Part 21 (2/2)
”My mind was occupied otherwise,” said Everard.
”Well,” said Wildrake, ”but what has happened?-Here am I bolt upright, and ready to fight, if this yawning fit will give me leave-Mother Redcap's mightiest is weaker than I drank last night, by a bushel to a barleycorn-I have quaffed the very elixir of malt-Ha-yaw.”
”And some opiate besides, I should think,” said Everard.
”Very like-very like-less than the pistol-shot would not waken me; even me, who with but an ordinary grace-cup, sleep as lightly as a maiden on the first of May, when she watches for the earliest beam to go to gather dew. But what are you about to do next?”
”Nothing,” answered Everard.
”Nothing?” said Wildrake, in surprise.
”I speak it,” said Colonel Everard, ”less for your information, than for that of others who may hear me, that I will leave the Lodge this morning, and, if it is possible, remove the Commissioners.”
”Hark,” said Wildrake, ”do you not hear some noise like the distant sound of the applause of a theatre? The goblins of the place rejoice in your departure.”
”I shall leave Woodstock,” said Everard, ”to the occupation of my uncle Sir Henry Lee, and his family, if they choose to resume it; not that I am frightened into this as a concession to the series of artifices which have been played off on this occasion, but solely because such was my intention from the beginning. But let me warn,” (he added, raising his voice,)-”let me warn the parties concerned in this combination, that though it may pa.s.s off successfully on a fool like Desborough, a visionary like Harrison, a coward like Bletson”-
Here a voice distinctly spoke, as standing near them-”or a wise, moderate, and resolute person, like Colonel Everard.”
”By Heaven, the voice came from the picture,” said Wildrake, drawing his sword; ”I will pink his plated armour for him.”
”Offer no violence,” said Everard, startled at the interruption, but resuming with firmness what he was saying-”Let those engaged be aware, that however this string of artifices may be immediately successful, it must, when closely looked into, be attended with the punishment of all concerned-the total demolition of Woodstock, and the irremediable downfall of the family of Lee. Let all concerned think of this, and desist in time.”
He paused, and almost expected a reply, but none such came.
”It is a very odd thing,” said Wildrake; ”but-yaw-ha-my brain cannot compa.s.s it just now; it whirls round like a toast in a bowl of muscadine; I must sit down-haw-yaw-and discuss it at leisure- Gramercy, good elbow-chair.”
So saying, he threw himself, or rather sank gradually down on a large easy-chair which had been often pressed by the weight of stout Sir Henry Lee, and in an instant was sound asleep. Everard was far from feeling the same inclination for slumber, yet his mind was relieved of the apprehension of any farther visitation that night; for he considered his treaty to evacuate Woodstock as made known to, and accepted in all probability by, those whom the intrusion of the Commissioners had induced to take such singular measures for expelling them. His opinion, which had for a time bent towards a belief in something supernatural in the disturbances, had now returned to the more rational mode of accounting for them by dexterous combination, for which such a mansion as Woodstock afforded so many facilities.
He heaped the hearth with fuel, lighted the candle, and examining poor Wildrake's situation, adjusted him as easily in the chair as he could, the cavalier stirring his limbs no more than an infant. His situation went far, in his patron's opinion, to infer trick and confederacy, for ghosts have no occasion to drug men's possets. He threw himself on the bed, and while he thought these strange circ.u.mstances over, a sweet and low strain of music stole through the chamber, the words ”Good night-good night-good night,” thrice repeated, each time in a softer and more distant tone, seeming to a.s.sure him that the goblins and he were at truce, if not at peace, and that he had no more disturbance to expect that night. He had scarcely the courage to call out a ”good night;” for, after all his conviction of the existence of a trick, it was so well performed as to bring with it a feeling of fear, just like what an audience experience during the performance of a tragic scene, which they know to be unreal, and which yet affects their pa.s.sions by its near approach to nature. Sleep overtook him at last, and left him not till broad daylight on the ensuing morning.
CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH.
And yonder s.h.i.+nes Aurora's harbinger.
At whose approach ghosts, wandering here and there, Troop home to churchyard.
MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.
With the fresh air and the rising of morning, every feeling of the preceding night had pa.s.sed away from Colonel Everard's mind, excepting wonder how the effects which he had witnessed could be produced. He examined the whole room, sounding bolt, floor, and wainscot with his knuckles and cane, but was unable to discern any secret pa.s.sages; while the door, secured by a strong cross-bolt, and the lock besides, remained as firm as when he had fastened it on the preceding evening. The apparition resembling Victor Lee next called his attention. Ridiculous stories had been often circulated, of this figure, or one exactly resembling it, having been met with by night among the waste apartments and corridors of the old palace; and Markham Everard had often heard such in his childhood. He was angry to recollect his own deficiency of courage, and the thrill which he felt on the preceding night, when by confederacy, doubtless, such an object was placed before his eyes.
”Surely,” he said, ”this fit of childish folly could not make me miss my aim-more likely that the bullet had been withdrawn clandestinely from the pistol.”
He examined that which was undischarged-he found the bullet in it. He investigated the apartment opposite to the point at which he had fired, and, at five feet from the floor in a direct line between the bed-side and the place where the appearance had been seen, a pistol-ball had recently buried itself in the wainscot. He had little doubt, therefore, that he had fired in a just direction; and indeed to have arrived at the place where it was lodged, the bullet must have pa.s.sed through the appearance at which he aimed, and proceeded point blank to the wall beyond. This was mysterious, and induced him to doubt whether the art of witchcraft or conjuration had not been called in to a.s.sist the machinations of those daring conspirators, who, being themselves mortal, might, nevertheless, according to the universal creed of the times, have invoked and obtained a.s.sistance from the inhabitants of another world.
His next investigation respected the picture of Victor Lee itself. He examined it minutely as he stood on the floor before it, and compared its pale, shadowy, faintly-traced outlines, its faded colours, the stern repose of the eye, and death-like pallidness of the countenance, with its different aspect on the preceding night, when illuminated by the artificial light which fell full upon it, while it left every other part of the room in comparative darkness. The features seemed then to have an unnatural glow, while the rising and falling of the flame in the chimney gave the head and limbs something which resembled the appearance of actual motion. Now, seen by day, it was a mere picture of the hard and ancient school of Holbein; last night, it seemed for the moment something more. Determined to get to the bottom of this contrivance if possible, Everard, by the a.s.sistance of a table and chair, examined the portrait still more closely, and endeavoured to ascertain the existence of any private spring, by which it might be slipt aside,-a contrivance not unfrequent in ancient buildings, which usually abounded with means of access and escape, communicated to none but the lords of the castle, or their immediate confidants. But the panel on which Victor Lee was painted was firmly fixed in the wainscoting of the apartment, of which it made a part, and the Colonel satisfied himself that it could not have been used for the purpose which he had suspected.
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