; so that here was another relation--the first female one--to whom +he had been introduced. She was a quiet, shy, undemonstrative young +woman, with a fine bloom and other charms which she kept as much in the +background as possible, with maiden reserve. (There is a Catholic priest +at table.) + +Mr. Eldredge talked chiefly, during dinner, of art, with which his long +residence in Italy had made him thoroughly acquainted, and for which he +seemed to have a genuine taste and enjoyment. It was a subject on which +Middleton knew little; but he felt the interest in it which appears to be +not uncharacteristic of Americans, among the earliest of their +developments of cultivation; nor had he failed to use such few +opportunities as the English public or private galleries offered him to +acquire the rudiments of a taste. He was surprised at the depth of some +of Mr. Eldredge's remarks on the topics thus brought up, and at the +sensibility which appeared to be disclosed by his delicate appreciation +of some of the excellences of those great masters who wrote their epics, +their tender sonnets, or their simple ballads, upon canvas; and Middleton +conceived a respect for him which he had not hitherto felt, and which +possibly Mr. Eldredge did not quite deserve. Taste seems to be a +department of moral sense; and yet it is so little identical with it, and +so little implies conscience, that some of the worst men in the world +have been the most refined. + +After Miss Eldredge had retired, the host appeared to desire to make the +dinner a little more social than it had hitherto been; he called for a +peculiar species of wine from Southern Italy, which he said was the most +delicious production of the grape, and had very seldom, if ever before +been imported pure into England. A delicious perfume came from the +cradled bottle, and bore an ethereal, evanescent testimony to the truth +of what he said: and the taste, though too delicate for wine quaffed in +England, was nevertheless delicious, when minutely dwelt upon. + +"It gives me pleasure to drink your health, Mr. Middleton," said the +host. "We might well meet as friends in England, for I am hardly more an +Englishman than yourself; bred up, as I have been, in Italy, and coming +back hither at my age, unaccustomed to the manners of the country, with +few friends, and insulated from society by a faith which makes most +people regard me as an enemy. I seldom welcome people here, Mr. +Middleton; but you are welcome." + +"I thank you, Mr. Eldredge, and may fairly say that the circumstances to +which you allude make me accept your hospitality with a warmer feeling +than I otherwise might. Strangers, meeting in a strange land, have a sort +of tie in their foreignness to those around them, though there be no +positive relation between themselves." + +"We are friends, then?" said Mr. Eldredge, looking keenly at Middleton, +as if to discover exactly how much was meant by the compact. He +continued, "You know, I suppose, Mr. Middleton, the situation in which I +find myself on returning to my hereditary estate, which has devolved to +me somewhat unexpectedly by the death of a younger man than myself. There +is an old flaw here, as perhaps you have been told, which keeps me out of +a property long kept in the guardianship of the crown, and of a barony, +one of the oldest in England. There is an idea--a tradition--a legend, +founded, however, on evidence of some weight, that there is still in +existence the possibility of rinding the proof which we need, to confirm +our cause." + +"I am most happy to hear it, Mr. Eldredge," said Middleton. + +"But," continued his host, "I am bound to remember and to consider that +for several generations there seems to have been the same idea, and the +same expectation; whereas nothing has ever come of it. Now, among other +suppositions--perhaps wild ones--it has occurred to me that this +testimony, the desirable proof, may exist on your side of the Atlantic; +for it has long enough been sought here in vain." + +"As I said in our meeting in your park, Mr. Eldredge," replied Middleton, +"such a suggestion may very possibly be true; yet let me point out that +the long lapse of years, and the continual melting and dissolving of +family institutions--the consequent scattering of family documents, and +the annihilation of traditions from memory, all conspire against its +probability." + +"And yet, Mr. Middleton," said his host, "when we talked together at our +first singular interview, you made use of an expression--of one +remarkable phrase--which dwelt upon my memory and now recurs to it." + +"And what was that, Mr. Eldredge?" asked Middleton. + +"You spoke," replied his host, "of the Bloody Footstep reappearing on the +threshold of the old palace of S------. Now where, let me ask you, did +you ever hear this strange name, which you then spoke, and which I have +since spoken?" + +"From my father's lips, when a child, in America," responded Middleton. + +"It is very strange," said Mr. Eldredge, in a hasty, dissatisfied tone. +"I do not see my way through this." + +_May 16, Sunday._--Middleton had been put into a chamber in the oldest +part of the house, the furniture of which was of antique splendor, well +befitting to have come down for ages, well befitting the hospitality +shown to noble and even royal guests. It was the same room in which, at +his first visit to the house, Middleton's attention had been drawn to the +cabinet, which he had subsequently remembered as the palatial residence +in which he had harbored so many dreams. It still stood in the chamber, +making the principal object in it, indeed; and when Middleton was left +alone, he contemplated it not without a certain awe, which at the same +time he felt to be ridiculous. He advanced towards it, and stood +contemplating the mimic facade, wondering at the singular fact of this +piece of furniture having been preserved in traditionary history, when so +much had been forgotten,--when even the features and architectural +characteristics of the mansion in which it was merely a piece of +furniture had been forgotten. And, as he gazed at it, he half thought +himself an actor in a fairy portal [tale?]; and would not have been +surprised--at least, he would have taken it with the composure of a +dream--if the mimic portal had unclosed, and a form of pigmy majesty had +appeared within, beckoning him to enter and find the revelation of what +had so long perplexed him. The key of the cabinet was in the lock, and +knowing that it was not now the receptacle of anything in the shape of +family papers, he threw it open; and there appeared the mosaic floor, the +representation of a stately, pillared hall, with the doors on either +side, opening, as would seem, into various apartments. And here should +have stood the visionary figures of his ancestry, waiting to welcome the +descendant of their race, who had so long delayed his coming. After +looking and musing a considerable time,--even till the old clock from the +turret of the house told twelve, he turned away with a sigh, and went to +bed. The wind moaned through the ancestral trees; the old house creaked +as with ghostly footsteps; the curtains of his bed seemed to waver. He +was now at home; yes, he had found his home, and was sheltered at last +under the ancestral roof after all those long, long wanderings,--after +the little log-built hut of the early settlement, after the straight roof +of the American house, after all the many roofs of two hundred years, +here he was at last under the one which he had left, on that fatal night, +when the Bloody Footstep was so mysteriously impressed on the threshold. +As he drew nearer and nearer towards sleep, it seemed more and more to +him as if he were the very individual--the self-same one throughout the +whole--who had done, seen, suffered, all these long toils and +vicissitudes, and were now come back to rest, and found his weariness so +great that there could he no rest. + +Nevertheless, he did sleep; and it may be that his dreams went on, and +grew vivid, and perhaps became truer in proportion to their vividness. +When he awoke he had a perception, an intuition, that he had been +dreaming about the cabinet, which, in his sleeping imagination, had again +assumed the magnitude and proportions of a stately mansion, even as he +had seen it afar from the other side of the Atlantic. Some dim +associations remained lingering behind, the dying shadows of very vivid +ones which had just filled his mind; but as he looked at the cabinet, +there was some idea that still seemed to come so near his consciousness +that, every moment, he felt on the point of grasping it. During the +process of dressing, he still kept his eyes turned involuntarily towards +the cabinet, and at last he approached it, and looked within the mimic +portal, still endeavoring to recollect what it was that he had heard or +dreamed about it,--what half obliterated remembrance from childhood, what +fragmentary last night's dream it was, that thus haunted him. It must +have been some association of one or the other nature that led him to +press his finger on one particular square of the mosaic pavement; and as +he did so, the thin plate of polished marble slipt aside. It disclosed, +indeed, no hollow receptacle, but only another leaf of marble, in the +midst of which appeared to be a key-hole: to this Middleton applied the +little antique key to which we have several times alluded, and found it +fit precisely. The instant it was turned, the whole mimic floor of the +hall rose, by the action of a secret spring, and discovered a shallow +recess beneath. Middleton looked eagerly in, and saw that it contained +documents, with antique seals of wax appended; he took but one glance at +them, and closed the receptacle as it was before. + +Why did he do so? He felt that there would be a meanness and wrong in +inspecting these family papers, coming to the knowledge of them, as he +had, through the opportunities offered by the hospitality of the owner of +the estate; nor, on the other hand, did he feel such confidence in his +host, as to make him willing to trust these papers in his hands, with any +certainty that they would be put to an honorable use. The case was one +demanding consideration, and he put a strong curb upon his impatient +curiosity, conscious that, at all events, his first impulsive feeling was +that he ought not to examine these papers without the presence of his +host or some other authorized witness. Had he exercised any casuistry +about the point, however, he might have argued that these papers, +according to all appearance, dated from a period to which his own +hereditary claims ascended, and to circumstances in which his own +rightful interest was as strong as that of Mr. Eldredge. But he had acted +on his first impulse, closed the secret receptacle, and hastening his +toilet descended from his room; and, it being still too early for +breakfast, resolved to ramble about the immediate vicinity of the house. +As he passed the little chapel, he heard within the voice of the priest +performing mass, and felt how strange was this sign of mediaeval religion +and foreign manners in homely England. + +As the story looks now: Eldredge, bred, and perhaps born, in Italy, and a +Catholic, with views to the church before he inherited the estate, has +not the English moral sense and simple honor; can scarcely be called an +Englishman at all. Dark suspicions of past crime, and of the possibility +of future crime, may be thrown around him; an atmosphere of doubt shall +envelop him, though, as regards manners, he may be highly refined. +Middleton shall find in the house a priest; and at his first visit he +shall have seen a small chapel, adorned with the richness, as to marbles, +pictures, and frescoes, of those that we see in the churches at Rome; and +here the Catholic forms of worship shall be kept up. Eldredge shall have +had an Italian mother, and shall have the personal characteristics of an +Italian. There shall be something sinister about him, the more apparent +when Middleton's visit draws to a conclusion; and the latter shall feel +convinced that they part in enmity, so far as Eldredge is concerned. He +shall not speak of his discovery in the cabinet. + +_May 17th, Monday_.--Unquestionably, the appointment of Middleton as +minister to one of the minor Continental courts must take place in the +interval between Eldredge's meeting him in the park, and his inviting him +to his house. After Middleton's appointment, the two encounter each other +at the Mayor's dinner in St. Mary's Hall, and Eldredge, startled at +meeting the vagrant, as he deemed him, under such a character, remembers +the hints of some secret knowledge of the family history, which Middleton +had thrown out. He endeavors, both in person and by the priest, to make +out what Middleton really is, and what he knows, and what he intends; but +Middleton is on his guard, yet cannot help arousing Eldredge's suspicions +that he has views upon the estate and title. It is possible, too, that +Middleton may have come to the knowledge--may have had some knowledge--of +some shameful or criminal fact connected with Mr. Eldredge's life on the +Continent; the old Hospitaller, possibly, may have told him this, from +some secret malignity hereafter to be accounted for. Supposing Eldredge +to attempt his murder, by poison for instance, bringing back into modern +life his old hereditary Italian plots; and into English life a sort of +crime which does not belong to it,--which did not, at least, although at +this very period there have been fresh and numerous instances of it. +There might be a scene in which Middleton and Eldredge come to a fierce +and bitter explanation; for in Eldredge's character there must be the +English surly boldness as well as the Italian subtlety; and here, +Middleton shall tell him what he knows of his past character and life, +and also what he knows of his own hereditary claims. Eldredge might have +committed a murder in Italy; might have been a patriot, and betrayed his +friends to death for a bribe, bearing another name than his own in Italy; +indeed, he might have joined them only as an informer. All this he had +tried to sink, when he came to England in the character of a gentleman of +ancient name and large estate. But this infamy of his previous character +must be foreboded from the first by the manner in which Eldredge is +introduced; and it must make his evil designs on Middleton appear natural +and probable. It may be, that Middleton has learned Eldredge's previous +character, through some Italian patriot who had taken refuge in America, +and there become intimate with him; and it should be a piece of secret +history, not known to the world in general, so that Middleton might seem +to Eldredge the sole depositary of the secret then in England. He feels a +necessity of getting rid of him; and thenceforth Middleton's path lies +always among pitfalls; indeed, the first attempt should follow promptly +and immediately on his rupture with Eldredge. The utmost pains must be +taken with this incident to give it an air of reality; or else it must be +quite removed out of the sphere of reality by an intensified atmosphere +of romance. I think the old Hospitaller must interfere to prevent the +success of this attempt, perhaps through the means of Alice. + +The result of Eldredge's criminal and treacherous designs is, somehow or +other, that he comes to his death; and Middleton and Alice are left to +administer on the remains of the story; perhaps, the Mayor being his +friend, he may be brought into play here. The foreign ecclesiastic shall +likewise come forward, and he shall prove to be a man of subtile policy +perhaps, yet a man of religion and honor; with a Jesuit's principles, but +a Jesuit's devotion and self-sacrifice. The old Hospitaller must die in +his bed, or some other how; or perhaps not--we shall see. He may just as +well be left in the Hospital. Eldredge's attempt on Middleton must be in +some way peculiar to Italy, and which he shall have learned there; and, +by the way, at his dinner-table there shall be a Venice glass, one of the +kind that were supposed to be shattered when poison was put into them. +When Eldredge produces his rare wine, he shall pour it into this, with a +jesting allusion to the legend. Perhaps the mode of Eldredge's attempt on +Middleton's life shall be a reproduction of the attempt made two hundred +years before; and Middleton's knowledge of that incident shall be the +means of his salvation. That would be a good idea; in fact, I think it +must be done so and no otherwise. It is not to be forgotten that there is +a taint of insanity in Eldredge's blood, accounting for much that is wild +and absurd, at the same time that it must be subtile, in his conduct; one +of those perplexing mad people, whose lunacy you are continually +mistaking for wickedness or _vice versa_. This shall be the priest's +explanation and apology for him, after his death. I wish I could get hold +of the Newgate Calendar, the older volumes, or any other book of +murders--the Causes Celebres, for instance. The legendary murder, or +attempt at it, will bring its own imaginative probability with it, when +repeated by Eldredge; and at the same time it will have a dreamlike +effect; so that Middleton shall hardly know whether he is awake or not. +This incident is very essential towards bringing together the past time +and the present, and the two ends of the story. + +_May 18th, Tuesday._--All down through the ages since Edward had +disappeared from home, leaving that bloody footstep on the threshold, +there had been legends and strange stories of the murder and the manner +of it. These legends differed very much among themselves. According to +some, his brother had awaited him there, and stabbed him on the +threshold. According to others, he had been murdered in his chamber, and +dragged out. A third story told, that he was escaping with his lady love, +when they were overtaken on the threshold, and the young man slain. It +was impossible at this distance of time to ascertain which of these +legends was the true one, or whether either of them had any portion of +truth, further than that the young man had actually disappeared from that +night, and that it never was certainly known to the public that any +intelligence had ever afterwards been received from him. Now, Middleton +may have communicated to Eldredge the truth in regard to the matter; as, +for instance, that he had stabbed him with a certain dagger that was +still kept among the curiosities of the manor-house. Of course, that will +not do. It must be some very ingenious and artificially natural thing, an +artistic affair in its way, that should strike the fancy of such a man as +Eldredge, and appear to him altogether fit, mutatis mutandis, to be +applied to his own requirements and purposes. I do not at present see in +the least how this is to be wrought out. There shall be everything to +make Eldredge look with the utmost horror and alarm at any chance that he +may be superseded and ousted from his possession of the estate; for he +shall only recently have established his claim to it, tracing out his +pedigree, when the family was supposed to be extinct. And he is come to +these comfortable quarters after a life of poverty, uncertainty, +difficulty, hanging loose on society; and therefore he shall be willing +to risk soul and body both, rather than return to his former state. +Perhaps his daughter shall be introduced as a young Italian girl, to whom +Middleton shall decide to leave the estate. + +On the failure of his design, Eldredge may commit suicide, and be found +dead in the wood; at any rate, some suitable end shall be contrived, +adapted to his wants. This character must not be so represented as to +shut him out completely from the reader's sympathies; he shall have +taste, sentiment, even a capacity for affection, nor, I think, ought he +to have any hatred or bitter feeling against the man whom he resolves to +murder. In the closing scenes, when he thinks the fate of Middleton +approaching, there might even be a certain tenderness towards him, a +desire to make the last drops of life delightful; if well done, this +would produce a certain sort of horror, that I do not remember to have +seen effected in literature. Possibly the ancient emigrant might be +supposed to have fallen into an ancient mine, down a precipice, into some +pitfall; no, not so. Into a river; into a moat. As Middleton's +pretensions to birth are not publicly known, there will be no reason why, +at his sudden death, suspicion should fix on Eldredge as the murderer; +and it shall be his object so to contrive his death as that it shall +appear the result of accident. Having failed in effecting Middleton's +death by this excellent way, he shall perhaps think that he cannot do +better than to make his own exit in precisely the same manner. It might +be easy, and as delightful as any death could be; no ugliness in it, no +blood; for the Bloody Footstep of old times might be the result of the +failure of the old plot, not of its success. Poison seems to be the only +elegant method; but poison is vulgar, and in many respects unfit for my +purpose. It won't do. Whatever it may be, it must not come upon the +reader as a sudden and new thing, but as one that might have been +foreseen from afar, though he shall not actually have foreseen it until +it is about to happen. It must be prevented through the agency of Alice. +Alice may have been an artist in Rome, and there have known Eldredge and +his daughter, and thus she may have become their guest in England; or he +may be patronizing her now--at all events she shall be the friend of the +daughter, and shall have a just appreciation of the father's character. +It shall be partly due to her high counsel that Middleton foregoes his +claim to the estate, and prefers the life of an American, with its lofty +possibilities for himself and his race, to the position of an Englishman +of property and title; and she, for her part, shall choose the condition +and prospects of woman in America, to the emptiness of the life of a +woman of rank in England. So they shall depart, lofty and poor, out of +the home which might be their own, if they would stoop to make it so. +Possibly the daughter of Eldredge may be a girl not yet in her teens, for +whom Alice has the affection of an elder sister. + +It should be a very carefully and highly wrought scene, occurring just +before Eldredge's actual attempt on Middleton's life, in which all the +brilliancy of his character--which shall before have gleamed upon the +reader--shall come out, with pathos, with wit, with insight, with +knowledge of life. Middleton shall be inspired by this, and shall vie +with him in exhilaration of spirits; but the ecclesiastic shall look on +with singular attention, and some appearance of alarm; and the suspicion +of Alice shall likewise be aroused. The old Hospitaller may have gained +his situation partly by proving himself a man of the neighborhood, by +right of descent; so that he, too, shall have a hereditary claim to be in +the Romance. + +Eldredge's own position as a foreigner in the midst of English home life, +insulated and dreary, shall represent to Middleton, in some degree, what +his own would be, were he to accept the estate. But Middleton shall not +come to the decision to resign it, without having to repress a deep +yearning for that sense of long, long rest in an age-consecrated home, +which he had felt so deeply to be the happy lot of Englishmen. But this +ought to be rejected, as not belonging to his country, nor to the age, +nor any longer possible. + +_May 19th, Wednesday_.--The connection of the old Hospitaller with the +story is not at all clear. He is an American by birth, but deriving his +English origin from the neighborhood of the Hospital, where he has +finally established himself. Some one of his ancestors may have been +somehow connected with the ancient portion of the story. He has been a +friend of Middleton's father, who reposed entire confidence in him, +trusting him with all his fortune, which the Hospitaller risked in his +enormous speculations, and lost it all. His fame had been great in the +financial world. There were circumstances that made it dangerous for his +whereabouts to be known, and so he had come hither and found refuge in +this institution, where Middleton finds him, but does not know who he is. +In the vacancy of a mind formerly so active, he has taken to the study of +local antiquities; and from his former intimacy with Middleton's father, +he has a knowledge of the American part of the story, which he connects +with the English portion, disclosed by his researches here; so that he is +quite aware that Middleton has claims to the estate, which might be urged +successfully against the present possessor. He is kindly disposed towards +the son of his friend, whom he had so greatly injured; but he is now very +old, and----. Middleton has been directed to this old man by a friend in +America, as one likely to afford him all possible assistance in his +researches; and so he seeks him out and forms an acquaintance with him, +which the old man encourages to a certain extent, taking an evident +interest in him, but does not disclose himself; nor does Middleton +suspect him to be an American. The characteristic life of the Hospital is +brought out, and the individual character of this old man, vegetating +here after an active career, melancholy and miserable; sometimes torpid +with the slow approach of utmost age; sometimes feeble, peevish, +wavering; sometimes shining out with a wisdom resulting from originally +bright faculties, ripened by experience. The character must not be +allowed to get vague, but, with gleams of romance, must yet be kept +homely and natural by little touches of his daily life. + +As for Alice, I see no necessity for her being anywise related to or +connected with the old Hospitaller. As originally conceived, I think she +may be an artist--a sculptress--whom Eldredge had known in Rome. No; she +might be a granddaughter of the old Hospitaller, born and bred in +America, but who had resided two or three years in Rome in the study of +her art, and have there acquired a knowledge of the Eldredges and have +become fond of the little Italian girl his daughter. She has lodgings in +the village, and of course is often at the Hospital, and often at the +Hall; she makes busts and little statues, and is free, wild, tender, +proud, domestic, strange, natural, artistic; and has at bottom the +characteristics of the American woman, with the principles of the +strong-minded sect; and Middleton shall be continually puzzled at meeting +such a phenomenon in England. By and by, the internal influence +[evidence?] of her sentiments (though there shall be nothing to confirm +it in her manner) shall lead him to charge her with being an American. + +Now, as to the arrangement of the Romance;--it begins as an integral and +essential part, with my introduction, giving a pleasant and familiar +summary of my life in the Consulate at Liverpool; the strange species of +Americans, with strange purposes, in England, whom I used to meet there; +and, especially, how my countrymen used to be put out of their senses by +the idea of inheritances of English property. Then I shall particularly +instance one gentleman who called on me on first coming over; a +description of him must be given, with touches that shall puzzle the +reader to decide whether it is not an actual portrait. And then this +Romance shall be offered, half seriously, as the account of the fortunes +that he met with in his search for his hereditary home. Enough of his +ancestral story may be given to explain what is to follow in the Romance; +or perhaps this may be left to the scenes of his intercourse with the old +Hospitaller. + +The Romance proper opens with Middleton's arrival at what he has reason +to think is the neighborhood of his ancestral home, and here he makes +application to the old Hospitaller. Middleton shall be described as +approaching the Hospital, which shall be pretty literally copied after +Leicester's, although the surrounding village must be on a much smaller +scale of course. Much elaborateness may be given to this portion of the +book. Middleton shall have assumed a plain dress, and shall seek to make +no acquaintances except that of the old Hospitaller; the acquaintance of +Alice naturally following. The old Hospitaller and he go together to the +old Hall, where, as they pass through the rooms, they find that the +proprietor is flitting like a ghost before them from chamber to chamber; +they catch his reflection in a glass, &c., &c. When these have been +wrought up sufficiently, shall come the scene in the wood, where Eldredge +is seen yielding to the superstition that he has inherited, respecting +the old secret of the family, on the discovery of which depends the +enforcement of his claim to a title. All this while, Middleton has +appeared in the character of a man of no note; and now, through some +political change, not necessarily told, he receives a packet addressed to +him as an ambassador, and containing a notice of his appointment to that +dignity. A paragraph in the "Times" confirms the fact, and makes it known +in the neighborhood. Middleton immediately becomes an object of +attention; the gentry call upon him; the Mayor of the neighboring +county-town invites him to dinner, which shall be described with all its +antique formalities. Here he meets Eldredge, who is surprised, +remembering the encounter in the wood; but passes it all off, like a man +of the world, makes his acquaintance, and invites him to the Hall. +Perhaps he may make a visit of some time here, and become intimate, to a +certain degree, with all parties; and here things shall ripen themselves +for Eldredge's attempt upon his life. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ancestral Footstep (fragment) +by Nathaniel Hawthorne + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP (FRAGMENT) *** + +This file should be named 7ancf10.txt or 7ancf10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7ancf11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7ancf10a.txt + +Produced by Eric Eldred, Thomas Berger, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Ancestral Footstep (fragment) + Outlines of an English Romance + +Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne + +Release Date: July, 2005 [EBook #8429] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on July 9, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP (FRAGMENT) *** + + + + +Produced by Eric Eldred, Thomas Berger, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +THE DOLLIVER ROMANCE + +FANSHAWE, AND SEPTIMIUS FELTON + +With An Appendix Containing + +THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP + +by + +NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE + + * * * * * + +THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP: + +OUTLINES OF AN ENGLISH ROMANCE. + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE. + +"Septimius Felton" was the outgrowth of a project, formed by Hawthorne +during his residence in England, of writing a romance, the scene of which +should be laid in that country; but this project was afterwards +abandoned, giving place to a new conception in which the visionary search +for means to secure an earthly immortality was to form the principal +interest. The new conception took shape in the uncompleted "Dolliver +Romance." The two themes, of course, were distinct, but, by a curious +process of thought, one grew directly out of the other: the whole history +constitutes, in fact, a chapter in what may be called the genealogy of a +romance. There remained, after "Septimius Felton" had been published, +certain manuscripts connected with the scheme of an English story. One of +these manuscripts was written in the form of a journalized narrative; the +author merely noting the date of what he wrote, as he went along. The +other was a more extended sketch, of much greater bulk, and without date, +but probably produced several years later. It was not originally intended +by those who at the time had charge of Hawthorne's papers that either of +these incomplete writings should be laid before the public; because they +manifestly had not been left by him in a form which he would have +considered as warranting such a course. But since the second and larger +manuscript has been published under the title of "Dr. Grimshawe's +Secret," it has been thought best to issue the present sketch, so that +the two documents may be examined together. Their appearance places in +the hands of readers the entire process of development leading to the +"Septimius" and "The Dolliver Romance." They speak for themselves much +more efficiently than any commentator can expect to do; and little, +therefore, remains to be said beyond a few words of explanation in regard +to the following pages. + +The Note-Books show that the plan of an English romance, turning upon the +fact that an emigrant to America had carried away a family secret which +should give his descendant the power to ruin the family in the mother +country, had occurred to Hawthorne as early as April, 1855. In August of +the same year he visited Smithell's Hall, in Bolton le Moors, concerning +which he had already heard its legend of "The Bloody Footstep," and from +that time on, the idea of this footprint on the threshold-stone of the +ancestral mansion seems to have associated itself inextricably with the +dreamy substance of his yet unshaped romance. Indeed, it leaves its mark +broadly upon Sibyl Dacy's wild legend in "Septimius Felton," and +reappears in the last paragraph of that story. But, so far as we can know +at this day, nothing definite was done until after his departure for +Italy. It was then, while staying in Rome, that he began to put upon +paper that plot which had first occupied his thoughts three years before, +in the scant leisure allowed him by his duties at the Liverpool +consulate. Of leisure there was not a great deal at Rome, either; for, as +the "French and Italian Note-Books" show, sight-seeing and social +intercourse took up a good deal of his time, and the daily record in his +journal likewise had to be kept up. But he set to work resolutely to +embody, so far as he might, his stray imaginings upon the haunting +English theme, and to give them connected form. April 1, 1858, he began; +and then nearly two weeks passed before he found an opportunity to +resume; April 13th being the date of the next passage. By May he gets +fully into swing, so that day after day, with but slight breaks, he +carries on the story, always increasing in interest for us who read as +for him who improvised. Thus it continues until May 19th, by which time +he has made a tolerably complete outline, filled in with a good deal of +detail here and there. Although the sketch is cast in the form of a +regular narrative, one or two gaps occur, indicating that the author had +thought out certain points which he then took for granted without making +note of them. Brief scenes, passages of conversation and of narration, +follow one another after the manner of a finished story, alternating with +synopses of the plot, and queries concerning particulars that needed +further study; confidences of the romancer to himself which form +certainly a valuable contribution to literary history. The manuscript +closes with a rapid sketch of the conclusion, and the way in which it is +to be executed. Succinctly, what we have here is a romance in embryo; +one, moreover, that never attained to a viable stature and constitution. +During his lifetime it naturally would not have been put forward as +demanding public attention; and, in consideration of that fact, it has +since been withheld from the press by the decision of his daughter, in +whom the title to it vests. Students of literary art, however, and many +more general readers will, I think, be likely to discover in it a charm +all the greater for its being in parts only indicated; since, as it +stands, it presents the precise condition of a work of fiction in its +first stage. The unfinished "Grimshawe" was another development of the +same theme, and the "Septimius" a later sketch, with a new element +introduced. But the present experimental fragment, to which it has been +decided to give the title of "The Ancestral Footstep," possesses a +freshness and spontaneity recalling the peculiar fascination of those +chalk or pencil outlines with which great masters in the graphic art have +been wont to arrest their fleeting glimpses of a composition still +unwrought. + +It would not be safe to conclude, from the large amount of preliminary +writing done with a view to that romance, that Hawthorne always adopted +this laborious mode of making several drafts of a book. On the contrary, +it is understood that his habit was to mature a design so thoroughly in +his mind before attempting to give it actual existence on paper that but +little rewriting was needed. The circumstance that he was obliged to +write so much that did not satisfy him in this case may account partly +for his relinquishing the theme, as one which for him had lost its +seductiveness through too much recasting. + +It need be added only that the original manuscript, from which the +following pages are printed through the medium of an exact copy, is +singularly clear and fluent. Not a single correction occurs throughout; +but here and there a word is omitted, obviously by mere accident, and +these omissions have been supplied. The correction in each case is marked +by brackets, in this printed reproduction. The sketch begins abruptly; +but there is no reason to suppose that anything preceded it except the +unrecorded musings in the author's mind, and one or two memoranda in the +"English Note-Books." We must therefore imagine the central figure, +Middleton, who is the American descendant of an old English family, as +having been properly introduced, and then pass at once to the opening +sentences. The rest will explain itself. + +G. P. L. + + * * * * * + +THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP. + +OUTLINES OF AN ENGLISH ROMANCE. + + + + +I. + +April 1, 1858. _Thursday_.--He had now been travelling long in those rich +portions of England where he would most have wished to find the object of +his pursuit; and many had been the scenes which he would willingly have +identified with that mentioned in the ancient, time-yellowed record which +he bore about with him. It is to be observed that, undertaken at first +half as the amusement, the unreal object, of a grown man's play-day, it +had become more and more real to him with every step of the way that he +followed it up; along those green English lanes it seemed as if +everything would bring him close to the mansion that he sought; every +morning he went on with renewed hopes, nor did the evening, though it +brought with it no success, bring with it the gloom and heaviness of a +real disappointment. In all his life, including its earliest and happiest +days, he had never known such a spring and zest as now filled his veins, +and gave lightsomeness to his limbs; this spirit gave to the beautiful +country which he trod a still richer beauty than it had ever borne, and +he sought his ancient home as if he had found his way into Paradise and +were there endeavoring to trace out the sight [site] of Eve's bridal +bower, the birthplace of the human race and its glorious possibilities of +happiness and high performance. + +In these sweet and delightful moods of mind, varying from one dream to +another, he loved indeed the solitude of his way; but likewise he loved +the facility which his pursuit afforded him, of coming in contact with +many varieties of men, and he took advantage of this facility to an +extent which it was not usually his impulse to do. But now he came forth +from all reserves, and offered himself to whomever the chances of the way +offered to him, with a ready sensibility that made its way through every +barrier that even English exclusiveness, in whatever rank of life, could +set up. The plastic character of Middleton was perhaps a variety of +American nature only presenting itself under an individual form; he could +throw off the man of our day, and put on a ruder nature, but then it was +with a certain fineness, that made this only [a] distinction between it +and the central truth. He found less variety of form in the English +character than he had been accustomed to see at home; but perhaps this +was in consequence of the external nature of his acquaintance with it; +for the view of one well accustomed to a people, and of a stranger to +them, differs in this--that the latter sees the homogeneity, the one +universal character, the groundwork of the whole, while the former sees a +thousand little differences, which distinguish the individual men apart, +to such a degree that they seem hardly to have any resemblance among +themselves. + +But just at the period of his journey when we take him up, Middleton had +been for two or three days the companion of an old man who interested him +more than most of his wayside companions; the more especially as he +seemed to be wandering without an object, or with such a dreamy object as +that which led Middleton's own steps onward. He was a plain old man +enough, but with a pale, strong-featured face and white hair, a certain +picturesqueness and venerableness, which Middleton fancied might have +befitted a richer garb than he now wore. In much of their conversation, +too, he was sensible that, though the stranger betrayed no acquaintance +with literature, nor seemed to have conversed with cultivated minds, yet +the results of such acquaintance and converse were here. Middleton was +inclined to think him, however, an old man, one of those itinerants, such +as Wordsworth represented in the "Excursion," who smooth themselves by +the attrition of the world and gain a knowledge equivalent to or better +than that of books from the actual intellect of man awake and active +around them. + +Often, during the short period since their companionship originated, +Middleton had felt impelled to disclose to the old man the object of his +journey, and the wild tale by which, after two hundred years, he had been +blown as it were across the ocean, and drawn onward to commence this +search. The old man's ordinary conversation was of a nature to draw forth +such a confidence as this; frequently turning on the traditions of the +wayside; the reminiscences that lingered on the battle-fields of the +Roses, or of the Parliament, like flowers nurtured by the blood of the +slain, and prolonging their race through the centuries for the wayfarer +to pluck them; or the family histories of the castles, manor-houses, and +seats which, of various epochs, had their park-gates along the roadside +and would be seen with dark gray towers or ancient gables, or more modern +forms of architecture, rising up among clouds of ancient oaks. Middleton +watched earnestly to see if, in any of these tales, there were +circumstances resembling those striking and singular ones which he had +borne so long in his memory, and on which he was now acting in so strange +a manner; but [though] there was a good deal of variety of incident in +them, there never was any combination of incidents having the peculiarity +of this. + +"I suppose," said he to the old man, "the settlers in my country may have +carried away with them traditions long since forgotten in this country, +but which might have an interest and connection, and might even piece out +the broken relics of family history, which have remained perhaps a +mystery for hundreds of years. I can conceive, even, that this might be +of importance in settling the heirships of estates; but which now, only +the two insulated parts of the story being known, remain a riddle, +although the solution of it is actually in the world, if only these two +parts could he united across the sea, like the wires of an electric +telegraph." + +"It is an impressive idea," said the old man. "Do you know any such +tradition as you have hinted at?" + +_April 13th_.--Middleton could not but wonder at the singular chance that +had established him in such a place, and in such society, so strangely +adapted to the purposes with which he had been wandering through England. +He had come hither, hoping as it were to find the past still alive and in +action; and here it was so in this one only spot, and these few persons +into the midst of whom he had suddenly been cast. With these reflections +he looked forth from his window into the old-fashioned garden, and at the +stone sundial, which had numbered all the hours--all the daylight and +serene ones, at least--since his mysterious ancestor left the country. +And [is] this, then, he thought to himself, the establishment of which +some rumor had been preserved? Was it here that the secret had its +hiding-place in the old coffer, in the cupboard, in the secret chamber, +or whatever was indicated by the apparently idle words of the document +which he had preserved? He still smiled at the idea, but it was with a +pleasant, mysterious sense that his life had at last got out of the dusty +real, and that strangeness had mixed itself up with his daily experience. + +With such feelings he prepared himself to go down to dinner with his +host. He found him alone at table, which was placed in a dark old room +modernized with every English comfort and the pleasant spectacle of a +table set with the whitest of napery and the brightest of glass and +china. The friendly old gentleman, as he had found him from the first, +became doubly and trebly so in that position which brings out whatever +warmth of heart an Englishman has, and gives it to him if he has none. +The impressionable and sympathetic character of Middleton answered to the +kindness of his host; and by the time the meal was concluded, the two +were conversing with almost as much zest and friendship as if they were +similar in age, even fellow-countrymen, and had known one another all +their life-time. Middleton's secret, it may be supposed, came often to +the tip of his tongue; but still he kept it within, from a natural +repugnance to bring out the one romance of his life. The talk, however, +necessarily ran much upon topics among which this one would have come in +without any extra attempt to introduce it. + +"This decay of old families," said the Master, "is much greater than +would appear on the surface of things. We have such a reluctance to part +with them, that we are content to see them continued by any fiction, +through any indirections, rather than to dispense with old names. In your +country, I suppose, there is no such reluctance; you are willing that one +generation should blot out all that preceded it, and be itself the newest +and only age of the world." + +"Not quite so," answered Middleton; "at any rate, if there be such a +feeling in the people at large, I doubt whether, even in England, those +who fancy themselves possessed of claims to birth, cherish them more as a +treasure than we do. It is, of course, a thousand times more difficult +for us to keep alive a name amid a thousand difficulties sedulously +thrown around it by our institutions, than for you to do, where your +institutions are anxiously calculated to promote the contrary purpose. It +has occasionally struck me, however, that the ancient lineage might often +be found in America, for a family which has been compelled to prolong +itself here through the female line, and through alien stocks." + +"Indeed, my young friend," said the Master, "if that be the case, I +should like to [speak?] further with you upon it; for, I can assure you, +there are sometimes vicissitudes in old families that make me grieve to +think that a man cannot be made for the occasion." + +All this while, the young lady at table had remained almost silent; and +Middleton had only occasionally been reminded of her by the necessity of +performing some of those offices which put people at table under a +Christian necessity of recognizing one another. He was, to say the truth, +somewhat interested in her, yet not strongly attracted by the neutral +tint of her dress, and the neutral character of her manners. She did not +seem to be handsome, although, with her face full before him, he had not +quite made up his mind on this point. + +_April 14th_.--So here was Middleton, now at length seeing indistinctly a +thread, to which the thread that he had so long held in his hand--the +hereditary thread that ancestor after ancestor had handed down--might +seem ready to join on. He felt as if they were the two points of an +electric chain, which being joined, an instantaneous effect must follow. +Earnestly, as he would have looked forward to this moment (had he in +sober reason ever put any real weight on the fantasy in pursuit of which +he had wandered so far) he now, that it actually appeared to be realizing +itself, paused with a vague sensation of alarm. The mystery was evidently +one of sorrow, if not of crime, and he felt as if that sorrow and crime +might not have been annihilated even by being buried out of human sight +and remembrance so long. He remembered to have heard or read, how that +once an old pit had been dug open, in which were found the remains of +persons that, as the shuddering by-standers traditionally remembered, had +died of an ancient pestilence; and out of that old grave had come a new +plague, that slew the far-off progeny of those who had first died by it. +Might not some fatal treasure like this, in a moral view, be brought to +light by the secret into which he had so strangely been drawn? Such were +the fantasies with which he awaited the return of Alice, whose light +footsteps sounded afar along the passages of the old mansion; and then +all was silent. + +At length he heard the sound, a great way off, as he concluded, of her +returning footstep, approaching from chamber to chamber, and along the +staircases, closing the doors behind her. At first, he paid no great +attention to the character of these sounds, but as they drew nearer, he +became aware that the footstep was unlike those of Alice; indeed, as +unlike as could be, very regular, slow, yet not firm, so that it seemed +to be that of an aged person, sauntering listlessly through the rooms. We +have often alluded to Middleton's sensitiveness, and the quick vibrations +of his sympathies; and there was something in this slow approach that +produced a strange feeling within him; so that he stood breathlessly, +looking towards the door by which these slow footsteps were to enter. At +last, there appeared in the doorway a venerable figure, clad in a rich, +faded dressing-gown, and standing on the threshold looked fixedly at +Middleton, at the same time holding up a light in his left hand. In his +right was some object that Middleton did not distinctly see. But he knew +the figure, and recognized the face. It was the old man, his long since +companion on the journey hitherward. + +"So," said the old man, smiling gravely, "you have thought fit, at last, +to accept the hospitality which I offered you so long ago. It might have +been better for both of us--for all parties--if you had accepted it +then!" + +"You here!" exclaimed Middleton. "And what can be your connection with +all the error and trouble, and involuntary wrong, through which I have +wandered since our last meeting? And is it possible that you even then +held the clue which I was seeking?" + +"No,--no," replied Rothermel. "I was not conscious, at least, of so +doing. And yet had we two sat down there by the wayside, or on that +English stile, which attracted your attention so much; had we sat down +there and thrown forth each his own dream, each his own knowledge, it +would have saved much that we must now forever regret. Are you even now +ready to confide wholly in me?" + +"Alas," said Middleton, with a darkening brow, "there are many reasons, +at this moment, which did not exist then, to incline me to hold my peace. +And why has not Alice returned?--and what is your connection with her?" + +"Let her answer for herself," said Rothermel; and he called her, shouting +through the silent house as if she were at the furthest chamber, and he +were in instant need: "Alice!--Alice!--Alice!--here is one who would know +what is the link between a maiden and her father!" + +Amid the strange uproar which he made Alice came flying back, not in +alarm but only in haste, and put her hand within his own. "Hush, father," +said she. "It is not time." + +Here is an abstract of the plot of this story. The Middleton who +emigrated to America, more than two hundred years ago, had been a dark +and moody man; he came with a beautiful though not young woman for his +wife, and left a family behind him. In this family a certain heirloom had +been preserved, and with it a tradition that grew wilder and stranger +with the passing generations. The tradition had lost, if it ever had, +some of its connecting links; but it referred to a murder, to the +expulsion of a brother from the hereditary house, in some strange way, +and to a Bloody Footstep which he had left impressed into the threshold, +as he turned about to make a last remonstrance. It was rumored, however, +or vaguely understood, that the expelled brother was not altogether an +innocent man; but that there had been wrong done, as well as crime +committed, insomuch that his reasons were strong that led him, +subsequently, to imbibe the most gloomy religious views, and to bury +himself in the Western wilderness. These reasons he had never fully +imparted to his family; but had necessarily made allusions to them, which +had been treasured up and doubtless enlarged upon. At last, one +descendant of the family determines to go to England, with the purpose of +searching out whatever ground there may be for these traditions, carrying +with him certain ancient documents, and other relics; and goes about the +country, half in earnest, and half in sport of fancy, in quest of the old +family mansion. He makes singular discoveries, all of which bring the +book to an end unexpected by everybody, and not satisfactory to the +natural yearnings of novel readers. In the traditions that he brought +over, there was a key to some family secrets that were still unsolved, +and that controlled the descent of estates and titles. His influence upon +these matters involves [him] in divers strange and perilous adventures; +and at last it turns out that he himself is the rightful heir to the +titles and estate, that had passed into another name within the last +half-century. But he respects both, feeling that it is better to make a +virgin soil than to try to make the old name grow in a soil that had been +darkened with so much blood and misfortune as this. + +_April 27th. Tuesday_.--It was with a delightful feeling of release from +ordinary rules, that Middleton found himself brought into this connection +with Alice; and he only hoped that this play-day of his life might last +long enough to rest him from all that he had suffered. In the enjoyment +of his position he almost forgot the pursuit that occupied him, nor might +he have remembered for a long space if, one evening, Alice herself had +not alluded to it. "You are wasting precious days," she suddenly said. +"Why do not you renew your quest?" + +"To what do you allude?" said Middleton, in surprise. "What object do you +suppose me to have?" + +Alice smiled; nay, laughed outright. "You suppose yourself to be a +perfect mystery, no doubt," she replied. "But do not I know you--have not +I known you long--as the holder of the talisman, the owner of the +mysterious cabinet that contains the blood-stained secret?" + +"Nay, Alice, this is certainly a strange coincidence, that you should +know even thus much of a foolish secret that makes me employ this little +holiday time, which I have stolen out of a weary life, in a wild-goose +chase. But, believe me, you allude to matters that are more a mystery to +me than my affairs appear to be to you. Will you explain what you would +suggest by this badinage?" + +Alice shook her head. "You have no claim to know what I know, even if it +would be any addition to your own knowledge. I shall not, and must not +enlighten you. You must burrow for the secret with your own tools, in +your own manner, and in a place of your own choosing. I am bound not to +assist you." + +"Alice, this is wilful, wayward, unjust," cried Middleton, with a flushed +cheek. "I have not told you--yet you know well--the deep and real +importance which this subject has for me. We have been together as +friends, yet, the instant when there comes up an occasion when the +slightest friendly feeling would induce you to do me a good office, you +assume this altered tone." + +"My tone is not in the least altered in respect to you," said Alice. "All +along, as you know, I have reserved myself on this very point; it being, +I candidly tell you, impossible for me to act in your interest in the +matter alluded to. If you choose to consider this unfriendly, as being +less than the terms on which you conceive us to have stood give you a +right to demand of me--you must resent it as you please. I shall not the +less retain for you the regard due to one who has certainly befriended me +in very untoward circumstances." + +This conversation confirmed the previous idea of Middleton, that some +mystery of a peculiarly dark and evil character was connected with the +family secret with which he was himself entangled; but it perplexed him +to imagine in what way this, after the lapse of so many years, should +continue to be a matter of real importance at the present day. All the +actors in the original guilt--if guilt it were--must have been long ago +in their graves; some in the churchyard of the village, with those +moss-grown letters embossing their names; some in the church itself, with +mural tablets recording their names over the family-pew, and one, it +might be, far over the sea, where his grave was first made under the +forest leaves, though now a city had grown up around it. Yet here was he, +the remote descendant of that family, setting his foot at last in the +country, and as secretly as might be; and all at once his mere presence +seemed to revive the buried secret, almost to awake the dead who partook +of that secret and had acted it. There was a vibration from the other +world, continued and prolonged into this, the instant that he stepped +upon the mysterious and haunted ground. + +He knew not in what way to proceed. He could not but feel that there was +something not exactly within the limits of propriety in being here, +disguised--at least, not known in his true character--prying into the +secrets of a proud and secluded Englishman. But then, as he said to +himself on his own side of the question, the secret belonged to himself +by exactly as ancient a tenure and by precisely as strong a claim, as to +the Englishman. His rights here were just as powerful and well-founded as +those of his ancestor had been, nearly three centuries ago; and here the +same feeling came over him that he was that very personage, returned +after all these ages, to see if his foot would fit this bloody footstep +left of old upon the threshold. The result of all his cogitation was, as +the reader will have foreseen, that he decided to continue his +researches, and, his proceedings being pretty defensible, let the result +take care of itself. + +For this purpose he went next day to the hospital, and ringing at the +Master's door, was ushered into the old-fashioned, comfortable library, +where he had spent that well-remembered evening which threw the first ray +of light on the pursuit that now seemed developing into such strange and +unexpected consequences. Being admitted, he was desired by the domestic +to wait, as his Reverence was at that moment engaged with a gentleman on +business. Glancing through the ivy that mantled over the window, +Middleton saw that this interview was taking place in the garden, where +the Master and his visitor were walking to and fro in the avenue of box, +discussing some matter, as it seemed to him, with considerable +earnestness on both sides. He observed, too, that there was warmth, +passion, a disturbed feeling on the stranger's part; while, on that of +the Master, it was a calm, serious, earnest representation of whatever +view he was endeavoring to impress on the other. At last, the interview +appeared to come toward a climax, the Master addressing some words to his +guest, still with undisturbed calmness, to which the latter replied by a +violent and even fierce gesture, as it should seem of menace, not towards +the Master, but some unknown party; and then hastily turning, he left the +garden and was soon heard riding away. The Master looked after him +awhile, and then, shaking his white head, returned into the house and +soon entered the parlor. + +He looked somewhat surprised, and, as it struck Middleton, a little +startled, at finding him there; yet he welcomed him with all his former +cordiality--indeed, with a friendship that thoroughly warmed Middleton's +heart even to its coldest corner. + +"This is strange!" said the old gentleman. "Do you remember our +conversation on that evening when I first had the unlooked-for pleasure +of receiving you as a guest into my house? At that time I spoke to you of +a strange family story, of which there was no denouement, such as a +novel-writer would desire, and which had remained in that unfinished +posture for more than two hundred years! Well; perhaps it will gratify +you to know that there seems a prospect of that wanting termination being +supplied!" + +"Indeed!" said Middleton. + +"Yes," replied the Master. "A gentleman has just parted with me who was +indeed the representative of the family concerned in the story. He is the +descendant of a younger son of that family, to whom the estate devolved +about a century ago, although at that time there was search for the heirs +of the elder son, who had disappeared after the bloody incident which I +related to you. Now, singular as it may appear, at this late day, a +person claiming to be the descendant and heir of that eldest son has +appeared, and if I may credit my friend's account, is disposed not only +to claim the estate, but the dormant title which Eldredge himself has +been so long preparing to claim for himself. Singularly enough, too, the +heir is an American." + +_May 2d, Sunday._--"I believe," said Middleton, "that many English +secrets might find their solution in America, if the two threads of a +story could be brought together, disjoined as they have been by time and +the ocean. But are you at liberty to tell me the nature of the incidents +to which you allude?" + +"I do not see any reason to the contrary," answered the Master; "for the +story has already come in an imperfect way before the public, and the +full and authentic particulars are likely soon to follow. It seems that +the younger brother was ejected from the house on account of a love +affair; the elder having married a young woman with whom the younger was +in love, and, it is said, the wife disappeared on the bridal night, and +was never heard of more. The elder brother remained single during the +rest of his life; and dying childless, and there being still no news of +the second brother, the inheritance and representation of the family +devolved upon the third brother and his posterity. This branch of the +family has ever since remained in possession; and latterly the +representation has become of more importance, on account of a claim to an +old title, which, by the failure of another branch of this ancient +family, has devolved upon the branch here settled. Now, just at this +juncture, comes another heir from America, pretending that he is the +descendant of a marriage between the second son, supposed to have been +murdered on the threshold of the manor-house, and the missing bride! Is +it not a singular story?" + +"It would seem to require very strong evidence to prove it," said +Middleton. "And methinks a Republican should care little for the title, +however he might value the estate." + +"Both--both," said the Master, smiling, "would be equally attractive to +your countryman. But there are further curious particulars in connection +with this claim. You must know, they are a family of singular +characteristics, humorists, sometimes developing their queer traits into +something like insanity; though oftener, I must say, spending stupid +hereditary lives here on their estates, rusting out and dying without +leaving any biography whatever about them. And yet there has always been +one very queer thing about this generally very commonplace family. It is +that each father, on his death-bed, has had an interview with his son, at +which he has imparted some secret that has evidently had an influence on +the character and after life of the son, making him ever after a +discontented man, aspiring for something he has never been able to find. +Now the American, I am told, pretends that he has the clue which has +always been needed to make the secret available; the key whereby the lock +may be opened; the something that the lost son of the family carried away +with him, and by which through these centuries he has impeded the +progress of the race. And, wild as the story seems, he does certainly +seem to bring something that looks very like the proof of what he says." + +"And what are those proofs?" inquired Middleton, wonder-stricken at the +strange reduplication of his own position and pursuits. + +"In the first place," said the Master, "the English marriage-certificate +by a clergyman of that day in London, after publication of the banns, +with a reference to the register of the parish church where the marriage +is recorded. Then, a certified genealogy of the family in New England, +where such matters can be ascertained from town and church records, with +at least as much certainty, it would appear, as in this country. He has +likewise a manuscript in his ancestor's autograph, containing a brief +account of the events which banished him from his own country; the +circumstances which favored the idea that he had been slain, and which he +himself was willing should be received as a belief; the fortune that led +him to America, where he wished to found a new race wholly disconnected +with the past; and this manuscript he sealed up, with directions that it +should not be opened till two hundred years after his death, by which +time, as it was probable to conjecture, it would matter little to any +mortal whether the story was told or not. A whole generation has passed +since the time when the paper was at last unsealed and read, so long it +had no operation; yet now, at last, here comes the American, to disturb +the succession of an ancient family!" + +"There is something very strange in all this," said Middleton. + +And indeed there was something stranger in his view of the matter than he +had yet communicated to the Master. For, taking into consideration the +relation in which he found himself with the present recognized +representative of the family, the thought struck him that his coming +hither had dug up, as it were, a buried secret that immediately assumed +life and activity the moment that it was above ground again. For seven +generations the family had vegetated in the quietude of English country +gentility, doing nothing to make itself known, passing from the cradle to +the tomb amid the same old woods that had waved over it before his +ancestor had impressed the bloody footstep; and yet the instant that he +came back, an influence seemed to be at work that was likely to renew the +old history of the family. He questioned with himself whether it were not +better to leave all as it was; to withdraw himself into the secrecy from +which he had but half emerged, and leave the family to keep on, to the +end of time perhaps, in its rusty innocence, rather than to interfere +with his wild American character to disturb it. The smell of that dark +crime--that brotherly hatred and attempted murder--seemed to breathe out +of the ground as he dug it up. Was it not better that it should remain +forever buried, for what to him was this old English title--what this +estate, so far from his own native land, located amidst feelings and +manners which would never be his own? It was late, to be sure--yet not +too late for him to turn back: the vibration, the fear, which his +footsteps had caused, would subside into peace! Meditating in this way, +he took a hasty leave of the kind old Master, promising to see him again +at an early opportunity. By chance, or however it was, his footsteps +turned to the woods of ---- Chace, and there he wandered through its +glades, deep in thought, yet always with a strange sense that he was +treading on the soil where his ancestors had trodden, and where he +himself had best right of all men to be. It was just in this state of +feeling that he found his course arrested by a hand upon his shoulder. + +"What business have you here?" was the question sounded in his ear; and, +starting, he found himself in the grasp, as his blood tingled to know, of +a gentleman in a shooting-dress, who looked at him with a wrathful brow. +"Are you a poacher, or what?" + +Be the case what it might, Middleton's blood boiled at the grasp of that +hand, as it never before had done in the course of his impulsive life. He +shook himself free, and stood fiercely before his antagonist, confronting +him with his uplifted stick, while the other, likewise, appeared to be +shaken by a strange wrath. + +"Fellow," muttered he--"Yankee blackguard!--impostor--take yourself oil +these grounds. Quick, or it will be the worse for you!" + +Middleton restrained himself. "Mr. Eldredge," said he, "for I believe I +speak to the man who calls himself owner of this land on which we +stand,--Mr. Eldredge, you are acting under a strange misapprehension of +my character. I have come hither with no sinister purpose, and am +entitled, at the hands of a gentleman, to the consideration of an +honorable antagonist, even if you deem me one at all. And perhaps, if you +think upon the blue chamber and the ebony cabinet, and the secret +connected with it,"-- + +"Villain, no more!" said Eldredge; and utterly mad with rage, he +presented his gun at Middleton; but even at the moment of doing so, he +partly restrained himself, so far as, instead of shooting him, to raise +the butt of his gun, and strike a blow at him. It came down heavily on +Middleton's shoulder, though aimed at his head; and the blow was terribly +avenged, even by itself, for the jar caused the hammer to come down; the +gun went off, sending the bullet downwards through the heart of the +unfortunate man, who fell dead upon the ground. Eldredge[1] stood +stupefied, looking at the catastrophe which had so suddenly occurred. + +[1] Evidently a slip of the pen; Middleton being intended. + +_May 3d, Monday._--So here was the secret suddenly made safe in this so +terrible way; its keepers reduced from two parties to one interest; the +other who alone knew of this age-long mystery and trouble now carrying it +into eternity, where a long line of those who partook of the knowledge, +in each successive generation, might now be waiting to inquire of him how +he had held his trust. He had kept it well, there was no doubt of it; for +there he lay dead upon the ground, having betrayed it to no one, though +by a method which none could have foreseen, the whole had come into the +possession of him who had brought hither but half of it. Middleton looked +down in horror upon the form that had just been so full of life and +wrathful vigor--and now lay so quietly. Being wholly unconscious of any +purpose to bring about the catastrophe, it had not at first struck him +that his own position was in any manner affected by the violent death, +under such circumstances, of the unfortunate man. But now it suddenly +occurred to him, that there had been a train of incidents all calculated +to make him the object of suspicion; and he felt that he could not, under +the English administration of law, be suffered to go at large without +rendering a strict account of himself and his relations with the +deceased. He might, indeed, fly; he might still remain in the vicinity, +and possibly escape notice. But was not the risk too great? Was it just +even to be aware of this event, and not relate fully the manner of it, +lest a suspicion of blood-guiltiness should rest upon some innocent head? +But while he was thus cogitating, he heard footsteps approaching along +the wood-path; and half-impulsively, half on purpose, he stept aside into +the shrubbery, but still where he could see the dead body, and what +passed near it. + +The footsteps came on, and at the turning of the path, just where +Middleton had met Eldredge, the new-comer appeared in sight. It was +Hoper, in his usual dress of velveteen, looking now seedy, +poverty-stricken, and altogether in ill-case, trudging moodily along, +with his hat pulled over his brows, so that he did not see the ghastly +object before him till his foot absolutely trod upon the dead man's hand. +Being thus made aware of the proximity of the corpse, he started back a +little, yet evincing such small emotion as did credit to his English +reserve; then uttering a low exclamation,--cautiously low, indeed,--he +stood looking at the corpse a moment or two, apparently in deep +meditation. He then drew near, bent down, and without evincing any horror +at the touch of death in this horrid shape, he opened the dead man's +vest, inspected the wound, satisfied himself that life was extinct, and +then nodded his head and smiled gravely. He next proceeded to examine +seriatim the dead man's pockets, turning each of them inside out and +taking the contents, where they appeared adapted to his needs: for +instance, a silken purse, through the interstices of which some gold was +visible; a watch, which however had been injured by the explosion, and +had stopt just at the moment--twenty-one minutes past five--when the +catastrophe took place. Hoper ascertained, by putting the watch to his +ear, that this was the case; then pocketing it, he continued his +researches. He likewise secured a note-book, on examining which he found +several bank-notes, and some other papers. And having done this, the +thief stood considering what to do next; nothing better occurring to him, +he thrust the pockets back, gave the corpse as nearly as he could the +same appearance that it had worn before he found it, and hastened away, +leaving the horror there on the wood-path. + +He had been gone only a few minutes when another step, a light woman's +step, [was heard] coming along the pathway, and Alice appeared, having on +her usual white mantle, straying along with that fearlessness which +characterized her so strangely, and made her seem like one of the +denizens of nature. She was singing in a low tone some one of those airs +which have become so popular in England, as negro melodies; when +suddenly, looking before her, she saw the blood-stained body on the +grass, the face looking ghastly upward. Alice pressed her hand upon her +heart; it was not her habit to scream, not the habit of that strong, +wild, self-dependent nature; and the exclamation which broke from her was +not for help, but the voice of her heart crying out to herself. For an +instant she hesitated, as [if] not knowing what to do; then approached, +and with her white, maiden hand felt the brow of the dead man, +tremblingly, but yet firm, and satisfied herself that life had wholly +departed. She pressed her hand, that had just touched the dead man's, on +her forehead, and gave a moment to thought. + +What her decision might have been, we cannot say, for while she stood in +this attitude, Middleton stept from his seclusion, and at the noise of +his approach she turned suddenly round, looking more frightened and +agitated than at the moment when she had first seen the dead body. She +faced Middleton, however, and looked him quietly in the eye. "You see +this!" said she, gazing fixedly at him. "It is not at this moment that +you first discover it." + +"No," said Middleton, frankly. "It is not. I was present at the +catastrophe. In one sense, indeed, I was the cause of it; but, Alice, I +need not tell you that I am no murderer." + +"A murderer?--no," said Alice, still looking at him with the same fixed +gaze. "But you and this man were at deadly variance. He would have +rejoiced at any chance that would have laid you cold and bloody on the +earth, as he is now; nay, he would most eagerly have seized on any +fair-looking pretext that would have given him a chance to stretch you +there. The world will scarcely believe, when it knows all about your +relations with him, that his blood is not on your hand. Indeed," said +she, with a strange smile, "I see some of it there now!" + +And, in very truth, so there was; a broad blood-stain that had dried on +Middleton's hand. He shuddered at it, but essayed vainly to rub it off. + +"You see," said she. "It was foreordained that you should shed this man's +blood; foreordained that, by digging into that old pit of pestilence, you +should set the contagion loose again. You should have left it buried +forever. But now what do you mean to do?" + +"To proclaim this catastrophe," replied Middleton. "It is the only honest +and manly way. What else can I do?" + +"You can and ought to leave him on the wood-path, where he has fallen," +said Alice, "and go yourself to take advantage of the state of things +which Providence has brought about. Enter the old house, the hereditary +house, where--now, at least--you alone have a right to tread. Now is the +hour. All is within your grasp. Let the wrong of three hundred years be +righted, and come back thus to your own, to these hereditary fields, this +quiet, long-descended home; to title, to honor." + +Yet as the wild maiden spoke thus, there was a sort of mockery in her +eyes; on her brow; gleaming through all her face, as if she scorned what +she thus pressed upon him, the spoils of the dead man who lay at their +feet. Middleton, with his susceptibility, could not [but] be sensible of +a wild and strange charm, as well as horror, in the situation; it seemed +such a wonder that here, in formal, orderly, well-governed England, so +wild a scene as this should have occurred; that they too [two?] should +stand here, deciding on the descent of an estate, and the inheritance of +a title, holding a court of their own. + +"Come, then," said he, at length. "Let us leave this poor fallen +antagonist in his blood, and go whither you will lead me. I will judge +for myself. At all events, I will not leave my hereditary home without +knowing what my power is." + +"Come," responded Alice; and she turned back; but then returned and threw +a handkerchief over the dead man's face, which while they spoke had +assumed that quiet, ecstatic expression of joy which often is observed to +overspread the faces of those who die of gunshot wounds, however fierce +the passion in which the spirits took their flight. With this strange, +grand, awful joy did the dead man gaze upward into the very eyes and +hearts, as it were, of the two that now bent over him. They looked at one +another. + +"Whence comes this expression?" said Middleton, thoughtfully. "Alice, +methinks he is reconciled to us now; and that we are members of one +reconciled family, all of whom are in heaven but me." + +_Tuesday, May 4th._--"How strange is this whole situation between you and +me," said Middleton, as they went up the winding pathway that led towards +the house. "Shall I ever understand it? Do you mean ever to explain it to +me? That I should find you here with that old man,[2] so mysterious, +apparently so poor, yet so powerful! What [is] his relation to you?" + +[2] The allusion here is apparently to the old man who proclaims + himself Alice's father, in the portion dated April 14th. He figures + hereafter as the old Hospitaller, Hammond. The reader must not take + this present passage as referring to the death of Eldredge, which has + just taken place in the preceding section. The author is now + beginning to elaborate the relation of Middleton and Alice. As will + be seen, farther on, the death of Eldredge is ignored and abandoned; + Eldredge is revived, and the story proceeds in another way.--G. P. L. + +"A close one," replied Alice sadly. "He was my father!" + +"Your father!" repeated Middleton, starting back. "It does but heighten +the wonder! Your father! And yet, by all the tokens that birth and +breeding, and habits of thought and native character can show, you are my +countrywoman. That wild, free spirit was never born in the breast of an +Englishwoman; that slight frame, that slender beauty, that frail +envelopment of a quick, piercing, yet stubborn and patient spirit,--are +those the properties of an English maiden?" + +"Perhaps not," replied Alice quietly. "I am your countrywoman. My father +was an American, and one of whom you have heard--and no good, alas!--for +many a year." + +"And who then was he?" asked Middleton. + +"I know not whether you will hate me for telling you," replied Alice, +looking him sadly though firmly in the face. "There was a man--long years +since, in your childhood--whose plotting brain proved the ruin of himself +and many another; a man whose great designs made him a sort of potentate, +whose schemes became of national importance, and produced results even +upon the history of the country in which he acted. That man was my +father; a man who sought to do great things, and, like many who have had +similar aims, disregarded many small rights, strode over them, on his way +to effect a gigantic purpose. Among other men, your father was trampled +under foot, ruined, done to death, even, by the effects of his ambition." + +"How is it possible!" exclaimed Middleton. "Was it Wentworth?" + +"Even so," said Alice, still with the same sad calmness and not +withdrawing her steady eyes from his face. "After his ruin; after the +catastrophe that overwhelmed him and hundreds more, he took to flight; +guilty, perhaps, but guilty as a fallen conqueror is; guilty to such an +extent that he ceased to be a cheat, as a conqueror ceases to be a +murderer. He came to England. My father had an original nobility of +nature; and his life had not been such as to debase it, but rather such +as to cherish and heighten that self-esteem which at least keeps the +possessor of it from many meaner vices. He took nothing with him; nothing +beyond the bare means of flight, with the world before him, although +thousands of gold would not have been missed out of the scattered +fragments of ruin that lay around him. He found his way hither, led, as +you were, by a desire to reconnect himself with the place whence his +family had originated; for he, too, was of a race which had something to +do with the ancient story which has now been brought to a close. Arrived +here, there were circumstances that chanced to make his talents and +habits of business available to this Mr. Eldredge, a man ignorant and +indolent, unknowing how to make the best of the property that was in his +hands. By degrees, he took the estate into his management, acquiring +necessarily a preponderating influence over such a man." + +"And you," said Middleton. "Have you been all along in England? For you +must have been little more than an infant at the time." + +"A mere infant," said Alice, "and I remained in our own country under the +care of a relative who left me much to my own keeping; much to the +influences of that wild culture which the freedom of our country gives to +its youth. It is only two years that I have been in England." + +"This, then," said Middleton thoughtfully, "accounts for much that has +seemed so strange in the events through which we have passed; for the +knowledge of my identity and my half-defined purpose which has always +glided before me, and thrown so many strange shapes of difficulty in my +path. But whence,--whence came that malevolence which your father's +conduct has so unmistakably shown? I had done him no injury, though I had +suffered much." + +"I have often thought," replied Alice, "that my father, though retaining +a preternatural strength and acuteness of intellect, was really not +altogether sane. And, besides, he had made it his business to keep this +estate, and all the complicated advantages of the representation of this +old family, secure to the person who was deemed to have inherited them. A +succession of ages and generations might be supposed to have blotted out +your claims from existence; for it is not just that there should be no +term of time which can make security for lack of fact and a few +formalities. At all events, he had satisfied himself that his duty was to +act as he has done." + +"Be it so! I do not seek to throw blame on him," said Middleton. +"Besides, Alice, he was your father!" + +"Yes," said she, sadly smiling; "let him [have] what protection that +thought may give him, even though I lose what he may gain. And now here +we are at the house. At last, come in! It is your own; there is none that +can longer forbid you!" + +They entered the door of the old mansion, now a farmhouse, and there were +its old hall, its old chambers, all before them. They ascended the +staircase, and stood on the landing-place above; while Middleton had +again that feeling that had so often made him dizzy,--that sense of being +in one dream and recognizing the scenery and events of a former dream. So +overpowering was this feeling, that he laid his hand on the slender arm +of Alice, to steady himself; and she comprehended the emotion that +agitated him, and looked into his eyes with a tender sympathy, which she +had never before permitted to be visible,--perhaps never before felt. He +steadied himself and followed her till they had entered an ancient +chamber, but one that was finished with all the comfortable luxury +customary to be seen in English homes. + +"Whither have you led me now?" inquired Middleton. + +"Look round," said Alice. "Is there nothing here that you ought to +recognize?--nothing that you kept the memory of, long ago?" + +He looked round the room again and again, and at last, in a somewhat +shadowy corner, he espied an old cabinet made of ebony and inlaid with +pearl; one of those tall, stately, and elaborate pieces of furniture that +are rather articles of architecture than upholstery; and on which a +higher skill, feeling, and genius than now is ever employed on such +things, was expended. Alice drew near the stately cabinet and threw wide +the doors, which, like the portals of a palace, stood between two +pillars; it all seemed to be unlocked, showing within some beautiful old +pictures in the panel of the doors, and a mirror, that opened a long +succession of mimic halls, reflection upon reflection, extending to an +interminable nowhere. + +"And what is this?" said Middleton,--"a cabinet? Why do you draw my +attention so strongly to it?" + +"Look at it well," said she. "Do you recognize nothing there? Have you +forgotten your description? The stately palace with its architecture, +each pillar with its architecture, those pilasters, that frieze; you +ought to know them all. Somewhat less than you imagined in size, perhaps; +a fairy reality, inches for yards; that is the only difference. And you +have the key?" + +And there then was that palace, to which tradition, so false at once and +true, had given such magnitude and magnificence in the traditions of the +Middleton family, around their shifting fireside in America. Looming afar +through the mists of time, the little fact had become a gigantic vision. +Yes, here it was in miniature, all that he had dreamed of; a palace of +four feet high! + +"You have the key of this palace," said Alice; "it has waited--that is, +its secret and precious chamber has, for you to open it, these three +hundred years. Do you know how to find that secret chamber?" + +Middleton, still in that dreamy mood, threw open an inner door of the +cabinet, and applying the old-fashioned key at his watch-chain to a hole +in the mimic pavement within, pressed one of the mosaics, and immediately +the whole floor of the apartment sank, and revealed a receptacle within. +Alice had come forward eagerly, and they both looked into the +hiding-place, expecting what should be there. It was empty! They looked +into each other's faces with blank astonishment. Everything had been so +strangely true, and so strangely false, up to this moment, that they +could not comprehend this failure at the last moment. It was the +strangest, saddest jest! It brought Middleton up with such a sudden +revulsion that he grew dizzy, and the room swam round him and the cabinet +dazzled before his eyes. It had been magnified to a palace; it had +dwindled down to Liliputian size; and yet, up till now, it had seemed to +contain in its diminutiveness all the riches which he had attributed to +its magnitude. This last moment had utterly subverted it; the whole great +structure seemed to vanish. + +"See; here are the dust and ashes of it," observed Alice, taking +something that was indeed only a pinch of dust out of the secret +compartment. "There is nothing else." + + + + +II. + +_May 5th, Wednesday_.--The father of these two sons, an aged man at the +time, took much to heart their enmity; and after the catastrophe, he +never held up his head again. He was not told that his son had perished, +though such was the belief of the family; but imbibed the opinion that he +had left his home and native land to become a wanderer on the face of the +earth, and that some time or other he might return. In this idea he spent +the remainder of his days; in this idea he died. It may be that the +influence of this idea might be traced in the way in which he spent some +of the latter years of his life, and a portion of the wealth which had +become of little value in his eyes, since it had caused dissension and +bloodshed between the sons of one household. It was a common mode of +charity in those days--a common thing for rich men to do--to found an +almshouse or a hospital, and endow it, for the support of a certain +number of old and destitute men or women, generally such as had some +claim of blood upon the founder, or at least were natives of the parish, +the district, the county, where he dwelt. The Eldredge Hospital was +founded for the benefit of twelve old men, who should have been wanderers +upon the face of the earth; men, they should be, of some education, but +defeated and hopeless, cast off by the world for misfortune, but not for +crime. And this charity had subsisted, on terms varying little or nothing +from the original ones, from that day to this; and, at this very time, +twelve old men were not wanting, of various countries, of various +fortunes, but all ending finally in ruin, who had centred here, to live +on the poor pittance that had been assigned to them, three hundred years +ago. What a series of chronicles it would have been if each of the +beneficiaries of this charity, since its foundation, had left a record of +the events which finally led him hither. Middleton often, as he talked +with these old men, regretted that he himself had no turn for authorship, +so rich a volume might he have compiled from the experience, sometimes +sunny and triumphant, though always ending in shadow, which he gathered +here. They were glad to talk to him, and would have been glad and +grateful for any auditor, as they sat on one or another of the stone +benches, in the sunshine of the garden; or at evening, around the great +fireside, or within the chimney-corner, with their pipes and ale. + +There was one old man who attracted much of his attention, by the +venerableness of his aspect; by something dignified, almost haughty and +commanding, in his air. Whatever might have been the intentions and +expectations of the founder, it certainly had happened in these latter +days that there was a difficulty in finding persons of education, of good +manners, of evident respectability, to put into the places made vacant by +deaths of members; whether that the paths of life are surer now than they +used to be, and that men so arrange their lives as not to be left, in any +event, quite without resources as they draw near its close; at any rate, +there was a little tincture of the vagabond running through these twelve +quasi gentlemen,--through several of them, at least. But this old man +could not well be mistaken; in his manners, in his tones, in all his +natural language and deportment, there was evidence that he had been more +than respectable; and, viewing him, Middleton could not help wondering +what statesman had suddenly vanished out of public life and taken refuge +here, for his head was of the statesman-class, and his demeanor that of +one who had exercised influence over large numbers of men. He sometimes +endeavored to set on foot a familiar relation with this old man, but +there was even a sternness in the manner in which he repelled these +advances, that gave little encouragement for their renewal. Nor did it +seem that his companions of the Hospital were more in his confidence than +Middleton himself. They regarded him with a kind of awe, a shyness, and +in most cases with a certain dislike, which denoted an imperfect +understanding of him. To say the truth, there was not generally much love +lost between any of the members of this family; they had met with too +much disappointment in the world to take kindly, now, to one another or +to anything or anybody. I rather suspect that they really had more +pleasure in burying one another, when the time came, than in any other +office of mutual kindness and brotherly love which it was their part to +do; not out of hardness of heart, but merely from soured temper, and +because, when people have met disappointment and have settled down into +final unhappiness, with no more gush and spring of good spirits, there is +nothing any more to create amiability out of. + +So the old people were unamiable and cross to one another, and unamiable +and cross to old Hammond, yet always with a certain respect; and the +result seemed to be such as treated the old man well enough. And thus he +moved about among them, a mystery; the histories of the others, in the +general outline, were well enough known, and perhaps not very uncommon; +this old man's history was known to none, except, of course, to the +trustees of the charity, and to the Master of the Hospital, to whom it +had necessarily been revealed, before the beneficiary could be admitted +as an inmate. It was judged, by the deportment of the Master, that the +old man had once held some eminent position in society; for, though bound +to treat them all as gentlemen, he was thought to show an especial and +solemn courtesy to Hammond. + +Yet by the attraction which two strong and cultivated minds inevitably +have for one another, there did spring up an acquaintanceship, an +intercourse, between Middleton and this old man, which was followed up in +many a conversation which they held together on all subjects that were +supplied by the news of the day, or the history of the past. Middleton +used to make the newspaper the opening for much discussion; and it seemed +to him that the talk of his companion had much of the character of that +of a retired statesman, on matters which, perhaps, he would look at all +the more wisely, because it was impossible he could ever more have a +personal agency in them. Their discussions sometimes turned upon the +affairs of his own country, and its relations with the rest of the world, +especially with England; and Middleton could not help being struck with +the accuracy of the old man's knowledge respecting that country, which so +few Englishmen know anything about; his shrewd appreciation of the +American character,--shrewd and caustic, yet not without a good degree of +justice; the sagacity of his remarks on the past, and prophecies of what +was likely to happen,--prophecies which, in one instance, were singularly +verified, in regard to a complexity which was then arresting the +attention of both countries. + +"You must have been in the United States," said he, one day. + +"Certainly; my remarks imply personal knowledge," was the reply. "But it +was before the days of steam." + +"And not, I should imagine, for a brief visit," said Middleton. "I only +wish the administration of this government had the benefit to-day of your +knowledge of my countrymen. It might be better for both of these kindred +nations." + +"Not a whit," said the old man. "England will never understand America; +for England never does understand a foreign country; and whatever you may +say about kindred, America is as much a foreign country as France itself. +These two hundred years of a different climate and circumstances--of life +on a broad continent instead of in an island, to say nothing of the +endless intermixture of nationalities in every part of the United States, +except New England--have created a new and decidedly original type of +national character. It is as well for both parties that they should not +aim at any very intimate connection. It will never do." + +"I should be sorry to think so," said Middleton; "they are at all events +two noble breeds of men, and ought to appreciate one another. And America +has the breadth of idea to do this for England, whether reciprocated or +not." + +_Thursday, May 6th._--Thus Middleton was established in a singular way +among these old men, in one of the surroundings most unlike anything in +his own country. So old it was that it seemed to him the freshest and +newest thing that he had ever met with. The residence was made infinitely +the more interesting to him by the sense that he was near the place--as +all the indications warned him--which he sought, whither his dreams had +tended from his childhood; that he could wander each day round the park +within which were the old gables of what he believed was his hereditary +home. He had never known anything like the dreamy enjoyment of these +days; so quiet, such a contrast to the turbulent life from which he had +escaped across the sea. And here he set himself, still with that sense of +shadowiness in what he saw and in what he did, in making all the +researches possible to him, about the neighborhood; visiting every little +church that raised its square battlemented Norman tower of gray stone, +for several miles round about; making himself acquainted with each little +village and hamlet that surrounded these churches, clustering about the +graves of those who had dwelt in the same cottages aforetime. He visited +all the towns within a dozen miles; and probably there were few of the +inhabitants who had so good an acquaintance with the neighborhood as this +native American attained within a few weeks after his coming thither. + +In course of these excursions he had several times met with a young +woman,--a young lady, one might term her, but in fact he was in some +doubt what rank she might hold, in England,--who happened to be wandering +about the country with a singular freedom. She was always alone, always +on foot; he would see her sketching some picturesque old church, some +ivied ruin, some fine drooping elm. She was a slight figure, much more so +than English women generally are; and, though healthy of aspect, had not +the ruddy complexion, which he was irreverently inclined to call the +coarse tint, that is believed the great charm of English beauty. There +was a freedom in her step and whole little womanhood, an elasticity, an +irregularity, so to speak, that made her memorable from first sight; and +when he had encountered her three or four times, he felt in a certain way +acquainted with her. She was very simply dressed, and quite as simple in +her deportment; there had been one or two occasions, when they had both +smiled at the same thing; soon afterwards a little conversation had taken +place between them; and thus, without any introduction, and in a way that +somewhat puzzled Middleton himself, they had become acquainted. It was so +unusual that a young English girl should be wandering about the country +entirely alone--so much less usual that she should speak to a +stranger--that Middleton scarcely knew how to account for it, but +meanwhile accepted the fact readily and willingly, for in truth he found +this mysterious personage a very likely and entertaining companion. There +was a strange quality of boldness in her remarks, almost of brusqueness, +that he might have expected to find in a young countrywoman of his own, +if bred up among the strong-minded, but was astonished to find in a young +Englishwoman. Somehow or other she made him think more of home than any +other person or thing he met with; and he could not but feel that she was +in strange contrast with everything about her. She was no beauty; very +piquant; very pleasing; in some points of view and at some moments +pretty; always good-humored, but somewhat too self-possessed for +Middleton's taste. It struck him that she had talked with him as if she +had some knowledge of him and of the purposes with which he was there; +not that this was expressed, but only implied by the fact that, on +looking back to what had passed, he found many strange coincidences in +what she had said with what he was thinking about. + +He perplexed himself much with thinking whence this young woman had come, +where she belonged, and what might be her history; when, the next day, he +again saw her, not this time rambling on foot, but seated in an open +barouche with a young lady. Middleton lifted his hat to her, and she +nodded and smiled to him; and it appeared to Middleton that a +conversation ensued about him with the young lady, her companion. Now, +what still more interested him was the fact that, on the panel of the +barouche were the arms of the family now in possession of the estate of +Smithell's; so that the young lady, his new acquaintance, or the young +lady, her seeming friend, one or the other, was the sister of the present +owner of that estate. He was inclined to think that his acquaintance +could not be the Miss Eldredge, of whose beauty he had heard many tales +among the people of the neighborhood. The other young lady, a tall, +reserved, fair-haired maiden, answered the description considerably +better. He concluded, therefore, that his acquaintance must be a visitor, +perhaps a dependent and companion; though the freedom of her thought, +action, and way of life seemed hardly consistent with this idea. However, +this slight incident served to give him a sort of connection with the +family, and he could but hope that some further chance would introduce +him within what he fondly called his hereditary walls. He had come to +think of this as a dreamland; and it seemed even more a dreamland now +than before it rendered itself into actual substance, an old house of +stone and timber standing within its park, shaded about with its +ancestral trees. + +But thus, at all events, he was getting himself a little wrought into the +net-work of human life around him, secluded as his position had at first +seemed to be, in the farmhouse where he had taken up his lodgings. For, +there was the Hospital and its old inhabitants, in whose monotonous +existence he soon came to pass for something, with his liveliness of +mind, his experience, his good sense, his patience as a listener, his +comparative youth even--his power of adapting himself to these stiff and +crusty characters, a power learned among other things in his political +life, where he had acquired something of the faculty (good or bad as +might be) of making himself all things to all men. But though he amused +himself with them all, there was in truth but one man among them in whom +he really felt much interest; and that one, we need hardly say, was +Hammond. It was not often that he found the old gentleman in a +conversible mood; always courteous, indeed, but generally cool and +reserved; often engaged in his one room, to which Middleton had never yet +been admitted, though he had more than once sent in his name, when +Hammond was not apparent upon the bench which, by common consent of the +Hospital, was appropriated to him. + +One day, however, notwithstanding that the old gentleman was confined to +his room by indisposition, he ventured to inquire at the door, and, +considerably to his surprise, was admitted. He found Hammond in his +easy-chair, at a table, with writing-materials before him; and as +Middleton entered, the old gentleman looked at him with a stern, fixed +regard, which, however, did not seem to imply any particular displeasure +towards this visitor, but rather a severe way of regarding mankind in +general. Middleton looked curiously around the small apartment, to see +what modification the character of the man had had upon the customary +furniture of the Hospital, and how much of individuality he had given to +that general type. There was a shelf of books, and a row of them on the +mantel-piece; works of political economy, they appeared to be, statistics +and things of that sort; very dry reading, with which, however, +Middleton's experience as a politician had made him acquainted. Besides +these there were a few works on local antiquities, a county-history +borrowed from the Master's library, in which Hammond appeared to have +been lately reading. + +"They are delightful reading," observed Middleton, "these old +county-histories, with their great folio volumes and their minute account +of the affairs of families and the genealogies, and descents of estates, +bestowing as much blessed space on a few hundred acres as other +historians give to a principality. I fear that in my own country we shall +never have anything of this kind. Our space is so vast that we shall +never come to know and love it, inch by inch, as the English antiquarians +do the tracts of country with which they deal; and besides, our land is +always likely to lack the interest that belongs to English estates; for +where land changes its ownership every few years, it does not become +imbued with the personalities of the people who live on it. It is but so +much grass; so much dirt, where a succession of people have dwelt too +little to make it really their own. But I have found a pleasure that I +had no conception of before, in reading some of the English local +histories." + +"It is not a usual course of reading for a transitory visitor," said +Hammond. "What could induce you to undertake it?" + +"Simply the wish, so common and natural with Americans," said +Middleton--"the wish to find out something about my kindred--the local +origin of my own family." + +"You do not show your wisdom in this," said his visitor. "America had +better recognize the fact that it has nothing to do with England, and +look upon itself as other nations and people do, as existing on its own +hook. I never heard of any people looking hack to the country of their +remote origin in the way the Anglo-Americans do. For instance, England is +made up of many alien races, German, Danish. Norman, and what not: it has +received large accessions of population at a later date than the +settlement of the United States. Yet these families melt into the great +homogeneous mass of Englishmen, and look hack no more to any other +country. There are in this vicinity many descendants of the French +Huguenots; but they care no more for France than for Timbuctoo, reckoning +themselves only Englishmen, as if they were descendants of the aboriginal +Britons. Let it he so with you." + +"So it might be," replied Middleton, "only that our relations with +England remain far more numerous than our disconnections, through the +bonds of history, of literature, of all that makes up the memories, and +much that makes up the present interests of a people. And therefore I +must still continue to pore over these old folios, and hunt around these +precincts, spending thus the little idle time I am likely to have in a +busy life. Possibly finding little to my purpose; but that is quite a +secondary consideration." + +"If you choose to tell me precisely what your aims are," said Hammond, +"it is possible I might give you some little assistance." + +_May 7th, Friday_.--Middleton was in fact more than half ashamed of the +dreams which he had cherished before coming to England, and which since, +at times, had been very potent with him, assuming as strong a tinge of +reality as those [scenes?] into which he had strayed. He could not +prevail with himself to disclose fully to this severe, and, as he +thought, cynical old man how strong within him was the sentiment that +impelled him to connect himself with the old life of England, to join on +the broken thread of ancestry and descent, and feel every link well +established. But it seemed to him that he ought not to lose this fair +opportunity of gaining some light on the abstruse field of his +researches; and he therefore explained to Hammond that he had reason, +from old family traditions, to believe that he brought with him a +fragment of a history that, if followed out, might lead to curious +results. He told him, in a tone half serious, what he had heard +respecting the quarrel of the two brothers, and the Bloody Footstep, the +impress of which was said to remain, as a lasting memorial of the tragic +termination of that enmity. At this point, Hammond interrupted him. He +had indeed, at various points of the narrative, nodded and smiled +mysteriously, as if looking into his mind and seeing something there +analogous to what he was listening to. He now spoke. + +"This is curious," said he. "Did you know that there is a manor-house in +this neighborhood, the family of which prides itself on having such a +blood-stained threshold as you have now described?" + +"No, indeed!" exclaimed Middleton, greatly interested. "Where?" + +"It is the old manor-house of Smithell's," replied Hammond, "one of those +old wood and timber [plaster?] mansions, which are among the most ancient +specimens of domestic architecture in England. The house has now passed +into the female line, and by marriage has been for two or three +generations in possession of another family. But the blood of the old +inheritors is still in the family. The house itself, or portions of it, +are thought to date back quite as far as the Conquest." + +"Smithell's?" said Middleton. "Why, I have seen that old house from a +distance, and have felt no little interest in its antique aspect. And it +has a Bloody Footstep! Would it be possible for a stranger to get an +opportunity to inspect it?" + +"Unquestionably," said Hammond; "nothing easier. It is but a moderate +distance from here, and if you can moderate your young footsteps, and +your American quick walk, to an old man's pace, I would go there with you +some day. In this languor and ennui of my life, I spend some time in +local antiquarianism, and perhaps I might assist you in tracing out how +far these traditions of yours may have any connection with reality. It +would be curious, would it not, if you had come, after two hundred years, +to piece out a story which may have been as much a mystery in England as +there in America?" + +An engagement was made for a walk to Smithell's the ensuing day; and +meanwhile Middleton entered more fully into what he had received from +family traditions and what he had thought out for himself on the matter +in question. + +"Are you aware," asked Hammond, "that there was formerly a title in this +family, now in abeyance, and which the heirs have at various times +claimed, and are at this moment claiming? Do you know, too,--but you can +scarcely know it,--that it has been surmised by some that there is an +insecurity in the title to the estate, and has always been; so that the +possessors have lived in some apprehension, from time immemorial, that +another heir would appear and take from them the fair inheritance? It is +a singular coincidence." + +"Very strange," exclaimed Middleton. "No; I was not aware of it; and, to +say the truth, I should not altogether like to come forward in the light +of a claimant. But this is a dream, surely!" + +"I assure you, sir," continued the old man, "that you come here in a very +critical moment; and singularly enough there is a perplexity, a +difficulty, that has endured for as long a time as when your ancestors +emigrated, that is still rampant within the bowels, as I may say, of the +family. Of course, it is too like a romance that you should be able to +establish any such claim as would have a valid influence on this matter; +but still, being here on the spot, it may be worth while, if merely as a +matter of amusement, to make some researches into this matter." + +"Surely I will," said Middleton, with a smile, which concealed more +earnestness than he liked to show; "as to the title, a Republican cannot +be supposed to think twice about such a bagatelle. The estate!--that +might be a more serious consideration." + +They continued to talk on the subject; and Middleton learned that the +present possessor of the estates was a gentleman nowise distinguished +from hundreds of other English gentlemen; a country squire modified in +accordance with the type of to-day, a frank, free, friendly sort of a +person enough, who had travelled on the Continent, who employed himself +much in field-sports, who was unmarried, and had a sister who was +reckoned among the beauties of the county. + +While the conversation was thus going on, to Middleton's astonishment +there came a knock at the door of the room, and, without waiting for a +response, it was opened, and there appeared at it the same young woman +whom he had already met. She came in with perfect freedom and +familiarity, and was received quietly by the old gentleman; who, however, +by his manner towards Middleton, indicated that he was now to take his +leave. He did so, after settling the hour at which the excursion of the +next day was to take place. This arranged, he departed, with much to +think of, and a light glimmering through the confused labyrinth of +thoughts which had been unilluminated hitherto. + +To say the truth, he questioned within himself whether it were not better +to get as quickly as he could out of the vicinity; and, at any rate, not +to put anything of earnest in what had hitherto been nothing more than a +romance to him. There was something very dark and sinister in the events +of family history, which now assumed a reality that they had never before +worn; so much tragedy, so much hatred, had been thrown into that deep +pit, and buried under the accumulated debris, the fallen leaves, the rust +and dust of more than two centuries, that it seemed not worth while to +dig it up; for perhaps the deadly influences, which it had taken so much +time to hide, might still be lurking there, and become potent if he now +uncovered them. There was something that startled him, in the strange, +wild light, which gleamed from the old man's eyes, as he threw out the +suggestions which had opened this prospect to him. What right had he--an +American, Republican, disconnected with this country so long, alien from +its habits of thought and life, reverencing none of the things which +Englishmen reverenced--what right had he to come with these musty claims +from the dim past, to disturb them in the life that belonged to them? +There was a higher and a deeper law than any connected with ancestral +claims which he could assert; and he had an idea that the law bade him +keep to the country which his ancestor had chosen and to its +institutions, and not meddle nor make with England. The roots of his +family tree could not reach under the ocean; he was at most but a +seedling from the parent tree. While thus meditating he found that his +footsteps had brought him unawares within sight of the old manor-house of +Smithell's; and that he was wandering in a path which, if he followed it +further, would bring him to an entrance in one of the wings of the +mansion. With a sort of shame upon him, he went forward, and, leaning +against a tree, looked at what he considered the home of his ancestors. + +_May 9th, Sunday_.--At the time appointed, the two companions set out on +their little expedition, the old man in his Hospital uniform, the long +black mantle, with the bear and ragged staff engraved in silver on the +breast, and Middleton in the plain costume which he had adopted in these +wanderings about the country. On their way, Hammond was not very +communicative, occasionally dropping some shrewd remark with a good deal +of acidity in it; now and then, too, favoring his companion with some +reminiscence of local antiquity; but oftenest silent. Thus they went on, +and entered the park of Pemberton Manor by a by-path, over a stile and +one of those footways, which are always so well worth threading out in +England, leading the pedestrian into picturesque and characteristic +scenes, when the highroad would show him nothing except what was +commonplace and uninteresting. Now the gables of the old manor-house +appeared before them, rising amidst the hereditary woods, which doubtless +dated from a time beyond the days which Middleton fondly recalled, when +his ancestors had walked beneath their shade. On each side of them were +thickets and copses of fern, amidst which they saw the hares peeping out +to gaze upon them, occasionally running across the path, and comporting +themselves like creatures that felt themselves under some sort of +protection from the outrages of man, though they knew too much of his +destructive character to trust him too far. Pheasants, too, rose close +beside them, and winged but a little way before they alighted; they +likewise knew, or seemed to know, that their hour was not yet come. On +all sides in these woods, these wastes, these beasts and birds, there was +a character that was neither wild nor tame. Man had laid his grasp on +them all, and done enough to redeem them from barbarism, but had stopped +short of domesticating them; although Nature, in the wildest thing there, +acknowledged the powerful and pervading influence of cultivation. + +Arriving at a side door of the mansion, Hammond rang the bell, and a +servant soon appeared. He seemed to know the old man, and immediately +acceded to his request to be permitted to show his companion the house; +although it was not precisely a show-house, nor was this the hour when +strangers were usually admitted. They entered; and the servant did not +give himself the trouble to act as a cicerone to the two visitants, but +carelessly said to the old gentleman that he knew the rooms, and that he +would leave him to discourse to his friend about them. Accordingly, they +went into the old hall, a dark oaken-panelled room, of no great height, +with many doors opening into it. There was a fire burning on the hearth; +indeed, it was the custom of the house to keep it up from morning to +night; and in the damp, chill climate of England, there is seldom a day +in some part of which a fire is not pleasant to feel. Hammond here +pointed out a stuffed fox, to which some story of a famous chase was +attached; a pair of antlers of enormous size; and some old family +pictures, so blackened with time and neglect that Middleton could not +well distinguish their features, though curious to do so, as hoping to +see there the lineaments of some with whom he might claim kindred. It was +a venerable apartment, and gave a good foretaste of what they might hope +to find in the rest of the mansion. + +But when they had inspected it pretty thoroughly, and were ready to +proceed, an elderly gentleman entered the hall, and, seeing Hammond, +addressed him in a kindly, familiar way; not indeed as an equal friend, +but with a pleasant and not irksome conversation. "I am glad to see you +here again," said he. "What? I have an hour of leisure; for, to say the +truth, the day hangs rather heavy till the shooting season begins. Come; +as you have a friend with you, I will be your cicerone myself about the +house, and show you whatever mouldy objects of interest it contains." + +He then graciously noticed the old man's companion, but without asking or +seeming to expect an introduction; for, after a careless glance at him, +he had evidently set him down as a person without social claims, a young +man in the rank of life fitted to associate with an inmate of Pemberton's +Hospital. And it must be noticed that his treatment of Middleton was not +on that account the less kind, though far from being so elaborately +courteous as if he had met him as an equal. "You have had something of a +walk," said he, "and it is a rather hot day. The beer of Pemberton Manor +has been reckoned good these hundred years; will you taste it?" + +Hammond accepted the offer, and the beer was brought in a foaming +tankard; but Middleton declined it, for in truth there was a singular +emotion in his breast, as if the old enmity, the ancient injuries, were +not yet atoned for, and as if he must not accept the hospitality of one +who represented his hereditary foe. He felt, too, as if there were +something unworthy, a certain want of fairness, in entering clandestinely +the house, and talking with its occupant under a veil, as it were; and +had he seen clearly how to do it, he would perhaps at that moment have +fairly told Mr. Eldredge that he brought with him the character of +kinsman, and must be received on that grade or none. But it was not easy +to do this; and after all, there was no clear reason why he should do it; +so he let the matter pass, merely declining to take the refreshment, and +keeping himself quiet and retired. + +Squire Eldredge seemed to be a good, ordinary sort of gentleman, +reasonably well educated, and with few ideas beyond his estate and +neighborhood, though he had once held a seat in Parliament for part of a +term. Middleton could not but contrast him, with an inward smile, with +the shrewd, alert politicians, their faculties all sharpened to the +utmost, whom he had known and consorted with in the American Congress. +Hammond had slightly informed him that his companion was an American; and +Mr. Eldredge immediately gave proof of the extent of his knowledge of +that country, by inquiring whether he came from the State of New England, +and whether Mr. Webster was still President of the United States; +questions to which Middleton returned answers that led to no further +conversation. These little preliminaries over, they continued their +ramble through the house, going through tortuous passages, up and down +little flights of steps, and entering chambers that had all the charm of +discoveries of hidden regions; loitering about, in short, in a labyrinth +calculated to put the head into a delightful confusion. Some of these +rooms contained their time-honored furniture, all in the best possible +repair, heavy, dark, polished; beds that had been marriage beds and dying +beds over and over again; chairs with carved backs; and all manner of old +world curiosities; family pictures, and samplers, and embroidery; +fragments of tapestry; an inlaid floor; everything having a story to it, +though, to say the truth, the possessor of these curiosities made but a +bungling piece of work in telling the legends connected with them. In one +or two instances Hammond corrected him. + +By and by they came to what had once been the principal bed-room of the +house; though its gloom, and some circumstances of family misfortune that +had happened long ago, had caused it to fall into disrepute in latter +times; and it was now called the Haunted Chamber, or the Ghost's Chamber. +The furniture of this room, however, was particularly rich in its antique +magnificence; and one of the principal objects was a great black cabinet +of ebony and ivory, such as may often be seen in old English houses, and +perhaps often in the palaces of Italy, in which country they perhaps +originated. This present cabinet was known to have been in the house as +long ago as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and how much longer neither +tradition nor record told. Hammond particularly directed Middleton's +attention to it. + +"There is nothing in this house," said he, "better worth your attention +than that cabinet.' Consider its plan; it represents a stately mansion, +with pillars, an entrance, with a lofty flight of steps, windows, and +everything perfect. Examine it well." + +There was such an emphasis in the old man's way of speaking that +Middleton turned suddenly round from all that he had been looking at, and +fixed his whole attention on the cabinet; and strangely enough, it seemed +to be the representative, in small, of something that he had seen in a +dream. To say the truth, if some cunning workman had been employed to +copy his idea of the old family mansion, on a scale of half an inch to a +yard, and in ebony and ivory instead of stone, he could not have produced +a closer imitation. Everything was there. + +"This is miraculous!" exclaimed he. "I do not understand it." + +"Your friend seems to be curious in these matters," said Mr. Eldredge +graciously. "Perhaps he is of some trade that makes this sort of +manufacture particularly interesting to him. You are quite at liberty, my +friend, to open the cabinet and inspect it as minutely as you wish. It is +an article that has a good deal to do with an obscure portion of our +family history. Look, here is the key, and the mode of opening the outer +door of the palace, as we may well call it." So saying, he threw open the +outer door, and disclosed within the mimic likeness of a stately entrance +hall, with a floor chequered of ebony and ivory. There were other doors +that seemed to open into apartments in the interior of the palace; but +when Mr. Eldredge threw them likewise wide, they proved to be drawers and +secret receptacles, where papers, jewels, money, anything that it was +desirable to store away secretly, might be kept. + +"You said, sir," said Middleton, thoughtfully, "that your family history +contained matter of interest in reference to this cabinet. Might I +inquire what those legends are?" + +"Why, yes," said Mr. Eldredge, musing a little. "I see no reason why I +should have any idle concealment about the matter, especially to a +foreigner and a man whom I am never likely to see again. You must know, +then, my friend, that there was once a time when this cabinet was known +to contain the fate of the estate and its possessors; and if it had held +all that it was supposed to hold, I should not now be the lord of +Pemberton Manor, nor the claimant of an ancient title. But my father, and +his father before him, and his father besides, have held the estate and +prospered on it; and I think we may fairly conclude now that the cabinet +contains nothing except what we see." + +And he rapidly again threw open one after another all the numerous +drawers and receptacles of the cabinet. + +"It is an interesting object," said Middleton, after looking very closely +and with great attention at it, being pressed thereto, indeed, by the +owner's good natured satisfaction in possessing this rare article of +vertu. "It is admirable work," repeated he, drawing back. "That mosaic +floor, especially, is done with an art and skill that I never saw +equalled." + +There was something strange and altered in Middleton's tones, that +attracted the notice of Mr. Eldredge. Looking at him, he saw that he had +grown pale, and had a rather bewildered air. + +"Is your friend ill?" said he. "He has not our English ruggedness of +look. He would have done better to take a sip of the cool tankard, and a +slice of the cold beef. He finds no such food and drink as that in his +own country, I warrant." + +"His color has come back," responded Hammond, briefly. "He does not need +any refreshment, I think, except, perhaps, the open air." + +In fact, Middleton, recovering himself, apologized to Mr. Hammond +[Eldredge?]; and as they had now seen nearly the whole of the house, the +two visitants took their leave, with many kindly offers on Mr. Eldredge's +part to permit the young man to view the cabinet whenever he wished. As +they went out of the house (it was by another door than that which gave +them entrance), Hammond laid his hand on Middleton's shoulder and pointed +to a stone on the threshold, on which he was about to set his foot. "Take +care!" said he. "It is the Bloody Footstep." + +Middleton looked down and saw something, indeed, very like the shape of a +footprint, with a hue very like that of blood. It was a twilight sort of +a place, beneath a porch, which was much overshadowed by trees and +shrubbery. It might have been blood; but he rather thought, in his wicked +skepticism, that it was a natural, reddish stain in the stone. He +measured his own foot, however, in the Bloody Footstep, and went on. + +_May 10th, Monday_.--This is the present aspect of the story: Middleton +is the descendant of a family long settled in the United States; his +ancestor having emigrated to New England with the Pilgrims; or, perhaps, +at a still earlier date, to Virginia with Raleigh's colonists. There had +been a family dissension,--a bitter hostility between two brothers in +England; on account, probably, of a love affair, the two both being +attached to the same lady. By the influence of the family on both sides, +the young lady had formed an engagement with the elder brother, although +her affections had settled on the younger. The marriage was about to take +place when the younger brother and the bride both disappeared, and were +never heard of with any certainty afterwards; but it was believed at the +time that he had been killed, and in proof of it a bloody footstep +remained on the threshold of the ancestral mansion. There were rumors, +afterwards, traditionally continued to the present day, that the younger +brother and the bride were seen, and together, in England; and that some +voyager across the sea had found them living together, husband and wife, +on the other side of the Atlantic. But the elder brother became a moody +and reserved man, never married, and left the inheritance to the children +of a third brother, who then became the representative of the family in +England; and the better authenticated story was that the second brother +had really been slain, and that the young lady (for all the parties may +have been Catholic) had gone to the Continent and taken the veil there. +Such was the family history as known or surmised in England, and in the +neighborhood of the manor-house, where the Bloody Footstep still remained +on the threshold; and the posterity of the third brother still held the +estate, and perhaps were claimants of an ancient baronage, long in +abeyance. + +Now, on the other side of the Atlantic, the second brother and the young +lady had really been married, and became the parents of a posterity, +still extant, of which the Middleton of the romance is the surviving +male. Perhaps he had changed his name, being so much tortured with the +evil and wrong that had sprung up in his family, so remorseful, so +outraged, that he wished to disconnect himself with all the past, and +begin life quite anew in a new world. But both he and his wife, though +happy in one another, had been remorsefully and sadly so; and, with such +feelings, they had never again communicated with their respective +families, nor had given their children the means of doing so. There must, +I think, have been something nearly approaching to guilt on the second +brother's part, and the bride should have broken a solemnly plighted +troth to the elder brother, breaking away from him when almost his wife. +The elder brother had been known to have been wounded at the time of the +second brother's disappearance; and it had been the surmise that he had +received this hurt in the personal conflict in which the latter was +slain. But in truth the second brother had stabbed him in the emergency +of being discovered in the act of escaping with the bride; and this was +what weighed upon his conscience throughout life in America. The American +family had prolonged itself through various fortunes, and all the ups and +downs incident to our institutions, until the present day. They had some +old family documents, which had been rather carelessly kept; but the +present representative, being an educated man, had looked over them, and +found one which interested him strongly. It was--what was it?--perhaps a +copy of a letter written by his ancestor on his death-bed, telling his +real name, and relating the above incidents. These incidents had come +down in a vague, wild way, traditionally, in the American family, forming +a wondrous and incredible legend, which Middleton had often laughed at, +yet been greatly interested in; and the discovery of this document seemed +to give a certain aspect of veracity and reality to the tradition. +Perhaps, however, the document only related to the change of name, and +made reference to certain evidences by which, if any descendant of the +family should deem it expedient, he might prove his hereditary identity. +The legend must be accounted for by having been gathered from the talk of +the first ancestor and his wife. There must be in existence, in the early +records of the colony, an authenticated statement of this change of name, +and satisfactory proofs that the American family, long known as +Middleton, were really a branch of the English family of Eldredge, or +whatever. And in the legend, though not in the written document, there +must be an account of a certain magnificent, almost palatial residence, +which Middleton shall presume to be the ancestral home; and in this +palace there shall be said to be a certain secret chamber, or receptacle, +where is reposited a document that shall complete the evidence of the +genealogical descent. + +Middleton is still a young man, but already a distinguished one in his +own country; he has entered early into politics, been sent to Congress, +but having met with some disappointments in his ambitious hopes, and +being disgusted with the fierceness of political contests in our country, +he has come abroad for recreation and rest. His imagination has dwelt +much, in his boyhood, on the legendary story of his family; and the +discovery of the document has revived these dreams. He determines to +search out the family mansion; and thus he arrives, bringing half of a +story, being the only part known in America, to join it on to the other +half, which is the only part known in England. In an introduction I must +do the best I can to state his side of the matter to the reader, he +having communicated it to me in a friendly way, at the Consulate; as many +people have communicated quite as wild pretensions to English +genealogies. + +He comes to the midland counties of England, where he conceives his +claims to lie, and seeks for his ancestral home; but there are +difficulties in the way of finding it, the estates having passed into the +female line, though still remaining in the blood. By and by, however, he +comes to an old town where there is one of the charitable institutions +bearing the name of his family, by whose beneficence it had indeed been +founded, in Queen Elizabeth's time. He of course becomes interested in +this Hospital; he finds it still going on, precisely as it did in the old +days; and all the character and life of the establishment must be +picturesquely described. Here he gets acquainted with an old man, an +inmate of the Hospital, who (if the uncontrollable fatality of the story +will permit) must have an active influence on the ensuing events. I +suppose him to have been an American, but to have fled his country and +taken refuge in England; he shall have been a man of the Nicholas Biddle +stamp, a mighty speculator, the ruin of whose schemes had crushed +hundreds of people, and Middleton's father among the rest. Here he had +quitted the activity of his mind, as well as he could, becoming a local +antiquary, etc., and he has made himself acquainted with the family +history of the Eldredges, knowing more about it than the members of the +family themselves do. He had known in America (from Middleton's father, +who was his friend) the legends preserved in this branch of the family, +and perhaps had been struck by the way in which they fit into the English +legends; at any rate, this strikes him when Middleton tells him his story +and shows him the document respecting the change of name. After various +conversations together (in which, however, the old man keeps the secret +of his own identity, and indeed acts as mysteriously as possible), they +go together to visit the ancestral mansion. Perhaps it should not be in +their first visit that the cabinet, representing the stately mansion, +shall be seen. But the Bloody Footstep may; which shall interest +Middleton much, both because Hammond has told him the English tradition +respecting it, and because too the legends of the American family made +some obscure allusions to his ancestor having left blood--a bloody +footstep--on the ancestral threshold. This is the point to which the +story has now been sketched out. Middleton finds a commonplace old +English country gentleman in possession of the estate, where his +forefathers have lived in peace for many generations; but there must be +circumstances contrived which shall cause Middleton's conduct to be +attended by no end of turmoil and trouble. The old Hospitaller, I +suppose, must be the malicious agent in this; and his malice must be +motived in some satisfactory way. The more serious question, what shall +be the nature of this tragic trouble, and how can it be brought about? + +_May 11th, Tuesday_.--How much better would it have been if this secret, +which seemed so golden, had remained in the obscurity in which two +hundred years had buried it! That deep, old, grass-grown grave being +opened, out from it streamed into the sunshine the old fatalities, the +old crimes, the old misfortunes, the sorrows, that seemed to have +departed from the family forever. But it was too late now to close it up; +he must follow out the thread that led him on,--the thread of fate, if +you choose to call it so; but rather the impulse of an evil will, a +stubborn self-interest, a desire for certain objects of ambition which +were preferred to what yet were recognized as real goods. Thus reasoned, +thus raved, Eldredge, as he considered the things that he had done, and +still intended to do; nor did these perceptions make the slightest +difference in his plans, nor in the activity with which he set about +their performance. For this purpose he sent for his lawyer, and consulted +him on the feasibility of the design which he had already communicated to +him respecting Middleton. But the man of law shook his head, and, though +deferentially, declined to have any active concern with the matter that +threatened to lead him beyond the bounds which he allowed himself, into a +seductive but perilous region. + +"My dear sir," said he, with some earnestness, "you had much better +content yourself with such assistance as I can professionally and +consistently give you. Believe [me], I am willing to do a lawyer's +utmost, and to do more would be as unsafe for the client as for the legal +adviser." + +Thus left without an agent and an instrument, this unfortunate man had to +meditate on what means he would use to gain his ends through his own +unassisted efforts. In the struggle with himself through which he had +passed, he had exhausted pretty much all the feelings that he had to +bestow on this matter; and now he was ready to take hold of almost any +temptation that might present itself, so long as it showed a good +prospect of success and a plausible chance of impunity. While he was thus +musing, he heard a female voice chanting some song, like a bird's among +the pleasant foliage of the trees, and soon he saw at the end of a +wood-walk Alice, with her basket on her arm, passing on toward the +village. She looked towards him as she passed, but made no pause nor yet +hastened her steps, not seeming to think it worth her while to be +influenced by him. He hurried forward and overtook her. + +So there was this poor old gentleman, his comfort utterly overthrown, +decking his white hair and wrinkled brow with the semblance of a coronet, +and only hoping that the reality might crown and bless him before he was +laid in the ancestral tomb. It was a real calamity; though by no means +the greatest that had been fished up out of the pit of domestic discord +that had been opened anew by the advent of the American; and by the use +which had been made of it by the cantankerous old man of the Hospital. +Middleton, as he looked at these evil consequences, sometimes regretted +that he had not listened to those forebodings which had warned him back +on the eve of his enterprise; yet such was the strange entanglement and +interest which had wound about him, that often he rejoiced that for once +he was engaged in something that absorbed him fully, and the zeal for the +development of which made him careless for the result in respect to its +good or evil, but only desirous that it show itself. As for Alice, she +seemed to skim lightly through all these matters, whether as a spirit of +good or ill he could not satisfactorily judge. He could not think her +wicked; yet her actions seemed unaccountable on the plea that she was +otherwise. It was another characteristic thread in the wild web of +madness that had spun itself about all the prominent characters of our +story. And when Middleton thought of these things, he felt as if it might +be his duty (supposing he had the power) to shovel the earth again into +the pit that he had been the means of opening; but also felt that, +whether duty or not, he would never perform it. + +For, you see, on the American's arrival he had found the estate in the +hands of one of the descendants; but some disclosures consequent on his +arrival had thrown it into the hands of another; or, at all events, had +seemed to make it apparent that justice required that it should be so +disposed of. No sooner was the discovery made than the possessor put on a +coronet; the new heir had commenced legal proceedings; the sons of the +respective branches had come to blows and blood; and the devil knows what +other devilish consequences had ensued. Besides this, there was much +falling in love at cross-purposes, and a general animosity of everybody +against everybody else, in proportion to the closeness of the natural +ties and their obligation to love one another. + +The moral, if any moral were to be gathered from these petty and wretched +circumstances, was, "Let the past alone: do not seek to renew it; press +on to higher and better things,--at all events, to other things; and be +assured that the right way can never be that which leads you back to the +identical shapes that you long ago left behind. Onward, onward, onward!" + +"What have you to do here?" said Alice. "Your lot is in another land. +You have seen the birthplace of your forefathers, and have gratified your +natural yearning for it; now return, and cast in your lot with your own +people, let it be what it will. I fully believe that it is such a lot as +the world has never yet seen, and that the faults, the weaknesses, the +errors, of your countrymen will vanish away like morning mists before the +rising sun. You can do nothing better than to go back." + +"This is strange advice, Alice," said Middleton, gazing at her and +smiling. "Go back, with such a fair prospect before me; that were strange +indeed! It is enough to keep me here, that here only I shall see +you,--enough to make me rejoice to have come, that I have found you +here." + +"Do not speak in this foolish way," cried Alice, panting. "I am giving +you the best advice, and speaking in the wisest way I am capable +of,--speaking on good grounds too,--and you turn me aside with a silly +compliment. I tell you that this is no comedy in which we are performers, +but a deep, sad tragedy; and that it depends most upon you whether or no +it shall be pressed to a catastrophe. Think well of it." + +"I have thought, Alice," responded the young man, "and I must let things +take their course; if, indeed, it depends at all upon me, which I see no +present reason to suppose. Yet I wish you would explain to me what you +mean." + +To take up the story from the point where we left it: by the aid of the +American's revelations, some light is thrown upon points of family +history, which induce the English possessor of the estate to suppose that +the time has come for asserting his claim to a title which has long been +in abeyance. He therefore sets about it, and engages in great expenses, +besides contracting the enmity of many persons, with whose interests he +interferes. A further complication is brought about by the secret +interference of the old Hospitaller, and Alice goes singing and dancing +through the whole, in a way that makes her seem like a beautiful devil, +though finally it will be recognized that she is an angel of light. +Middleton, half bewildered, can scarcely tell how much of this is due to +his own agency; how much is independent of him and would have happened +had he stayed on his own side of the water. By and by a further and +unexpected development presents the singular fact that he himself is the +heir to whatever claims there are, whether of property or rank,--all +centring in him as the representative of the eldest brother. On this +discovery there ensues a tragedy in the death of the present possessor of +the estate, who has staked everything upon the issue; and Middleton, +standing amid the ruin and desolation of which he has been the innocent +cause, resigns all the claims which he might now assert, and retires, arm +in arm with Alice, who has encouraged him to take this course, and to act +up to his character. The estate takes a passage into the female line, and +the old name becomes extinct, nor does Middleton seek to continue it by +resuming it in place of the one long ago assumed by his ancestor. Thus he +and his wife become the Adam and Eve of a new epoch, and the fitting +missionaries of a new social faith, of which there must be continual +hints through the book. + +A knot of characters may be introduced as gathering around Middleton, +comprising expatriated Americans of all sorts: the wandering printer who +came to me so often at the Consulate, who said he was a native of +Philadelphia, and could not go home in the thirty years that he had been +trying to do so, for lack of the money to pay his passage; the large +banker; the consul of Leeds; the woman asserting her claims to half +Liverpool; the gifted literary lady, maddened by Shakespeare, &c., &c. +The Yankee who had been driven insane by the Queen's notice, slight as it +was, of the photographs of his two children which he had sent her. I have +not yet struck the true key-note of this Romance, and until I do, and +unless I do, I shall write nothing but tediousness and nonsense. I do not +wish it to be a picture of life, but a Romance, grim, grotesque, quaint, +of which the Hospital might be the fitting scene. It might have so much +of the hues of life that the reader should sometimes think it was +intended for a picture, yet the atmosphere should be such as to excuse +all wildness. In the Introduction, I might disclaim all intention to draw +a real picture, but say that the continual meetings I had with Americans +bent on such errands had suggested this wild story. The descriptions of +scenery, &c., and of the Hospital, might be correct, but there should be +a tinge of the grotesque given to all the characters and events. The +tragic and the gentler pathetic need not be excluded by the tone and +treatment. If I could but write one central scene in this vein, all the +rest of the Romance would readily arrange itself around that nucleus. The +begging-girl would be another American character; the actress too; the +caravan people. It must be humorous work, or nothing. + + + + +III. + +_May 12th, Wednesday_.--Middleton found his abode here becoming daily +more interesting; and he sometimes thought that it was the sympathies +with the place and people, buried under the supergrowth of so many ages, +but now coming forth with the life and vigor of a fountain, that, long +hidden beneath earth and ruins, gushes out singing into the sunshine, as +soon as these are removed. He wandered about the neighborhood with +insatiable interest; sometimes, and often, lying on a hill-side and +gazing at the gray tower of the church; sometimes coming into the village +clustered round that same church, and looking at the old timber and +plaster houses, the same, except that the thatch had probably been often +renewed, that they used to be in his ancestor's days. In those old +cottages still dwelt the families, the ----s, the Prices, the Hopnorts, +the Copleys, that had dwelt there when America was a scattered progeny of +infant colonies; and in the churchyard were the graves of all the +generations since--including the dust of those who had seen his +ancestor's face before his departure. + +The graves, outside the church walls indeed, bore no marks of this +antiquity; for it seems not to have been an early practice in England to +put stones over such graves; and where it has been done, the climate +causes the inscriptions soon to become obliterated and unintelligible. +But, within the church, there were rich words of the personages and times +with whom Middleton's musings held so much converse. + +But one of his greatest employments and pastimes was to ramble through +the grounds of Smithell's, making himself as well acquainted with its +wood paths, its glens, its woods, its venerable trees, as if he had been +bred up there from infancy. Some of those old oaks his ancestor might +have been acquainted with, while they were already sturdy and well-grown +trees; might have climbed them in boyhood; might have mused beneath them +as a lover; might have flung himself at full length on the turf beneath +them, in the bitter anguish that must have preceded his departure forever +from the home of his forefathers. In order to secure an uninterrupted +enjoyment of his rambles here, Middleton had secured the good-will of the +game-keepers and other underlings whom he was likely to meet about the +grounds, by giving them a shilling or a half-crown; and he was now free +to wander where he would, with only the advice rather than the caution, +to keep out of the way of their old master,--for there might be trouble, +if he should meet a stranger on the grounds, in any of his tantrums. But, +in fact, Mr. Eldredge was not much in the habit of walking about the +grounds; and there were hours of every day, during which it was +altogether improbable that he would have emerged from his own apartments +in the manor-house. These were the hours, therefore, when Middleton most +frequented the estate; although, to say the truth, he would gladly have +so timed his visits as to meet and form an acquaintance with the lonely +lord of this beautiful property, his own kinsman, though with so many +ages of dark oblivion between. For Middleton had not that feeling of +infinite distance in the relationship, which he would have had if his +branch of the family had continued in England, and had not intermarried +with the other branch, through such a long waste of years; he rather felt +as if he were the original emigrant who, long resident on a foreign +shore, had now returned, with a heart brimful of tenderness, to revisit +the scenes of his youth, and renew his tender relations with those who +shared his own blood. + +There was not, however, much in what he heard of the character of the +present possessor of the estate--or indeed in the strong family +characteristic that had become hereditary--to encourage him to attempt +any advances. It is very probable that the religion of Mr. Eldredge, as a +Catholic, may have excited a prejudice against him, as it certainly had +insulated the family, in a great degree, from the sympathies of the +neighborhood. Mr. Eldredge, moreover, had resided long on the Continent; +long in Italy; and had come back with habits that little accorded with +those of the gentry of the neighborhood; so that, in fact, he was almost +as much of a stranger, and perhaps quite as little of a real Englishman, +as Middleton himself. Be that as it might, Middleton, when he sought to +learn something about him, heard the strangest stories of his habits of +life, of his temper, and of his employments, from the people with whom he +conversed. The old legend, turning upon the monomania of the family, was +revived in full force in reference to this poor gentleman; and many a +time Middleton's interlocutors shook their wise heads, saying with a +knowing look and under their breath that the old gentleman was looking +for the track of the Bloody Footstep. They fabled--or said, for it might +not have been a false story--that every descendant of this house had a +certain portion of his life, during which he sought the track of that +footstep which was left on the threshold of the mansion; that he sought +it far and wide, over every foot of the estate; not only on the estate, +but throughout the neighborhood; not only in the neighborhood but all +over England; not only throughout England but all about the world. It was +the belief of the neighborhood--at least of some old men and women in +it--that the long period of Mr. Eldredge's absence from England had been +spent in the search for some trace of those departing footsteps that had +never returned. It is very possible--probable, indeed--that there may +have been some ground for this remarkable legend; not that it is to be +credited that the family of Eldredge, being reckoned among sane men, +would seriously have sought, years and generations after the fact, for +the first track of those bloody footsteps which the first rain of drippy +England must have washed away; to say nothing of the leaves that had +fallen and the growth and decay of so many seasons, that covered all +traces of them since. But nothing is more probable than that the +continual recurrence to the family genealogy, which had been necessitated +by the matter of the dormant peerage, had caused the Eldredges, from +father to son, to keep alive an interest in that ancestor who had +disappeared, and who had been supposed to carry some of the most +important family papers with him. But yet it gave Middleton a strange +thrill of pleasure, that had something fearful in it, to think that all +through these ages he had been waited for, sought for, anxiously +expected, as it were; it seemed as if the very ghosts of his kindred, a +long shadowy line, held forth their dim arms to welcome him; a line +stretching back to the ghosts of those who had flourished in the old, old +times; the doubletted and beruffled knightly shades of Queen Elizabeth's +time; a long line, stretching from the mediaeval ages, and their +duskiness, downward, downward, with only one vacant space, that of him +who had left the Bloody Footstep. There was an inexpressible pleasure +(airy and evanescent, gone in a moment if he dwelt upon it too +thoughtfully, but very sweet) to Middleton's imagination, in this idea. +When he reflected, however, that his revelations, if they had any effect +at all, might serve only to quench the hopes of these long expectants, it +of course made him hesitate to declare himself. + +One afternoon, when he was in the midst of musings such as this, he saw +at a distance through the park, in the direction of the manor-house, a +person who seemed to be walking slowly and seeking for something upon the +ground. He was a long way off when Middleton first perceived him; and +there were two clumps of trees and underbrush, with interspersed tracts +of sunny lawn, between them. The person, whoever he was, kept on, and +plunged into the first clump of shrubbery, still keeping his eyes on the +ground, as if intensely searching for something. When he emerged from the +concealment of the first clump of shrubbery, Middleton saw that he was a +tall, thin person, in a dark dress; and this was the chief observation +that the distance enabled him to make, as the figure kept slowly onward, +in a somewhat wavering line, and plunged into the second clump of +shrubbery. From that, too, he emerged; and soon appeared to be a thin +elderly figure, of a dark man with gray hair, bent, as it seemed to +Middleton, with infirmity, for his figure still stooped even in the +intervals when he did not appear to be tracking the ground. But Middleton +could not but be surprised at the singular appearance the figure had of +setting its foot, at every step, just where a previous footstep had been +made, as if he wanted to measure his whole pathway in the track of +somebody who had recently gone over the ground in advance of him. +Middleton was sitting at the foot of an oak; and he began to feel some +awkwardness in the consideration of what he would do if Mr. Eldredge--for +he could not doubt that it was he--were to be led just to this spot, in +pursuit of his singular occupation. And even so it proved. + +Middleton could not feel it manly to fly and hide himself, like a guilty +thing; and indeed the hospitality of the English country gentleman in +many cases gives the neighborhood and the stranger a certain degree of +freedom in the use of the broad expanse of ground in which they and their +forefathers have loved to sequester their residences. The figure kept on, +showing more and more distinctly the tall, meagre, not unvenerable +features of a gentleman in the decline of life, apparently in ill-health; +with a dark face, that might once have been full of energy, but now +seemed enfeebled by time, passion, and perhaps sorrow. But it was strange +to see the earnestness with which he looked on the ground, and the +accuracy with which he at last set his foot, apparently adjusting it +exactly to some footprint before him; and Middleton doubted not that, +having studied and re-studied the family records and the judicial +examinations which described exactly the track that was seen the day +after the memorable disappearance of his ancestor, Mr. Eldredge was now, +in some freak, or for some purpose best known to himself, practically +following it out. And follow it out he did, until at last he lifted up +his eyes, muttering to himself: "At this point the footsteps wholly +disappear." + +Lifting his eyes, as we have said, while thus regretfully and +despairingly muttering these words, he saw Middleton against the oak, +within three paces of him. + +_May 13th, Thursday_.--Mr. Eldredge (for it was he) first kept his eyes +fixed full on Middleton's face, with an expression as if he saw him not; +but gradually--slowly, at first--he seemed to become aware of his +presence; then, with a sudden flush, he took in the idea that he was +encountered by a stranger in his secret mood. A flush of anger or shame, +perhaps both, reddened over his face; his eyes gleamed; and he spoke +hastily and roughly. + +"Who are you?" he said. "How come you here? I allow no intruders in my +park. Begone, fellow!" + +"Really, sir, I did not mean to intrude upon you," said Middleton +blandly. "I am aware that I owe you an apology; but the beauties of your +park must plead my excuse; and the constant kindness of [the] English +gentleman, which admits a stranger to the privilege of enjoying so much +of the beauty in which he himself dwells as the stranger's taste permits +him to enjoy." + +"An artist, perhaps," said Mr. Eldredge, somewhat less uncourteously. "I +am told that they love to come here and sketch those old oaks and their +vistas, and the old mansion yonder. But you are an intrusive set, you +artists, and think that a pencil and a sheet of paper may be your +passport anywhere. You are mistaken, sir. My park is not open to +strangers." + +"I am sorry, then, to have intruded upon you," said Middleton, still in +good humor; for in truth he felt a sort of kindness, a sentiment, +ridiculous as it may appear, of kindred towards the old gentleman, and +besides was not unwilling in any way to prolong a conversation in which +he found a singular interest. "I am sorry, especially as I have not even +the excuse you kindly suggest for me. I am not an artist, only an +American, who have strayed hither to enjoy this gentle, cultivated, tamed +nature which I find in English parks, so contrasting with the wild, +rugged nature of my native land. I beg your pardon, and will retire." + +"An American," repeated Mr. Eldredge, looking curiously at him. "Ah, you +are wild men in that country, I suppose, and cannot conceive that an +English gentleman encloses his grounds--or that his ancestors have done +so before him--for his own pleasure and convenience, and does not +calculate on having it infringed upon by everybody, like your own +forests, as you say. It is a curious country, that of yours; and in Italy +I have seen curious people from it." + +"True, sir," said Middleton, smiling. "We send queer specimens abroad; +but Englishmen should consider that we spring from them, and that we +present after all only a picture of their own characteristics, a little +varied by climate and in situation." + +Mr. Eldredge looked at him with a certain kind of interest, and it seemed +to Middleton that he was not unwilling to continue the conversation, if a +fair way to do so could only be offered to him. A secluded man often +grasps at any opportunity of communicating with his kind, when it is +casually offered to him, and for the nonce is surprisingly familiar, +running out towards his chance-companion with the gush of a dammed-up +torrent, suddenly unlocked. As Middleton made a motion to retire, he put +out his hand with an air of authority to restrain him. + +"Stay," said he. "Now that you are here, the mischief is done, and you +cannot repair it by hastening away. You have interrupted me in my mood of +thought, and must pay the penalty by suggesting other thoughts. I am a +lonely man here, having spent most of my life abroad, and am separated +from my neighbors by various circumstances. You seem to be an intelligent +man. I should like to ask you a few questions about your country." + +He looked at Middleton as he spoke, and seemed to be considering in what +rank of life he should place him; his dress being such as suited a humble +rank. He seemed not to have come to any very certain decision on this +point. + +"I remember," said he, "you have no distinctions of rank in your country; +a convenient thing enough, in some respects. When there are no gentlemen, +all are gentlemen. So let it be. You speak of being Englishmen; and it +has often occurred to me that Englishmen have left this country and been +much missed and sought after, who might perhaps be sought there +successfully." + +"It is certainly so, Mr. Eldredge," said Middleton, lifting his eyes to +his face as he spoke, and then turning them aside. "Many footsteps, the +track of which is lost in England, might be found reappearing on the +other side of the Atlantic; ay, though it be hundreds of years since the +track was lost here." + +Middleton, though he had refrained from looking full at Mr. Eldredge as +he spoke, was conscious that he gave a great start; and he remained +silent for a moment or two, and when he spoke there was the tremor in his +voice of a nerve that had been struck and still vibrated. + +"That is a singular idea of yours," he at length said; "not singular in +itself, but strangely coincident with something that happened to be +occupying my mind. Have you ever heard any such instances as you speak +of?" + +"Yes," replied Middleton. "I have had pointed out to me the rightful heir +to a Scottish earldom, in the person of an American farmer, in his +shirt-sleeves. There are many Americans who believe themselves to hold +similar claims. And I have known one family, at least, who had in their +possession, and had had for two centuries, a secret that might have been +worth wealth and honors if known in England. Indeed, being kindred as we +are, it cannot but be the case." + +Mr. Eldredge appeared to be much struck by these last words, and gazed +wistfully, almost wildly, at Middleton, as if debating with himself +whether to say more. He made a step or two aside; then returned abruptly, +and spoke. + +"Can you tell me the name of the family in which this secret was kept?" +said he; "and the nature of the secret?" + +"The nature of the secret," said Middleton, smiling, "was not likely to +be extended to any one out of the family. The name borne by the family +was Middleton. There is no member of it, so far as I am aware, at this +moment remaining in America." + +"And has the secret died with them?" asked Mr. Eldredge. + +"They communicated it to none," said Middleton. + +"It is a pity! It was a villainous wrong," said Mr. Eldredge. "And so, it +may be, some ancient line, in the old country, is defrauded of its rights +for want of what might have been obtained from this Yankee, whose +democracy has demoralized them to the perception of what is due to the +antiquity of descent, and of the bounden duty that there is, in all +ranks, to keep up the honor of a family that has had potence enough to +preserve itself in distinction for a thousand years." + +"Yes," said Middleton, quietly, "we have sympathy with what is strong and +vivacious to-day; none with what was so yesterday." + +The remark seemed not to please Mr. Eldredge; he frowned, and muttered +something to himself; but recovering himself, addressed Middleton with +more courtesy than at the commencement of their interview; and, with this +graciousness, his face and manner grew very agreeable, almost +fascinating: he [was] still haughty, however. + +"Well, sir," said he, "I am not sorry to have met you. I am a solitary +man, as I have said, and a little communication with a stranger is a +refreshment, which I enjoy seldom enough to be sensible of it. Pray, are +you staying hereabouts?" + +Middleton signified to him that he might probably spend some little time +in the village. + +"Then, during your stay," said Mr. Eldredge, "make free use of the walks +in these grounds; and though it is not probable that you will meet me in +them again, you need apprehend no second questioning of your right to be +here. My house has many points of curiosity that may be of interest to a +stranger from a new country. Perhaps you have heard of some of them." + +"I have heard some wild legend about a Bloody Footstep," answered +Middleton; "indeed, I think I remember hearing something about it in my +own country; and having a fanciful sort of interest in such things, I +took advantage of the hospitable custom which opens the doors of curious +old houses to strangers, to go to see it. It seemed to me, I confess, +only a natural stain in the old stone that forms the doorstep." + +"There, sir," said Mr. Eldredge, "let me say that you came to a very +foolish conclusion; and so, good-by, sir." + +And without further ceremony, he cast an angry glance at Middleton, who +perceived that the old gentleman reckoned the Bloody Footstep among his +ancestral honors, and would probably have parted with his claim to the +peerage almost as soon as have given up the legend. + +Present aspect of the story: Middleton on his arrival becomes acquainted +with the old Hospitaller, and is familiarized at the Hospital. He pays a +visit in his company to the manor-house, but merely glimpses at its +remarkable things, at this visit, among others at the old cabinet, which +does not, at first view, strike him very strongly. But, on musing about +his visit afterwards, he finds the recollection of the cabinet strangely +identifying itself with his previous imaginary picture of the palatial +mansion; so that at last he begins to conceive the mistake he has made. +At this first [visit], he does not have a personal interview with the +possessor of the estate; but, as the Hospitaller and himself go from room +to room, he finds that the owner is preceding them, shyly flitting like a +ghost, so as to avoid them. Then there is a chapter about the character +of the Eldredge of the day, a Catholic, a morbid, shy man, representing +all the peculiarities of an old family, and generally thought to be +insane. And then comes the interview between him and Middleton, where the +latter excites such an interest that he dwells upon the old man's mind, +and the latter probably takes pains to obtain further intercourse with +him, and perhaps invites him to dinner, and [to] spend a night in his +house. If so, this second meeting must lead to the examination of the +cabinet, and the discovery of some family documents in it. Perhaps the +cabinet may be in Middleton's sleeping-chamber, and he examines it by +himself, before going to bed; and finds out a secret which will perplex +him how to deal with it. + +_May 14th, Friday_.--We have spoken several times already of a young +girl, who was seen at this period about the little antiquated village of +Smithells; a girl in manners and in aspect unlike those of the cottages +amid which she dwelt. Middleton had now so often met her, and in solitary +places, that an acquaintance had inevitably established itself between +them. He had ascertained that she had lodgings at a farm-house near by, +and that she was connected in some way with the old Hospitaller, whose +acquaintance had proved of such interest to him; but more than this he +could not learn either from her or others. But he was greatly attracted +and interested by the free spirit and fearlessness of this young woman; +nor could he conceive where, in staid and formal England, she had grown +up to be such as she was, so without manner, so without art, yet so +capable of doing and thinking for herself. She had no reserve, +apparently, yet never seemed to sin against decorum; it never appeared to +restrain her that anything she might wish to do was contrary to custom; +she had nothing of what could be called shyness in her intercourse with +him; and yet he was conscious of an unapproachableness in Alice. Often, +in the old man's presence, she mingled in the conversation that went on +between him and Middleton, and with an acuteness that betokened a sphere +of thought much beyond what could be customary with young English +maidens; and Middleton was often reminded of the theories of those in our +own country, who believe that the amelioration of society depends greatly +on the part that women shall hereafter take, according to their +individual capacity, in all the various pursuits of life. These deeper +thoughts, these higher qualities, surprised him as they showed +themselves, whenever occasion called them forth, under the light, gay, +and frivolous exterior which she had at first seemed to present. +Middleton often amused himself with surmises in what rank of life Alice +could have been bred, being so free of all conventional rule, yet so nice +and delicate in her perception of the true proprieties that she never +shocked him. + +One morning, when they had met in one of Middleton's rambles about the +neighborhood, they began to talk of America; and Middleton described to +Alice the stir that was being made in behalf of women's rights; and he +said that whatever cause was generous and disinterested always, in that +country, derived much of its power from the sympathy of women, and that +the advocates of every such cause were in favor of yielding the whole +field of human effort to be shared with women. + +"I have been surprised," said he, "in the little I have seen and heard of +English women, to discover what a difference there is between them and my +own countrywomen." + +"I have heard," said Alice, with a smile, "that your countrywomen are a +far more delicate and fragile race than Englishwomen; pale, feeble +hot-house plants, unfit for the wear and tear of life, without energy of +character, or any slightest degree of physical strength to base it upon. +If, now, you had these large-framed Englishwomen, you might, I should +imagine, with better hopes, set about changing the system of society, so +as to allow them to struggle in the strife of politics, or any other +strife, hand to hand, or side by side with men." + +"If any countryman of mine has said this of our women," exclaimed +Middleton, indignantly, "he is a slanderous villain, unworthy to have +been borne by an American mother; if an Englishman has said it--as I know +many of them have and do--let it pass as one of the many prejudices only +half believed, with which they strive to console themselves for the +inevitable sense that the American race is destined to higher purposes +than their own. But pardon me; I forgot that I was speaking to an +Englishwoman, for indeed you do not remind me of them. But, I assure you, +the world has not seen such women as make up, I had almost said the mass +of womanhood in my own country; slight in aspect, slender in frame, as +you suggest, but yet capable of bringing forth stalwart men; they +themselves being of inexhaustible courage, patience, energy; soft and +tender, deep of heart, but high of purpose. Gentle, refined, but bold in +every good cause." + +"Oh, yea have said quite enough," replied Alice, who had seemed ready to +laugh outright, during this encomium. "I think I see one of these +paragons now, in a Bloomer, I think you call it, swaggering along with a +Bowie knife at her girdle, smoking a cigar, no doubt, and tippling +sherry-cobblers and mint-juleps. It must be a pleasant life." + +"I should think you, at least, might form a more just idea of what women +become," said Middleton, considerably piqued, "in a country where the +rules of conventionalism are somewhat relaxed; where woman, whatever you +may think, is far more profoundly educated than in England, where a few +ill-taught accomplishments, a little geography, a catechism of science, +make up the sum, under the superintendence of a governess; the mind being +kept entirely inert as to any capacity for thought. They are cowards, +except within certain rules and forms; they spend a life of old +proprieties, and die, and if their souls do not die with them, it is +Heaven's mercy." + +Alice did not appear in the least moved to anger, though considerably to +mirth, by this description of the character of English females. She +laughed as she replied, "I see there is little danger of your leaving +your heart in England." She added more seriously, "And permit me to say, +I trust, Mr. Middleton, that you remain as much American in other +respects as in your preference of your own race of women. The American +who comes hither and persuades himself that he is one with Englishmen, it +seems to me, makes a great mistake; at least, if he is correct in such an +idea he is not worthy of his own country, and the high development that +awaits it. There is much that is seductive in our life, but I think it is +not upon the higher impulses of our nature that such seductions act. I +should think ill of the American who, for any causes of ambition,--any +hope of wealth or rank,--or even for the sake of any of those old, +delightful ideas of the past, the associations of ancestry, the +loveliness of an age-long home,--the old poetry and romance that haunt +these ancient villages and estates of England,--would give up the chance +of acting upon the unmoulded future of America." + +"And you, an Englishwoman, speak thus!" exclaimed Middleton. "You perhaps +speak truly; and it may be that your words go to a point where they are +especially applicable at this moment. But where have you learned these +ideas? And how is it that you know how to awake these sympathies, that +have slept perhaps too long?" + +"Think only if what I have said be truth," replied Alice. "It is no +matter who or what I am that speak it." + +"Do you speak," asked Middleton, from a sudden impulse, "with any secret +knowledge affecting a matter now in my mind?" + +Alice shook her head, as she turned away; but Middleton could not +determine whether the gesture was meant as a negative to his question, or +merely as declining to answer it. She left him; and he found himself +strangely disturbed with thoughts of his own country, of the life that he +ought to be leading there, the struggles in which he ought to be taking +part; and, with these motives in his impressible mind, the motives that +had hitherto kept him in England seemed unworthy to influence him. + +_May 15th, Saturday_.--It was not long after Middleton's meeting with Mr. +Eldredge in the park of Smithells, that he received--what it is precisely +the most common thing to receive--an invitation to dine at the +manor-house and spend the night. The note was written with much +appearance of cordiality, as well as in a respectful style; and Middleton +could not but perceive that Mr. Eldredge must have been making some +inquiries as to his social status, in order to feel him justified in +putting him on this footing of equality. He had no hesitation in +accepting the invitation, and on the appointed day was received in the +old house of his forefathers as a guest. The owner met him, not quite on +the frank and friendly footing expressed in his note, but still with a +perfect and polished courtesy, which however could not hide from the +sensitive Middleton a certain coldness, a something that seemed to him +Italian rather than English; a symbol of a condition of things between +them, undecided, suspicious, doubtful very likely. Middleton's own manner +corresponded to that of his host, and they made few advances towards more +intimate acquaintance. Middleton was however recompensed for his host's +unapproachableness by the society of his daughter, a young lady born +indeed in Italy, but who had been educated in a Catholic family in +England; so that here was another relation--the first female one--to whom +he had been introduced. She was a quiet, shy, undemonstrative young +woman, with a fine bloom and other charms which she kept as much in the +background as possible, with maiden reserve. (There is a Catholic priest +at table.) + +Mr. Eldredge talked chiefly, during dinner, of art, with which his long +residence in Italy had made him thoroughly acquainted, and for which he +seemed to have a genuine taste and enjoyment. It was a subject on which +Middleton knew little; but he felt the interest in it which appears to be +not uncharacteristic of Americans, among the earliest of their +developments of cultivation; nor had he failed to use such few +opportunities as the English public or private galleries offered him to +acquire the rudiments of a taste. He was surprised at the depth of some +of Mr. Eldredge's remarks on the topics thus brought up, and at the +sensibility which appeared to be disclosed by his delicate appreciation +of some of the excellences of those great masters who wrote their epics, +their tender sonnets, or their simple ballads, upon canvas; and Middleton +conceived a respect for him which he had not hitherto felt, and which +possibly Mr. Eldredge did not quite deserve. Taste seems to be a +department of moral sense; and yet it is so little identical with it, and +so little implies conscience, that some of the worst men in the world +have been the most refined. + +After Miss Eldredge had retired, the host appeared to desire to make the +dinner a little more social than it had hitherto been; he called for a +peculiar species of wine from Southern Italy, which he said was the most +delicious production of the grape, and had very seldom, if ever before +been imported pure into England. A delicious perfume came from the +cradled bottle, and bore an ethereal, evanescent testimony to the truth +of what he said: and the taste, though too delicate for wine quaffed in +England, was nevertheless delicious, when minutely dwelt upon. + +"It gives me pleasure to drink your health, Mr. Middleton," said the +host. "We might well meet as friends in England, for I am hardly more an +Englishman than yourself; bred up, as I have been, in Italy, and coming +back hither at my age, unaccustomed to the manners of the country, with +few friends, and insulated from society by a faith which makes most +people regard me as an enemy. I seldom welcome people here, Mr. +Middleton; but you are welcome." + +"I thank you, Mr. Eldredge, and may fairly say that the circumstances to +which you allude make me accept your hospitality with a warmer feeling +than I otherwise might. Strangers, meeting in a strange land, have a sort +of tie in their foreignness to those around them, though there be no +positive relation between themselves." + +"We are friends, then?" said Mr. Eldredge, looking keenly at Middleton, +as if to discover exactly how much was meant by the compact. He +continued, "You know, I suppose, Mr. Middleton, the situation in which I +find myself on returning to my hereditary estate, which has devolved to +me somewhat unexpectedly by the death of a younger man than myself. There +is an old flaw here, as perhaps you have been told, which keeps me out of +a property long kept in the guardianship of the crown, and of a barony, +one of the oldest in England. There is an idea--a tradition--a legend, +founded, however, on evidence of some weight, that there is still in +existence the possibility of rinding the proof which we need, to confirm +our cause." + +"I am most happy to hear it, Mr. Eldredge," said Middleton. + +"But," continued his host, "I am bound to remember and to consider that +for several generations there seems to have been the same idea, and the +same expectation; whereas nothing has ever come of it. Now, among other +suppositions--perhaps wild ones--it has occurred to me that this +testimony, the desirable proof, may exist on your side of the Atlantic; +for it has long enough been sought here in vain." + +"As I said in our meeting in your park, Mr. Eldredge," replied Middleton, +"such a suggestion may very possibly be true; yet let me point out that +the long lapse of years, and the continual melting and dissolving of +family institutions--the consequent scattering of family documents, and +the annihilation of traditions from memory, all conspire against its +probability." + +"And yet, Mr. Middleton," said his host, "when we talked together at our +first singular interview, you made use of an expression--of one +remarkable phrase--which dwelt upon my memory and now recurs to it." + +"And what was that, Mr. Eldredge?" asked Middleton. + +"You spoke," replied his host, "of the Bloody Footstep reappearing on the +threshold of the old palace of S------. Now where, let me ask you, did +you ever hear this strange name, which you then spoke, and which I have +since spoken?" + +"From my father's lips, when a child, in America," responded Middleton. + +"It is very strange," said Mr. Eldredge, in a hasty, dissatisfied tone. +"I do not see my way through this." + +_May 16, Sunday._--Middleton had been put into a chamber in the oldest +part of the house, the furniture of which was of antique splendor, well +befitting to have come down for ages, well befitting the hospitality +shown to noble and even royal guests. It was the same room in which, at +his first visit to the house, Middleton's attention had been drawn to the +cabinet, which he had subsequently remembered as the palatial residence +in which he had harbored so many dreams. It still stood in the chamber, +making the principal object in it, indeed; and when Middleton was left +alone, he contemplated it not without a certain awe, which at the same +time he felt to be ridiculous. He advanced towards it, and stood +contemplating the mimic façade, wondering at the singular fact of this +piece of furniture having been preserved in traditionary history, when so +much had been forgotten,--when even the features and architectural +characteristics of the mansion in which it was merely a piece of +furniture had been forgotten. And, as he gazed at it, he half thought +himself an actor in a fairy portal [tale?]; and would not have been +surprised--at least, he would have taken it with the composure of a +dream--if the mimic portal had unclosed, and a form of pigmy majesty had +appeared within, beckoning him to enter and find the revelation of what +had so long perplexed him. The key of the cabinet was in the lock, and +knowing that it was not now the receptacle of anything in the shape of +family papers, he threw it open; and there appeared the mosaic floor, the +representation of a stately, pillared hall, with the doors on either +side, opening, as would seem, into various apartments. And here should +have stood the visionary figures of his ancestry, waiting to welcome the +descendant of their race, who had so long delayed his coming. After +looking and musing a considerable time,--even till the old clock from the +turret of the house told twelve, he turned away with a sigh, and went to +bed. The wind moaned through the ancestral trees; the old house creaked +as with ghostly footsteps; the curtains of his bed seemed to waver. He +was now at home; yes, he had found his home, and was sheltered at last +under the ancestral roof after all those long, long wanderings,--after +the little log-built hut of the early settlement, after the straight roof +of the American house, after all the many roofs of two hundred years, +here he was at last under the one which he had left, on that fatal night, +when the Bloody Footstep was so mysteriously impressed on the threshold. +As he drew nearer and nearer towards sleep, it seemed more and more to +him as if he were the very individual--the self-same one throughout the +whole--who had done, seen, suffered, all these long toils and +vicissitudes, and were now come back to rest, and found his weariness so +great that there could he no rest. + +Nevertheless, he did sleep; and it may be that his dreams went on, and +grew vivid, and perhaps became truer in proportion to their vividness. +When he awoke he had a perception, an intuition, that he had been +dreaming about the cabinet, which, in his sleeping imagination, had again +assumed the magnitude and proportions of a stately mansion, even as he +had seen it afar from the other side of the Atlantic. Some dim +associations remained lingering behind, the dying shadows of very vivid +ones which had just filled his mind; but as he looked at the cabinet, +there was some idea that still seemed to come so near his consciousness +that, every moment, he felt on the point of grasping it. During the +process of dressing, he still kept his eyes turned involuntarily towards +the cabinet, and at last he approached it, and looked within the mimic +portal, still endeavoring to recollect what it was that he had heard or +dreamed about it,--what half obliterated remembrance from childhood, what +fragmentary last night's dream it was, that thus haunted him. It must +have been some association of one or the other nature that led him to +press his finger on one particular square of the mosaic pavement; and as +he did so, the thin plate of polished marble slipt aside. It disclosed, +indeed, no hollow receptacle, but only another leaf of marble, in the +midst of which appeared to be a key-hole: to this Middleton applied the +little antique key to which we have several times alluded, and found it +fit precisely. The instant it was turned, the whole mimic floor of the +hall rose, by the action of a secret spring, and discovered a shallow +recess beneath. Middleton looked eagerly in, and saw that it contained +documents, with antique seals of wax appended; he took but one glance at +them, and closed the receptacle as it was before. + +Why did he do so? He felt that there would be a meanness and wrong in +inspecting these family papers, coming to the knowledge of them, as he +had, through the opportunities offered by the hospitality of the owner of +the estate; nor, on the other hand, did he feel such confidence in his +host, as to make him willing to trust these papers in his hands, with any +certainty that they would be put to an honorable use. The case was one +demanding consideration, and he put a strong curb upon his impatient +curiosity, conscious that, at all events, his first impulsive feeling was +that he ought not to examine these papers without the presence of his +host or some other authorized witness. Had he exercised any casuistry +about the point, however, he might have argued that these papers, +according to all appearance, dated from a period to which his own +hereditary claims ascended, and to circumstances in which his own +rightful interest was as strong as that of Mr. Eldredge. But he had acted +on his first impulse, closed the secret receptacle, and hastening his +toilet descended from his room; and, it being still too early for +breakfast, resolved to ramble about the immediate vicinity of the house. +As he passed the little chapel, he heard within the voice of the priest +performing mass, and felt how strange was this sign of mediaeval religion +and foreign manners in homely England. + +As the story looks now: Eldredge, bred, and perhaps born, in Italy, and a +Catholic, with views to the church before he inherited the estate, has +not the English moral sense and simple honor; can scarcely be called an +Englishman at all. Dark suspicions of past crime, and of the possibility +of future crime, may be thrown around him; an atmosphere of doubt shall +envelop him, though, as regards manners, he may be highly refined. +Middleton shall find in the house a priest; and at his first visit he +shall have seen a small chapel, adorned with the richness, as to marbles, +pictures, and frescoes, of those that we see in the churches at Rome; and +here the Catholic forms of worship shall be kept up. Eldredge shall have +had an Italian mother, and shall have the personal characteristics of an +Italian. There shall be something sinister about him, the more apparent +when Middleton's visit draws to a conclusion; and the latter shall feel +convinced that they part in enmity, so far as Eldredge is concerned. He +shall not speak of his discovery in the cabinet. + +_May 17th, Monday_.--Unquestionably, the appointment of Middleton as +minister to one of the minor Continental courts must take place in the +interval between Eldredge's meeting him in the park, and his inviting him +to his house. After Middleton's appointment, the two encounter each other +at the Mayor's dinner in St. Mary's Hall, and Eldredge, startled at +meeting the vagrant, as he deemed him, under such a character, remembers +the hints of some secret knowledge of the family history, which Middleton +had thrown out. He endeavors, both in person and by the priest, to make +out what Middleton really is, and what he knows, and what he intends; but +Middleton is on his guard, yet cannot help arousing Eldredge's suspicions +that he has views upon the estate and title. It is possible, too, that +Middleton may have come to the knowledge--may have had some knowledge--of +some shameful or criminal fact connected with Mr. Eldredge's life on the +Continent; the old Hospitaller, possibly, may have told him this, from +some secret malignity hereafter to be accounted for. Supposing Eldredge +to attempt his murder, by poison for instance, bringing back into modern +life his old hereditary Italian plots; and into English life a sort of +crime which does not belong to it,--which did not, at least, although at +this very period there have been fresh and numerous instances of it. +There might be a scene in which Middleton and Eldredge come to a fierce +and bitter explanation; for in Eldredge's character there must be the +English surly boldness as well as the Italian subtlety; and here, +Middleton shall tell him what he knows of his past character and life, +and also what he knows of his own hereditary claims. Eldredge might have +committed a murder in Italy; might have been a patriot, and betrayed his +friends to death for a bribe, bearing another name than his own in Italy; +indeed, he might have joined them only as an informer. All this he had +tried to sink, when he came to England in the character of a gentleman of +ancient name and large estate. But this infamy of his previous character +must be foreboded from the first by the manner in which Eldredge is +introduced; and it must make his evil designs on Middleton appear natural +and probable. It may be, that Middleton has learned Eldredge's previous +character, through some Italian patriot who had taken refuge in America, +and there become intimate with him; and it should be a piece of secret +history, not known to the world in general, so that Middleton might seem +to Eldredge the sole depositary of the secret then in England. He feels a +necessity of getting rid of him; and thenceforth Middleton's path lies +always among pitfalls; indeed, the first attempt should follow promptly +and immediately on his rupture with Eldredge. The utmost pains must be +taken with this incident to give it an air of reality; or else it must be +quite removed out of the sphere of reality by an intensified atmosphere +of romance. I think the old Hospitaller must interfere to prevent the +success of this attempt, perhaps through the means of Alice. + +The result of Eldredge's criminal and treacherous designs is, somehow or +other, that he comes to his death; and Middleton and Alice are left to +administer on the remains of the story; perhaps, the Mayor being his +friend, he may be brought into play here. The foreign ecclesiastic shall +likewise come forward, and he shall prove to be a man of subtile policy +perhaps, yet a man of religion and honor; with a Jesuit's principles, but +a Jesuit's devotion and self-sacrifice. The old Hospitaller must die in +his bed, or some other how; or perhaps not--we shall see. He may just as +well be left in the Hospital. Eldredge's attempt on Middleton must be in +some way peculiar to Italy, and which he shall have learned there; and, +by the way, at his dinner-table there shall be a Venice glass, one of the +kind that were supposed to be shattered when poison was put into them. +When Eldredge produces his rare wine, he shall pour it into this, with a +jesting allusion to the legend. Perhaps the mode of Eldredge's attempt on +Middleton's life shall be a reproduction of the attempt made two hundred +years before; and Middleton's knowledge of that incident shall be the +means of his salvation. That would be a good idea; in fact, I think it +must be done so and no otherwise. It is not to be forgotten that there is +a taint of insanity in Eldredge's blood, accounting for much that is wild +and absurd, at the same time that it must be subtile, in his conduct; one +of those perplexing mad people, whose lunacy you are continually +mistaking for wickedness or _vice versa_. This shall be the priest's +explanation and apology for him, after his death. I wish I could get hold +of the Newgate Calendar, the older volumes, or any other book of +murders--the Causes Celébrès, for instance. The legendary murder, or +attempt at it, will bring its own imaginative probability with it, when +repeated by Eldredge; and at the same time it will have a dreamlike +effect; so that Middleton shall hardly know whether he is awake or not. +This incident is very essential towards bringing together the past time +and the present, and the two ends of the story. + +_May 18th, Tuesday._--All down through the ages since Edward had +disappeared from home, leaving that bloody footstep on the threshold, +there had been legends and strange stories of the murder and the manner +of it. These legends differed very much among themselves. According to +some, his brother had awaited him there, and stabbed him on the +threshold. According to others, he had been murdered in his chamber, and +dragged out. A third story told, that he was escaping with his lady love, +when they were overtaken on the threshold, and the young man slain. It +was impossible at this distance of time to ascertain which of these +legends was the true one, or whether either of them had any portion of +truth, further than that the young man had actually disappeared from that +night, and that it never was certainly known to the public that any +intelligence had ever afterwards been received from him. Now, Middleton +may have communicated to Eldredge the truth in regard to the matter; as, +for instance, that he had stabbed him with a certain dagger that was +still kept among the curiosities of the manor-house. Of course, that will +not do. It must be some very ingenious and artificially natural thing, an +artistic affair in its way, that should strike the fancy of such a man as +Eldredge, and appear to him altogether fit, mutatis mutandis, to be +applied to his own requirements and purposes. I do not at present see in +the least how this is to be wrought out. There shall be everything to +make Eldredge look with the utmost horror and alarm at any chance that he +may be superseded and ousted from his possession of the estate; for he +shall only recently have established his claim to it, tracing out his +pedigree, when the family was supposed to be extinct. And he is come to +these comfortable quarters after a life of poverty, uncertainty, +difficulty, hanging loose on society; and therefore he shall be willing +to risk soul and body both, rather than return to his former state. +Perhaps his daughter shall be introduced as a young Italian girl, to whom +Middleton shall decide to leave the estate. + +On the failure of his design, Eldredge may commit suicide, and be found +dead in the wood; at any rate, some suitable end shall be contrived, +adapted to his wants. This character must not be so represented as to +shut him out completely from the reader's sympathies; he shall have +taste, sentiment, even a capacity for affection, nor, I think, ought he +to have any hatred or bitter feeling against the man whom he resolves to +murder. In the closing scenes, when he thinks the fate of Middleton +approaching, there might even be a certain tenderness towards him, a +desire to make the last drops of life delightful; if well done, this +would produce a certain sort of horror, that I do not remember to have +seen effected in literature. Possibly the ancient emigrant might be +supposed to have fallen into an ancient mine, down a precipice, into some +pitfall; no, not so. Into a river; into a moat. As Middleton's +pretensions to birth are not publicly known, there will be no reason why, +at his sudden death, suspicion should fix on Eldredge as the murderer; +and it shall be his object so to contrive his death as that it shall +appear the result of accident. Having failed in effecting Middleton's +death by this excellent way, he shall perhaps think that he cannot do +better than to make his own exit in precisely the same manner. It might +be easy, and as delightful as any death could be; no ugliness in it, no +blood; for the Bloody Footstep of old times might be the result of the +failure of the old plot, not of its success. Poison seems to be the only +elegant method; but poison is vulgar, and in many respects unfit for my +purpose. It won't do. Whatever it may be, it must not come upon the +reader as a sudden and new thing, but as one that might have been +foreseen from afar, though he shall not actually have foreseen it until +it is about to happen. It must be prevented through the agency of Alice. +Alice may have been an artist in Rome, and there have known Eldredge and +his daughter, and thus she may have become their guest in England; or he +may be patronizing her now--at all events she shall be the friend of the +daughter, and shall have a just appreciation of the father's character. +It shall be partly due to her high counsel that Middleton foregoes his +claim to the estate, and prefers the life of an American, with its lofty +possibilities for himself and his race, to the position of an Englishman +of property and title; and she, for her part, shall choose the condition +and prospects of woman in America, to the emptiness of the life of a +woman of rank in England. So they shall depart, lofty and poor, out of +the home which might be their own, if they would stoop to make it so. +Possibly the daughter of Eldredge may be a girl not yet in her teens, for +whom Alice has the affection of an elder sister. + +It should be a very carefully and highly wrought scene, occurring just +before Eldredge's actual attempt on Middleton's life, in which all the +brilliancy of his character--which shall before have gleamed upon the +reader--shall come out, with pathos, with wit, with insight, with +knowledge of life. Middleton shall be inspired by this, and shall vie +with him in exhilaration of spirits; but the ecclesiastic shall look on +with singular attention, and some appearance of alarm; and the suspicion +of Alice shall likewise be aroused. The old Hospitaller may have gained +his situation partly by proving himself a man of the neighborhood, by +right of descent; so that he, too, shall have a hereditary claim to be in +the Romance. + +Eldredge's own position as a foreigner in the midst of English home life, +insulated and dreary, shall represent to Middleton, in some degree, what +his own would be, were he to accept the estate. But Middleton shall not +come to the decision to resign it, without having to repress a deep +yearning for that sense of long, long rest in an age-consecrated home, +which he had felt so deeply to be the happy lot of Englishmen. But this +ought to be rejected, as not belonging to his country, nor to the age, +nor any longer possible. + +_May 19th, Wednesday_.--The connection of the old Hospitaller with the +story is not at all clear. He is an American by birth, but deriving his +English origin from the neighborhood of the Hospital, where he has +finally established himself. Some one of his ancestors may have been +somehow connected with the ancient portion of the story. He has been a +friend of Middleton's father, who reposed entire confidence in him, +trusting him with all his fortune, which the Hospitaller risked in his +enormous speculations, and lost it all. His fame had been great in the +financial world. There were circumstances that made it dangerous for his +whereabouts to be known, and so he had come hither and found refuge in +this institution, where Middleton finds him, but does not know who he is. +In the vacancy of a mind formerly so active, he has taken to the study of +local antiquities; and from his former intimacy with Middleton's father, +he has a knowledge of the American part of the story, which he connects +with the English portion, disclosed by his researches here; so that he is +quite aware that Middleton has claims to the estate, which might be urged +successfully against the present possessor. He is kindly disposed towards +the son of his friend, whom he had so greatly injured; but he is now very +old, and----. Middleton has been directed to this old man by a friend in +America, as one likely to afford him all possible assistance in his +researches; and so he seeks him out and forms an acquaintance with him, +which the old man encourages to a certain extent, taking an evident +interest in him, but does not disclose himself; nor does Middleton +suspect him to be an American. The characteristic life of the Hospital is +brought out, and the individual character of this old man, vegetating +here after an active career, melancholy and miserable; sometimes torpid +with the slow approach of utmost age; sometimes feeble, peevish, +wavering; sometimes shining out with a wisdom resulting from originally +bright faculties, ripened by experience. The character must not be +allowed to get vague, but, with gleams of romance, must yet be kept +homely and natural by little touches of his daily life. + +As for Alice, I see no necessity for her being anywise related to or +connected with the old Hospitaller. As originally conceived, I think she +may be an artist--a sculptress--whom Eldredge had known in Rome. No; she +might be a granddaughter of the old Hospitaller, born and bred in +America, but who had resided two or three years in Rome in the study of +her art, and have there acquired a knowledge of the Eldredges and have +become fond of the little Italian girl his daughter. She has lodgings in +the village, and of course is often at the Hospital, and often at the +Hall; she makes busts and little statues, and is free, wild, tender, +proud, domestic, strange, natural, artistic; and has at bottom the +characteristics of the American woman, with the principles of the +strong-minded sect; and Middleton shall be continually puzzled at meeting +such a phenomenon in England. By and by, the internal influence +[evidence?] of her sentiments (though there shall be nothing to confirm +it in her manner) shall lead him to charge her with being an American. + +Now, as to the arrangement of the Romance;--it begins as an integral and +essential part, with my introduction, giving a pleasant and familiar +summary of my life in the Consulate at Liverpool; the strange species of +Americans, with strange purposes, in England, whom I used to meet there; +and, especially, how my countrymen used to be put out of their senses by +the idea of inheritances of English property. Then I shall particularly +instance one gentleman who called on me on first coming over; a +description of him must be given, with touches that shall puzzle the +reader to decide whether it is not an actual portrait. And then this +Romance shall be offered, half seriously, as the account of the fortunes +that he met with in his search for his hereditary home. Enough of his +ancestral story may be given to explain what is to follow in the Romance; +or perhaps this may be left to the scenes of his intercourse with the old +Hospitaller. + +The Romance proper opens with Middleton's arrival at what he has reason +to think is the neighborhood of his ancestral home, and here he makes +application to the old Hospitaller. Middleton shall be described as +approaching the Hospital, which shall be pretty literally copied after +Leicester's, although the surrounding village must be on a much smaller +scale of course. Much elaborateness may be given to this portion of the +book. Middleton shall have assumed a plain dress, and shall seek to make +no acquaintances except that of the old Hospitaller; the acquaintance of +Alice naturally following. The old Hospitaller and he go together to the +old Hall, where, as they pass through the rooms, they find that the +proprietor is flitting like a ghost before them from chamber to chamber; +they catch his reflection in a glass, &c., &c. When these have been +wrought up sufficiently, shall come the scene in the wood, where Eldredge +is seen yielding to the superstition that he has inherited, respecting +the old secret of the family, on the discovery of which depends the +enforcement of his claim to a title. All this while, Middleton has +appeared in the character of a man of no note; and now, through some +political change, not necessarily told, he receives a packet addressed to +him as an ambassador, and containing a notice of his appointment to that +dignity. A paragraph in the "Times" confirms the fact, and makes it known +in the neighborhood. Middleton immediately becomes an object of +attention; the gentry call upon him; the Mayor of the neighboring +county-town invites him to dinner, which shall be described with all its +antique formalities. Here he meets Eldredge, who is surprised, +remembering the encounter in the wood; but passes it all off, like a man +of the world, makes his acquaintance, and invites him to the Hall. +Perhaps he may make a visit of some time here, and become intimate, to a +certain degree, with all parties; and here things shall ripen themselves +for Eldredge's attempt upon his life. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ancestral Footstep (fragment) +by Nathaniel Hawthorne + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP (FRAGMENT) *** + +This file should be named 8ancf10.txt or 8ancf10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8ancf11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8ancf10a.txt + +Produced by Eric Eldred, Thomas Berger, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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