The Weird Sisters, Volume I (of 3)

d the Manor House, or the Manor, although it had long ago ceased to be the property of the or

e lords of the manor had gradually mouldered away, and the ol

rded it as a myth, and others treated it with a superstitious respect as a thing which

girt with walls ten feet high, there were few points open to the public from which

s of the neglected undergrowth. But the briars and brambles an

f their country in every clime, by day and by night, on land and sea, and although the boys of that city, at the time spoken of, were made of as stout stuff and inspired by as gallant hearts as the bo

the gnarled boughs of the interlacing oaks could hold the moisture well when the sun was hot, and from that ground

ens and caverns formed by the scraggy arms and foliage of the oaks; year after year this disorderly growth had burst up out of the fat, greasy soil in unwholesome profusion, unclean luxury, and had rotted

e no guns to kill or scare, no boys to pilfer the eggs or young ones; and th

ts, and when the sun shone out the industrious mole came and bu

the clay now and then, here and there, and opened avenues

one another, and tore off the fangs of their antlers, great boughs fell with shrieks to the earth. Later the sexton fungus crept ov

, and the boys said snakes, but snakes were put forward in excuse of fear on the part of the boys. There were no hares, no rabbits

nails and caterpillars and slugs. This was not a prosperous field, a prudent grove, a stately wood, a discreet garden; it was

isles. When the foot was put down something slipped beneath it, a greasy branch,

ith gelatinous dews. If there was a moon, something might always b

ove a sleeping bird chirped or fluttered, it seemed as though the last bird left was stealing away from the fearful place. The fat reptiles that glided and sl

plain stone front with small narrow windows, three on each side of the main door.

ption-rooms; a first floor of bedrooms; and a second floor, the window

into the passages had double doors. Owing to the great thickness of the walls, and the double doors, and the ma

rable distance farther on. This carriage-road wound in and out through the oaks of the Park. Between the gravelled open in front of the

d still farther to the rear of the house, behind the yard, were the flower and kitchen gardens. To the rear of all, surroun

ulsive. At the left-hand end-that is, the end of the house nearest to Dan

undergrowth in the Park behind you, the former resembled the decay of the indomitable natives of America, who perished slowly in opposing themselves to f

dry walls. Neither on the house nor on the tower had ever been seen one leaf native to the pl

re sitting in your own bright room; when you were walking along a lonely road; when you awoke in the middle of the night, and heard the torrents of the storm roar as they whirled round your window;

s. The house seemed to shrink instinctively from any contact with verdure, as though it felt assured of evil from moss or leaf or blade.

ame a tattered flag of distress. The windows looked like scared eyes, the broad doorway a mouth

he had then been married six years, in the Bank-house as manager under his father. There were only a few years' lease of his father's suburban residence, to run, and

f the Park, the value of the timber, and the spacious old house. As a matter of fact, no one valued the dwelling at a penny beyond what the sale of i

in which no family had lived for generations, and from which even the furniture and servants had been long since

going to repair the house, and when it was fully restored he would ask his friends to come and try if beef and mutton tasted worse, or wine w

cted, for one room of it, that on a level with Mr. Grey's own bedroom, had been completely renovat

othing was done to the floor on a level with the dor

he unsightly tank on

he tower, Mr. Grey said he had

ssing aspect of the exterior of the house; he would rely upon the interior, the goo

r nothing in the surrounding grounds or outward aspect of the house-he wanted to

e-warming on a prodigious scale-a scale tha

s, and had a couple of dozen men to d

ctorily, they might have friends to see them, and might make their friends

placed on the horse-trough, and mugs and cans appeared in glittering rows on a tabl

and a French cook. There were a lodge and gate to the Manor Park, but there was no lodge-man or woman; and during the festiviti

; and while they were over their wine and cigars he informed t

er evening, and then told the members he had that day written to their secretary, declaring his resolution not to charge interest on

and told them that he had made up his mind to abandon the old

he other, something that was plainly not plum-pudding. The host nodded to the servants, and both dishes burst into flame; the dish that contained the plum-pudding standing opposite the treasurer of the club, at the foot of the table;

invented it myself, and I will take it as a

tasted its like before, and several began elaborate analyses of it,

for ever!" Then pointing to the dish containing the floating black matt

n after drinking called out that there was something which rattled and jingled and slid about in the bottom of the cup. The master of the house seemed more inquisitive than any of the others, bade the finder spill out the contents of the cup on a salver, and, behold, one hundred and five new sovereign

s Coal Fund to dinner, each member found, folded up in his napk

more or less proud of the acquaintance, they all called him "Wat," to show how very intimate they were with him, and to show that in the best commercial set in Daneford there was no one else known by

nd largess did not disen

ows in the thick dark walls looked at night like the eyes of a desperate man who had drank deeply to keep up his courage in some supreme ordeal. And by day ever afterwards, to those who had been in the h