I Saw Three Ships and Other Winter Tales

ide was there in her white frock, by the chancel rails; her father, by her side, was looking at his watch; and th

and laying it down impatiently. Occasionally, as one of the congregation scraped an impatient foot, a

o, and a tin trumpet from Liskeard fair. Explanation is simple: the outraged feelings of the parish were to be avenged by a shal-lal as bride and bridegroom left the church. Ruby knew nothing of the storm brewing for her, but Mary Jane, whose ears had been twice boxed that morning, had heard a whisper of it on her way down to the church, and

ridegroom d

stood at the west end under the gallery, "not since 'Melia Spry's buryin', whe

brave while

pired-an' she such a light-weight corpse. But plague s

ed his paternal feelings and come to church in order to keep abreast with the age; "'tis more li

Oke by a wonderful imaginative effort; "an' 'tis possible that feelings have bro

ommitted murder upon another for love; but, save my li

aculated Elias Sweetland, bending

n a woman; "an' Tresidder, he looks l

w, t

make it," said Old Zeb,

bridegro

nt pew but one, Modesty Prowse s

arp, we'll be married

d answered it with a loo

e risked her dignity t

down the chancel

ridegroom to-day?" he

send some one

, mopping his bald head, and then he broke off,

d somebody. And with that a hush of b

running and glorious in bri

is eyes were fastened on Ruby, and she in turn stared at him as a rabbit at a snake, shrin

anin' o' this?

eb, very slow and distinct. "She was to wed Ze

ut

h of 'ee. Better save your

ping a toe on the tiles, in the bridegroom

nati

I like a man to swear off his rage if he's

e if you do

'll kick you out w

urple, and big veins st

uickly towards her. First picking up the paper that had drifted to the pavemen

'ee marry us

asked if she'

dn't come to ax questions-that

man?" demanded the pa

was caught and held for life. Her eyes fluttere

suffocating her. And with the word came a rus

abbage, after waiting a minute

the amount (she averred) of two cart-loads. She tossed it, bit by bit, over the west wall of the churchyard, where in time it became a mound, covered high with sting-nettles. If you poke among these nettles with your wa

walk to their new home. Before them, at a considerable distance, went the players and singers-a black blur on the moonlit road; and very crisply their music rang out beneath a sky scattered with c

of Old Zeb, "lads an' lasses

leaves, an the

' virgin

them was

s mother

seekin', you s

the leav

come tell,

the leaves

n' for no le

a friend

' for sweet

guide an

o down, to

in the

'll see swee

o a big

ey went to

s foot co

grievous

irgin's ey

other-O pea

in' doth

ffer this

am an'

take John

to be

comfort yo

as I've

hou John E

welcome

elcome my

ursed on

s head 'pon his

h it struc

other be wi

Mother,

e, the ge

el that gro

s grace in

r our king

e, for our

they shoul

d Lord; y

ndin' of

by, with a light pull on Zeb'

and sighed gently. "Just now I feel as if I'd been tossin' out yonder through many fierce days an' nights an' w

iscern off Bradden Point a dot of white, as of a ship i

ds," shouted his father, u

on a su

bank, a s

on a su

as day i'

ships come

' by, a-s

ships com

as day i'

be i' these

sure Zeb and Ru

r so, listening to their voices as they died away down the road. As he barred the door, he turned and saw that Ruby had lit the lamp, and was already engaged in setting the ki

he did not speak, she too came to

gate steal up Channel like a ghost. She had passed out of his sigh

UNTED

a low archway, festooned with toad-flax and fringed with the hart's-tongue fern. Within the archway bubbles a well, the water of which was once used for all baptisms in the parish, for no child sprinkled with it could ever be hanged with hemp. But this belief is discredited now, and the well neglected: and the e

ng, he'd carry me off to churchyard, set me upon a flat stone, with his coat folded under, and talk to me while he delved. I can mind, now, the way he'd settle lower and lower, till his head played hidey-peep with me over the grave's edge, and at last he'd be clean swallowed up, but still discoursing o

s'le all shiny-yellow in the sunset. Though I didn't know it then, she was the Preventive boat, and her business was to watch the Hauen: for there had been a brush between her and the Unity lugger, a fortnight back, and a Preventive man shot through the breast-bone, and my mother's brother Philip was hiding down in the town. I minded, later, how that the men across the vale, in Farmer Tresidder's wheat-field, paused every now

erground to-day, fat

ys he, "No, sonny. 'Reckon us'

p, round and round we went, in a sort of blind-man's-holiday full of little glints of light and whiff's

witnessed from where we're standin', so

s, and seeing if I could make out two-and-twenty. 'Twas the prettiest sight-all the country round looking as if 'twas dusted with gold, and the Plymouth roa

der, honey, an'

dust,"

y boy, use your eye

in, "an' suthin' twinkli

ng to the side of the tower facing the harvest-

hat have 'ee?"-ve

And then a gun was fired, and craning forward over the coping I saw a dozen men running across

"'tis a neck, sure 'nuf

, so

when they drew near within a mile, and our limbs ached with crouching-for fear they should spy us against the sky-father took me by th

n scarlet jackets and white breeches that showed bravely against their black war-horses and jet-black holsters, thick as they were wi' dust. Each man had a golden helmet, and a

g above them-than if I'd been a sprig of stonecrop. But the captain, who carried a drawn sword and mopped his face with a

nd upon his crupper; "didn't we see a figger

ghtest man in the troop, and the muscles on his arm filled out his sleeve wit

ng shoulders and a boy with a goose neck."

hey rode down into the town as night fell. But 'twas too late, Uncle Philip having had fair warning and plenty of time to flee up towards the little secret hold under Mabel Down, where none

a huff. "Sergeant," says he, "here's an inn, though a damned bad 'un, an' here I means to stop. Somewheres about there's a farm called Constantine,

g the dirty nature of his errand-he soon found plenty to direct him to Farmer Noy's, of Constantine; and up the coombe they rode into the darknes

girl but just husband-high. Money did it, I reckon; but if so, 'twas a bad bargain for her. He was noted for stinginess to such a degree that they said his wife wore a brass wedd

stram-a-ram upon the door, down comes the old c

e, halfway up the stairs, stood Madam Noy in her night rail-a high-coloured ripe girl, languishing

!" said the sergeant to h

jers, in the

vils!" sa

; "an', begad, ye must feed an' bed 'em this night-or else I'll search your

y damned honest gormandisin' souldjers-be come in his Majesty's name, forty strong, to protect honest folks' rights in the intervals of eatin' 'em out o

e men about on clean straw in the outhouses. They were turning back to the house, and the old man was turning over in his mind that the sergeant hadn

hirty ankers and more of contraband liquor in his cellars, and mindin

cries out, "

said she, "to say

ays the dragoon

i' the sp

and bowing, "a soldier with my responsibility sleeps but

n' the bread an' cheese

session of the parlour, and le

ng his regimentals. The old man stood a pace off, looking sourl

d he, "one of you

red; "though I can play cribbage,

xt day the dragooners searched the town again, and were billeted all about among the cottages. But the sergeant returned to Constantine,

through the game. "Sergeant, you're cheatin' yoursel' an'

s true he had forgot to mark; and feeling the hot pulse in her wrist, and beho

of fear down in the town. At dead of night or at noonday they came on us-six times in all: and for two months the crew of the Unity couldn't call their souls their own, but lived from da

ved to billet himself, 'tis to be thought pretty Madam Noy pined to see him again, kicking his spurs in the porch and smiling out of his gay brown eyes; for her face fell away from its plump condition, and the hunger in her eyes grew and grew. But a more remarkable fact was that her

the doctor, taken ab

come to

r. When they summon ye, before lookin' at my body-that'll be past help-go you to the little left-top corner drawer o' my wife's

away home-along, and the

licate key, that the farmer had unhitched from his watch-chain and given him. There was no parcel of letters, as he looked to find, but only a small packet crumpled away i

was in the constables' hands upon the c

tle drawer and inside the old man's body. He was subpoena'd from Plymouth, and cross-examined by a great hulking King's Counsel for three-quarters of an hour. But they got nothing out of him. All through the examination the prisoner looked at him and nodded her white face, every now a

spoken by the judge. "Pris'ner at the bar," said the Clerk of Arraigns, "

rail before her, and s

be ready to die at once for my sin. But if ye kill me

ry. She was led back to prison, and there, about the end of June, her child was born, and died b

ckets to take me into Bodmin that day, and get a touch of the dead woman's hand, which in those times was conside

dogs and cats they'd no further use for. All the bank under the gallows was that thick with people you could almost walk upon their heads; and my ribs were squeezed by the crowd so that I couldn't breathe

ain reading in his book, and the unnamed man behind-all from the little door. She wore a strai

fought his way to the foot of the scaffold. 'Twas the dashing sergeant, that was here upon sick-leave. Sick he was, I believe. His face above h

e doomed woman said,

h, so he tossed up what was in his hand, and th

!" said the sheriff, lay

her finger. Then she kissed it once, under the beam,

go wi' you; an' when I wan

turned to the s

ready,

ndled the poor old horse out of his feed, I believe; for he crawled like a slug. But they were so taken up with discussing the day's doings, and what a mort of people had been present, and how the sheriff

ttom, where for more than a mile two carts can't pass eac

there's somebody ga

of a horse's hoofs, pounding furiously

n' down th' lane!" And in a minute's time the cla

rn-or draw aside in God's name,

y father, quartering

Farmer Hugo,

s. A's blazin' drunk, I reckon-but 'tisn' that-'tis the horrible voi

s as his horse leapt off again, and 'way-to-go down the hill. My father stood up and lashed our old grey with the reins, and down we went too, bumpity-bump for our lives, the poor beast being taken suddenly like one p

up t'other side of the valley. Knowing we must be overtaken further on-for the screams and clatter seemed at our very

over us as he dashed through it and up the hill. 'Twas the scarlet dragoon with his ashen face; and behind him, holding to

heard of Sergeant Basket. The fright killed my mother. Before next spring she fell into a decline, and early next fall the old man-for he was an old man now-had to delve her grave. Aft

loosest soil, and I was off on a day's work, thatching Farmer Tresidder's stacks. He was digging away slowly when he heard a

gate and came over the graves, father saw that 'twas the dashing dragoon. His face was still a slaty-

e hedge and look down the ro

his knees shaking,

n the road. She is dressed in black, an' has a

ragoon, "go to the gate

, an' tell me

hattering, "I see, twenty yards back, a naked child c

ys the dragoon. And with that he faced

n' see the rest," he s

d the bridle and swung himse

bank my father saw two figures waiting. 'Twas the woman and the child, hand in hand; a

n and the woman behind. The man's face was set like a stone. Not a word did either speak, and in this fashion they rode down the hill towards Ruan

saw them, an hour later, go along the road below the town-place; and Jacobs, the smith, saw them pass his forge tow

E PAN

AT THE "IN

e yellow ball of the westering sun. Whenever I turned my head and blinked, red simulacra of this ball hopped up and down over the brown moors. Miles of wasteland, dotted with peat-ricks and cropping ponies, stretched to the northern horizon: on our left three long coombes radiated seaward, and in the gorge of the midmost was a building st

rtinent to this narrative, was led, after five years of parochial work in Surrey, to accept an Inspectorship of Schools. Just now I was bound for Pitt's Scawens, a desolate village among the Cornish clay-moors, there to examine and report upon the Board School.

n yonder?" I a

answered, not troubl

fam

to these parts b

the plac

menh

almost before he spoke. As he flicked up his grey horse and the gig began to oscillate in mor

eople who live ther

and treated me quite excus

se parts five-an'-forty year, man a

xt mile I continued to hunt my brain for the right combination of syllables. I only knew that somewhere, now at the back of my head, now on my tongue-tip, there hung

disembodied travellers for the Land's End. I knew the sign-board over the porch: I knew-though now in the twilight it was impossible to distinguish colours-that upon either side of it was painted an Indian Queen in a scarlet turban and blue robe, taking two black children with scarlet parasols to see a blue palm-tree. I recognised the hepping-stock and granite drinking-tro

my letter, t

e cloth laid. My wife didn't like to risk cooking the fowl till you were really come. 'Railways be that

scover that these gloomy anticipatio

wait half an h

me up to my bedroom, I'll have a wash and change my clo

its broad balusters; the tick of the tall clock, standing at the first turn of the stairs; the vista down the glazed door opening on the stable-yard. When the landlord returned with my portmanteau and a candle

y spirits revived, and I began mentally to arrange my plans for the next day. The prospect of dinner, too, after my cold drive was wonderfully comforting. Perhaps (thought I), there is good wine in this inn; it is just the

e again-and this time not as a merely vague sensation, but as a sharp and sudden fear taking me like a cold hand b

o be sure. Maybe you'd be better down-

y to have put him to the pains of lighting this fire for

what I would drink with my dinner. "The

would try

of sound por

in my Oxford days, and a long evening lay before me, with

ag. This pattern, striking enough in itself, became immeasurably more so when repeated a dozen times; for the stag of one hunt chased the riders of the next, and the riders chased the hounds, and so on in an unbroken procession right round the room. The window at the bottom of the room stood high in the wall, with short blue curtains and a blue-cushioned seat beneath. In the corner to the right of it stood a tall clock, and by the clock an old spinet, decorated with two plated cruets, a toy cottage constructed of shells and gum, and an ormolu clock under

ace that divided my face into two ill-fitting halves, and a film upon it, due, I suppose, to the smoke of the wood-fire below. But the set

ked boys, who appeared to be lowering it over the fire by a complicated system of pulleys, festoons, and flowers. These flowers and festoons, as well as the frame of the mirror, were of some light wood-lime, I fancy-and reminded me of Grinling Gibbons' work; and the glass tilted forward at a

should it begin to stir up again those memories which were memorie

came in wit

're looking at our

know why this word is writ

this house. Ralph Cardinnock, father to the last squire, built it. You'll see his i

nnock-for that which had been haunting

uel, I suppose. Is the

way of it was a

ell me about it," I said,

not the man to tell it properly. My wife is a better hand at it,

remenhuel come into the hands of the Parkyns

ed. Squire Philip came into the property when he was twenty-three: and before he reached twenty-seven, he was forced to let the old place. He was wild, they say-thundering wild; a drinking, dicing, cock-fighting, horse-rac

e disa

y he could raise and cleared out of the neighbourhood for a time; went off to Tregarrick when the militia was emb

y as I heard the name, and for a few seconds the landlord'

. But the old man found them out and stopped them in the nick of time and got six inches of cold steel for his pains. However, he kept

ecame o

remenhuel out of his right pocket and paid it into his left: and in time, there being no heir, he just took over the

oung lady-of Miss Cic

s: but when Sir Felix died-as he did about ten years after- she packed up and went somewhere to the North of England and settled. They say she an

ndlord swept the cloth, and produced a bottle of port, with a plate of biscuits and another of dried raisins, that I woke out of my musing. While I drew the arm-chair nearer the fire, he pushed forward the table with the wine to my elbow. After this,

asses and began medita

e together these wor

nd to fit them into the

my

ing it afresh when a puff of wind came down the chim

fronting me. I followed it lazily with my eyes. Then suddenly I bent

I

AW IN TH

lowly revolving eddies. The glass itself, too, was stirring beneath this film and running across its breadth in horizontal waves which broke themselves si

n beneath this milky colour and from the heart of the whirling film, there began to gleam an underlying brilliance after the fashion of the light in an opal, but with this difference, that the light here was blue- a steel blue so vivid that the pain of it forced me to shut my eye

he next, I found that though its face reflected

y arm-chair was there,

ble I saw was laid for two. Forks, knives and glasses gleamed at either end, and a couple of decanters caught the sparkle of the candles in the centre. This was my first observation. The second was that

une by which I was still haunted ran in my head or was tinkling from within the old spinet by the window. But after a

n the mirror, I saw the d

s wrapped in a cloak with a hood that almost concealed her face, while the man wore a heavy riding-coat. He was booted and spurred, and the backs of his top-boots were s

heeks damp with rain and slightly reddened by the wind. A curl of brown hair had broken loose from its knot and h

door was turning, and I dug the nails of my right hand into the palm of my left, to repres

ned fingers work as she struggled with her grief. The young Squire advanced and, with a hand on her shoulder, endeavoured by many endearments to comfort her. His lips moved vehemently, and gradually her shoulders ceased to rise and fall. By-and-by she raised her head and looked up into his face with wet, gle

ined, poured out another, still keeping his eyes on her, and began to walk impatiently up and down the room. And all the time Cicely's soft eyes never ceased to follow him. Clearly there was need for hurry, for they had not laid aside their travelling-cloaks, and onc

ee through them into the soul of him and recognised that soul for my own. Of all the passions there I knew that myself contained the germs. Vices repressed in youth, tendencies to sin starved in my own nature by lack of opportunity-these flourished in a rank growth. I saw virtues,

aced the door. Glancing at Cicely,

open and the figures of two men appeared on the threshold-Sir F

brother had sprung forward. Like two serpents their rapiers engaged in the candle-light. The soundless blades crossed and gl

k a couple of paces. While a man might count twenty the pair looked each

f across her lover's breast. There, for all the gentle efforts his left hand made to disengage her, she clung. She

ather on Cicely's cheeks and the anger in her lover's eyes. There was a pause as Sir Felix ceased to speak,

lunge and smote his blade aside. But such was the old man's passion that he followed the lunge with all

nd, with another clutch at the table's edge, dropped upon the hearth-rug. The young man, meanwhile, white and aghast

gan also to possess his soul and feel with his feelings, while at the same time I continued to sit before the glass, a helpless onlooker. I was two men at once; the man who knelt

rapier lay, picked it up softly and as softly stole up behind me. I tried to shout, to warn myself; but my tongue

ited it, there came a flash of pa

I

SAW IN

ish too exquisite for words to reach, too deep for memory to dive after. My eyes closed an

self groping along a passage and down a staircase filled with Egyptian darkness. Then the wind increased suddenly and shook the black curtain around my senses. A mu

was stretched around to the horizon, where straight ahead a grey bar shone across the gloom. I pressed on towards it. The heath was uneven under my feet, and now and then

ld be obscured for a moment, and then re-appear. At length a gentle acclivity of the moor hid it for a while. My legs positively raced up t

the light was playing. There was no moon, no star in heaven; yet over this desolate tarn hovered a pale radiance that ceased a

a horror only less strong. Here, as in the Blue Room, two souls were struggling for me. It was the soul of Philip Cardinnock tha

which I longed, and all my will grew suddenly intent on drawing it nearer. Even as my volition centred upon it, the black spot began to move slowly out into the pale radiance towards me. Silently, surely,

nd waded up to my knees in the icy water to meet it. It was a plain box, with no writing upon the lid, nor an

e touch came a further sensation that made me fling both arms ar

ngs' action. I felt that I must open that box or die horribly; that until I had it upon the

e sides, and with infinite effort dragged it up out of the water. It was heavy, and the weight upon my chest was heavier yet: bu

ure on my lungs grew more intolerable with each moment; but still I fought with that lid. Seven devils were within me and he

eath came and went in sobs. I could not die. I could not, m

l my strength into my hands. From the lid or from my own throat-I could not distinguish-there came a cr

ed my head and looked

ng it, I tu

ed on its features and open eyes, it wa

V

AVE SINC

st have turned to the left on leaving the house, travelled up the road for a hundred yards, and then struck almost at right angles across the moor. One of my shoes was found a furlong from the highway, and this had guided them. Of course they found no coffin beside me, and I was prudent enough to hold my tong

d, KENSINGTON, W.

Wra

to Squire Parkyn, the landlord. I think I may get it, as the Squire loves hard coin. When I have it up over my mantel-piece here you must run over and give me your opinion on it. By the way, clay has been discovered on the Tremenhuel Estate, just at the back of the "Indian Queens": at least, I hear that Squire Parkyn is running a Company, and is sanguine. You remember the tarn behind the inn? They made an odd discovery there when draining it for the new works. In the mud at the bottom was imbedded the perfect sk

, David E.

ted my offer for the chimney-piece. Let me hear soon t

HOUSEH

Memoirs of Gabrie

, so long afterwards-that when first I spied the ho

as I went. Overhead, the October moon was in her last quarter, and might have been a slice of finger-nail for all the light she afforded. Two-thirds of the time the wrack blotted her out altogether; and I, with my stick clipped tight under my armpit, eyes puckered up, and head bent aslant, had to keep my wits alive t

o the left, a point of light caught my notice, faint but steady; and at once I felt sure it burnt in the window of a house. "The house," thought I, "is a good mile off, beside the other road, and the light must ha

g over the stunted gorse that cropped up here and there, and dreading every moment to see the light quenched. "Suppose it burns in an upper window, and the family is going to bed, as

in fact, of a tall, square barrack, with a cluster of chimneys at either end, like ears, and a high wall, topped by the roofs of some outbuildings, concealing the lower win

a wine-glass, broadening out at the foot; an effect produced by the half-drawn curtains within. I came to a halt, waiting for the next

cting this peculiar note, and trying to disengage it from the natural chords of the storm.

, as if the person who carried it from the smaller room to the larger were lighting more candles; and now the illumination was strong enough to make fine gold threads of the rain

and here, too, was shelter; but not wishing to mistake a bed of nettles or any such pitfall for solid earth, I kept pretty wide as I went on. The house was dark on this side, and the wall, as before, had

house, so as to form a narrow courtlage. So much of it, too, as faced the road had been whitewash

orch; and along the wet surface of these there fell a

the court and found it as still as a room, owing to the high wall. But looking up and assuring mys

jog. Abating the sound of my feet on the paving-stones, I wen

dozen hats and great-coats, every one of clerical shape; and full in front of me a broad staircase ran up, with a staring Brussels carpet, the colours and pattern of which I can recall as well as I can to-day's breakfast. Under this staircas

s back was towards me, and one forepaw lay over his nose in a natural posture of sleep. I leant back on the wainscotting w

, with eyes alert for any movement of the mastiff; but he never stirred. I was glad enough, however, on reaching the stairs, to find them newly built, and the carpet thick. Up I went, with a glance at every step for the table which now hid the brute

which branched two passages-one turning sharply to my right, the other straight in front, so that I was g

s is only to be found in a great house at midnight. I declare that for a few seconds after I rattled th

ght sound-the tink-tink of a decanter on the rim of a

rtain that all of a sudden I straightened my back, took the remaining stairs at two stride

on the corner of a writing table, were set an unlit candle and a pile of manuscripts. At the opposite end of the room a curtained door led (as I guessed) to the chamber that I had first seen illuminated. All this I took in with the tail of my eye, while staring straight in fron

th a long clerical coat of preposterous fit hanging loosely from his shoulders, a white cravat, black breeches, and black stockings. His feet were loosely thrust into carpet slipper

d, and it trembled now in his right hand. I heard a spilt drop or two f

for a handkerchief, failed to find one, and rubbed

, turning his eyes upon me, as he lifted his glass a

," said I, wonderi

d his he

o lock it. You came

lost my way. I've

en moor si

in your hand,"

of respect to the y

very natural

tell me he

yes beamed a co

in. Set down those convicting boots, and don't drip pools of water

to a blaze. This done, he turned round on me with the poker still

done this?

get possession

May I inquire

ng in my tail-pocket

suppose t

y it, as you see, in

id the poker caref

eck"-he waved a hand,-"well, I have known you for just five minutes, and feel but a moderate interest in your neck. As for the inmates of this house, it will refresh you to hear that there are none. I have lived here two years with a butler and female cook, both of whom I dismissed yesterday at a minute's notice, for conduct which I will not shock your ears

d with nobler indiscretion. Your chivalry does not, indeed, disarm me, but prompts me to desire

the room to a sideboard, and produced a plate of biscu

"There is also a cold pie in

e for the bucket than the manger, as the grooms say: and the b

s no wat

ugh to-night to last

eld out the glass for him to fill. Having done so, he hel

at his brandy. "Does it strike you that, when confronted with mora

swered heartily, r

ther reply would hav

y. As a clergyman, you see, I was bound to be severe; but upon my word,

ers on the cloth for a f

ose their pertinence. But mine was a rare bird-a black swan among butlers! He was more than a butler: he was a quick and brightly gifted man. Of the

over my

irreproachably than did my amenities of manner. Divest him of his tray, and you would find his mode of entering a room hardly distinguishable from my own-the same urbanity, the same alertness of carriage, the same superfine

roke in; "you wa

asp that fact, do

ase to be your burglar and let

out the fingers of each

ke to read the Fathers with an accent that shall not offend you. My taste in wine is none the worse for having been formed in other men's cellars. Mor

y pounds a y

heap at th

did so with the air of one digesting a problem.

'Let me cease to be your burglar and let me be your butler.' The aspiration is respectable; but a man might as well say, 'Le

l; if at the end of that time I don't suit, you shall say so, and I'll march from your door with nothing in my pocket but my month's wages. Be hanged, sir! but when

nly known Parkins

k, from levity to extreme sulkiness. I have done more wickedness over this third tumbler than in all the

clear notion of the game you're playing. You want to make me drink, and

ing, on your own motion. As for the brandy, I would remin

nter, as he spoke, an

ing a gulp, "Ugh! it's

than he rose up, and stretche

, you have every right to refuse me. Two minutes ago you offered to become my butler, and I demurred. I now beg you to repeat that offer.

and catching up a candlestick

he did so, I found time to fling a glance at my old enemy, the mastiff. He lay as I had first seen him- a stuffed dog, if ever there was one. "Decidedly," thought I, "my wits a

ow am I to know you're not sending me to bed while yo

an, that never, to-night or hereafter, will I breathe a syllable about the ci

ou," said I; and

the second and ushered me into a sleeping-chamber, which, though narrow, was comfortable enough-

ets are aired, and if you'll wait a momen

ap coals of

lities I do not care a tinker's curse; but f

e back in a couple of min

in at the door; and without giving me time

e bed's edge, blinking at my candle till it died down in its socket, and afterwards at the purple square of window as it slowly changed to grey with the coming of dawn. I was cold to the heart, and my teeth chattered with an agu

ght of the passage into the front hall. There was a fan-shaped light over the door, and the place was very still and grey. A quick

into the flesh on either side of the vertebrae. Digging them deeper, I dragged hi

as gashed fr

de another movement, it would puzzle me to say. Twice I stirred a foot as if to run out

re, and passed in. A sick light stole through the blinds-enough for me to distinguish the glas

t, and listened to the violent beat of my hear

at the light patch in a line with the window was the white coverl

heart beating but my own. I reached out a hand to p

ong of the blind, and minute by minute that horrib

l to give myself courage, and, reaching for the

and long lines of grey hair falling back from the temples. The body was turned a little on one side, and one hand

it flashed on me that I had been indiscreet in taking servic

t a time, not once looking behind me. Outside the house the storm had died down, and white da

HANTMENT O

ckon I've

reflect their histories; and that generation after generation of the same family had here struggled to birth or death was written in this chamber unmistakably. The candle-light, twinkling on the face of a dark wardrobe near the door, li

thin green curtain, emphasised the hue of death on his face. The features were pinched, and very old. His tone held neither complaint nor passi

getting no reply, he a

wer, 'Lizabeth. Do 'ee

window, staring into the blackness wit

rta

said so,

towards him, nodded. For a mi

. Seemed to me 'twas harder, an'-an' more importan

N

I had a family round the bed. But there ain't no

t's

dsfoot powder-mill. He made a lovely corpse, did Samuel; but Jim, you see, he hadn't a chance. An' as for William, he's never come home nor wrote a line since he

's naugh

e old man sharply; "h

lia

say

straight. But he treated you bad, and he treated me bad, tho' he won't find no profit o' that. You'm my sister's child, 'Lizabeth," he rambled on; "an' wha

be qu

ll over thirty-once comely, but worn over-much, and prematurely hardened. The voice had hardened with it, perhaps. The old

gised at last. "I was on'y thinkin' of

on I'll

at there listlessly regarding the still shadows on the wall. The sick man never moved; only muttered once-some words that 'Lizabeth did not catch. At the end of an hour, alarm

as if he slept still;

off boots and shoes at the foot of the stairs, and her stocking'd feet scarcely raised a creak from the solid timbers. The staircase led

all chest by the bed such moneys as from week to week were wanted to pay the farm hands; and she had seen papers there, too-title-deeds, maybe. The house itself lay in a cup of the hill-side, backed with steep woods-so steep that, in places, anyone who had reasons (good or bad) for doing so, might well see in at any window he

Scripture may say, taken something out of the house with it. 'Lizabeth had known this kitchen for a score of years now; nevertheless, to-night it was unfamiliar, with emptier

and the rattle with which she set out cup, saucer, and teapot. She was bending over th

hout was misty and still. There was somebody on the other side of the d

kettle softly and reached out for her pistol. For a mom

lence again. 'Lizabeth stole across the kitchen, pistol

of breathing, and the shuffling of a heavy boot on the door-slate.

's t

k and husky, made s

more securely on her p

's t

evil-" bega

ack the bolt and

liam come back, you'd ha' been l

the door opened, and a tall soldier stepped out

abeth-with a pistol in your hand, too! Do you shoot the

taches were beaded also; his face was damp, and smeared with the dye that trickled from his sodden cap. As he

sanguine a pair of cheeks as one could wish to see. It seemed to 'Lizabeth that the red of his complexion had deepened since she saw him last, whi

, I reckon. I saw the

she found to reply, though aware that

rudged down across the fields. We were soaked enoug

W

s the only passenger by the

I for

rum in the cupboard?" While she was getting it out, he took off his cap and great-coat, hung them up behind the door, and, pulling the small

e only a

n the kettle wi

cursedly rough t

ed you'd be a sergeant at least," she pursued

m took

ow I've not be

degraded. I'm ma

ough have fancied this coat, though it ain't but a

hand

hen I came in. Here, Cousin 'Lizabeth," he exclaimed, starting up, "I'll be sworn for

t, Wi

liam, who was advancing, stopped for a second to stare.

e flaming when

his glass at a gulp, a

ever look so well as

zab

ard's trick,

Lord! I don't wonder they fight shy of you; you'd be a ha

ever be

is age. Is he har

of you for years

. I've a mind to tip up

will, too.

comes marchin

ay!

did you come back to-

any other? You're a comfortable lot, I must

my fathe

sed sit

I my be

the swine

he old man? I've done na

you're improved

en life." William

ot deg

him." He rose and made towards the

You m

' That's a

an't.' Sit dow

ing the mistress pret

omething to tell him-so

ide, you

oughly, but she he

wait. Lis

won

all. He

out another glassful with a shaking hand. 'Li

ut he's been ailin' for a year past,

still pallid; but h

You can't say aught to that. By the Lord! but I can buy myself out-

W

stair by this time.

a bad game being mi

sin 'Li

flame, without reply; and he

e. She remembered that the tea was still to make, and, on stooping to set the kettle back upon the logs, found it emptied by William's potations. Donning her

for barn and granary, on the left by a low wall, where, through a rough gate, the cart-track from the valley found its entrance. Against the further end of this wall leant an open cart-shed; and within three paces of it a perpetual spring of water gushing down the rock was caught and arrested for a while in a stone t

e and on the bubbling water as she filled her kettl

the cart-shed. 'Lizabeth turned quickly and held up her lante

s and ends of incongruous finery, with a bonnet, once smart, hanging limply forward over a pair of light-coloured eyes and a very lachrymose face. The ambition of

our busin

on't his father see me? He don't intend to leave me here all night, s

itude stiffened with

n' a sorry day it w

lli

I'm Mrs. Will

e." 'Lizabeth turned ab

ggled skirts and followed, sobbing still, but in diminuen

m Willia

rt to say so, seein' t

I'm not fit

re; you ain't wet through-on'y your feet; and here's a dry pair o' stockings, if you've none i' the bag. You must be po

ng her notions of gentility

d by the fire pulling off her damp stockings, "there's r

m. She made no comment, however, but set about making tea for herself; and, then, drawing

iam?" inquire

stai

is father

tted, "that's like enough; bu

hat William had always been meaning to tell his father, but feared to anger him, "because, my dear," she frankly explained, "I was once connected with the stage"-a form of speech behind which 'Lizabeth did not pry; that, a fortnight before Christmas, William had made up his mind at last, "'for,' as he said to me, 'the old man must be nearin' his end, and th

zabeth meditatively,

hand on the bottle, sta

t over-complimentary. Y

ay

of us pretty now

Maria, darlin',' said William one day, when him an' me was keepin' company, 'I believe you cou

ed you d

H'ain't you never

d aside the ques

-that you could lie down and let

other married women. He's wild at times, but I shut my eyes; an' he hav

and

m's wife at her heels, she mounted the stair, their shoeless feet making no sound. The door of the old man's bed-room stood ajar, and a fain

t her shoulder, and the eyes of the two wom

He was not praying, however; but had his head well buried in th

he lid with a crash, turned sharply round, and scrambled to his feet. His look embrace

nd!" said she

asily, and be

ou mean by sneaking u

but must needs be groping under his pillow for the key of that chest? You woman, there-you wif

t chair, and lay there huddled like a

liam, turning upon her, "or I'l

haven't struck her for a whole year,"

settle down wi' me an' be comfortable, eh? You're jilted, my girl, an' this is how you vent your jealo

o at the end diverted her wrath

ou're innocent as a lam

d, drawing out a scrap of fol

eoman, being of sound wit and health, and willing, though a sinner, t

every stick that I own, I hereby (for her good care of me)

e, I te

n his eye seemed to meditate violence. But he thought better of it; and

arry and bequeath the same to the heirs of her body; less the sum of one shi

go on," gro

a bad lot, and he may

my hand, this 17th d

ig

zer Tr

John Hooper." "P

learly of his composition. But it was plain enough,

rd o' this, Willia

oke into an inc

along, you

abeth, "I've never had n

, and this disinheritance of William struck her c

ce was his wife

You thought to buy him wi' your il

e of this trouble-the pale mask lying on the pill

e I meant t

lliam bent his own o

ant to buy me, C

tittered

s all to him. He was a liar from his birth. It's your natur' to think I'm jealous; a better woman would know I'm sick-sick wi' shame an' scorn o' mysel'. That

, I'm

gue!" roared William.

e," 'Lizabeth comm

fire. The paper dropped from her hand to the bare boards, and with a dying flicker was consumed. The c

r fullest. 'Lizabeth turned to William and f

t you've done?"

aughed a tr

I've made

no call-" b

d tramp down to Hooper's Farm; they'll give me a place, I know, an' be glad o' the

at the door, and, stepping up to the bed, bent an

ke the silence that foll

her head like that when she

' listen to this: If you was to die t

the Hoopers, who, as she had said, were thankful enough to get her services, for Mrs. Hooper was well up in years, and gladly resigned the dairy work to a girl who, as she

the army, of course; but he retained his barrack tales and his air of having seen life. These, backed up with a baritone voice and a largehandedness in standing treat, made him popular in the bar parlour. Meanwhile, Mrs. Transom, up at

"but she looked a sic

that the news should

h meaning, "William will soon be

quietly on wi

Hooper's, hitched his bridle over the garden gate, and entered. 'Lizabeth was in the garden; he could see her print sun-

am." Her voice w

say, and 'Lizabeth quic

s gettin' on; for it's main lonely up at

ares

oured no malice. "It's troubled me, since, that way you burnt the will, an' us tur

ting down her basket, and l

yin' an' settlin' down comfortable. I've no children to pester you, an' you

her, and began shelling the peas, one by one, i

, since last you asked me. Ain

ones be, and tell me;

r to ask me now. I thank you, but it can't be." Sh

fond o' me once. Come, girl, don't stand

s that I've found myself out-an' you

hinking o

my answer, William, and don't ask me again. I loved you once, but now I'm on

her hand. Wil

reat fool,

bye, W

ore, and returned to his horse. He did not ride home wards, but down the valley, where he spent the day

sing his errand, had stolen down on the other side of the garden wall parallel with which the peas were planted. Thus sh

'Lizabeth don't know which side her bread's butter

don't fairly see my way about in it. I'm main puzzled what

a fool,

t the man I reckon she knows b

. Put it fairly, indeed! If he'd said nothin', but just caught her in his arms, an' clipped an

was as

E