Doctor Grimshawe's Secret

n than formerly; directing his discourse chiefly to Ned, although Elsie's vivacity and more outs

best known to himself, he wished to conceal. Whatever the name were, he seemed to know the place so intimately, that the children, as a matter of course, adopted the conclusion that it was his birthplace, and the

nd up which, towards its very spire, the ivy was still creeping; and how there was a tradition, that, if the ivy ever reached the top, the spire would fall upon the roof of the old gray church, and crush it all down among its surrounding tombstones. [Endnote: 1] And so, as this misfortune would be so heavy a one, there se

re were many wretched infants like himself, as well as helpless people of all ages, widows, decayed drunkards, people of feeble wits, and all kinds of imbecility; it being a haven for those who could not contend in the hard, eager, pitiless struggle of life; in the place the Doctor spoke of, a noble, Gothic, mossy structure, there were none but aged men, who had drifted into this quiet harbor to end their days in a sort of humble yet stately ease and decorous abun

e the poor old men never forgot to pray for him, a

if he saw before him the face of the dead man of past centuries, "I happen to be no lover of this man's race, and I hate hi

very naughty!" said

enemies to the very brink of the grave, but

m to acquire that better wisdom. Such a phenomenon often meets us in life; oftener than we recognize, because a certain tact and exterior decency generally hide the moral deficiency. But often there is a mind well polished, married to a conscience and natural impulses left as they were in childhood, except that they have sprouted up into evil and poisonous weeds, richly blossoming with strong-smelling flowers, or seeds which the plant scatters by a sort of impulse; even as the Doctor was now

an baron wedded the daughter and heiress of the Saxon), dwelt there yet; and in each century they had done something for the old Hall,-building a tower, adding a suite of rooms, strengthening what was already built, putting in a painted window, making it more spacious and convenient,-till it seemed as if Time employed himself in thinking what could be done for the old house. As fast as any part decayed, it was renewed, with such simple art that the new completed, as it were, and fitted itself to the old. So that it seemed as if the house never had been finished, until just that thing was added. For many an age, t

but with a mysterious look of triumph, and that old scowl, too, at th

ried little Ned; "who

de, or Catholic priests, or criminals, or perhaps-who knows?-enemies that they wanted put out

t of his reverie,-returning, perhaps, out of some weird, ghostly, secret chamber of his memory, whereof the one in the old house was but the less horrible emblem,-he resumed his tale. He said that, a long time ago, a war broke out in the old country between King and Parliament. At that period there were several brothers of the old family (which had adhered to the Catholic religion), and these chose the side of the King instead of that of the Puritan Parliament: all but one,

t chamber?" i

Doctor, nodding, "tho

f the door of the old manor-house there was the print of a bloody footstep; and no trouble that the housemaids took, no rain of all the years

" quoth the Doctor, "an

ing something that affected the vivid little girl with peculiar horror in the idea of this red footstep always glistening on the

im Doctor; "for, man and boy, I

to the old estate and to a title. Then the family tried to track his bloody footstep, and sought it far and near, through green country paths, and old streets of London; but in vain. Then they sent messengers to see whether any traces of one stepping in blood could be found on the forest leaves of America; but still in vain. The idea nevertheless prevailed that he would come back, and it was said they kept a bedchamber ready for him yet in the old hous

ill ever come back

l inheritance. And sometimes, as I sit here smoking my pipe and drinking my glass, and looking up at the cunning plot that the spider is weaving yonder above my head,

be a kind of playfulness, but which did not affect the children pleasantly; insomuch that little