Part 9 (1/2)

”We certainly have discovered much more than I thought for, Catherine,”

said he, ”and possibly more than you thought for either.” Here he paused for her to reply, but she did not.

”The bones are most probably those of some animal,” added he-I fancied I could detect a certain anxiety in his tone that belied what he said; ”but in order to quell the active imaginations which I can see are running away with some of you”-here he looked round with a smile-”I will send for Dr. Driscoll to come and examine them to-morrow. I have also found a piece of parchment in the chest,” he added; ”but I have not yet looked at its contents.”

”Before you do that, Mr. Fanshawe, and before you send for the surgeon,”

interrupted Catherine suddenly in a clear voice, ”I think I can tell you all about the bones found in the chest, and how I guessed them to be there.”

”I should certainly be very glad to be told,” my husband admitted, much surprised; ”though how you can possibly know, I cannot surmise.”

”Listen, and I will tell you,” answered Catherine; and feeling very glad that our curiosity was at last to be gratified, we all ”p.r.i.c.ked up our ears,” as George would say, to listen.

I here transcribe Catherine's story word for word, as my son George subsequently wrote it down from her dictation.

”You all remember,” she began, ”my alarming you on New Year's eve at midnight, and that I told you I was disturbed by a dreadful dream.

”I said so because I thought you would make fun of me if I called it a vision; and yet it was much more like a vision, for I seemed to see it waking, and it was more vivid and consecutive than any dream I ever had.

”Before I try to describe it, I want you all to understand that I seemed intuitively to comprehend what I saw, and to recognize all the figures which appeared before me, and their relation to one another, though I am sure I never beheld them before in my life.

”When Ella left me that night, I lay propped up with pillows, staring idly at the strange shadows thrown by the hidden lamp across the laundry ceiling and over the floor. As I looked it seemed to me that a change came over the room-a most unaccountable change.

”Instead of the blocked-up window, the rusty mangle, and the das at the farther end, I saw the window clear and distinct from top to bottom, and in front of a deep window-seat at its base stood an oaken chest, exactly corresponding to the one discovered this morning. The room seemed brilliantly lighted, and everything was clearly and distinctly visible; and not only was it changed, but also peopled.

”Many figures pa.s.sed up and down; brocaded silks swept the floor, and old-world forms of men in strange costumes bowed in courtly style to the dames by their side. Among all these figures I noticed only one couple particularly, and I knew them to be bride and bridegroom. The man was tall and broad, with dark hair and eyes, and a sensual and cruel face.

He seemed, however, to be quite enslaved by the woman by his side, whom I hardly even now like to think of, there was something to me so repellent in her presence.

”She was tall and of middle age, and would have been handsome were it not for a sinister expression in her dark flas.h.i.+ng eyes, which was enhanced by the black eyebrows which met over them.

”She reminded me irresistibly of the effigy on the stone monument in Craymoor church, which Ella and I named ”the wicked woman.”

”As I gazed on the strange scene before me I presently became aware of three other figures which I had not noticed before. They were standing in a small arched doorway in one corner of the room (where the servants'

bedroom now is) furtively watching the gay company. One was a pale, careworn woman, apparently of about five-and-thirty, still beautiful, though haggard and mournful-looking, with blue eyes and a fair complexion.

”Her hands rested on the shoulders of two children, one a boy and the other a girl, of about ten and eleven years of age respectively. They much resembled their mother, and, like her, they were meanly dressed, though no poverty of attire could hide the n.o.bility of their aspect. I noticed that the mother's eyes rested chiefly on the face of the tall stately man before mentioned, who seemed unaware or careless of her presence; and instinctively I knew him to be the father of her children and the blighter of her life.

”As I looked and beheld all this, the lights vanished, the company disappeared, and the room became dark and deserted. No, not quite deserted, for I presently distinguished, seated on the window-seat by the old oaken chest, the fair woman and her children again.

”The moonlight now streamed through the window upon the woman's face, making it appear more ghastly and haggard than before. In her long thin fingers she was holding up to the light a necklace of large pearls, curiously interwoven in a diamond pattern, and on this the children's eyes were fixed.

”She then hung it on the girl's fair neck, who hid it in her bosom. Both children then twined their arms round their mother and kissed her repeatedly, while her head sank lower and lower, and the paleness of death overspread her features.

”This scene faded away as the other had done, and I saw the fair woman no more.

”Then it seemed to me that many figures pa.s.sed and repa.s.sed before the window-the wicked woman (as I shall call her to distinguish her), accompanied by a boy the image of herself, whom I knew to be her son. He was apparently older than the fair-haired children, who also pa.s.sed to and fro, attired as servants, and generally employed in some menial work.

”At last the wicked woman's son, with haughty gestures, ordered the other boy to pick up something that lay on the ground, and when he refused, he raised his cane as though to strike him. Before he could do so, however, the boy flew at him, and they engaged in a fierce struggle.