Part 14 (1/2)

”In the latter days seducing spirits shall arise, _forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats_.”

He had pressed me very hard and rather unfairly. Still, the counsel of perfection would have been to refrain from the comment that, if _I_ were a celibate and vegetarian, it was not the text I should have chosen with which to clinch an argument!

AN INTERLUDE

I have headed this chapter an _Interlude_, for the following reason:--

It is the only one in this book which does not record a personal experience.

The opportunity came to me at Florence, two years ago, of hearing one of the best old-fas.h.i.+oned Christmas ghost stories I ever came across; also a ghost story which has two rather unique advantages. First, it has never been published before; secondly, the percipient was the matron of a boys' school (a well-known one), and wrote out her experiences _within twelve hours of their occurrence_.

Now, the matron of a large boys' school must, of necessity, be an exceptionally practical woman, and her daily experiences can scarcely tend to encourage undue Romance or Imagination.

When I add that this story was given to me, and a copy of the original letter placed in my hands, by a sister of two of the schoolboys who were under the matron's supervision, I shall have cleared the way for my ghost to appear upon the scene.

I must add, however, that I met this sister, a young widow, in Florence, two years ago. She then told me this story, finding that I was intimately acquainted both with the county and the small county town where it happened.

The matron had gone there for the prosaic purpose of taking the baths for her rheumatism.

The adventure took place in the early morning of 14th April 1875, and was recorded, within a few hours, in a long letter written by the percipient to a favourite cousin.

My friend, Mrs Barker's brothers being at school at the time, begged to be allowed to read this letter and take a copy of it. The copy was made by their sister--then a young girl--and I have it in my hands at the present moment of writing.

It is, of course, necessary to change the name of the county and town, as the old family mansion, let in lodgings in 1875, has since then been sold and turned into a boarding-house.

Mrs Barker's mother made an expedition to this town, a few years ago, to verify the facts, and went over the house, which has been considerably altered and reconstructed inside since 1875.

The small park mentioned in the story is now built over entirely, as the town has increased in popularity, owing to its baths, and the family portraits here mentioned have been removed since the house was sold.

I will now quote _verbatim_ from the matron's letter, _written on the morning of her experiences_.

”The Priory, Grantwich.

”14th April 1875.

”MY DEAR EDIE,--When you asked me once for a ghost story, I daresay you as little expected, as I did, how soon I should have to reveal to you an experience which will doubtless give you, as it has me, much ground for thought and speculation about those mysterious laws which rule the spirit world.

”How true it is that Thought and Feeling annihilate Time and s.p.a.ce!

Since last night, I seem to have lived through half a lifetime, such an effect have its events had upon my inner life. But before I begin to relate the strange circ.u.mstances I have to tell you, I must describe to you more particularly this house in which they happened.

”I think I told you that 'The Priory'--where I am now lodging--is an old mansion, belonging to the Carbury family. For some years past, it has been let to the present occupiers who make the rent by letting lodgings. Some ancient pieces of furniture remain, and a great many portraits, none of the earliest date, but a handsome and respectable collection--soldiers, bishops, and judges, in their uniforms, robes, and wigs, and ladies with powdered hair, hoops, and trains.

”Of these portraits, _two have engaged my attention, especially, from the first moment of seeing them_, but I am not going to speak of them yet; my first object is to give you an idea of the house, or rather that part of it with which my story is connected.

”I think I have told you that the grand staircase goes up from the inner hall, and that round the staircase runs a gallery; in this gallery and in the hall below, are hung most of the portraits.

”On the first turn and landing of the staircase, there is a door opening into a trellised walk which leads into the garden. On a level with this door is a large window which looks on to sweeps of soft turf, shaded by fine trees.

”Standing often to look from this window, as I pa.s.sed up and down the staircase, one tree has always riveted my attention. It is a large old plane-tree, standing by itself, and having a strange, melancholy, decayed look about it. I noticed--why, I cannot imagine--that on one side of it the ground was bare and black, though everywhere else the gra.s.s was green and fresh. I mention this, because it had struck me _before_ the strange events occurred which I am going to tell you.