Johnny Ludlow, Fourth Series

ighbourhood of Sandstone Torr. One spoke of it, and another spoke of it, at intervals of perhaps a month apart, until people grew accustomed to hearing of the strange sounds that

no occasion to pass it. The narrow lane, by which it was approached from Church Dykely, led to nowhere else; on other sides it was surrounded by fields. Stephen Radcliffe was asked about these noises; but he

here; they preferred to live without help from any one: butcher or baker or candlestick maker. The produce of the farm supplied ordinary daily needs, and anything else that might be wanted was fetched from the village by Eunice Gibbon-as tall and strapping a woman as Mrs. Stephen, and just as grim and silent. Even the postman had orders to leave any letters that might arrive, addressed to the Torr,

an airing, chanced to get near the Torr, and came home full of it. "Twere exactly," he declared, "like a lot o' witches howling in the air." Just as Stephen Radcliffe had said of the wind. The Squire told Giles it must be the owls; the servants thought Mr. Radcliffe might be giving his wife a beating; Mrs

There's t

ght of a summer's evening. The stars were beginning to show themselves; in the north-west the colours were the most beautiful opal conceivable; the round silver moon sailed in the clear blue sky. Crossing

noise they talk

med to be overhead, ever so far up in the air: an unearthly, imploring cry, or rather a succession of cries; faint enough, as if the sound spent itself before it reached us, but

od, breaking the silence. "I don

in the a

imneys, and the sugar-loaf of a tower shooting up to its great height amidst them. The windows of the house and i

here it

something between a howl and a wail; enou

woman's c

ike a person being murdere

an't be tann

Birds of a feather: that's what they are. Oh, by Jove! there it comes again! Just l

r the moonlight, and nothing was on their surface of any kind, human or animal. Now again! t

, Johnny, and ask Radc

higher than ever in the air. Leaping the gate into the lane, we reached the front-door, and seized the bell-handle. It brought Mrs. Radc

ntlemen? Do you want any

e house to keep out the damp. As he told me afterwards, he wanted to get in to listen. But there was no sound at all to be

t," she said; opening the parlour-door when we got to the hall. "Did you

e. Her work lay there-a brown wooll

rs. Radcliffe," began Todd, seating himself without ceremony on the o

ed quietly, taking up the stocking and beg

for dying cries. As it is not in your house-and we did not t

can tell you what it is, M

d looked at me, and there was a silence. I wondered what was

ises, Mrs. Radcliffe? People say the

and I hears a curious kind o' prolonged cry. It startled me at the moment, for, thinks I, it must be in this house; and I hastens in. No. Eunice said she had heard no cries: as how should she, when there

t-birds?"

d in these thick trees, and was crying like so many human beings. I have heard the same thing

efore," returned Tod. "It's just as tho

t it is. Let me give you young gentleme

long arms, before we could say Yes or No. We are famous for cowslip wine down

what it is," she said, quite in a motherly way. "For my part I w

he thought naturally arises that the noise may be ins

added, suddenly going into the hall and flinging wide every door that opened from it and led to the differ

r. Taking up the candle, she lighted us to the front-door. Outside stood the woman-servant Eunice

here," she answered readily. "

artling these ge

g a look of contempt upon us. "If I was the master I'd shoot as many as I

y birds I ever heard before," said

queer, that some folks believes it's th

gibbet were there still, but the skeleton had mouldered away long ago. A bit of chain, some

e heard them!" exclaimed Tod, as we tumbled over the gate and

t of wail, faintly rising and dying o

cy," he went on, "that it is speaking words. No bird, tha

was it, and where did it come from? With nothing but the e

not inside the Torr; it can't rise up from under

for his levity. I'd rather have met a ghost; ay, and a r

late, he treated us to a dose of ridicule. Human cries, indeed? Ghosts and witches? I might be excused, he said, being a muff;

, after all, Johnny," said he, as we went up to

woke up to the bright sunshine,

rother, David Skate, just come in to his mid-day dinner, came forward to meet us in his fustian suit. Annet had been hard

id he, pressing the bread-and-cheese and

as?" as

s not fair to blame her," added David Skate. "It grows worse instead of better, and I don't s

to-

her husband's death, Master Johnny

and Tod stood laughing at the young ducks taking to the water, and Stephen Radcliffe loomed into sight

ncy in her, David?-that he did

y, and that's not too strong a word, sir, for I do believe she'll die of it, unless something can be done to satisfy her mind, and giv

tile, and supposed she had forgotten it long ago. The Squire and Mrs. Todhetley had often notice

. "She took up an idea that the Squire ascribed it to

ndering, do you

s as sane as sane can be; there's not a woman of sounder sense, as to daily matters, anywhere. But this odd fancy has got hold of her mi

at? From his grave i

s that, sleeping or waking, his spirit is always hovering near her, crying out

astonishment. "Frank Radcliffe died up at Dr. Dale's in London. Stephen cou

ny way, the fancy has come to such a pitch now, and is telling upon her so seriously, that something must be done. If it were not that just the busiest time has set in; the hay cut, and the w

it, and brimming over with pity for Annet. He had grown to like her; a

s go on: we shall have her in a mad-house too. That's not a bad notion of David

said Tod. "She is in

to write out all the particulars, and hurry down again with them to her as fa

a mistake in the omnibus. Use your

hat would take us westward. The Squire had lost no time in starting for London, and we h

ton,-Hammersmith,-Richmond

and by-and-by, when the houses became fewer, and the trees and fields more frequent, we were s

er, bustling in as soon as the door wa

ay, sir," said he to the Squire and put us into a small square room that had a blue and drab carpet, and a stand of plants before t

onfusing fashion, mixing up many things together. D

" said he-and he seemed to be a very pleasant man. "B

ater. "A pretty, anxious, hard-working little woman she is, as ever you saw, Dr. Dale! We

of what?" ask

or's button-hole. "Just dot down the particulars of Francis Radcliffe's

t I do not understand. Francis Radcliffe did not

he had fully taken in the sense of the words, and staring about him l

charge for some months: I can't tell exactly how many without referring t

hief; it's in my hat. I can'

for a patient. "He was very nearly, if not quite well, but another month here would have established his

d the Squire, rubbin

ffe, of San

e morning, doctor-in June, I think; yes, I remember the hay-making was about-saying Fran

h letter. Francis Radc

ople. Not die! Why, you held a coroner's inques

cis Radcliffe was taken from this house,

leton before he went?-had he not heart disease?-did he not die of e

he could not be called a skeleton; I never knew that he had h

this. Can you let me see Mr. Pitt, your head assistant, doctor? Perhaps he c

if he were still with me," repli

" commented the Squire. "Wha

more than he had told, if he talked till night-that Francis Radcliffe was taken out

we were going away, like a teetotum. "Dale would not deceive us: he could have no object in doing that. What in the wo

and got down home again, there's no space to tell of. It was between eight and nine, a

'll have it out with S

frightfully gloomy to-night, for the dusk was drawing on, and hardly a bit of light came in. The Squire and

ut it? Why, because I knew I should get a heap o' blame thrown back at me for taking him out-and I wished I hadn't took him out; but 'twas no good wishing then. How was I to know tha

brought to me, purporting to come from

tor up there; and Pitt was the best I could have, as he understood his case. Pitt came and took the charge; and I left Frank under him. I couldn't afford to stay up there, with my grass waiting to be cut, and all the fine weather wasting itself away. Pitt st

deceit to put upon m

it. If I'd not thought he was well enough to come out, I shouldn't have moved him. 'Twas his fault,

was it that

y lod

lodg

tending to bring him down home with me when I came, and surprise you all. Before I could com

re shipping the things?" demanded the Squire. "I believe you are

have shipped himself back again, I

se lodgings th

Lond

n? I didn't suppose t

near Co

in the name of won

mithfield. Is

Johnny, you can see-take it down. If I don't verify this matter to my s

t, went to the window to catch what little lig

istrict," read he. "That was al

er. "Take it down, Johnny-here's the back of an old lette

be hange

I can tell you. You shan't play these

t?" roared Stephen. "Do

"Find out a man in one lie, and you may suspect him of o

; but I saw him take an outward glance at the Squire from under his grey eyebrows-very gr

ng," he said. "A wi

rrace, Islington district.' And now, Mr. Radcliffe,

paid him for his attendance when we came back from the funeral-an

e inquiries at Gibraltar Terrace. It was not that the Squire exactly doubted Stephen's word, or for a moment thought that he had dealt unfairly by Frank: nothing of that sort: but he w

Islington district, but no Gibraltar Terrace could we see or hear of. The t

on-at which inn, being convenient to the search, he had put up. "I will, Johnny, as I'm a living man. It is infamous to send us up here on a wi

id. "It seems a large place. And-don't you think, sir-that it migh

it, would

he truth of what Stephen Radcliffe

tar Terrace. The thought did not strike me before, Johnny

or an omnibus: and by ten o'clock Dr. Dale's was reached. The doctor wa

n in a tweed suit of clothes, and had black hair parted do

gone?" asked

r twice heard him wonder what had become of Pitt. Pitt grew rather

long

the least idea where Pitt is now: w

n the cab to the Castle and Falcon, rubbing his face fu

t took the pater. He got a policeman to show him to the district sorting-house, went in

t was not in Islington; o

in a quiet side-street. In nearly every other window hung a card with "Lodgings" on it,

uses all look alike. Wha

iffe did not g

shall have to knock

whose clothes were dilapidated enough to have come down from Noah's Ark, got up from her knees, on which she was cleaning the door-flag, and told us to go into t

ght we had come after the lodgings, and stood curtsying, and rubbing her hands down her black-silk apron-which was in slits. App

know the names of her lodgers. She didn't want to know them. Why should she? If the gentlemen's names came out incide

rrupted the Squire, pretty nearly beside himself

or young man. The doctor-yes, his name was Pitt, sir-he c

t the bottom of the Thames. "And he was bu

Mapping, considering-and I could see the woman was speaking the truth ac

here, ma'am-Mr. F

e him. But whether his name was Radcliffe, or not, I couldn't t

ed the Squire, explosively. "One might have thought

of trouble beside, and didn't get upstairs much out of my k

him-and lodged here

that ill, myself, that some days I never got out of bed at all. I know it was a fine shock to me when my sister came down

sister, ma'am?"

ter, sir. Her husband

d the Squire. "The young man's brother? He was stayin

g man who died had the first-floor apartments. Well, yes, I do remember now that some gentleman was here two or three tim

s haste. "Should know the description of him anywhere, shouldn't w

much as that. He had g

waiting to hear what we wanted next, and perha

t Mr. Pitt t

since that time. He didn't live here, sir; only used to come in and

nto the woman's hand as we went out, and she curtsied again and thank

done for him that could be? Care?-and

t? Mr. Pitt took car

a grievous end. Go

to you,

street in the dumps; his hands

itt in this vast London city, it would be li

o clue to

e did get at him. He could only confirm what we've heard. W

she had better n

know it

(for him) haughty. It was a mistake, of course, as things turned out, his having taken Frank from the asylum, he admitted that, admitted he was sorry for it, but he had done it for the best. Frank got drinking a

inded themselves, and unsuspicious of other people. They quitt

her present frame of mind it would not do. The fever seems better, and s

have found Pitt,"

these days, when work is slack, I'll take a run up to London and try and search hi

crotchets about people and his likes and dislikes, says he's su

estimation of the neighbourhood; though that would not be likely to trouble him. Meeting Mr. Brandon one day in the road, just out of Church Dykely, Stephen chanced t

oor Francis is gone," said old Brandon, thinking

, though," he added, as an afterthought. "They're not entailed. They've never cried and shr

a subject of common t

itted sundry daggers from his looks. "Let folks concern themselves

on the hedges, and flickered amidst the waving trees, and lay on the fields like pale

night. They gave him the shivers, he said, they were so like human cries. This put it into our heads to

large field, the tops of its chimneys and its towering sugar-loaf tower showing o

itches. Whirr! how it sweeps along! They'

There was none to-day. It was too hot for it. Talki

eps, halting himself. We had been rushing

hisper. "There"-pointing onwards at ri

an animal?-or a man? It did not look much like eith

t is a

't be in a hurry.

ng us. The last pull of wind that went brushing by might have

er hand upon Tod's arm. He went back half a step:

ollected. "I have come here every evening for nearly a week past to listen to the cri

, Mrs. Francis," said Tod; not k

ondering whether I might not hear

other night, making one think of I know not what woe and despai

once my day's work is done: what does it matter which way I stroll?-all ways are the same to me. Some people said the sounds came from the birds, some said

" crie

voice taking as much excitement as any voice, only half raised, can take. "His spirit

big white moonlit plain, listening to those mysterious cries and

adcliffe. "I can't forget them. I should know them anywhere. The same sound of vo

r help. "Help! Frank Radcliffe! Help!" But at such a moment as this, when the nerves

dcliffe's voice!" exclaimed Tod, breaki

it to the world. When I say that you have recognized his voice also, they will be less likely to

o the ground. But he soon got up,

dread whisper, drawing closer to us. "Why, else, shoul

ling out in a human voice," said Tod. "The popula

to attract his attention, by the length of time he stared up at them. Or, perhaps, it might be at the tops of the chimneys: or perhaps at the taperin

," said poor Annet Radcliffe as we walked homewards. "A

he put down his knife and fork perpetually to fall into a brown s

of daws and magpies, when something shook my shoulder and awoke

ying to get daylight out of that m

ry? What's

but from Francis himself. His ghost! When that poor soft creature was tal

mself! What on e

ot him shut up

li

a human voice uttering them, as my ears and senses told me; and my brain has been in a muddle ever since, all sleep gone clean out of it. Just now,

the counterpane and resting my cheek on my hand, gazed at one anothe