diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 11699-0.txt | 1658 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 11699-h/11699-h.htm | 1716 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/11699-8.txt | 2086 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/11699-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 45737 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/11699-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 47337 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/11699-h/11699-h.htm | 2116 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/11699.txt | 2086 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/11699.zip | bin | 0 -> 45727 bytes |
11 files changed, 9678 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/11699-0.txt b/11699-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..093b4f5 --- /dev/null +++ b/11699-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1658 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11699 *** + +J. S. LE FANU'S GHOSTLY TALES, VOLUME 1 + +Schalken the Painter (1851) + +and + +An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street (1853) + +by + +Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu + + + + + + +Schalken the Painter + + + _"For he is not a man as I am that + we should come together; neither is + there any that might lay his hand + upon us both. Let him, therefore, + take his rod away from me, and let + not his fear terrify me."_ + +There exists, at this moment, in good preservation a remarkable work of +Schalken's. The curious management of its lights constitutes, as usual +in his pieces, the chief apparent merit of the picture. I say +_apparent_, for in its subject, and not in its handling, however +exquisite, consists its real value. The picture represents the interior +of what might be a chamber in some antique religious building; and its +foreground is occupied by a female figure, in a species of white robe, +part of which is arranged so as to form a veil. The dress, however, is +not that of any religious order. In her hand the figure bears a lamp, by +which alone her figure and face are illuminated; and her features wear +such an arch smile, as well becomes a pretty woman when practising some +prankish roguery; in the background, and, excepting where the dim red +light of an expiring fire serves to define the form, in total shadow, +stands the figure of a man dressed in the old Flemish fashion, in an +attitude of alarm, his hand being placed upon the hilt of his sword, +which he appears to be in the act of drawing. + +There are some pictures, which impress one, I know not how, with a +conviction that they represent not the mere ideal shapes and +combinations which have floated through the imagination of the artist, +but scenes, faces, and situations which have actually existed. There is +in that strange picture, something that stamps it as the representation +of a reality. + +And such in truth it is, for it faithfully records a remarkable and +mysterious occurrence, and perpetuates, in the face of the female +figure, which occupies the most prominent place in the design, an +accurate portrait of Rose Velderkaust, the niece of Gerard Douw, the +first, and, I believe, the only love of Godfrey Schalken. My great +grandfather knew the painter well; and from Schalken himself he learned +the fearful story of the painting, and from him too he ultimately +received the picture itself as a bequest. The story and the picture have +become heir-looms in my family, and having described the latter, I +shall, if you please, attempt to relate the tradition which has +descended with the canvas. + +There are few forms on which the mantle of romance hangs more +ungracefully than upon that of the uncouth Schalken--the boorish but +most cunning worker in oils, whose pieces delight the critics of our day +almost as much as his manners disgusted the refined of his own; and yet +this man, so rude, so dogged, so slovenly, in the midst of his +celebrity, had in his obscure, but happier days, played the hero in a +wild romance of mystery and passion. + +When Schalken studied under the immortal Gerard Douw, he was a very +young man; and in spite of his phlegmatic temperament, he at once fell +over head and ears in love with the beautiful niece of his wealthy +master. Rose Velderkaust was still younger than he, having not yet +attained her seventeenth year, and, if tradition speaks truth, possessed +all the soft and dimpling charms of the fair, light-haired Flemish +maidens. The young painter loved honestly and fervently. His frank +adoration was rewarded. He declared his love, and extracted a faltering +confession in return. He was the happiest and proudest painter in all +Christendom. But there was somewhat to dash his elation; he was poor and +undistinguished. He dared not ask old Gerard for the hand of his sweet +ward. He must first win a reputation and a competence. + +There were, therefore, many dread uncertainties and cold days before +him; he had to fight his way against sore odds. But he had won the heart +of dear Rose Velderkaust, and that was half the battle. It is needless +to say his exertions were redoubled, and his lasting celebrity proves +that his industry was not unrewarded by success. + +These ardent labours, and worse still, the hopes that elevated and +beguiled them, were however, destined to experience a sudden +interruption--of a character so strange and mysterious as to baffle all +inquiry and to throw over the events themselves a shadow of +preternatural horror. + +Schalken had one evening outstayed all his fellow-pupils, and still +pursued his work in the deserted room. As the daylight was fast falling, +he laid aside his colours, and applied himself to the completion of a +sketch on which he had expressed extraordinary pains. It was a religious +composition, and represented the temptations of a pot-bellied Saint +Anthony. The young artist, however destitute of elevation, had, +nevertheless, discernment enough to be dissatisfied with his own work, +and many were the patient erasures and improvements which saint and +devil underwent, yet all in vain. The large, old-fashioned room was +silent, and, with the exception of himself, quite emptied of its usual +inmates. An hour had thus passed away, nearly two, without any improved +result. Daylight had already declined, and twilight was deepening into +the darkness of night. The patience of the young painter was exhausted, +and he stood before his unfinished production, angry and mortified, one +hand buried in the folds of his long hair, and the other holding the +piece of charcoal which had so ill-performed its office, and which he +now rubbed, without much regard to the sable streaks it produced, with +irritable pressure upon his ample Flemish inexpressibles. "Curse the +subject!" said the young man aloud; "curse the picture, the devils, the +saint--" + +At this moment a short, sudden sniff uttered close beside him made the +artist turn sharply round, and he now, for the first time, became aware +that his labours had been overlooked by a stranger. Within about a yard +and half, and rather behind him, there stood the figure of an elderly +man in a cloak and broad-brimmed, conical hat; in his hand, which was +protected with a heavy gauntlet-shaped glove, he carried a long ebony +walking-stick, surmounted with what appeared, as it glittered dimly in +the twilight, to be a massive head of gold, and upon his breast, through +the folds of the cloak, there shone the links of a rich chain of the +same metal. The room was so obscure that nothing further of the +appearance of the figure could be ascertained, and his hat threw his +features into profound shadow. It would not have been easy to conjecture +the age of the intruder; but a quantity of dark hair escaping from +beneath this sombre hat, as well as his firm and upright carriage served +to indicate that his years could not yet exceed threescore, or +thereabouts. There was an air of gravity and importance about the garb +of the person, and something indescribably odd, I might say awful, in +the perfect, stone-like stillness of the figure, that effectually +checked the testy comment which had at once risen to the lips of the +irritated artist. He, therefore, as soon as he had sufficiently +recovered his surprise, asked the stranger, civilly, to be seated, and +desired to know if he had any message to leave for his master. + +"Tell Gerard Douw," said the unknown, without altering his attitude in +the smallest degree, "that Minheer Vanderhausen, of Rotterdam, desires +to speak with him on tomorrow evening at this hour, and if he please, in +this room, upon matters of weight; that is all." + +The stranger, having finished this message, turned abruptly, and, with a +quick, but silent step quitted the room, before Schalken had time to say +a word in reply. The young man felt a curiosity to see in what direction +the burgher of Rotterdam would turn, on quitting the studio, and for +that purpose he went directly to the window which commanded the door. A +lobby of considerable extent intervened between the inner door of the +painter's room and the street entrance, so that Schalken occupied the +post of observation before the old man could possibly have reached the +street. He watched in vain, however. There was no other mode of exit. +Had the queer old man vanished, or was he lurking about the recesses of +the lobby for some sinister purpose? This last suggestion filled the +mind of Schalken with a vague uneasiness, which was so unaccountably +intense as to make him alike afraid to remain in the room alone, and +reluctant to pass through the lobby. However, with an effort which +appeared very disproportioned to the occasion, he summoned resolution to +leave the room, and, having locked the door and thrust the key in his +pocket, without looking to the right or left, he traversed the passage +which had so recently, perhaps still, contained the person of his +mysterious visitant, scarcely venturing to breathe till he had arrived +in the open street. + +"Minheer Vanderhausen!" said Gerard Douw within himself, as the +appointed hour approached, "Minheer Vanderhausen, of Rotterdam! I never +heard of the man till yesterday. What can he want of me? A portrait, +perhaps, to be painted; or a poor relation to be apprenticed; or a +collection to be valued; or--pshaw! there's no one in Rotterdam to leave +me a legacy. Well, whatever the business may be, we shall soon know it +all." + +It was now the close of day, and again every easel, except that of +Schalken, was deserted. Gerard Douw was pacing the apartment with the +restless step of impatient expectation, sometimes pausing to glance over +the work of one of his absent pupils, but more frequently placing +himself at the window, from whence he might observe the passengers who +threaded the obscure by-street in which his studio was placed. + +"Said you not, Godfrey," exclaimed Douw, after a long and fruitful gaze +from his post of observation, and turning to Schalken, "that the hour he +appointed was about seven by the clock of the Stadhouse?" + +"It had just told seven when I first saw him, sir," answered the +student. + +"The hour is close at hand, then," said the master, consulting a +horologe as large and as round as an orange. "Minheer Vanderhausen from +Rotterdam--is it not so?" + +"Such was the name." + +"And an elderly man, richly clad?" pursued Douw, musingly. + +"As well as I might see," replied his pupil; "he could not be young, nor +yet very old, neither; and his dress was rich and grave, as might become +a citizen of wealth and consideration." + +At this moment the sonorous boom of the Stadhouse clock told, stroke +after stroke, the hour of seven; the eyes of both master and student +were directed to the door; and it was not until the last peal of the +bell had ceased to vibrate, that Douw exclaimed---- + +"So, so; we shall have his worship presently, that is, if he means to +keep his hour; if not, you may wait for him, Godfrey, if you court his +acquaintance. But what, after all, if it should prove but a mummery got +up by Vankarp, or some such wag? I wish you had run all risks, and +cudgelled the old burgomaster soundly. I'd wager a dozen of Rhenish, his +worship would have unmasked, and pleaded old acquaintance in a trice." + +"Here he comes, sir," said Schalken, in a low monitory tone; and +instantly, upon turning towards the door, Gerard Douw observed the same +figure which had, on the day before, so unexpectedly greeted his pupil +Schalken. + +There was something in the air of the figure which at once satisfied the +painter that there was no masquerading in the case, and that he really +stood in the presence of a man of worship; and so, without hesitation, +he doffed his cap, and courteously saluting the stranger, requested him +to be seated. The visitor waved his hand slightly, as if in +acknowledgment of the courtesy, but remained standing. + +"I have the honour to see Minheer Vanderhausen of Rotterdam?" said +Gerard Douw. + +"The same," was the laconic reply of his visitor. + +"I understand your worship desires to speak with me," continued Douw, +"and I am here by appointment to wait your commands." + +"Is that a man of trust?" said Vanderhausen, turning towards Schalken, +who stood at a little distance behind his master. + +"Certainly," replied Gerard. + +"Then let him take this box, and get the nearest jeweller or goldsmith +to value its contents, and let him return hither with a certificate of +the valuation." + +At the same time, he placed a small case about nine inches square in the +hands of Gerard Douw, who was as much amazed at its weight as at the +strange abruptness with which it was handed to him. In accordance with +the wishes of the stranger, he delivered it into the hands of Schalken, +and repeating his direction, despatched him upon the mission. + +Schalken disposed his precious charge securely beneath the folds of his +cloak, and rapidly traversing two or three narrow streets, he stopped at +a corner house, the lower part of which was then occupied by the shop of +a Jewish goldsmith. He entered the shop, and calling the little Hebrew +into the obscurity of its back recesses, he proceeded to lay before him +Vanderhausen's casket. On being examined by the light of a lamp, it +appeared entirely cased with lead, the outer surface of which was much +scraped and soiled, and nearly white with age. This having been +partially removed, there appeared beneath a box of some hard wood; which +also they forced open and after the removal of two or three folds of +linen, they discovered its contents to be a mass of golden ingots, +closely packed, and, as the Jew declared, of the most perfect quality. +Every ingot underwent the scrutiny of the little Jew, who seemed to feel +an epicurean delight in touching and testing these morsels of the +glorious metal; and each one of them was replaced in its berth with the +exclamation: "_Mein Gott_, how very perfect! not one grain of +alloy--beautiful, beautiful!" The task was at length finished, and the +Jew certified under his hand the value of the ingots submitted to his +examination, to amount to many thousand rix-dollars. With the desired +document in his pocket, and the rich box of gold carefully pressed under +his arm, and concealed by his cloak, he retraced his way, and entering +the studio, found his master and the stranger in close conference. +Schalken had no sooner left the room, in order to execute the commission +he had taken in charge, than Vanderhausen addressed Gerard Douw in the +following terms:---- + +"I cannot tarry with you to-night more than a few minutes, and so I +shall shortly tell you the matter upon which I come. You visited the +town of Rotterdam some four months ago, and then I saw in the church of +St. Lawrence your niece, Rose Velderkaust. I desire to marry her; and if +I satisfy you that I am wealthier than any husband you can dream of for +her, I expect that you will forward my suit with your authority. If you +approve my proposal, you must close with it here and now, for I cannot +wait for calculations and delays." + +Gerard Douw was hugely astonished by the nature of Minheer +Vanderhausen's communication, but he did not venture to express +surprise; for besides the motives supplied by prudence and politeness, +the painter experienced a kind of chill and oppression like that which +is said to intervene when one is placed in unconscious proximity with +the object of a natural antipathy--an undefined but overpowering +sensation, while standing in the presence of the eccentric stranger, +which made him very unwilling to say anything which might reasonably +offend him. + +"I have no doubt," said Gerard, after two or three prefatory hems, "that +the alliance which you propose would prove alike advantageous and +honourable to my niece; but you must be aware that she has a will of her +own, and may not acquiesce in what _we_ may design for her advantage." + +"Do not seek to deceive me, sir painter," said Vanderhausen; "you are +her guardian--she is your ward--she is mine if _you_ like to make her +so." + +The man of Rotterdam moved forward a little as he spoke, and Gerard +Douw, he scarce knew why, inwardly prayed for the speedy return of +Schalken. + +"I desire," said the mysterious gentleman, "to place in your hands at +once an evidence of my wealth, and a security for my liberal dealing +with your niece. The lad will return in a minute or two with a sum in +value five times the fortune which she has a right to expect from her +husband. This shall lie in your hands, together with her dowry, and you +may apply the united sum as suits her interest best; it shall be all +exclusively hers while she lives: is that liberal?" + +Douw assented, and inwardly acknowledged that fortune had been +extraordinarily kind to his niece; the stranger, he thought, must be +both wealthy and generous, and such an offer was not to be despised, +though made by a humourist, and one of no very prepossessing presence. +Rose had no very high pretensions for she had but a modest dowry, which +she owed entirely to the generosity of her uncle; neither had she any +right to raise exceptions on the score of birth, for her own origin was +far from splendid, and as the other objections, Gerald resolved, and +indeed, by the usages of the time, was warranted in resolving, not to +listen to them for a moment. + +"Sir" said he, addressing the stranger, "your offer is liberal, and +whatever hesitation I may feel in closing with it immediately, arises +solely from my not having the honour of knowing anything of your family +or station. Upon these points you can, of course, satisfy me without +difficulty?' + +"As to my respectability," said the stranger, drily, "you must take that +for granted at present; pester me with no inquiries; you can discover +nothing more about me than I choose to make known. You shall have +sufficient security for my respectability--my word, if you are +honourable: if you are sordid, my gold." + +"A testy old gentleman," thought Douw, "he must have his own way; but, +all things considered, I am not justified to declining his offer. I will +not pledge myself unnecessarily, however." + +"You will not pledge yourself unnecessarily," said Vanderhausen, +strangely uttering the very words which had just floated through the +mind of his companion; "but you will do so if it is necessary, I +presume; and I will show you that I consider it indispensable. If the +gold I mean to leave in your hands satisfy you, and if you don't wish my +proposal to be at once withdrawn, you must, before I leave this room, +write your name to this engagement." + +Having thus spoken, he placed a paper in the hands of the master, the +contents of which expressed an engagement entered into by Gerard Douw, +to give to Wilken Vanderhausen of Rotterdam, in marriage, Rose +Velderkaust, and so forth, within one week of the date thereof. While +the painter was employed in reading this covenant, by the light of a +twinkling oil lamp in the far wall of the room, Schalken, as we have +stated, entered the studio, and having delivered the box and the +valuation of the Jew, into the hands of the stranger, he was about to +retire, when Vanderhausen called to him to wait; and, presenting the +case and the certificate to Gerard Douw, he paused in silence until he +had satisfied himself, by an inspection of both, respecting the value of +the pledge left in his hands. At length he said---- + +"Are you content?" + +The painter said he would fain have another day to consider. + +"Not an hour," said the suitor, apathetically. + +"Well then," said Douw, with a sore effort, "I am content, it is a +bargain." + +"Then sign at once," said Vanderhausen, "for I am weary." + +At the same time he produced a small case of writing materials, and +Gerard signed the important document. + +"Let this youth witness the covenant," said the old man; and Godfrey +Schalken unconsciously attested the instrument which for ever bereft him +of his dear Rose Velderkaust. + +The compact being thus completed, the strange visitor folded up the +paper, and stowed it safely in an inner pocket. + +"I will visit you to-morrow night at nine o'clock, at your own house, +Gerard Douw, and will see the object of our contract;" and so saying +Wilken Vanderhausen moved stiffly, but rapidly, out of the room. + +Schalken, eager to resolve his doubts, had placed himself by the window, +in order to watch the street entrance; but the experiment served only to +support his suspicions, for the old man did not issue from the door. +This was _very_ strange, odd, nay fearful. He and his master returned +together, and talked but little on the way, for each had his own +subjects of reflection, of anxiety, and of hope. Schalken, however, did +not know the ruin which menaced his dearest projects. + +Gerard Douw knew nothing of the attachment which had sprung up between +his pupil and his niece; and even if he had, it is doubtful whether he +would have regarded its existence as any serious obstruction to the +wishes of Minheer Vanderhausen. Marriages were then and there matters of +traffic and calculation; and it would have appeared as absurd in the +eyes of the guardian to make a mutual attachment an essential element in +a contract of the sort, as it would have been to draw up his bonds and +receipts in the language of romance. + +The painter, however, did not communicate to his niece the important +step which he had taken in her behalf, a forebearance caused not by any +anticipated opposition on her part, but solely by a ludicrous +consciousness that if she were to ask him for a description of her +destined bridegroom, he would be forced to confess that he had not once +seen his face, and if called upon, would find it absolutely impossible +to identify him. Upon the next day, Gerard Douw, after dinner, called +his niece to him and having scanned her person with an air of +satisfaction, he took her hand, and looking upon her pretty innocent +face with a smile of kindness, he said:---- + +"Rose, my girl, that face of yours will make your fortune." Rose blushed +and smiled. "Such faces and such tempers seldom go together, and when +they do, the compound is a love charm, few heads or hearts can resist; +trust me, you will soon be a bride, girl. But this is trifling, and I am +pressed for time, so make ready the large room by eight o'clock +to-night, and give directions for supper at nine. I expect a friend; and +observe me, child, do you trick yourself out handsomely. I will not have +him think us poor or sluttish." + +With these words he left her, and took his way to the room in which his +pupils worked. + +When the evening closed in, Gerard called Schalken, who was about to +take his departure to his own obscure and comfortless lodgings, and +asked him to come home and sup with Rose and Vanderhausen. The +invitation was, of course, accepted and Gerard Douw and his pupil soon +found themselves in the handsome and, even then, antique chamber, which +had been prepared for the reception of the stranger. A cheerful wood +fire blazed in the hearth, a little at one side of which an +old-fashioned table, which shone in the fire-light like burnished gold, +was awaiting the supper, for which preparations were going forward; and +ranged with exact regularity, stood the tall-backed chairs, whose +ungracefulness was more than compensated by their comfort. The little +party, consisting of Rose, her uncle, and the artist, awaited the +arrival of the expected visitor with considerable impatience. Nine +o'clock at length came, and with it a summons at the street door, which +being speedily answered, was followed by a slow and emphatic tread upon +the staircase; the steps moved heavily across the lobby, the door of the +room in which the party we have described were assembled slowly opened, +and there entered a figure which startled, almost appalled, the +phlegmatic Dutchmen, and nearly made Rose scream with terror. It was the +form, and arrayed in the garb of Minheer Vanderhausen; the air, the +gait, the height were the same, but the features had never been seen by +any of the party before. The stranger stopped at the door of the room, +and displayed his form and face completely. He wore a dark-coloured +cloth cloak, which was short and full, not falling quite to his knees; +his legs were cased in dark purple silk stockings, and his shoes were +adorned with roses of the same colour. The opening of the cloak in front +showed the under-suit to consist of some very dark, perhaps sable +material, and his hands were enclosed in a pair of heavy leather gloves, +which ran up considerably above the wrist, in the manner of a gauntlet. +In one hand he carried his walking-stick and his hat, which he had +removed, and the other hung heavily by his side. A quantity of grizzled +hair descended in long tresses from his head, and rested upon the plaits +of a stiff ruff, which effectually concealed his neck. So far all was +well; but the face!--all the flesh of the face was coloured with the +bluish leaden hue, which is sometimes produced by metallic medicines, +administered in excessive quantities; the eyes showed an undue +proportion of muddy white, and had a certain indefinable character of +insanity; the hue of the lips bearing the usual relation to that of the +face, was, consequently, nearly black; and the entire character of the +face was sensual, malignant, and even satanic. It was remarkable that +the worshipful stranger suffered as little as possible of his flesh to +appear, and that during his visit he did not once remove his gloves. +Having stood for some moments at the door, Gerard Douw at length found +breath and collectedness to bid him welcome, and with a mute inclination +of the head, the stranger stepped forward into the room. There was +something indescribably odd, even horrible, about all his motions, +something undefinable, that was unnatural, unhuman; it was as if the +limbs were guided and directed by a spirit unused to the management of +bodily machinery. The stranger spoke hardly at all during his visit, +which did not exceed half an hour; and the host himself could scarcely +muster courage enough to utter the few necessary salutations and +courtesies; and, indeed, such was the nervous terror which the presence +of Vanderhausen inspired, that very little would have made all his +entertainers fly in downright panic from the room. They had not so far +lost all self-possession, however, as to fail to observe two strange +peculiarities of their visitor. During his stay his eyelids did not once +close, or, indeed, move in the slightest degree; and farther, there was +a deathlike stillness in his whole person, owing to the absence of the +heaving motion of the chest, caused by the process of respiration. These +two peculiarities, though when told they may appear trifling, produced a +very striking and unpleasant effect when seen and observed. Vanderhausen +at length relieved the painter of Leyden of his inauspicious presence; +and with no trifling sense of relief the little party heard the street +door close after him. + +"Dear uncle," said Rose, "what a frightful man! I would not see him +again for the wealth of the States." + +"Tush, foolish girl," said Douw, whose sensations were anything but +comfortable. "A man may be as ugly as the devil, and yet, if his heart +and actions are good, he is worth all the pretty-faced perfumed puppies +that walk the Mall. Rose, my girl, it is very true he has not thy pretty +face, but I know him to be wealthy and liberal; and were he ten times +more ugly, these two virtues would be enough to counter balance all his +deformity, and if not sufficient actually to alter the shape and hue of +his features, at least enough to prevent one thinking them so much +amiss." + +"Do you know, uncle," said Rose, "when I saw him standing at the door, I +could not get it out of my head that I saw the old painted wooden figure +that used to frighten me so much in the Church of St. Laurence at +Rotterdam." + +Gerard laughed, though he could not help inwardly acknowledging the +justness of the comparison. He was resolved, however, as far as he +could, to check his niece's disposition to dilate upon the ugliness of +her intended bridegroom, although he was not a little pleased, as well +as puzzled, to observe that she appeared totally exempt from that +mysterious dread of the stranger which, he could not disguise it from +himself, considerably affected him, as also his pupil Godfrey Schalken. + +Early on the next day there arrived, from various quarters of the town, +rich presents of silks, velvets, jewellery, and so forth, for Rose; and +also a packet directed to Gerard Douw, which on being opened, was found +to contain a contract of marriage, formally drawn up, between Wilken +Vanderhausen of the _Boom-quay_, in Rotterdam, and Rose Velderkaust of +Leyden, niece to Gerard Douw, master in the art of painting, also of the +same city; and containing engagements on the part of Vanderhausen to +make settlements upon his bride, far more splendid than he had before +led her guardian to believe likely, and which were to be secured to her +use in the most unexceptionable manner possible--the money being placed +in the hand of Gerard Douw himself. + +I have no sentimental scenes to describe, no cruelty of guardians, no +magnanimity of wards, no agonies, or transport of lovers. The record I +have to make is one of sordidness, levity, and heartlessness. In less +than a week after the first interview which we have just described, the +contract of marriage was fulfilled, and Schalken saw the prize which he +would have risked existence to secure, carried off in solemn pomp by his +repulsive rival. For two or three days he absented himself from the +school; he then returned and worked, if with less cheerfulness, with far +more dogged resolution than before; the stimulus of love had given place +to that of ambition. Months passed away, and, contrary to his +expectation, and, indeed, to the direct promise of the parties, Gerard +Douw heard nothing of his niece or her worshipful spouse. The interest +of the money, which was to have been demanded in quarterly sums, lay +unclaimed in his hands. + +He began to grow extremely uneasy. Minheer Vanderhausen's direction in +Rotterdam he was fully possessed of; after some irresolution he finally +determined to journey thither--a trifling undertaking, and easily +accomplished--and thus to satisfy himself of the safety and comfort of +his ward, for whom he entertained an honest and strong affection. His +search was in vain, however; no one in Rotterdam had ever heard of +Minheer Vanderhausen. Gerard Douw left not a house in the _Boom-quay_ +untried, but all in vain. No one could give him any information whatever +touching the object of his inquiry, and he was obliged to return to +Leyden nothing wiser and far more anxious, than when he had left it. + +On his arrival he hastened to the establishment from which Vanderhausen +had hired the lumbering, though, considering the times, most luxurious +vehicle, which the bridal party had employed to convey them to +Rotterdam. From the driver of this machine he learned, that having +proceeded by slow stages, they had late in the evening approached +Rotterdam; but that before they entered the city, and while yet nearly a +mile from it, a small party of men, soberly clad, and after the old +fashion, with peaked beards and moustaches, standing in the centre of +the road, obstructed the further progress of the carriage. The driver +reined in his horses, much fearing, from the obscurity of the hour, and +the loneliness, of the road, that some mischief was intended. His fears +were, however, somewhat allayed by his observing that these strange men +carried a large litter, of an antique shape, and which they immediately +set down upon the pavement, whereupon the bridegroom, having opened the +coach-door from within, descended, and having assisted his bride to do +likewise, led her, weeping bitterly, and wringing her hands, to the +litter, which they both entered. It was then raised by the men who +surrounded it, and speedily carried towards the city, and before it had +proceeded very far, the darkness concealed it from the view of the Dutch +coachman. In the inside of the vehicle he found a purse, whose contents +more than thrice paid the hire of the carriage and man. He saw and could +tell nothing more of Minheer Vanderhausen and his beautiful lady. + +This mystery was a source of profound anxiety and even grief to Gerard +Douw. There was evidently fraud in the dealing of Vanderhausen with him, +though for what purpose committed he could not imagine. He greatly +doubted how far it was possible for a man possessing such a countenance +to be anything but a villain, and every day that passed without his +hearing from or of his niece, instead of inducing him to forget his +fears, on the contrary tended more and more to aggravate them. The loss +of her cheerful society tended also to depress his spirits; and in order +to dispel the gloom, which often crept upon his mind after his daily +occupations were over, he was wont frequently to ask Schalken to +accompany him home, and share his otherwise solitary supper. + +One evening, the painter and his pupil were sitting by the fire, having +accomplished a comfortable meal, and had yielded to the silent and +delicious melancholy of digestion, when their ruminations were disturbed +by a loud sound at the street door, as if occasioned by some person +rushing and scrambling vehemently against it. A domestic had run without +delay to ascertain the cause of the disturbance, and they heard him +twice or thrice interrogate the applicant for admission, but without +eliciting any other answer but a sustained reiteration of the sounds. +They heard him then open the hall-door, and immediately there followed a +light and rapid tread on the staircase. Schalken advanced towards the +door. It opened before he reached it, and Rose rushed into the room. She +looked wild, fierce and haggard with terror and exhaustion, but her +dress surprised them as much as even her unexpected appearance. It +consisted of a kind of white woollen wrapper, made close about the neck, +and descending to the very ground. It was much deranged and +travel-soiled. The poor creature had hardly entered the chamber when she +fell senseless on the floor. With some difficulty they succeeded in +reviving her, and on recovering her senses, she instantly exclaimed, in +a tone of terror rather than mere impatience:---- + +"Wine! wine! quickly, or I'm lost!" + +Astonished and almost scared at the strange agitation in which the call +was made, they at once administered to her wishes, and she drank some +wine with a haste and eagerness which surprised them. She had hardly +swallowed it, when she exclaimed, with the same urgency: + +"Food, for God's sake, food, at once, or I perish." + +A considerable fragment of a roast joint was upon the table, and +Schalken immediately began to cut some, but he was anticipated, for no +sooner did she see it than she caught it, a more than mortal image of +famine, and with her hands, and even with her teeth, she tore off the +flesh, and swallowed it. When the paroxysm of hunger had been a little +appeased, she appeared on a sudden overcome with shame, or it may have +been that other more agitating thoughts overpowered and scared her, for +she began to weep bitterly and to wring her hands. + +"Oh, send for a minister of God," said she; "I am not safe till he +comes; send for him speedily." + +Gerard Douw despatched a messenger instantly, and prevailed on his niece +to allow him to surrender his bed chamber to her use. He also persuaded +her to retire to it at once to rest; her consent was extorted upon the +condition that they would not leave her for a moment. + +"Oh that the holy man were here," she said; "he can deliver me: the dead +and the living can never be one: God has forbidden it." + +With these mysterious words she surrendered herself to their guidance, +and they proceeded to the chamber which Gerard Douw had assigned to her +use. + +"Do not, do not leave me for a moment," said she; "I am lost for ever if +you do." + +Gerard Douw's chamber was approached through a spacious apartment, which +they were now about to enter. He and Schalken each carried a candle, so +that a sufficiency of light was cast upon all surrounding objects. They +were now entering the large chamber, which as I have said, communicated +with Douw's apartment, when Rose suddenly stopped, and, in a whisper +which thrilled them both with horror, she said:---- + +"Oh, God! he is here! he is here! See, see! there he goes!" + +She pointed towards the door of the inner room, and Schalken thought he +saw a shadowy and ill-defined form gliding into that apartment. He drew +his sword, and, raising the candle so as to throw its light with +increased distinctness upon the objects in the room, he entered the +chamber into which the shadow had glided. No figure was there--nothing +but the furniture which belonged to the room, and yet he could not be +deceived as to the fact that something had moved before them into the +chamber. A sickening dread came upon him, and the cold perspiration +broke out in heavy drops upon his forehead; nor was he more composed, +when he heard the increased urgency and agony of entreaty, with which +Rose implored them not to leave her for a moment. + +"I saw him," said she; "he's here. I cannot be deceived; I know him; +he's by me; he is with me; he's in the room. Then, for God's sake, as +you would save me, do not stir from beside me." + +They at length prevailed upon her to lie down upon the bed, where she +continued to urge them to stay by her. She frequently uttered incoherent +sentences, repeating, again and again, "the dead and the living cannot +be one: God has forbidden it." And then again, "Rest to the +wakeful--sleep to the sleep-walkers." These and such mysterious and +broken sentences, she continued to utter until the clergyman arrived. +Gerard Douw began to fear, naturally enough, that terror or +ill-treatment, had unsettled the poor girl's intellect, and he half +suspected, by the suddenness of her appearance, the unseasonableness of +the hour, and above all, from the wildness and terror of her manner, +that she had made her escape from some place of confinement for +lunatics, and was in imminent fear of pursuit. He resolved to summon +medical advice as soon as the mind of his niece had been in some measure +set at rest by the offices of the clergyman whose attendance she had so +earnestly desired; and until this object had been attained, he did not +venture to put any questions to her, which might possibly, by reviving +painful or horrible recollections, increase her agitation. The clergyman +soon arrived--a man of ascetic countenance and venerable age--one whom +Gerard Douw respected very much, forasmuch as he was a veteran polemic, +though one perhaps more dreaded as a combatant than beloved as a +Christian--of pure morality, subtle brain, and frozen heart. He entered +the chamber which communicated with that in which Rose reclined and +immediately on his arrival, she requested him to pray for her, as for +one who lay in the hands of Satan, and who could hope for deliverance +only from heaven. + +That you may distinctly understand all the circumstances of the event +which I am going to describe, it is necessary to state the relative +position of the parties who were engaged in it. The old clergyman and +Schalken were in the anteroom of which I have already spoken; Rose lay +in the inner chamber, the door of which was open; and by the side of the +bed, at her urgent desire, stood her guardian; a candle burned in the +bedchamber, and three were lighted in the outer apartment. The old man +now cleared his voice as if about to commence, but before he had time to +begin, a sudden gust of air blew out the candle which served to +illuminate the room in which the poor girl lay, and she, with hurried +alarm, exclaimed:---- + +"Godfrey, bring in another candle; the darkness is unsafe." + +Gerard Douw forgetting for the moment her repeated injunctions, in the +immediate impulse, stepped from the bedchamber into the other, in order +to supply what she desired. + +"Oh God! do not go, dear uncle," shrieked the unhappy girl--and at the +same time she sprung from the bed, and darted after him, in order, by +her grasp, to detain him. But the warning came too late, for scarcely +had he passed the threshold, and hardly had his niece had time to utter +the startling exclamation, when the door which divided the two rooms +closed violently after him, as if swung by a strong blast of wind. +Schalken and he both rushed to the door, but their united and desperate +efforts could not avail so much as to shake it. Shriek after shriek +burst from the inner chamber, with all the piercing loudness of +despairing terror. Schalken and Douw applied every nerve to force open +the door; but all in vain. There was no sound of struggling from within, +but the screams seemed to increase in loudness, and at the same time +they heard the bolts of the latticed window withdrawn, and the window +itself grated upon the sill as if thrown open. One _last_ shriek, so +long and piercing and agonized as to be scarcely human, swelled from the +room, and suddenly there followed a death-like silence. A light step was +heard crossing the floor, as if from the bed to the window; and almost +at the same instant the door gave way, and, yielding to the pressure of +the external applicants, nearly precipitated them into the room. It was +empty. The window was open, and Schalken sprung to a chair and gazed out +upon the street and canal below. He saw no form, but he saw, or thought +he saw, the waters of the broad canal beneath settling ring after ring +in heavy circles, as if a moment before disturbed by the submission of +some ponderous body. + +No trace of Rose was ever after found, nor was anything certain +respecting her mysterious wooer discovered or even suspected--no clue +whereby to trace the intricacies of the labyrinth and to arrive at its +solution, presented itself. But an incident occurred, which, though it +will not be received by our rational readers in lieu of evidence, +produced nevertheless a strong and a lasting impression upon the mind of +Schalken. Many years after the events which we have detailed, Schalken, +then residing far away received an intimation of his father's death, and +of his intended burial upon a fixed day in the church of Rotterdam. It +was necessary that a very considerable journey should be performed by +the funeral procession, which as it will be readily believed, was not +very numerously attended. Schalken with difficulty arrived in Rotterdam +late in the day upon which the funeral was appointed to take place. It +had not then arrived. Evening closed in, and still it did not appear. + +Schalken strolled down to the church; he found it open; notice of the +arrival of the funeral had been given, and the vault in which the body +was to be laid had been opened. The sexton, on seeing a well-dressed +gentleman, whose object was to attend the expected obsequies, pacing the +aisle of the church, hospitably invited him to share with him the +comforts of a blazing fire, which, as was his custom in winter time upon +such occasions, he had kindled in the hearth of a chamber in which he +was accustomed to await the arrival of such grisly guests and which +communicated, by a flight of steps, with the vault below. In this +chamber, Schalken and his entertainer seated themselves; and the sexton, +after some fruitless attempts to engage his guest in conversation, was +obliged to apply himself to his tobacco-pipe and can, to solace his +solitude. In spite of his grief and cares, the fatigues of a rapid +journey of nearly forty hours gradually overcame the mind and body of +Godfrey Schalken, and he sank into a deep sleep, from which he awakened +by someone's shaking him gently by the shoulder. He first thought that +the old sexton had called him, but _he_ was no longer in the room. He +roused himself, and as soon as he could clearly see what was around him, +he perceived a female form, clothed in a kind of light robe of white, +part of which was so disposed as to form a veil, and in her hand she +carried a lamp. She was moving rather away from him, in the direction of +the flight of steps which conducted towards the vaults. Schalken felt a +vague alarm at the sight of this figure and at the same time an +irresistible impulse to follow its guidance. He followed it towards the +vaults, but when it reached the head of the stairs, he paused; the +figure paused also, and, turning gently round, displayed, by the light +of the lamp it carried, the face and features of his first love, Rose +Velderkaust. There was nothing horrible, or even sad, in the +countenance. On the contrary, it wore the same arch smile which used to +enchant the artist long before in his happy days. A feeling of awe and +interest, too intense to be resisted, prompted him to follow the +spectre, if spectre it were. She descended the stairs--he followed--and +turning to the left, through a narrow passage, she led him, to his +infinite surprise, into what appeared to be an old-fashioned Dutch +apartment, such as the pictures of Gerard Douw have served to +immortalize. Abundance of costly antique furniture was disposed about +the room, and in one corner stood a four-post bed, with heavy black +cloth curtains around it; the figure frequently turned towards him with +the same arch smile; and when she came to the side of the bed, she drew +the curtains, and, by the light of the lamp, which she held towards its +contents, she disclosed to the horror-stricken painter, sitting bolt +upright in the bed, the livid and demoniac form of Vanderhausen. +Schalken had hardly seen him, when he fell senseless upon the floor, +where he lay until discovered, on the next morning, by persons employed +in closing the passages into the vaults. He was lying in a cell of +considerable size, which had not been disturbed for a long time, and he +had fallen beside a large coffin, which was supported upon small +pillars, a security against the attacks of vermin. + +To his dying day Schalken was satisfied of the reality of the vision +which he had witnessed, and he has left behind him a curious evidence of +the impression which it wrought upon his fancy, in a painting executed +shortly after the event I have narrated, and which is valuable as +exhibiting not only the peculiarities which have made Schalken's +pictures sought after, but even more so as presenting a portrait of his +early love, Rose Velderkaust, whose mysterious fate must always remain +matter of speculation. + + + + +An Account of Some Strange +Disturbances in Aungier Street + + +It is not worth telling, this story of mine--at least, not worth +writing. Told, indeed, as I have sometimes been called upon to tell it, +to a circle of intelligent and eager faces, lighted up by a good +after-dinner fire on a winter's evening, with a cold wind rising and +wailing outside, and all snug and cosy within, it has gone off--though I +say it, who should not--indifferent well. But it is a venture to do as +you would have me. Pen, ink, and paper are cold vehicles for the +marvellous, and a "reader" decidedly a more critical animal than a +"listener." If, however, you can induce your friends to read it after +nightfall, and when the fireside talk has run for a while on thrilling +tales of shapeless terror; in short, if you will secure me the _mollia +tempora fandi_, I will go to my work, and say my say, with better heart. +Well, then, these conditions presupposed, I shall waste no more words, +but tell you simply how it all happened. + +My cousin (Tom Ludlow) and I studied medicine together. I think he would +have succeeded, had he stuck to the profession; but he preferred the +Church, poor fellow, and died early, a sacrifice to contagion, +contracted in the noble discharge of his duties. For my present purpose, +I say enough of his character when I mention that he was of a sedate but +frank and cheerful nature; very exact in his observance of truth, and +not by any means like myself--of an excitable or nervous temperament. + +My Uncle Ludlow--Tom's father--while we were attending lectures, +purchased three or four old houses in Aungier Street, one of which was +unoccupied. _He_ resided in the country, and Tom proposed that we should +take up our abode in the untenanted house, so long as it should continue +unlet; a move which would accomplish the double end of settling us +nearer alike to our lecture-rooms and to our amusements, and of +relieving us from the weekly charge of rent for our lodgings. + +Our furniture was very scant--our whole equipage remarkably modest and +primitive; and, in short, our arrangements pretty nearly as simple as +those of a bivouac. Our new plan was, therefore, executed almost as soon +as conceived. The front drawing-room was our sitting-room. I had the +bedroom over it, and Tom the back bedroom on the same floor, which +nothing could have induced me to occupy. + +The house, to begin with, was a very old one. It had been, I believe, +newly fronted about fifty years before; but with this exception, it had +nothing modern about it. The agent who bought it and looked into the +titles for my uncle, told me that it was sold, along with much other +forfeited property, at Chichester House, I think, in 1702; and had +belonged to Sir Thomas Hacket, who was Lord Mayor of Dublin in James +II.'s time. How old it was _then_, I can't say; but, at all events, it +had seen years and changes enough to have contracted all that mysterious +and saddened air, at once exciting and depressing, which belongs to most +old mansions. + +There had been very little done in the way of modernising details; and, +perhaps, it was better so; for there was something queer and by-gone in +the very walls and ceilings--in the shape of doors and windows--in the +odd diagonal site of the chimney-pieces--in the beams and ponderous +cornices--not to mention the singular solidity of all the woodwork, from +the banisters to the window-frames, which hopelessly defied disguise, +and would have emphatically proclaimed their antiquity through any +conceivable amount of modern finery and varnish. + +An effort had, indeed, been made, to the extent of papering the +drawing-rooms; but somehow, the paper looked raw and out of keeping; and +the old woman, who kept a little dirt-pie of a shop in the lane, and +whose daughter--a girl of two and fifty--was our solitary handmaid, +coming in at sunrise, and chastely receding again as soon as she had +made all ready for tea in our state apartment;--this woman, I say, +remembered it, when old Judge Horrocks (who, having earned the +reputation of a particularly "hanging judge," ended by hanging himself, +as the coroner's jury found, under an impulse of "temporary insanity," +with a child's skipping-rope, over the massive old bannisters) resided +there, entertaining good company, with fine venison and rare old port. +In those halcyon days, the drawing-rooms were hung with gilded leather, +and, I dare say, cut a good figure, for they were really spacious rooms. + +The bedrooms were wainscoted, but the front one was not gloomy; and in +it the cosiness of antiquity quite overcame its sombre associations. But +the back bedroom, with its two queerly-placed melancholy windows, +staring vacantly at the foot of the bed, and with the shadowy recess to +be found in most old houses in Dublin, like a large ghostly closet, +which, from congeniality of temperament, had amalgamated with the +bedchamber, and dissolved the partition. At night-time, this +"alcove"--as our "maid" was wont to call it--had, in my eyes, a +specially sinister and suggestive character. Tom's distant and solitary +candle glimmered vainly into its darkness. _There_ it was always +overlooking him--always itself impenetrable. But this was only part of +the effect. The whole room was, I can't tell how, repulsive to me. There +was, I suppose, in its proportions and features, a latent discord--a +certain mysterious and indescribable relation, which jarred indistinctly +upon some secret sense of the fitting and the safe, and raised +indefinable suspicions and apprehensions of the imagination. On the +whole, as I began by saying, nothing could have induced me to pass a +night alone in it. + +I had never pretended to conceal from poor Tom my superstitious +weakness; and he, on the other hand, most unaffectedly ridiculed my +tremors. The sceptic was, however, destined to receive a lesson, as you +shall hear. + +We had not been very long in occupation of our respective dormitories, +when I began to complain of uneasy nights and disturbed sleep. I was, I +suppose, the more impatient under this annoyance, as I was usually a +sound sleeper, and by no means prone to nightmares. It was now, however, +my destiny, instead of enjoying my customary repose, every night to "sup +full of horrors." After a preliminary course of disagreeable and +frightful dreams, my troubles took a definite form, and the same vision, +without an appreciable variation in a single detail, visited me at least +(on an average) every second night in the week. + +Now, this dream, nightmare, or infernal illusion--which you please--of +which I was the miserable sport, was on this wise:---- + +I saw, or thought I saw, with the most abominable distinctness, although +at the time in profound darkness, every article of furniture and +accidental arrangement of the chamber in which I lay. This, as you know, +is incidental to ordinary nightmare. Well, while in this clairvoyant +condition, which seemed but the lighting up of the theatre in which was +to be exhibited the monotonous tableau of horror, which made my nights +insupportable, my attention invariably became, I know not why, fixed +upon the windows opposite the foot of my bed; and, uniformly with the +same effect, a sense of dreadful anticipation always took slow but sure +possession of me. I became somehow conscious of a sort of horrid but +undefined preparation going forward in some unknown quarter, and by some +unknown agency, for my torment; and, after an interval, which always +seemed to me of the same length, a picture suddenly flew up to the +window, where it remained fixed, as if by an electrical attraction, and +my discipline of horror then commenced, to last perhaps for hours. The +picture thus mysteriously glued to the window-panes, was the portrait of +an old man, in a crimson flowered silk dressing-gown, the folds of which +I could now describe, with a countenance embodying a strange mixture of +intellect, sensuality, and power, but withal sinister and full of +malignant omen. His nose was hooked, like the beak of a vulture; his +eyes large, grey, and prominent, and lighted up with a more than mortal +cruelty and coldness. These features were surmounted by a crimson velvet +cap, the hair that peeped from under which was white with age, while the +eyebrows retained their original blackness. Well I remember every line, +hue, and shadow of that stony countenance, and well I may! The gaze of +this hellish visage was fixed upon me, and mine returned it with the +inexplicable fascination of nightmare, for what appeared to me to be +hours of agony. At last---- + + The cock he crew, away then flew + +the fiend who had enslaved me through the awful watches of the night; +and, harassed and nervous, I rose to the duties of the day. + +I had--I can't say exactly why, but it may have been from the exquisite +anguish and profound impressions of unearthly horror, with which this +strange phantasmagoria was associated--an insurmountable antipathy to +describing the exact nature of my nightly troubles to my friend and +comrade. Generally, however, I told him that I was haunted by abominable +dreams; and, true to the imputed materialism of medicine, we put our +heads together to dispel my horrors, not by exorcism, but by a tonic. + +I will do this tonic justice, and frankly admit that the accursed +portrait began to intermit its visits under its influence. What of that? +Was this singular apparition--as full of character as of +terror--therefore the creature of my fancy, or the invention of my poor +stomach? Was it, in short, _subjective_ (to borrow the technical slang +of the day) and not the palpable aggression and intrusion of an external +agent? That, good friend, as we will both admit, by no means follows. +The evil spirit, who enthralled my senses in the shape of that portrait, +may have been just as near me, just as energetic, just as malignant, +though I saw him not. What means the whole moral code of revealed +religion regarding the due keeping of our own bodies, soberness, +temperance, etc.? here is an obvious connexion between the material and +the invisible; the healthy tone of the system, and its unimpaired +energy, may, for aught we can tell, guard us against influences which +would otherwise render life itself terrific. The mesmerist and the +electro-biologist will fail upon an average with nine patients out of +ten--so may the evil spirit. Special conditions of the corporeal system +are indispensable to the production of certain spiritual phenomena. The +operation succeeds sometimes--sometimes fails--that is all. + +I found afterwards that my would-be sceptical companion had his troubles +too. But of these I knew nothing yet. One night, for a wonder, I was +sleeping soundly, when I was roused by a step on the lobby outside my +room, followed by the loud clang of what turned out to be a large brass +candlestick, flung with all his force by poor Tom Ludlow over the +banisters, and rattling with a rebound down the second flight of stairs; +and almost concurrently with this, Tom burst open my door, and bounced +into my room backwards, in a state of extraordinary agitation. + +I had jumped out of bed and clutched him by the arm before I had any +distinct idea of my own whereabouts. There we were--in our +shirts--standing before the open door--staring through the great old +banister opposite, at the lobby window, through which the sickly light +of a clouded moon was gleaming. + +"What's the matter, Tom? What's the matter with you? What the devil's +the matter with you, Tom?" I demanded shaking him with nervous +impatience. + +He took a long breath before he answered me, and then it was not very +coherently. + +"It's nothing, nothing at all--did I speak?--what did I say?--where's +the candle, Richard? It's dark; I--I had a candle!" + +"Yes, dark enough," I said; "but what's the matter?--what _is_ it?--why +don't you speak, Tom?--have you lost your wits?--what is the matter?" + +"The matter?--oh, it is all over. It must have been a dream--nothing at +all but a dream--don't you think so? It could not be anything more than +a dream." + +"Of _course_" said I, feeling uncommonly nervous, "it _was_ a dream." + +"I thought," he said, "there was a man in my room, and--and I jumped out +of bed; and--and--where's the candle?" + +"In your room, most likely," I said, "shall I go and bring it?" + +"No; stay here--don't go; it's no matter--don't, I tell you; it was all +a dream. Bolt the door, Dick; I'll stay here with you--I feel nervous. +So, Dick, like a good fellow, light your candle and open the window--I +am in a _shocking state_." + +I did as he asked me, and robing himself like Granuaile in one of my +blankets, he seated himself close beside my bed. + +Every body knows how contagious is fear of all sorts, but more +especially that particular kind of fear under which poor Tom was at that +moment labouring. I would not have heard, nor I believe would he have +recapitulated, just at that moment, for half the world, the details of +the hideous vision which had so unmanned him. + +"Don't mind telling me anything about your nonsensical dream, Tom," said +I, affecting contempt, really in a panic; "let us talk about something +else; but it is quite plain that this dirty old house disagrees with us +both, and hang me if I stay here any longer, to be pestered with +indigestion and--and--bad nights, so we may as well look out for +lodgings--don't you think so?--at once." + +Tom agreed, and, after an interval, said---- + +"I have been thinking, Richard, that it is a long time since I saw my +father, and I have made up my mind to go down to-morrow and return in a +day or two, and you can take rooms for us in the meantime." + +I fancied that this resolution, obviously the result of the vision which +had so profoundly scared him, would probably vanish next morning with +the damps and shadows of night. But I was mistaken. Off went Tom at peep +of day to the country, having agreed that so soon as I had secured +suitable lodgings, I was to recall him by letter from his visit to my +Uncle Ludlow. + +Now, anxious as I was to change my quarters, it so happened, owing to a +series of petty procrastinations and accidents, that nearly a week +elapsed before my bargain was made and my letter of recall on the wing +to Tom; and, in the meantime, a trifling adventure or two had occurred +to your humble servant, which, absurd as they now appear, diminished by +distance, did certainly at the time serve to whet my appetite for change +considerably. + +A night or two after the departure of my comrade, I was sitting by my +bedroom fire, the door locked, and the ingredients of a tumbler of hot +whisky-punch upon the crazy spider-table; for, as the best mode of +keeping the + + Black spirits and white, + Blue spirits and grey, + +with which I was environed, at bay, I had adopted the practice +recommended by the wisdom of my ancestors, and "kept my spirits up by +pouring spirits down." I had thrown aside my volume of Anatomy, and was +treating myself by way of a tonic, preparatory to my punch and bed, to +half-a-dozen pages of the _Spectator_, when I heard a step on the flight +of stairs descending from the attics. It was two o'clock, and the +streets were as silent as a churchyard--the sounds were, therefore, +perfectly distinct. There was a slow, heavy tread, characterised by the +emphasis and deliberation of age, descending by the narrow staircase +from above; and, what made the sound more singular, it was plain that +the feet which produced it were perfectly bare, measuring the descent +with something between a pound and a flop, very ugly to hear. + +I knew quite well that my attendant had gone away many hours before, and +that nobody but myself had any business in the house. It was quite plain +also that the person who was coming down stairs had no intention +whatever of concealing his movements; but, on the contrary, appeared +disposed to make even more noise, and proceed more deliberately, than +was at all necessary. When the step reached the foot of the stairs +outside my room, it seemed to stop; and I expected every moment to see +my door open spontaneously, and give admission to the original of my +detested portrait. I was, however, relieved in a few seconds by hearing +the descent renewed, just in the same manner, upon the staircase leading +down to the drawing-rooms, and thence, after another pause, down the +next flight, and so on to the hall, whence I heard no more. + +Now, by the time the sound had ceased, I was wound up, as they say, to a +very unpleasant pitch of excitement. I listened, but there was not a +stir. I screwed up my courage to a decisive experiment--opened my door, +and in a stentorian voice bawled over the banisters, "Who's there?" +There was no answer but the ringing of my own voice through the empty +old house,--no renewal of the movement; nothing, in short, to give my +unpleasant sensations a definite direction. There is, I think, something +most disagreeably disenchanting in the sound of one's own voice under +such circumstances, exerted in solitude, and in vain. It redoubled my +sense of isolation, and my misgivings increased on perceiving that the +door, which I certainly thought I had left open, was closed behind me; +in a vague alarm, lest my retreat should be cut off, I got again into my +room as quickly as I could, where I remained in a state of imaginary +blockade, and very uncomfortable indeed, till morning. + +Next night brought no return of my barefooted fellow-lodger; but the +night following, being in my bed, and in the dark--somewhere, I suppose, +about the same hour as before, I distinctly heard the old fellow again +descending from the garrets. + +This time I had had my punch, and the _morale_ of the garrison was +consequently excellent. I jumped out of bed, clutched the poker as I +passed the expiring fire, and in a moment was upon the lobby. The sound +had ceased by this time--the dark and chill were discouraging; and, +guess my horror, when I saw, or thought I saw, a black monster, whether +in the shape of a man or a bear I could not say, standing, with its back +to the wall, on the lobby, facing me, with a pair of great greenish eyes +shining dimly out. Now, I must be frank, and confess that the cupboard +which displayed our plates and cups stood just there, though at the +moment I did not recollect it. At the same time I must honestly say, +that making every allowance for an excited imagination, I never could +satisfy myself that I was made the dupe of my own fancy in this matter; +for this apparition, after one or two shiftings of shape, as if in the +act of incipient transformation, began, as it seemed on second thoughts, +to advance upon me in its original form. From an instinct of terror +rather than of courage, I hurled the poker, with all my force, at its +head; and to the music of a horrid crash made my way into my room, and +double-locked the door. Then, in a minute more, I heard the horrid bare +feet walk down the stairs, till the sound ceased in the hall, as on the +former occasion. + +If the apparition of the night before was an ocular delusion of my fancy +sporting with the dark outlines of our cupboard, and if its horrid eyes +were nothing but a pair of inverted teacups, I had, at all events, the +satisfaction of having launched the poker with admirable effect, and in +true "fancy" phrase, "knocked its two daylights into one," as the +commingled fragments of my tea-service testified. I did my best to +gather comfort and courage from these evidences; but it would not do. +And then what could I say of those horrid bare feet, and the regular +tramp, tramp, tramp, which measured the distance of the entire staircase +through the solitude of my haunted dwelling, and at an hour when no good +influence was stirring? Confound it!--the whole affair was abominable. I +was out of spirits, and dreaded the approach of night. + +It came, ushered ominously in with a thunder-storm and dull torrents of +depressing rain. Earlier than usual the streets grew silent; and by +twelve o'clock nothing but the comfortless pattering of the rain was to +be heard. + +I made myself as snug as I could. I lighted _two_ candles instead of +one. I forswore bed, and held myself in readiness for a sally, candle in +hand; for, _coûte qui coûte_, I was resolved to _see_ the being, if +visible at all, who troubled the nightly stillness of my mansion. I was +fidgetty and nervous and tried in vain to interest myself with my books. +I walked up and down my room, whistling in turn martial and hilarious +music, and listening ever and anon for the dreaded noise. I sate down +and stared at the square label on the solemn and reserved-looking black +bottle, until "FLANAGAN & CO'S BEST OLD MALT WHISKY" grew into a sort of +subdued accompaniment to all the fantastic and horrible speculations +which chased one another through my brain. + +Silence, meanwhile, grew more silent, and darkness darker. I listened in +vain for the rumble of a vehicle, or the dull clamour of a distant row. +There was nothing but the sound of a rising wind, which had succeeded +the thunder-storm that had travelled over the Dublin mountains quite out +of hearing. In the middle of this great city I began to feel myself +alone with nature, and Heaven knows what beside. My courage was ebbing. +Punch, however, which makes beasts of so many, made a man of me +again--just in time to hear with tolerable nerve and firmness the lumpy, +flabby, naked feet deliberately descending the stairs again. + +I took a candle, not without a tremour. As I crossed the floor I tried +to extemporise a prayer, but stopped short to listen, and never finished +it. The steps continued. I confess I hesitated for some seconds at the +door before I took heart of grace and opened it. When I peeped out the +lobby was perfectly empty--there was no monster standing on the +staircase; and as the detested sound ceased, I was reassured enough to +venture forward nearly to the banisters. Horror of horrors! within a +stair or two beneath the spot where I stood the unearthly tread smote +the floor. My eye caught something in motion; it was about the size of +Goliah's foot--it was grey, heavy, and flapped with a dead weight from +one step to another. As I am alive, it was the most monstrous grey rat I +ever beheld or imagined. + +Shakespeare says--"Some men there are cannot abide a gaping pig, and +some that are mad if they behold a cat." I went well-nigh out of my wits +when I beheld this _rat_; for, laugh at me as you may, it fixed upon me, +I thought, a perfectly human expression of malice; and, as it shuffled +about and looked up into my face almost from between my feet, I saw, I +could swear it--I felt it then, and know it now, the infernal gaze and +the accursed countenance of my old friend in the portrait, transfused +into the visage of the bloated vermin before me. + +I bounced into my room again with a feeling of loathing and horror I +cannot describe, and locked and bolted my door as if a lion had been at +the other side. D--n him or _it_; curse the portrait and its original! I +felt in my soul that the rat--yes, the _rat_, the RAT I had just seen, +was that evil being in masquerade, and rambling through the house upon +some infernal night lark. + +Next morning I was early trudging through the miry streets; and, among +other transactions, posted a peremptory note recalling Tom. On my +return, however, I found a note from my absent "chum," announcing his +intended return next day. I was doubly rejoiced at this, because I had +succeeded in getting rooms; and because the change of scene and return +of my comrade were rendered specially pleasant by the last night's half +ridiculous half horrible adventure. + +I slept extemporaneously in my new quarters in Digges' Street that +night, and next morning returned for breakfast to the haunted mansion, +where I was certain Tom would call immediately on his arrival. + +I was quite right--he came; and almost his first question referred to +the primary object of our change of residence. + +"Thank God," he said with genuine fervour, on hearing that all was +arranged. "On _your_ account I am delighted. As to myself, I assure you +that no earthly consideration could have induced me ever again to pass a +night in this disastrous old house." + +"Confound the house!" I ejaculated, with a genuine mixture of fear and +detestation, "we have not had a pleasant hour since we came to live +here"; and so I went on, and related incidentally my adventure with the +plethoric old rat. + +"Well, if that were _all_," said my cousin, affecting to make light of +the matter, "I don't think I should have minded it very much." + +"Ay, but its eye--its countenance, my dear Tom," urged I; "if you had +seen _that_, you would have felt it might be _anything_ but what it +seemed." + +"I inclined to think the best conjurer in such a case would be an +able-bodied cat," he said, with a provoking chuckle. + +"But let us hear your own adventure," I said tartly. + +At this challenge he looked uneasily round him. I had poked up a very +unpleasant recollection. + +"You shall hear it, Dick; I'll tell it to you," he said. "Begad, sir, I +should feel quite queer, though, telling it _here_, though we are too +strong a body for ghosts to meddle with just now." + +Though he spoke this like a joke, I think it was serious calculation. +Our Hebe was in a corner of the room, packing our cracked delft tea and +dinner-services in a basket. She soon suspended operations, and with +mouth and eyes wide open became an absorbed listener. Tom's experiences +were told nearly in these words:---- + +"I saw it three times, Dick--three distinct times; and I am perfectly +certain it meant me some infernal harm. I was, I say, in danger--in +_extreme_ danger; for, if nothing else had happened, my reason would +most certainly have failed me, unless I had escaped so soon. Thank God. +I _did_ escape. + +"The first night of this hateful disturbance, I was lying in the +attitude of sleep, in that lumbering old bed. I hate to think of it. I +was really wide awake, though I had put out my candle, and was lying as +quietly as if I had been asleep; and although accidentally restless, my +thoughts were running in a cheerful and agreeable channel. + +"I think it must have been two o'clock at least when I thought I heard a +sound in that--that odious dark recess at the far end of the bedroom. It +was as if someone was drawing a piece of cord slowly along the floor, +lifting it up, and dropping it softly down again in coils. I sate up +once or twice in my bed, but could see nothing, so I concluded it must +be mice in the wainscot. I felt no emotion graver than curiosity, and +after a few minutes ceased to observe it. + +"While lying in this state, strange to say; without at first a suspicion +of anything supernatural, on a sudden I saw an old man, rather stout and +square, in a sort of roan-red dressing-gown, and with a black cap on his +head, moving stiffly and slowly in a diagonal direction, from the +recess, across the floor of the bedroom, passing my bed at the foot, and +entering the lumber-closet at the left. He had something under his arm; +his head hung a little at one side; and, merciful God! when I saw his +face." + +Tom stopped for a while, and then said---- + +"That awful countenance, which living or dying I never can forget, +disclosed what he was. Without turning to the right or left, he passed +beside me, and entered the closet by the bed's head. + +"While this fearful and indescribable type of death and guilt was +passing, I felt that I had no more power to speak or stir than if I had +been myself a corpse. For hours after it had disappeared, I was too +terrified and weak to move. As soon as daylight came, I took courage, +and examined the room, and especially the course which the frightful +intruder had seemed to take, but there was not a vestige to indicate +anybody's having passed there; no sign of any disturbing agency visible +among the lumber that strewed the floor of the closet. + +"I now began to recover a little. I was fagged and exhausted, and at +last, overpowered by a feverish sleep. I came down late; and finding you +out of spirits, on account of your dreams about the portrait, whose +_original_ I am now certain disclosed himself to me, I did not care to +talk about the infernal vision. In fact, I was trying to persuade myself +that the whole thing was an illusion, and I did not like to revive in +their intensity the hated impressions of the past night--or to risk the +constancy of my scepticism, by recounting the tale of my sufferings. + +"It required some nerve, I can tell you, to go to my haunted chamber +next night, and lie down quietly in the same bed," continued Tom. "I did +so with a degree of trepidation, which, I am not ashamed to say, a very +little matter would have sufficed to stimulate to downright panic. This +night, however, passed off quietly enough, as also the next; and so too +did two or three more. I grew more confident, and began to fancy that I +believed in the theories of spectral illusions, with which I had at +first vainly tried to impose upon my convictions. + +"The apparition had been, indeed, altogether anomalous. It had crossed +the room without any recognition of my presence: I had not disturbed +_it_, and _it_ had no mission to _me_. What, then, was the imaginable +use of its crossing the room in a visible shape at all? Of course it +might have _been_ in the closet instead of _going_ there, as easily as +it introduced itself into the recess without entering the chamber in a +shape discernible by the senses. Besides, how the deuce _had_ I seen it? +It was a dark night; I had no candle; there was no fire; and yet I saw +it as distinctly, in colouring and outline, as ever I beheld human form! +A cataleptic dream would explain it all; and I was determined that a +dream it should be. + +"One of the most remarkable phenomena connected with the practice of +mendacity is the vast number of deliberate lies we tell ourselves, whom, +of all persons, we can least expect to deceive. In all this, I need +hardly tell you, Dick, I was simply lying to myself, and did not believe +one word of the wretched humbug. Yet I went on, as men will do, like +persevering charlatans and impostors, who tire people into credulity by +the mere force of reiteration; so I hoped to win myself over at last to +a comfortable scepticism about the ghost. + +"He had not appeared a second time--that certainly was a comfort; and +what, after all, did I care for him, and his queer old toggery and +strange looks? Not a fig! I was nothing the worse for having seen him, +and a good story the better. So I tumbled into bed, put out my candle, +and, cheered by a loud drunken quarrel in the back lane, went fast +asleep. + +"From this deep slumber I awoke with a start. I knew I had had a +horrible dream; but what it was I could not remember. My heart was +thumping furiously; I felt bewildered and feverish; I sate up in the bed +and looked about the room. A broad flood of moonlight came in through +the curtainless window; everything was as I had last seen it; and though +the domestic squabble in the back lane was, unhappily for me, allayed, I +yet could hear a pleasant fellow singing, on his way home, the then +popular comic ditty called, 'Murphy Delany.' Taking advantage of this +diversion I lay down again, with my face towards the fireplace, and +closing my eyes, did my best to think of nothing else but the song, +which was every moment growing fainter in the distance:---- + + "'Twas Murphy Delany, so funny and frisky, + Stept into a shebeen shop to get his skin full; + He reeled out again pretty well lined with whiskey, + As fresh as a shamrock, as blind as a bull. + +"The singer, whose condition I dare say resembled that of his hero, was +soon too far off to regale my ears any more; and as his music died away, +I myself sank into a doze, neither sound nor refreshing. Somehow the +song had got into my head, and I went meandering on through the +adventures of my respectable fellow-countryman, who, on emerging from +the 'shebeen shop,' fell into a river, from which he was fished up to be +'sat upon' by a coroner's jury, who having learned from a 'horse-doctor' +that he was 'dead as a door-nail, so there was an end,' returned their +verdict accordingly, just as he returned to his senses, when an angry +altercation and a pitched battle between the body and the coroner winds +up the lay with due spirit and pleasantry. + +"Through this ballad I continued with a weary monotony to plod, down to +the very last line, and then _da capo_, and so on, in my uncomfortable +half-sleep, for how long, I can't conjecture. I found myself at last, +however, muttering, '_dead_ as a door-nail, so there was an end'; and +something like another voice within me, seemed to say, very faintly, but +sharply, 'dead! dead! _dead_! and may the Lord have mercy on your soul!' +and instantaneously I was wide awake, and staring right before me from +the pillow. + +"Now--will you believe it, Dick?--I saw the same accursed figure +standing full front, and gazing at me with its stony and fiendish +countenance, not two yards from the bedside." + +Tom stopped here, and wiped the perspiration from his face. I felt very +queer. The girl was as pale as Tom; and, assembled as we were in the +very scene of these adventures, we were all, I dare say, equally +grateful for the clear daylight and the resuming bustle out of doors. + +"For about three seconds only I saw it plainly; then it grew indistinct; +but, for a long time, there was something like a column of dark vapour +where it had been standing, between me and the wall; and I felt sure +that he was still there. After a good while, this appearance went too. I +took my clothes downstairs to the hall, and dressed there, with the door +half open; then went out into the street, and walked about the town till +morning, when I came back, in a miserable state of nervousness and +exhaustion. I was such a fool, Dick, as to be ashamed to tell you how I +came to be so upset. I thought you would laugh at me; especially as I +had always talked philosophy, and treated _your_ ghosts with contempt. I +concluded you would give me no quarter; and so kept my tale of horror to +myself. + +"Now, Dick, you will hardly believe me, when I assure you, that for many +nights after this last experience, I did not go to my room at all. I +used to sit up for a while in the drawing-room after you had gone up to +your bed; and then steal down softly to the hall-door, let myself out, +and sit in the 'Robin Hood' tavern until the last guest went off; and +then I got through the night like a sentry, pacing the streets till +morning. + +"For more than a week I never slept in bed. I sometimes had a snooze on +a form in the 'Robin Hood,' and sometimes a nap in a chair during the +day; but regular sleep I had absolutely none. + +"I was quite resolved that we should get into another house; but I could +not bring myself to tell you the reason, and I somehow put it off from +day to day, although my life was, during every hour of this +procrastination, rendered as miserable as that of a felon with the +constables on his track. I was growing absolutely ill from this wretched +mode of life. + +"One afternoon I determined to enjoy an hour's sleep upon your bed. I +hated mine; so that I had never, except in a stealthy visit every day to +unmake it, lest Martha should discover the secret of my nightly absence, +entered the ill-omened chamber. + +"As ill-luck would have it, you had locked your bedroom, and taken away +the key. I went into my own to unsettle the bedclothes, as usual, and +give the bed the appearance of having been slept in. Now, a variety of +circumstances concurred to bring about the dreadful scene through which +I was that night to pass. In the first place, I was literally +overpowered with fatigue, and longing for sleep; in the next place, the +effect of this extreme exhaustion upon my nerves resembled that of a +narcotic, and rendered me less susceptible than, perhaps, I should in +any other condition have been, of the exciting fears which had become +habitual to me. Then again, a little bit of the window was open, a +pleasant freshness pervaded the room, and, to crown all, the cheerful +sun of day was making the room quite pleasant. What was to prevent my +enjoying an hour's nap _here_? The whole air was resonant with the +cheerful hum of life, and the broad matter-of-fact light of day filled +every corner of the room. + +"I yielded--stifling my qualms--to the almost overpowering temptation; +and merely throwing off my coat, and loosening my cravat, I lay down, +limiting myself to _half_-an-hour's doze in the unwonted enjoyment of a +feather bed, a coverlet, and a bolster. + +"It was horribly insidious; and the demon, no doubt, marked my +infatuated preparations. Dolt that I was, I fancied, with mind and body +worn out for want of sleep, and an arrear of a full week's rest to my +credit, that such measure as _half_-an-hour's sleep, in such a +situation, was possible. My sleep was death-like, long, and dreamless. + +"Without a start or fearful sensation of any kind, I waked gently, but +completely. It was, as you have good reason to remember, long past +midnight--I believe, about two o'clock. When sleep has been deep and +long enough to satisfy nature thoroughly, one often wakens in this way, +suddenly, tranquilly, and completely. + +"There was a figure seated in that lumbering, old sofa-chair, near the +fireplace. Its back was rather towards me, but I could not be mistaken; +it turned slowly round, and, merciful heavens! there was the stony face, +with its infernal lineaments of malignity and despair, gloating on me. +There was now no doubt as to its consciousness of my presence, and the +hellish malice with which it was animated, for it arose, and drew close +to the bedside. There was a rope about its neck, and the other end, +coiled up, it held stiffly in its hand. + +"My good angel nerved me for this horrible crisis. I remained for some +seconds transfixed by the gaze of this tremendous phantom. He came close +to the bed, and appeared on the point of mounting upon it. The next +instant I was upon the floor at the far side, and in a moment more was, +I don't know how, upon the lobby. + +"But the spell was not yet broken; the valley of the shadow of death was +not yet traversed. The abhorred phantom was before me there; it was +standing near the banisters, stooping a little, and with one end of the +rope round its own neck, was poising a noose at the other, as if to +throw over mine; and while engaged in this baleful pantomime, it wore a +smile so sensual, so unspeakably dreadful, that my senses were nearly +overpowered. I saw and remember nothing more, until I found myself in +your room. + +"I had a wonderful escape, Dick--there is no disputing _that_--an escape +for which, while I live, I shall bless the mercy of heaven. No one can +conceive or imagine what it is for flesh and blood to stand in the +presence of such a thing, but one who has had the terrific experience. +Dick, Dick, a shadow has passed over me--a chill has crossed my blood +and marrow, and I will never be the same again--never, Dick--never!" + +Our handmaid, a mature girl of two-and-fifty, as I have said, stayed her +hand, as Tom's story proceeded, and by little and little drew near to +us, with open mouth, and her brows contracted over her little, beady +black eyes, till stealing a glance over her shoulder now and then, she +established herself close behind us. During the relation, she had made +various earnest comments, in an undertone; but these and her +ejaculations, for the sake of brevity and simplicity, I have omitted in +my narration. + +"It's often I heard tell of it," she now said, "but I never believed it +rightly till now--though, indeed, why should not I? Does not my mother, +down there in the lane, know quare stories, God bless us, beyant telling +about it? But you ought not to have slept in the back bedroom. She was +loath to let me be going in and out of that room even in the day time, +let alone for any Christian to spend the night in it; for sure she says +it was his own bedroom." + +"_Whose_ own bedroom?" we asked, in a breath. + +"Why, _his_--the ould Judge's--Judge Horrock's, to be sure, God rest his +sowl"; and she looked fearfully round. + +"Amen!" I muttered. "But did he die there?" + +"Die there! No, not quite _there_," she said. "Shure, was not it over +the banisters he hung himself, the ould sinner, God be merciful to us +all? and was not it in the alcove they found the handles of the +skipping-rope cut off, and the knife where he was settling the cord, God +bless us, to hang himself with? It was his housekeeper's daughter owned +the rope, my mother often told me, and the child never throve after, and +used to be starting up out of her sleep, and screeching in the night +time, wid dhrames and frights that cum an her; and they said how it was +the speerit of the ould Judge that was tormentin' her; and she used to +be roaring and yelling out to hould back the big ould fellow with the +crooked neck; and then she'd screech 'Oh, the master! the master! he's +stampin' at me, and beckoning to me! Mother, darling, don't let me go!' +And so the poor crathure died at last, and the docthers said it was +wather on the brain, for it was all they could say." + +"How long ago was all this?" I asked. + +"Oh, then, how would I know?" she answered. "But it must be a wondherful +long time ago, for the housekeeper was an ould woman, with a pipe in her +mouth, and not a tooth left, and better nor eighty years ould when my +mother was first married; and they said she was a rale buxom, +fine-dressed woman when the ould Judge come to his end; an', indeed, my +mother's not far from eighty years ould herself this day; and what made +it worse for the unnatural ould villain, God rest his soul, to frighten +the little girl out of the world the way he did, was what was mostly +thought and believed by every one. My mother says how the poor little +crathure was his own child; for he was by all accounts an ould villain +every way, an' the hangin'est judge that ever was known in Ireland's +ground." + +"From what you said about the danger of sleeping in that bedroom," said +I, "I suppose there were stories about the ghost having appeared there +to others." + +"Well, there was things said--quare things, surely," she answered, as it +seemed, with some reluctance. "And why would not there? Sure was it not +up in that same room he slept for more than twenty years? and was it not +in the _alcove_ he got the rope ready that done his own business at +last, the way he done many a betther man's in his lifetime?--and was not +the body lying in the same bed after death, and put in the coffin there, +too, and carried out to his grave from it in Pether's churchyard, after +the coroner was done? But there was quare stories--my mother has them +all--about how one Nicholas Spaight got into trouble on the head of it." + +"And what did they say of this Nicholas Spaight?" I asked. + +"Oh, for that matther, it's soon told," she answered. + +And she certainly did relate a very strange story, which so piqued my +curiosity, that I took occasion to visit the ancient lady, her mother, +from whom I learned many very curious particulars. Indeed, I am tempted +to tell the tale, but my fingers are weary, and I must defer it. But if +you wish to hear it another time, I shall do my best. + +When we had heard the strange tale I have _not_ told you, we put one or +two further questions to her about the alleged spectral visitations, to +which the house had, ever since the death of the wicked old Judge, been +subjected. + +"No one ever had luck in it," she told us. "There was always cross +accidents, sudden deaths, and short times in it. The first that tuck, it +was a family--I forget their name--but at any rate there was two young +ladies and their papa. He was about sixty, and a stout healthy gentleman +as you'd wish to see at that age. Well, he slept in that unlucky back +bedroom; and, God between us an' harm! sure enough he was found dead one +morning, half out of the bed, with his head as black as a sloe, and +swelled like a puddin', hanging down near the floor. It was a fit, they +said. He was as dead as a mackerel, and so _he_ could not say what it +was; but the ould people was all sure that it was nothing at all but the +ould Judge, God bless us! that frightened him out of his senses and his +life together. + +"Some time after there was a rich old maiden lady took the house. I +don't know which room _she_ slept in, but she lived alone; and at any +rate, one morning, the servants going down early to their work, found +her sitting on the passage-stairs, shivering and talkin' to herself, +quite mad; and never a word more could any of _them_ or her friends get +from her ever afterwards but, 'Don't ask me to go, for I promised to +wait for him.' They never made out from her who it was she meant by +_him_, but of course those that knew all about the ould house were at no +loss for the meaning of all that happened to her. + +"Then afterwards, when the house was let out in lodgings, there was +Micky Byrne that took the same room, with his wife and three little +children; and sure I heard Mrs. Byrne myself telling how the children +used to be lifted up in the bed at night, she could not see by what +mains; and how they were starting and screeching every hour, just all as +one as the housekeeper's little girl that died, till at last one night +poor Micky had a dhrop in him, the way he used now and again; and what +do you think in the middle of the night he thought he heard a noise on +the stairs, and being in liquor, nothing less id do him but out he must +go himself to see what was wrong. Well, after that, all she ever heard +of him was himself sayin', 'Oh, God!' and a tumble that shook the very +house; and there, sure enough, he was lying on the lower stairs, under +the lobby, with his neck smashed double undher him, where he was flung +over the banisters." + +Then the handmaiden added---- + +"I'll go down to the lane, and send up Joe Gavvey to pack up the rest of +the taythings, and bring all the things across to your new lodgings." + +And so we all sallied out together, each of us breathing more freely, I +have no doubt, as we crossed that ill-omened threshold for the last +time. + +Now, I may add thus much, in compliance with the immemorial usage of the +realm of fiction, which sees the hero not only through his adventures, +but fairly out of the world. You must have perceived that what the +flesh, blood, and bone hero of romance proper is to the regular +compounder of fiction, this old house of brick, wood, and mortar is to +the humble recorder of this true tale. I, therefore, relate, as in duty +bound, the catastrophe which ultimately befell it, which was simply +this--that about two years subsequently to my story it was taken by a +quack doctor, who called himself Baron Duhlstoerf, and filled the +parlour windows with bottles of indescribable horrors preserved in +brandy, and the newspapers with the usual grandiloquent and mendacious +advertisements. This gentleman among his virtues did not reckon +sobriety, and one night, being overcome with much wine, he set fire to +his bed curtains, partially burned himself, and totally consumed the +house. It was afterwards rebuilt, and for a time an undertaker +established himself in the premises. + +I have now told you my own and Tom's adventures, together with some +valuable collateral particulars; and having acquitted myself of my +engagement, I wish you a very good night, and pleasant dreams. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11699 *** diff --git a/11699-h/11699-h.htm b/11699-h/11699-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ad1f8ea --- /dev/null +++ b/11699-h/11699-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1716 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 1, by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1,H2,H3 {text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + hr.full { width: 100%; + size: 5 } + BODY{margin-left: 10%;margin-right: 10%; + } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size: 9pt;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11699 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 1, by +Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu</h1> +<br> +<br> +<center><b>E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Andrea Ball,<br> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</b></center> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p> </p> + +<h1>J. S. LE FANU'S<br> +GHOSTLY TALES,</h1> + +<h2>VOLUME 1</h2> + +<h2>Schalken the Painter (1851)</h2> + +<h3>and</h3> + +<h2>An Account of Some Strange<br> +Disturbances in Aungier Street (1853)</h2> + +<h2>by<br> +Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu</h2> + +<p> </p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<center> +<a href="#Schalken_the_Painter">Schalken the Painter</a><br><br> +<a href="#An_Account_of_Some_Strange_Disturbances">An Account of +Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street</a> +</center> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="Schalken_the_Painter"></a><h2>Schalken the Painter</h2> + + +<div class="blkquot"><p><i>"For he is not a man as I am that + we should come together; neither is + there any that might lay his hand + upon us both. Let him, therefore, + take his rod away from me, and let + not his fear terrify me."</i></p></div> + +<p>There exists, at this moment, in good preservation a remarkable work of +Schalken's. The curious management of its lights constitutes, as usual +in his pieces, the chief apparent merit of the picture. I say +<i>apparent</i>, for in its subject, and not in its handling, however +exquisite, consists its real value. The picture represents the interior +of what might be a chamber in some antique religious building; and its +foreground is occupied by a female figure, in a species of white robe, +part of which is arranged so as to form a veil. The dress, however, is +not that of any religious order. In her hand the figure bears a lamp, by +which alone her figure and face are illuminated; and her features wear +such an arch smile, as well becomes a pretty woman when practising some +prankish roguery; in the background, and, excepting where the dim red +light of an expiring fire serves to define the form, in total shadow, +stands the figure of a man dressed in the old Flemish fashion, in an +attitude of alarm, his hand being placed upon the hilt of his sword, +which he appears to be in the act of drawing.</p> + +<p>There are some pictures, which impress one, I know not how, with a +conviction that they represent not the mere ideal shapes and +combinations which have floated through the imagination of the artist, +but scenes, faces, and situations which have actually existed. There is +in that strange picture, something that stamps it as the representation +of a reality.</p> + +<p>And such in truth it is, for it faithfully records a remarkable and +mysterious occurrence, and perpetuates, in the face of the female +figure, which occupies the most prominent place in the design, an +accurate portrait of Rose Velderkaust, the niece of Gerard Douw, the +first, and, I believe, the only love of Godfrey Schalken. My great +grandfather knew the painter well; and from Schalken himself he learned +the fearful story of the painting, and from him too he ultimately +received the picture itself as a bequest. The story and the picture have +become heir-looms in my family, and having described the latter, I +shall, if you please, attempt to relate the tradition which has +descended with the canvas.</p> + +<p>There are few forms on which the mantle of romance hangs more +ungracefully than upon that of the uncouth Schalken—the boorish but +most cunning worker in oils, whose pieces delight the critics of our day +almost as much as his manners disgusted the refined of his own; and yet +this man, so rude, so dogged, so slovenly, in the midst of his +celebrity, had in his obscure, but happier days, played the hero in a +wild romance of mystery and passion.</p> + +<p>When Schalken studied under the immortal Gerard Douw, he was a very +young man; and in spite of his phlegmatic temperament, he at once fell +over head and ears in love with the beautiful niece of his wealthy +master. Rose Velderkaust was still younger than he, having not yet +attained her seventeenth year, and, if tradition speaks truth, possessed +all the soft and dimpling charms of the fair, light-haired Flemish +maidens. The young painter loved honestly and fervently. His frank +adoration was rewarded. He declared his love, and extracted a faltering +confession in return. He was the happiest and proudest painter in all +Christendom. But there was somewhat to dash his elation; he was poor and +undistinguished. He dared not ask old Gerard for the hand of his sweet +ward. He must first win a reputation and a competence.</p> + +<p>There were, therefore, many dread uncertainties and cold days before +him; he had to fight his way against sore odds. But he had won the heart +of dear Rose Velderkaust, and that was half the battle. It is needless +to say his exertions were redoubled, and his lasting celebrity proves +that his industry was not unrewarded by success.</p> + +<p>These ardent labours, and worse still, the hopes that elevated and +beguiled them, were however, destined to experience a sudden +interruption—of a character so strange and mysterious as to baffle all +inquiry and to throw over the events themselves a shadow of +preternatural horror.</p> + +<p>Schalken had one evening outstayed all his fellow-pupils, and still +pursued his work in the deserted room. As the daylight was fast falling, +he laid aside his colours, and applied himself to the completion of a +sketch on which he had expressed extraordinary pains. It was a religious +composition, and represented the temptations of a pot-bellied Saint +Anthony. The young artist, however destitute of elevation, had, +nevertheless, discernment enough to be dissatisfied with his own work, +and many were the patient erasures and improvements which saint and +devil underwent, yet all in vain. The large, old-fashioned room was +silent, and, with the exception of himself, quite emptied of its usual +inmates. An hour had thus passed away, nearly two, without any improved +result. Daylight had already declined, and twilight was deepening into +the darkness of night. The patience of the young painter was exhausted, +and he stood before his unfinished production, angry and mortified, one +hand buried in the folds of his long hair, and the other holding the +piece of charcoal which had so ill-performed its office, and which he +now rubbed, without much regard to the sable streaks it produced, with +irritable pressure upon his ample Flemish inexpressibles. "Curse the +subject!" said the young man aloud; "curse the picture, the devils, the +saint—"</p> + +<p>At this moment a short, sudden sniff uttered close beside him made the +artist turn sharply round, and he now, for the first time, became aware +that his labours had been overlooked by a stranger. Within about a yard +and half, and rather behind him, there stood the figure of an elderly +man in a cloak and broad-brimmed, conical hat; in his hand, which was +protected with a heavy gauntlet-shaped glove, he carried a long ebony +walking-stick, surmounted with what appeared, as it glittered dimly in +the twilight, to be a massive head of gold, and upon his breast, through +the folds of the cloak, there shone the links of a rich chain of the +same metal. The room was so obscure that nothing further of the +appearance of the figure could be ascertained, and his hat threw his +features into profound shadow. It would not have been easy to conjecture +the age of the intruder; but a quantity of dark hair escaping from +beneath this sombre hat, as well as his firm and upright carriage served +to indicate that his years could not yet exceed threescore, or +thereabouts. There was an air of gravity and importance about the garb +of the person, and something indescribably odd, I might say awful, in +the perfect, stone-like stillness of the figure, that effectually +checked the testy comment which had at once risen to the lips of the +irritated artist. He, therefore, as soon as he had sufficiently +recovered his surprise, asked the stranger, civilly, to be seated, and +desired to know if he had any message to leave for his master.</p> + +<p>"Tell Gerard Douw," said the unknown, without altering his attitude in +the smallest degree, "that Minheer Vanderhausen, of Rotterdam, desires +to speak with him on tomorrow evening at this hour, and if he please, in +this room, upon matters of weight; that is all."</p> + +<p>The stranger, having finished this message, turned abruptly, and, with +a quick, but silent step quitted the room, before Schalken had time to +say a word in reply. The young man felt a curiosity to see in what +direction the burgher of Rotterdam would turn, on quitting the studio, +and for that purpose he went directly to the window which commanded the +door. A lobby of considerable extent intervened between the inner door +of the painter's room and the street entrance, so that Schalken occupied +the post of observation before the old man could possibly have reached +the street. He watched in vain, however. There was no other mode of +exit. Had the queer old man vanished, or was he lurking about the +recesses of the lobby for some sinister purpose? This last suggestion +filled the mind of Schalken with a vague uneasiness, which was so +unaccountably intense as to make him alike afraid to remain in the room +alone, and reluctant to pass through the lobby. However, with an effort +which appeared very disproportioned to the occasion, he summoned +resolution to leave the room, and, having locked the door and thrust the +key in his pocket, without looking to the right or left, he traversed +the passage which had so recently, perhaps still, contained the person +of his mysterious visitant, scarcely venturing to breathe till he had +arrived in the open street.</p> + +<p>"Minheer Vanderhausen!" said Gerard Douw within himself, as the +appointed hour approached, "Minheer Vanderhausen, of Rotterdam! I never +heard of the man till yesterday. What can he want of me? A portrait, +perhaps, to be painted; or a poor relation to be apprenticed; or a +collection to be valued; or—pshaw! there's no one in Rotterdam to leave +me a legacy. Well, whatever the business may be, we shall soon know it +all."</p> + +<p>It was now the close of day, and again every easel, except that of +Schalken, was deserted. Gerard Douw was pacing the apartment with the +restless step of impatient expectation, sometimes pausing to glance over +the work of one of his absent pupils, but more frequently placing +himself at the window, from whence he might observe the passengers who +threaded the obscure by-street in which his studio was placed.</p> + +<p>"Said you not, Godfrey," exclaimed Douw, after a long and fruitful gaze +from his post of observation, and turning to Schalken, "that the hour he +appointed was about seven by the clock of the Stadhouse?"</p> + +<p>"It had just told seven when I first saw him, sir," answered the +student.</p> + +<p>"The hour is close at hand, then," said the master, consulting a +horologe as large and as round as an orange. "Minheer Vanderhausen from +Rotterdam—is it not so?"</p> + +<p>"Such was the name."</p> + +<p>"And an elderly man, richly clad?" pursued Douw, musingly.</p> + +<p>"As well as I might see," replied his pupil; "he could not be young, nor +yet very old, neither; and his dress was rich and grave, as might become +a citizen of wealth and consideration."</p> + +<p>At this moment the sonorous boom of the Stadhouse clock told, stroke +after stroke, the hour of seven; the eyes of both master and student +were directed to the door; and it was not until the last peal of the +bell had ceased to vibrate, that Douw exclaimed----</p> + +<p>"So, so; we shall have his worship presently, that is, if he means to +keep his hour; if not, you may wait for him, Godfrey, if you court his +acquaintance. But what, after all, if it should prove but a mummery got +up by Vankarp, or some such wag? I wish you had run all risks, and +cudgelled the old burgomaster soundly. I'd wager a dozen of Rhenish, his +worship would have unmasked, and pleaded old acquaintance in a trice."</p> + +<p>"Here he comes, sir," said Schalken, in a low monitory tone; and +instantly, upon turning towards the door, Gerard Douw observed the same +figure which had, on the day before, so unexpectedly greeted his pupil +Schalken.</p> + +<p>There was something in the air of the figure which at once satisfied the +painter that there was no masquerading in the case, and that he really +stood in the presence of a man of worship; and so, without hesitation, +he doffed his cap, and courteously saluting the stranger, requested him +to be seated. The visitor waved his hand slightly, as if in +acknowledgment of the courtesy, but remained standing.</p> + +<p>"I have the honour to see Minheer Vanderhausen of Rotterdam?" said +Gerard Douw.</p> + +<p>"The same," was the laconic reply of his visitor.</p> + +<p>"I understand your worship desires to speak with me," continued Douw, +"and I am here by appointment to wait your commands."</p> + +<p>"Is that a man of trust?" said Vanderhausen, turning towards Schalken, +who stood at a little distance behind his master.</p> + +<p>"Certainly," replied Gerard.</p> + +<p>"Then let him take this box, and get the nearest jeweller or goldsmith +to value its contents, and let him return hither with a certificate of +the valuation."</p> + +<p>At the same time, he placed a small case about nine inches square in the +hands of Gerard Douw, who was as much amazed at its weight as at the +strange abruptness with which it was handed to him. In accordance with +the wishes of the stranger, he delivered it into the hands of Schalken, +and repeating his direction, despatched him upon the mission.</p> + +<p>Schalken disposed his precious charge securely beneath the folds of his +cloak, and rapidly traversing two or three narrow streets, he stopped at +a corner house, the lower part of which was then occupied by the shop of +a Jewish goldsmith. He entered the shop, and calling the little Hebrew +into the obscurity of its back recesses, he proceeded to lay before him +Vanderhausen's casket. On being examined by the light of a lamp, it +appeared entirely cased with lead, the outer surface of which was much +scraped and soiled, and nearly white with age. This having been +partially removed, there appeared beneath a box of some hard wood; which +also they forced open and after the removal of two or three folds of +linen, they discovered its contents to be a mass of golden ingots, +closely packed, and, as the Jew declared, of the most perfect quality. +Every ingot underwent the scrutiny of the little Jew, who seemed to feel +an epicurean delight in touching and testing these morsels of the +glorious metal; and each one of them was replaced in its berth with the +exclamation: "<i>Mein Gott</i>, how very perfect! not one grain of +alloy—beautiful, beautiful!" The task was at length finished, and the +Jew certified under his hand the value of the ingots submitted to his +examination, to amount to many thousand rix-dollars. With the desired +document in his pocket, and the rich box of gold carefully pressed under +his arm, and concealed by his cloak, he retraced his way, and entering +the studio, found his master and the stranger in close conference. +Schalken had no sooner left the room, in order to execute the commission +he had taken in charge, than Vanderhausen addressed Gerard Douw in the +following terms:----</p> + +<p>"I cannot tarry with you to-night more than a few minutes, and so I +shall shortly tell you the matter upon which I come. You visited the +town of Rotterdam some four months ago, and then I saw in the church of +St. Lawrence your niece, Rose Velderkaust. I desire to marry her; and if +I satisfy you that I am wealthier than any husband you can dream of for +her, I expect that you will forward my suit with your authority. If you +approve my proposal, you must close with it here and now, for I cannot +wait for calculations and delays."</p> + +<p>Gerard Douw was hugely astonished by the nature of Minheer +Vanderhausen's communication, but he did not venture to express +surprise; for besides the motives supplied by prudence and politeness, +the painter experienced a kind of chill and oppression like that which +is said to intervene when one is placed in unconscious proximity with +the object of a natural antipathy—an undefined but overpowering +sensation, while standing in the presence of the eccentric stranger, +which made him very unwilling to say anything which might reasonably +offend him.</p> + +<p>"I have no doubt," said Gerard, after two or three prefatory hems, "that +the alliance which you propose would prove alike advantageous and +honourable to my niece; but you must be aware that she has a will of her +own, and may not acquiesce in what <i>we</i> may design for her advantage."</p> + +<p>"Do not seek to deceive me, sir painter," said Vanderhausen; "you are +her guardian—she is your ward—she is mine if <i>you</i> like to make her +so."</p> + +<p>The man of Rotterdam moved forward a little as he spoke, and Gerard +Douw, he scarce knew why, inwardly prayed for the speedy return of +Schalken.</p> + +<p>"I desire," said the mysterious gentleman, "to place in your hands at +once an evidence of my wealth, and a security for my liberal dealing +with your niece. The lad will return in a minute or two with a sum in +value five times the fortune which she has a right to expect from her +husband. This shall lie in your hands, together with her dowry, and you +may apply the united sum as suits her interest best; it shall be all +exclusively hers while she lives: is that liberal?"</p> + +<p>Douw assented, and inwardly acknowledged that fortune had been +extraordinarily kind to his niece; the stranger, he thought, must be +both wealthy and generous, and such an offer was not to be despised, +though made by a humourist, and one of no very prepossessing presence. +Rose had no very high pretensions for she had but a modest dowry, which +she owed entirely to the generosity of her uncle; neither had she any +right to raise exceptions on the score of birth, for her own origin was +far from splendid, and as the other objections, Gerald resolved, and +indeed, by the usages of the time, was warranted in resolving, not to +listen to them for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Sir" said he, addressing the stranger, "your offer is liberal, and +whatever hesitation I may feel in closing with it immediately, arises +solely from my not having the honour of knowing anything of your family +or station. Upon these points you can, of course, satisfy me without +difficulty?'</p> + +<p>"As to my respectability," said the stranger, drily, "you must take that +for granted at present; pester me with no inquiries; you can discover +nothing more about me than I choose to make known. You shall have +sufficient security for my respectability—my word, if you are +honourable: if you are sordid, my gold."</p> + +<p>"A testy old gentleman," thought Douw, "he must have his own way; but, +all things considered, I am not justified to declining his offer. I will +not pledge myself unnecessarily, however."</p> + +<p>"You will not pledge yourself unnecessarily," said Vanderhausen, +strangely uttering the very words which had just floated through the +mind of his companion; "but you will do so if it is necessary, I +presume; and I will show you that I consider it indispensable. If the +gold I mean to leave in your hands satisfy you, and if you don't wish my +proposal to be at once withdrawn, you must, before I leave this room, +write your name to this engagement."</p> + +<p>Having thus spoken, he placed a paper in the hands of the master, the +contents of which expressed an engagement entered into by Gerard Douw, +to give to Wilken Vanderhausen of Rotterdam, in marriage, Rose +Velderkaust, and so forth, within one week of the date thereof. While +the painter was employed in reading this covenant, by the light of a +twinkling oil lamp in the far wall of the room, Schalken, as we have +stated, entered the studio, and having delivered the box and the +valuation of the Jew, into the hands of the stranger, he was about to +retire, when Vanderhausen called to him to wait; and, presenting the +case and the certificate to Gerard Douw, he paused in silence until he +had satisfied himself, by an inspection of both, respecting the value of +the pledge left in his hands. At length he said----</p> + +<p>"Are you content?"</p> + +<p>The painter said he would fain have another day to consider.</p> + +<p>"Not an hour," said the suitor, apathetically.</p> + +<p>"Well then," said Douw, with a sore effort, "I am content, it is a +bargain."</p> + +<p>"Then sign at once," said Vanderhausen, "for I am weary."</p> + +<p>At the same time he produced a small case of writing materials, and +Gerard signed the important document.</p> + +<p>"Let this youth witness the covenant," said the old man; and Godfrey +Schalken unconsciously attested the instrument which for ever bereft him +of his dear Rose Velderkaust.</p> + +<p>The compact being thus completed, the strange visitor folded up the +paper, and stowed it safely in an inner pocket.</p> + +<p>"I will visit you to-morrow night at nine o'clock, at your own house, +Gerard Douw, and will see the object of our contract;" and so saying +Wilken Vanderhausen moved stiffly, but rapidly, out of the room.</p> + +<p>Schalken, eager to resolve his doubts, had placed himself by the window, +in order to watch the street entrance; but the experiment served only to +support his suspicions, for the old man did not issue from the door. +This was <i>very</i> strange, odd, nay fearful. He and his master returned +together, and talked but little on the way, for each had his own +subjects of reflection, of anxiety, and of hope. Schalken, however, did +not know the ruin which menaced his dearest projects.</p> + +<p>Gerard Douw knew nothing of the attachment which had sprung up between +his pupil and his niece; and even if he had, it is doubtful whether he +would have regarded its existence as any serious obstruction to the +wishes of Minheer Vanderhausen. Marriages were then and there matters of +traffic and calculation; and it would have appeared as absurd in the +eyes of the guardian to make a mutual attachment an essential element in +a contract of the sort, as it would have been to draw up his bonds and +receipts in the language of romance.</p> + +<p>The painter, however, did not communicate to his niece the important +step which he had taken in her behalf, a forebearance caused not by any +anticipated opposition on her part, but solely by a ludicrous +consciousness that if she were to ask him for a description of her +destined bridegroom, he would be forced to confess that he had not once +seen his face, and if called upon, would find it absolutely impossible +to identify him. Upon the next day, Gerard Douw, after dinner, called +his niece to him and having scanned her person with an air of +satisfaction, he took her hand, and looking upon her pretty innocent +face with a smile of kindness, he said:----</p> + +<p>"Rose, my girl, that face of yours will make your fortune." Rose blushed +and smiled. "Such faces and such tempers seldom go together, and when +they do, the compound is a love charm, few heads or hearts can resist; +trust me, you will soon be a bride, girl. But this is trifling, and I am +pressed for time, so make ready the large room by eight o'clock +to-night, and give directions for supper at nine. I expect a friend; and +observe me, child, do you trick yourself out handsomely. I will not have +him think us poor or sluttish."</p> + +<p>With these words he left her, and took his way to the room in which his +pupils worked.</p> + +<p>When the evening closed in, Gerard called Schalken, who was about to +take his departure to his own obscure and comfortless lodgings, and +asked him to come home and sup with Rose and Vanderhausen. The +invitation was, of course, accepted and Gerard Douw and his pupil soon +found themselves in the handsome and, even then, antique chamber, which +had been prepared for the reception of the stranger. A cheerful wood +fire blazed in the hearth, a little at one side of which an +old-fashioned table, which shone in the fire-light like burnished gold, +was awaiting the supper, for which preparations were going forward; and +ranged with exact regularity, stood the tall-backed chairs, whose +ungracefulness was more than compensated by their comfort. The little +party, consisting of Rose, her uncle, and the artist, awaited the +arrival of the expected visitor with considerable impatience. Nine +o'clock at length came, and with it a summons at the street door, which +being speedily answered, was followed by a slow and emphatic tread upon +the staircase; the steps moved heavily across the lobby, the door of the +room in which the party we have described were assembled slowly opened, +and there entered a figure which startled, almost appalled, the +phlegmatic Dutchmen, and nearly made Rose scream with terror. It was the +form, and arrayed in the garb of Minheer Vanderhausen; the air, the +gait, the height were the same, but the features had never been seen by +any of the party before. The stranger stopped at the door of the room, +and displayed his form and face completely. He wore a dark-coloured +cloth cloak, which was short and full, not falling quite to his knees; +his legs were cased in dark purple silk stockings, and his shoes were +adorned with roses of the same colour. The opening of the cloak in front +showed the under-suit to consist of some very dark, perhaps sable +material, and his hands were enclosed in a pair of heavy leather gloves, +which ran up considerably above the wrist, in the manner of a gauntlet. +In one hand he carried his walking-stick and his hat, which he had +removed, and the other hung heavily by his side. A quantity of grizzled +hair descended in long tresses from his head, and rested upon the plaits +of a stiff ruff, which effectually concealed his neck. So far all was +well; but the face!--all the flesh of the face was coloured with the +bluish leaden hue, which is sometimes produced by metallic medicines, +administered in excessive quantities; the eyes showed an undue +proportion of muddy white, and had a certain indefinable character of +insanity; the hue of the lips bearing the usual relation to that of the +face, was, consequently, nearly black; and the entire character of the +face was sensual, malignant, and even satanic. It was remarkable that +the worshipful stranger suffered as little as possible of his flesh to +appear, and that during his visit he did not once remove his gloves. +Having stood for some moments at the door, Gerard Douw at length found +breath and collectedness to bid him welcome, and with a mute inclination +of the head, the stranger stepped forward into the room. There was +something indescribably odd, even horrible, about all his motions, +something undefinable, that was unnatural, unhuman; it was as if the +limbs were guided and directed by a spirit unused to the management of +bodily machinery. The stranger spoke hardly at all during his visit, +which did not exceed half an hour; and the host himself could scarcely +muster courage enough to utter the few necessary salutations and +courtesies; and, indeed, such was the nervous terror which the presence +of Vanderhausen inspired, that very little would have made all his +entertainers fly in downright panic from the room. They had not so far +lost all self-possession, however, as to fail to observe two strange +peculiarities of their visitor. During his stay his eyelids did not once +close, or, indeed, move in the slightest degree; and farther, there was +a deathlike stillness in his whole person, owing to the absence of the +heaving motion of the chest, caused by the process of respiration. These +two peculiarities, though when told they may appear trifling, produced a +very striking and unpleasant effect when seen and observed. Vanderhausen +at length relieved the painter of Leyden of his inauspicious presence; +and with no trifling sense of relief the little party heard the street +door close after him.</p> + +<p>"Dear uncle," said Rose, "what a frightful man! I would not see him +again for the wealth of the States."</p> + +<p>"Tush, foolish girl," said Douw, whose sensations were anything but +comfortable. "A man may be as ugly as the devil, and yet, if his heart +and actions are good, he is worth all the pretty-faced perfumed puppies +that walk the Mall. Rose, my girl, it is very true he has not thy pretty +face, but I know him to be wealthy and liberal; and were he ten times +more ugly, these two virtues would be enough to counter balance all his +deformity, and if not sufficient actually to alter the shape and hue of +his features, at least enough to prevent one thinking them so much +amiss."</p> + +<p>"Do you know, uncle," said Rose, "when I saw him standing at the door, I +could not get it out of my head that I saw the old painted wooden figure +that used to frighten me so much in the Church of St. Laurence at +Rotterdam."</p> + +<p>Gerard laughed, though he could not help inwardly acknowledging the +justness of the comparison. He was resolved, however, as far as he +could, to check his niece's disposition to dilate upon the ugliness of +her intended bridegroom, although he was not a little pleased, as well +as puzzled, to observe that she appeared totally exempt from that +mysterious dread of the stranger which, he could not disguise it from +himself, considerably affected him, as also his pupil Godfrey Schalken.</p> + +<p>Early on the next day there arrived, from various quarters of the town, +rich presents of silks, velvets, jewellery, and so forth, for Rose; and +also a packet directed to Gerard Douw, which on being opened, was found +to contain a contract of marriage, formally drawn up, between Wilken +Vanderhausen of the <i>Boom-quay</i>, in Rotterdam, and Rose Velderkaust of +Leyden, niece to Gerard Douw, master in the art of painting, also of the +same city; and containing engagements on the part of Vanderhausen to +make settlements upon his bride, far more splendid than he had before +led her guardian to believe likely, and which were to be secured to her +use in the most unexceptionable manner possible—the money being placed +in the hand of Gerard Douw himself.</p> + +<p>I have no sentimental scenes to describe, no cruelty of guardians, no +magnanimity of wards, no agonies, or transport of lovers. The record I +have to make is one of sordidness, levity, and heartlessness. In less +than a week after the first interview which we have just described, the +contract of marriage was fulfilled, and Schalken saw the prize which he +would have risked existence to secure, carried off in solemn pomp by his +repulsive rival. For two or three days he absented himself from the +school; he then returned and worked, if with less cheerfulness, with far +more dogged resolution than before; the stimulus of love had given place +to that of ambition. Months passed away, and, contrary to his +expectation, and, indeed, to the direct promise of the parties, Gerard +Douw heard nothing of his niece or her worshipful spouse. The interest +of the money, which was to have been demanded in quarterly sums, lay +unclaimed in his hands.</p> + +<p>He began to grow extremely uneasy. Minheer Vanderhausen's direction in +Rotterdam he was fully possessed of; after some irresolution he finally +determined to journey thither—a trifling undertaking, and easily +accomplished—and thus to satisfy himself of the safety and comfort of +his ward, for whom he entertained an honest and strong affection. His +search was in vain, however; no one in Rotterdam had ever heard of +Minheer Vanderhausen. Gerard Douw left not a house in the <i>Boom-quay</i> +untried, but all in vain. No one could give him any information whatever +touching the object of his inquiry, and he was obliged to return to +Leyden nothing wiser and far more anxious, than when he had left it.</p> + +<p>On his arrival he hastened to the establishment from which Vanderhausen +had hired the lumbering, though, considering the times, most luxurious +vehicle, which the bridal party had employed to convey them to +Rotterdam. From the driver of this machine he learned, that having +proceeded by slow stages, they had late in the evening approached +Rotterdam; but that before they entered the city, and while yet nearly a +mile from it, a small party of men, soberly clad, and after the old +fashion, with peaked beards and moustaches, standing in the centre of +the road, obstructed the further progress of the carriage. The driver +reined in his horses, much fearing, from the obscurity of the hour, and +the loneliness, of the road, that some mischief was intended. His fears +were, however, somewhat allayed by his observing that these strange men +carried a large litter, of an antique shape, and which they immediately +set down upon the pavement, whereupon the bridegroom, having opened the +coach-door from within, descended, and having assisted his bride to do +likewise, led her, weeping bitterly, and wringing her hands, to the +litter, which they both entered. It was then raised by the men who +surrounded it, and speedily carried towards the city, and before it had +proceeded very far, the darkness concealed it from the view of the Dutch +coachman. In the inside of the vehicle he found a purse, whose contents +more than thrice paid the hire of the carriage and man. He saw and could +tell nothing more of Minheer Vanderhausen and his beautiful lady.</p> + +<p>This mystery was a source of profound anxiety and even grief to Gerard +Douw. There was evidently fraud in the dealing of Vanderhausen with him, +though for what purpose committed he could not imagine. He greatly +doubted how far it was possible for a man possessing such a countenance +to be anything but a villain, and every day that passed without his +hearing from or of his niece, instead of inducing him to forget his +fears, on the contrary tended more and more to aggravate them. The loss +of her cheerful society tended also to depress his spirits; and in order +to dispel the gloom, which often crept upon his mind after his daily +occupations were over, he was wont frequently to ask Schalken to +accompany him home, and share his otherwise solitary supper.</p> + +<p>One evening, the painter and his pupil were sitting by the fire, having +accomplished a comfortable meal, and had yielded to the silent and +delicious melancholy of digestion, when their ruminations were disturbed +by a loud sound at the street door, as if occasioned by some person +rushing and scrambling vehemently against it. A domestic had run without +delay to ascertain the cause of the disturbance, and they heard him +twice or thrice interrogate the applicant for admission, but without +eliciting any other answer but a sustained reiteration of the sounds. +They heard him then open the hall-door, and immediately there followed a +light and rapid tread on the staircase. Schalken advanced towards the +door. It opened before he reached it, and Rose rushed into the room. She +looked wild, fierce and haggard with terror and exhaustion, but her +dress surprised them as much as even her unexpected appearance. It +consisted of a kind of white woollen wrapper, made close about the neck, +and descending to the very ground. It was much deranged and +travel-soiled. The poor creature had hardly entered the chamber when she +fell senseless on the floor. With some difficulty they succeeded in +reviving her, and on recovering her senses, she instantly exclaimed, in +a tone of terror rather than mere impatience:----</p> + +<p>"Wine! wine! quickly, or I'm lost!"</p> + +<p>Astonished and almost scared at the strange agitation in which the call +was made, they at once administered to her wishes, and she drank some +wine with a haste and eagerness which surprised them. She had hardly +swallowed it, when she exclaimed, with the same urgency:</p> + +<p>"Food, for God's sake, food, at once, or I perish."</p> + +<p>A considerable fragment of a roast joint was upon the table, and +Schalken immediately began to cut some, but he was anticipated, for no +sooner did she see it than she caught it, a more than mortal image of +famine, and with her hands, and even with her teeth, she tore off the +flesh, and swallowed it. When the paroxysm of hunger had been a little +appeased, she appeared on a sudden overcome with shame, or it may have +been that other more agitating thoughts overpowered and scared her, for +she began to weep bitterly and to wring her hands.</p> + +<p>"Oh, send for a minister of God," said she; "I am not safe till he +comes; send for him speedily."</p> + +<p>Gerard Douw despatched a messenger instantly, and prevailed on his niece +to allow him to surrender his bed chamber to her use. He also persuaded +her to retire to it at once to rest; her consent was extorted upon the +condition that they would not leave her for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Oh that the holy man were here," she said; "he can deliver me: the dead +and the living can never be one: God has forbidden it."</p> + +<p>With these mysterious words she surrendered herself to their guidance, +and they proceeded to the chamber which Gerard Douw had assigned to her +use.</p> + +<p>"Do not, do not leave me for a moment," said she; "I am lost for ever +if you do."</p> + +<p>Gerard Douw's chamber was approached through a spacious apartment, which +they were now about to enter. He and Schalken each carried a candle, so +that a sufficiency of light was cast upon all surrounding objects. They +were now entering the large chamber, which as I have said, communicated +with Douw's apartment, when Rose suddenly stopped, and, in a whisper +which thrilled them both with horror, she said:----</p> + +<p>"Oh, God! he is here! he is here! See, see! there he goes!"</p> + +<p>She pointed towards the door of the inner room, and Schalken thought he +saw a shadowy and ill-defined form gliding into that apartment. He drew +his sword, and, raising the candle so as to throw its light with +increased distinctness upon the objects in the room, he entered the +chamber into which the shadow had glided. No figure was there—nothing +but the furniture which belonged to the room, and yet he could not be +deceived as to the fact that something had moved before them into the +chamber. A sickening dread came upon him, and the cold perspiration +broke out in heavy drops upon his forehead; nor was he more composed, +when he heard the increased urgency and agony of entreaty, with which +Rose implored them not to leave her for a moment.</p> + +<p>"I saw him," said she; "he's here. I cannot be deceived; I know him; +he's by me; he is with me; he's in the room. Then, for God's sake, as +you would save me, do not stir from beside me."</p> + +<p>They at length prevailed upon her to lie down upon the bed, where she +continued to urge them to stay by her. She frequently uttered incoherent +sentences, repeating, again and again, "the dead and the living cannot +be one: God has forbidden it." And then again, "Rest to the +wakeful—sleep to the sleep-walkers." These and such mysterious and +broken sentences, she continued to utter until the clergyman arrived. +Gerard Douw began to fear, naturally enough, that terror or +ill-treatment, had unsettled the poor girl's intellect, and he half +suspected, by the suddenness of her appearance, the unseasonableness of +the hour, and above all, from the wildness and terror of her manner, +that she had made her escape from some place of confinement for +lunatics, and was in imminent fear of pursuit. He resolved to summon +medical advice as soon as the mind of his niece had been in some measure +set at rest by the offices of the clergyman whose attendance she had so +earnestly desired; and until this object had been attained, he did not +venture to put any questions to her, which might possibly, by reviving +painful or horrible recollections, increase her agitation. The +clergyman soon arrived—a man of ascetic countenance and venerable +age—one whom Gerard Douw respected very much, forasmuch as he was a +veteran polemic, though one perhaps more dreaded as a combatant than +beloved as a Christian—of pure morality, subtle brain, and frozen +heart. He entered the chamber which communicated with that in which Rose +reclined and immediately on his arrival, she requested him to pray for +her, as for one who lay in the hands of Satan, and who could hope for +deliverance only from heaven.</p> + +<p>That you may distinctly understand all the circumstances of the event +which I am going to describe, it is necessary to state the relative +position of the parties who were engaged in it. The old clergyman and +Schalken were in the anteroom of which I have already spoken; Rose lay +in the inner chamber, the door of which was open; and by the side of the +bed, at her urgent desire, stood her guardian; a candle burned in the +bedchamber, and three were lighted in the outer apartment. The old man +now cleared his voice as if about to commence, but before he had time to +begin, a sudden gust of air blew out the candle which served to +illuminate the room in which the poor girl lay, and she, with hurried +alarm, exclaimed:----</p> + +<p>"Godfrey, bring in another candle; the darkness is unsafe."</p> + +<p>Gerard Douw forgetting for the moment her repeated injunctions, in the +immediate impulse, stepped from the bedchamber into the other, in order +to supply what she desired.</p> + +<p>"Oh God! do not go, dear uncle," shrieked the unhappy girl—and at the +same time she sprung from the bed, and darted after him, in order, by +her grasp, to detain him. But the warning came too late, for scarcely +had he passed the threshold, and hardly had his niece had time to utter +the startling exclamation, when the door which divided the two rooms +closed violently after him, as if swung by a strong blast of wind. +Schalken and he both rushed to the door, but their united and desperate +efforts could not avail so much as to shake it. Shriek after shriek +burst from the inner chamber, with all the piercing loudness of +despairing terror. Schalken and Douw applied every nerve to force open +the door; but all in vain. There was no sound of struggling from within, +but the screams seemed to increase in loudness, and at the same time +they heard the bolts of the latticed window withdrawn, and the window +itself grated upon the sill as if thrown open. One <i>last</i> shriek, so +long and piercing and agonized as to be scarcely human, swelled from the +room, and suddenly there followed a death-like silence. A light step was +heard crossing the floor, as if from the bed to the window; and almost +at the same instant the door gave way, and, yielding to the pressure of +the external applicants, nearly precipitated them into the room. It was +empty. The window was open, and Schalken sprung to a chair and gazed out +upon the street and canal below. He saw no form, but he saw, or thought +he saw, the waters of the broad canal beneath settling ring after ring +in heavy circles, as if a moment before disturbed by the submission of +some ponderous body.</p> + +<p>No trace of Rose was ever after found, nor was anything certain +respecting her mysterious wooer discovered or even suspected—no clue +whereby to trace the intricacies of the labyrinth and to arrive at its +solution, presented itself. But an incident occurred, which, though it +will not be received by our rational readers in lieu of evidence, +produced nevertheless a strong and a lasting impression upon the mind of +Schalken. Many years after the events which we have detailed, Schalken, +then residing far away received an intimation of his father's death, and +of his intended burial upon a fixed day in the church of Rotterdam. It +was necessary that a very considerable journey should be performed by +the funeral procession, which as it will be readily believed, was not +very numerously attended. Schalken with difficulty arrived in Rotterdam +late in the day upon which the funeral was appointed to take place. It +had not then arrived. Evening closed in, and still it did not appear.</p> + +<p>Schalken strolled down to the church; he found it open; notice of the +arrival of the funeral had been given, and the vault in which the body +was to be laid had been opened. The sexton, on seeing a well-dressed +gentleman, whose object was to attend the expected obsequies, pacing the +aisle of the church, hospitably invited him to share with him the +comforts of a blazing fire, which, as was his custom in winter time upon +such occasions, he had kindled in the hearth of a chamber in which he +was accustomed to await the arrival of such grisly guests and which +communicated, by a flight of steps, with the vault below. In this +chamber, Schalken and his entertainer seated themselves; and the sexton, +after some fruitless attempts to engage his guest in conversation, was +obliged to apply himself to his tobacco-pipe and can, to solace his +solitude. In spite of his grief and cares, the fatigues of a rapid +journey of nearly forty hours gradually overcame the mind and body of +Godfrey Schalken, and he sank into a deep sleep, from which he awakened +by someone's shaking him gently by the shoulder. He first thought that +the old sexton had called him, but <i>he</i> was no longer in the room. He +roused himself, and as soon as he could clearly see what was around him, +he perceived a female form, clothed in a kind of light robe of white, +part of which was so disposed as to form a veil, and in her hand she +carried a lamp. She was moving rather away from him, in the direction of +the flight of steps which conducted towards the vaults. Schalken felt a +vague alarm at the sight of this figure and at the same time an +irresistible impulse to follow its guidance. He followed it towards the +vaults, but when it reached the head of the stairs, he paused; the +figure paused also, and, turning gently round, displayed, by the light +of the lamp it carried, the face and features of his first love, Rose +Velderkaust. There was nothing horrible, or even sad, in the +countenance. On the contrary, it wore the same arch smile which used to +enchant the artist long before in his happy days. A feeling of awe and +interest, too intense to be resisted, prompted him to follow the +spectre, if spectre it were. She descended the stairs—he followed—and +turning to the left, through a narrow passage, she led him, to his +infinite surprise, into what appeared to be an old-fashioned Dutch +apartment, such as the pictures of Gerard Douw have served to +immortalize. Abundance of costly antique furniture was disposed about +the room, and in one corner stood a four-post bed, with heavy black +cloth curtains around it; the figure frequently turned towards him with +the same arch smile; and when she came to the side of the bed, she drew +the curtains, and, by the light of the lamp, which she held towards its +contents, she disclosed to the horror-stricken painter, sitting bolt +upright in the bed, the livid and demoniac form of Vanderhausen. +Schalken had hardly seen him, when he fell senseless upon the floor, +where he lay until discovered, on the next morning, by persons employed +in closing the passages into the vaults. He was lying in a cell of +considerable size, which had not been disturbed for a long time, and he +had fallen beside a large coffin, which was supported upon small +pillars, a security against the attacks of vermin.</p> + +<p>To his dying day Schalken was satisfied of the reality of the vision +which he had witnessed, and he has left behind him a curious evidence of +the impression which it wrought upon his fancy, in a painting executed +shortly after the event I have narrated, and which is valuable as +exhibiting not only the peculiarities which have made Schalken's +pictures sought after, but even more so as presenting a portrait of his +early love, Rose Velderkaust, whose mysterious fate must always remain +matter of speculation.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="An_Account_of_Some_Strange_Disturbances"></a><h2> +An Account of Some Strange<br> +Disturbances in Aungier Street</h2> + +<p>It is not worth telling, this story of mine—at least, not worth +writing. Told, indeed, as I have sometimes been called upon to tell it, +to a circle of intelligent and eager faces, lighted up by a good +after-dinner fire on a winter's evening, with a cold wind rising and +wailing outside, and all snug and cosy within, it has gone off—though I +say it, who should not—indifferent well. But it is a venture to do as +you would have me. Pen, ink, and paper are cold vehicles for the +marvellous, and a "reader" decidedly a more critical animal than a +"listener." If, however, you can induce your friends to read it after +nightfall, and when the fireside talk has run for a while on thrilling +tales of shapeless terror; in short, if you will secure me the <i>mollia +tempora fandi</i>, I will go to my work, and say my say, with better heart. +Well, then, these conditions presupposed, I shall waste no more words, +but tell you simply how it all happened.</p> + +<p>My cousin (Tom Ludlow) and I studied medicine together. I think he would +have succeeded, had he stuck to the profession; but he preferred the +Church, poor fellow, and died early, a sacrifice to contagion, +contracted in the noble discharge of his duties. For my present purpose, +I say enough of his character when I mention that he was of a sedate but +frank and cheerful nature; very exact in his observance of truth, and +not by any means like myself—of an excitable or nervous temperament.</p> + +<p>My Uncle Ludlow—Tom's father—while we were attending lectures, +purchased three or four old houses in Aungier Street, one of which was +unoccupied. <i>He</i> resided in the country, and Tom proposed that we should +take up our abode in the untenanted house, so long as it should continue +unlet; a move which would accomplish the double end of settling us +nearer alike to our lecture-rooms and to our amusements, and of +relieving us from the weekly charge of rent for our lodgings.</p> + +<p>Our furniture was very scant—our whole equipage remarkably modest and +primitive; and, in short, our arrangements pretty nearly as simple as +those of a bivouac. Our new plan was, therefore, executed almost as soon +as conceived. The front drawing-room was our sitting-room. I had the +bedroom over it, and Tom the back bedroom on the same floor, which +nothing could have induced me to occupy.</p> + +<p>The house, to begin with, was a very old one. It had been, I believe, +newly fronted about fifty years before; but with this exception, it had +nothing modern about it. The agent who bought it and looked into the +titles for my uncle, told me that it was sold, along with much other +forfeited property, at Chichester House, I think, in 1702; and had +belonged to Sir Thomas Hacket, who was Lord Mayor of Dublin in James +II.'s time. How old it was <i>then</i>, I can't say; but, at all events, it +had seen years and changes enough to have contracted all that mysterious +and saddened air, at once exciting and depressing, which belongs to most +old mansions.</p> + +<p>There had been very little done in the way of modernising details; and, +perhaps, it was better so; for there was something queer and by-gone in +the very walls and ceilings—in the shape of doors and windows—in the +odd diagonal site of the chimney-pieces—in the beams and ponderous +cornices—not to mention the singular solidity of all the woodwork, from +the banisters to the window-frames, which hopelessly defied disguise, +and would have emphatically proclaimed their antiquity through any +conceivable amount of modern finery and varnish.</p> + +<p>An effort had, indeed, been made, to the extent of papering the +drawing-rooms; but somehow, the paper looked raw and out of keeping; and +the old woman, who kept a little dirt-pie of a shop in the lane, and +whose daughter—a girl of two and fifty—was our solitary handmaid, +coming in at sunrise, and chastely receding again as soon as she had +made all ready for tea in our state apartment;—this woman, I say, +remembered it, when old Judge Horrocks (who, having earned the +reputation of a particularly "hanging judge," ended by hanging himself, +as the coroner's jury found, under an impulse of "temporary insanity," +with a child's skipping-rope, over the massive old bannisters) resided +there, entertaining good company, with fine venison and rare old port. +In those halcyon days, the drawing-rooms were hung with gilded leather, +and, I dare say, cut a good figure, for they were really spacious rooms.</p> + +<p>The bedrooms were wainscoted, but the front one was not gloomy; and in +it the cosiness of antiquity quite overcame its sombre associations. But +the back bedroom, with its two queerly-placed melancholy windows, +staring vacantly at the foot of the bed, and with the shadowy recess to +be found in most old houses in Dublin, like a large ghostly closet, +which, from congeniality of temperament, had amalgamated with the +bedchamber, and dissolved the partition. At night-time, this +"alcove"—as our "maid" was wont to call it—had, in my eyes, a +specially sinister and suggestive character. Tom's distant and solitary +candle glimmered vainly into its darkness. <i>There</i> it was always +overlooking him—always itself impenetrable. But this was only part of +the effect. The whole room was, I can't tell how, repulsive to me. There +was, I suppose, in its proportions and features, a latent discord—a +certain mysterious and indescribable relation, which jarred indistinctly +upon some secret sense of the fitting and the safe, and raised +indefinable suspicions and apprehensions of the imagination. On the +whole, as I began by saying, nothing could have induced me to pass a +night alone in it.</p> + +<p>I had never pretended to conceal from poor Tom my superstitious +weakness; and he, on the other hand, most unaffectedly ridiculed my +tremors. The sceptic was, however, destined to receive a lesson, as you +shall hear.</p> + +<p>We had not been very long in occupation of our respective dormitories, +when I began to complain of uneasy nights and disturbed sleep. I was, I +suppose, the more impatient under this annoyance, as I was usually a +sound sleeper, and by no means prone to nightmares. It was now, however, +my destiny, instead of enjoying my customary repose, every night to "sup +full of horrors." After a preliminary course of disagreeable and +frightful dreams, my troubles took a definite form, and the same vision, +without an appreciable variation in a single detail, visited me at least +(on an average) every second night in the week.</p> + +<p>Now, this dream, nightmare, or infernal illusion—which you please—of +which I was the miserable sport, was on this wise:----</p> + +<p>I saw, or thought I saw, with the most abominable distinctness, although +at the time in profound darkness, every article of furniture and +accidental arrangement of the chamber in which I lay. This, as you know, +is incidental to ordinary nightmare. Well, while in this clairvoyant +condition, which seemed but the lighting up of the theatre in which was +to be exhibited the monotonous tableau of horror, which made my nights +insupportable, my attention invariably became, I know not why, fixed +upon the windows opposite the foot of my bed; and, uniformly with the +same effect, a sense of dreadful anticipation always took slow but sure +possession of me. I became somehow conscious of a sort of horrid but +undefined preparation going forward in some unknown quarter, and by some +unknown agency, for my torment; and, after an interval, which always +seemed to me of the same length, a picture suddenly flew up to the +window, where it remained fixed, as if by an electrical attraction, and +my discipline of horror then commenced, to last perhaps for hours. The +picture thus mysteriously glued to the window-panes, was the portrait of +an old man, in a crimson flowered silk dressing-gown, the folds of which +I could now describe, with a countenance embodying a strange mixture of +intellect, sensuality, and power, but withal sinister and full of +malignant omen. His nose was hooked, like the beak of a vulture; his +eyes large, grey, and prominent, and lighted up with a more than mortal +cruelty and coldness. These features were surmounted by a crimson velvet +cap, the hair that peeped from under which was white with age, while the +eyebrows retained their original blackness. Well I remember every line, +hue, and shadow of that stony countenance, and well I may! The gaze of +this hellish visage was fixed upon me, and mine returned it with the +inexplicable fascination of nightmare, for what appeared to me to be +hours of agony. At last----</p> + +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The cock he crew, away then flew </span><br> + +<p>the fiend who had enslaved me through the awful watches of the night; +and, harassed and nervous, I rose to the duties of the day.</p> + +<p>I had—I can't say exactly why, but it may have been from the exquisite +anguish and profound impressions of unearthly horror, with which this +strange phantasmagoria was associated—an insurmountable antipathy to +describing the exact nature of my nightly troubles to my friend and +comrade. Generally, however, I told him that I was haunted by abominable +dreams; and, true to the imputed materialism of medicine, we put our +heads together to dispel my horrors, not by exorcism, but by a tonic.</p> + +<p>I will do this tonic justice, and frankly admit that the accursed +portrait began to intermit its visits under its influence. What of that? +Was this singular apparition—as full of character as of +terror—therefore the creature of my fancy, or the invention of my poor +stomach? Was it, in short, <i>subjective</i> (to borrow the technical slang +of the day) and not the palpable aggression and intrusion of an external +agent? That, good friend, as we will both admit, by no means follows. +The evil spirit, who enthralled my senses in the shape of that +portrait, may have been just as near me, just as energetic, just as +malignant, though I saw him not. What means the whole moral code of +revealed religion regarding the due keeping of our own bodies, +soberness, temperance, etc.? here is an obvious connexion between the +material and the invisible; the healthy tone of the system, and its +unimpaired energy, may, for aught we can tell, guard us against +influences which would otherwise render life itself terrific. The +mesmerist and the electro-biologist will fail upon an average with nine +patients out of ten—so may the evil spirit. Special conditions of the +corporeal system are indispensable to the production of certain +spiritual phenomena. The operation succeeds sometimes—sometimes +fails—that is all.</p> + +<p>I found afterwards that my would-be sceptical companion had his troubles +too. But of these I knew nothing yet. One night, for a wonder, I was +sleeping soundly, when I was roused by a step on the lobby outside my +room, followed by the loud clang of what turned out to be a large brass +candlestick, flung with all his force by poor Tom Ludlow over the +banisters, and rattling with a rebound down the second flight of stairs; +and almost concurrently with this, Tom burst open my door, and bounced +into my room backwards, in a state of extraordinary agitation.</p> + +<p>I had jumped out of bed and clutched him by the arm before I had any +distinct idea of my own whereabouts. There we were—in our +shirts—standing before the open door—staring through the great old +banister opposite, at the lobby window, through which the sickly light +of a clouded moon was gleaming.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, Tom? What's the matter with you? What the devil's +the matter with you, Tom?" I demanded shaking him with nervous +impatience.</p> + +<p>He took a long breath before he answered me, and then it was not very +coherently.</p> + +<p>"It's nothing, nothing at all—did I speak?—what did I say?—where's +the candle, Richard? It's dark; I—I had a candle!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, dark enough," I said; "but what's the matter?—what <i>is</i> it?—why +don't you speak, Tom?—have you lost your wits?—what is the matter?"</p> + +<p>"The matter?—oh, it is all over. It must have been a dream—nothing at +all but a dream—don't you think so? It could not be anything more than +a dream."</p> + +<p>"Of <i>course</i>" said I, feeling uncommonly nervous, "it <i>was</i> a dream."</p> + +<p>"I thought," he said, "there was a man in my room, and—and I jumped out +of bed; and—and—where's the candle?"</p> + +<p>"In your room, most likely," I said, "shall I go and bring it?"</p> + +<p>"No; stay here—don't go; it's no matter—don't, I tell you; it was all +a dream. Bolt the door, Dick; I'll stay here with you—I feel nervous. +So, Dick, like a good fellow, light your candle and open the window—I +am in a <i>shocking state</i>."</p> + +<p>I did as he asked me, and robing himself like Granuaile in one of my +blankets, he seated himself close beside my bed.</p> + +<p>Every body knows how contagious is fear of all sorts, but more +especially that particular kind of fear under which poor Tom was at that +moment labouring. I would not have heard, nor I believe would he have +recapitulated, just at that moment, for half the world, the details of +the hideous vision which had so unmanned him.</p> + +<p>"Don't mind telling me anything about your nonsensical dream, Tom," said +I, affecting contempt, really in a panic; "let us talk about something +else; but it is quite plain that this dirty old house disagrees with us +both, and hang me if I stay here any longer, to be pestered with +indigestion and—and—bad nights, so we may as well look out for +lodgings—don't you think so?—at once."</p> + +<p>Tom agreed, and, after an interval, said----</p> + +<p>"I have been thinking, Richard, that it is a long time since I saw my +father, and I have made up my mind to go down to-morrow and return in a +day or two, and you can take rooms for us in the meantime."</p> + +<p>I fancied that this resolution, obviously the result of the vision which +had so profoundly scared him, would probably vanish next morning with +the damps and shadows of night. But I was mistaken. Off went Tom at peep +of day to the country, having agreed that so soon as I had secured +suitable lodgings, I was to recall him by letter from his visit to my +Uncle Ludlow.</p> + +<p>Now, anxious as I was to change my quarters, it so happened, owing to a +series of petty procrastinations and accidents, that nearly a week +elapsed before my bargain was made and my letter of recall on the wing +to Tom; and, in the meantime, a trifling adventure or two had occurred +to your humble servant, which, absurd as they now appear, diminished by +distance, did certainly at the time serve to whet my appetite for change +considerably.</p> + +<p>A night or two after the departure of my comrade, I was sitting by my +bedroom fire, the door locked, and the ingredients of a tumbler of hot +whisky-punch upon the crazy spider-table; for, as the best mode of +keeping the</p> + +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Black spirits and white,</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Blue spirits and grey, </span><br> + +<p>with which I was environed, at bay, I had adopted the practice +recommended by the wisdom of my ancestors, and "kept my spirits up by +pouring spirits down." I had thrown aside my volume of Anatomy, and was +treating myself by way of a tonic, preparatory to my punch and bed, to +half-a-dozen pages of the <i>Spectator</i>, when I heard a step on the flight +of stairs descending from the attics. It was two o'clock, and the +streets were as silent as a churchyard—the sounds were, therefore, +perfectly distinct. There was a slow, heavy tread, characterised by the +emphasis and deliberation of age, descending by the narrow staircase +from above; and, what made the sound more singular, it was plain that +the feet which produced it were perfectly bare, measuring the descent +with something between a pound and a flop, very ugly to hear.</p> + +<p>I knew quite well that my attendant had gone away many hours before, and +that nobody but myself had any business in the house. It was quite plain +also that the person who was coming down stairs had no intention +whatever of concealing his movements; but, on the contrary, appeared +disposed to make even more noise, and proceed more deliberately, than +was at all necessary. When the step reached the foot of the stairs +outside my room, it seemed to stop; and I expected every moment to see +my door open spontaneously, and give admission to the original of my +detested portrait. I was, however, relieved in a few seconds by hearing +the descent renewed, just in the same manner, upon the staircase leading +down to the drawing-rooms, and thence, after another pause, down the +next flight, and so on to the hall, whence I heard no more.</p> + +<p>Now, by the time the sound had ceased, I was wound up, as they say, to a +very unpleasant pitch of excitement. I listened, but there was not a +stir. I screwed up my courage to a decisive experiment—opened my door, +and in a stentorian voice bawled over the banisters, "Who's there?" +There was no answer but the ringing of my own voice through the empty +old house,—no renewal of the movement; nothing, in short, to give my +unpleasant sensations a definite direction. There is, I think, something +most disagreeably disenchanting in the sound of one's own voice under +such circumstances, exerted in solitude, and in vain. It redoubled my +sense of isolation, and my misgivings increased on perceiving that the +door, which I certainly thought I had left open, was closed behind me; +in a vague alarm, lest my retreat should be cut off, I got again into my +room as quickly as I could, where I remained in a state of imaginary +blockade, and very uncomfortable indeed, till morning.</p> + +<p>Next night brought no return of my barefooted fellow-lodger; but the +night following, being in my bed, and in the dark—somewhere, I +suppose, about the same hour as before, I distinctly heard the old +fellow again descending from the garrets.</p> + +<p>This time I had had my punch, and the <i>morale</i> of the garrison was +consequently excellent. I jumped out of bed, clutched the poker as I +passed the expiring fire, and in a moment was upon the lobby. The sound +had ceased by this time—the dark and chill were discouraging; and, +guess my horror, when I saw, or thought I saw, a black monster, whether +in the shape of a man or a bear I could not say, standing, with its back +to the wall, on the lobby, facing me, with a pair of great greenish eyes +shining dimly out. Now, I must be frank, and confess that the cupboard +which displayed our plates and cups stood just there, though at the +moment I did not recollect it. At the same time I must honestly say, +that making every allowance for an excited imagination, I never could +satisfy myself that I was made the dupe of my own fancy in this matter; +for this apparition, after one or two shiftings of shape, as if in the +act of incipient transformation, began, as it seemed on second thoughts, +to advance upon me in its original form. From an instinct of terror +rather than of courage, I hurled the poker, with all my force, at its +head; and to the music of a horrid crash made my way into my room, and +double-locked the door. Then, in a minute more, I heard the horrid bare +feet walk down the stairs, till the sound ceased in the hall, as on the +former occasion.</p> + +<p>If the apparition of the night before was an ocular delusion of my fancy +sporting with the dark outlines of our cupboard, and if its horrid eyes +were nothing but a pair of inverted teacups, I had, at all events, the +satisfaction of having launched the poker with admirable effect, and in +true "fancy" phrase, "knocked its two daylights into one," as the +commingled fragments of my tea-service testified. I did my best to +gather comfort and courage from these evidences; but it would not do. +And then what could I say of those horrid bare feet, and the regular +tramp, tramp, tramp, which measured the distance of the entire staircase +through the solitude of my haunted dwelling, and at an hour when no good +influence was stirring? Confound it!--the whole affair was abominable. I +was out of spirits, and dreaded the approach of night.</p> + +<p>It came, ushered ominously in with a thunder-storm and dull torrents of +depressing rain. Earlier than usual the streets grew silent; and by +twelve o'clock nothing but the comfortless pattering of the rain was to +be heard.</p> + +<p>I made myself as snug as I could. I lighted <i>two</i> candles instead of +one. I forswore bed, and held myself in readiness for a sally, candle in +hand; for, <i>coûte qui coûte</i>, I was resolved to <i>see</i> the being, if +visible at all, who troubled the nightly stillness of my mansion. I was +fidgetty and nervous and tried in vain to interest myself with my books. +I walked up and down my room, whistling in turn martial and hilarious +music, and listening ever and anon for the dreaded noise. I sate down +and stared at the square label on the solemn and reserved-looking black +bottle, until "FLANAGAN & CO'S BEST OLD MALT WHISKY" grew into a sort of +subdued accompaniment to all the fantastic and horrible speculations +which chased one another through my brain.</p> + +<p>Silence, meanwhile, grew more silent, and darkness darker. I listened in +vain for the rumble of a vehicle, or the dull clamour of a distant row. +There was nothing but the sound of a rising wind, which had succeeded +the thunder-storm that had travelled over the Dublin mountains quite out +of hearing. In the middle of this great city I began to feel myself +alone with nature, and Heaven knows what beside. My courage was ebbing. +Punch, however, which makes beasts of so many, made a man of me +again—just in time to hear with tolerable nerve and firmness the lumpy, +flabby, naked feet deliberately descending the stairs again.</p> + +<p>I took a candle, not without a tremour. As I crossed the floor I tried +to extemporise a prayer, but stopped short to listen, and never finished +it. The steps continued. I confess I hesitated for some seconds at the +door before I took heart of grace and opened it. When I peeped out the +lobby was perfectly empty—there was no monster standing on the +staircase; and as the detested sound ceased, I was reassured enough to +venture forward nearly to the banisters. Horror of horrors! within a +stair or two beneath the spot where I stood the unearthly tread smote +the floor. My eye caught something in motion; it was about the size of +Goliah's foot—it was grey, heavy, and flapped with a dead weight from +one step to another. As I am alive, it was the most monstrous grey rat I +ever beheld or imagined.</p> + +<p>Shakespeare says—"Some men there are cannot abide a gaping pig, and +some that are mad if they behold a cat." I went well-nigh out of my wits +when I beheld this <i>rat</i>; for, laugh at me as you may, it fixed upon me, +I thought, a perfectly human expression of malice; and, as it shuffled +about and looked up into my face almost from between my feet, I saw, I +could swear it—I felt it then, and know it now, the infernal gaze and +the accursed countenance of my old friend in the portrait, transfused +into the visage of the bloated vermin before me.</p> + +<p>I bounced into my room again with a feeling of loathing and horror I +cannot describe, and locked and bolted my door as if a lion had been at +the other side. D—n him or <i>it</i>; curse the portrait and its original! I +felt in my soul that the rat—yes, the <i>rat</i>, the RAT I had just seen, +was that evil being in masquerade, and rambling through the house upon +some infernal night lark.</p> + +<p>Next morning I was early trudging through the miry streets; and, among +other transactions, posted a peremptory note recalling Tom. On my +return, however, I found a note from my absent "chum," announcing his +intended return next day. I was doubly rejoiced at this, because I had +succeeded in getting rooms; and because the change of scene and return +of my comrade were rendered specially pleasant by the last night's half +ridiculous half horrible adventure.</p> + +<p>I slept extemporaneously in my new quarters in Digges' Street that +night, and next morning returned for breakfast to the haunted mansion, +where I was certain Tom would call immediately on his arrival.</p> + +<p>I was quite right—he came; and almost his first question referred to +the primary object of our change of residence.</p> + +<p>"Thank God," he said with genuine fervour, on hearing that all was +arranged. "On <i>your</i> account I am delighted. As to myself, I assure you +that no earthly consideration could have induced me ever again to pass a +night in this disastrous old house."</p> + +<p>"Confound the house!" I ejaculated, with a genuine mixture of fear and +detestation, "we have not had a pleasant hour since we came to live +here"; and so I went on, and related incidentally my adventure with the +plethoric old rat.</p> + +<p>"Well, if that were <i>all</i>," said my cousin, affecting to make light of +the matter, "I don't think I should have minded it very much."</p> + +<p>"Ay, but its eye—its countenance, my dear Tom," urged I; "if you had +seen <i>that</i>, you would have felt it might be <i>anything</i> but what it +seemed."</p> + +<p>"I inclined to think the best conjurer in such a case would be an +able-bodied cat," he said, with a provoking chuckle.</p> + +<p>"But let us hear your own adventure," I said tartly.</p> + +<p>At this challenge he looked uneasily round him. I had poked up a very +unpleasant recollection.</p> + +<p>"You shall hear it, Dick; I'll tell it to you," he said. "Begad, sir, I +should feel quite queer, though, telling it <i>here</i>, though we are too +strong a body for ghosts to meddle with just now."</p> + +<p>Though he spoke this like a joke, I think it was serious calculation. +Our Hebe was in a corner of the room, packing our cracked delft tea and +dinner-services in a basket. She soon suspended operations, and with +mouth and eyes wide open became an absorbed listener. Tom's experiences +were told nearly in these words:----</p> + +<p>"I saw it three times, Dick—three distinct times; and I am perfectly +certain it meant me some infernal harm. I was, I say, in danger—in +<i>extreme</i> danger; for, if nothing else had happened, my reason would +most certainly have failed me, unless I had escaped so soon. Thank God. +I <i>did</i> escape.</p> + +<p>"The first night of this hateful disturbance, I was lying in the +attitude of sleep, in that lumbering old bed. I hate to think of it. I +was really wide awake, though I had put out my candle, and was lying as +quietly as if I had been asleep; and although accidentally restless, my +thoughts were running in a cheerful and agreeable channel.</p> + +<p>"I think it must have been two o'clock at least when I thought I heard a +sound in that—that odious dark recess at the far end of the bedroom. It +was as if someone was drawing a piece of cord slowly along the floor, +lifting it up, and dropping it softly down again in coils. I sate up +once or twice in my bed, but could see nothing, so I concluded it must +be mice in the wainscot. I felt no emotion graver than curiosity, and +after a few minutes ceased to observe it.</p> + +<p>"While lying in this state, strange to say; without at first a suspicion +of anything supernatural, on a sudden I saw an old man, rather stout and +square, in a sort of roan-red dressing-gown, and with a black cap on his +head, moving stiffly and slowly in a diagonal direction, from the +recess, across the floor of the bedroom, passing my bed at the foot, and +entering the lumber-closet at the left. He had something under his arm; +his head hung a little at one side; and, merciful God! when I saw his +face."</p> + +<p>Tom stopped for a while, and then said----</p> + +<p>"That awful countenance, which living or dying I never can forget, +disclosed what he was. Without turning to the right or left, he passed +beside me, and entered the closet by the bed's head.</p> + +<p>"While this fearful and indescribable type of death and guilt was +passing, I felt that I had no more power to speak or stir than if I had +been myself a corpse. For hours after it had disappeared, I was too +terrified and weak to move. As soon as daylight came, I took courage, +and examined the room, and especially the course which the frightful +intruder had seemed to take, but there was not a vestige to indicate +anybody's having passed there; no sign of any disturbing agency visible +among the lumber that strewed the floor of the closet.</p> + +<p>"I now began to recover a little. I was fagged and exhausted, and at +last, overpowered by a feverish sleep. I came down late; and finding +you out of spirits, on account of your dreams about the portrait, whose +<i>original</i> I am now certain disclosed himself to me, I did not care to +talk about the infernal vision. In fact, I was trying to persuade myself +that the whole thing was an illusion, and I did not like to revive in +their intensity the hated impressions of the past night—or to risk the +constancy of my scepticism, by recounting the tale of my sufferings.</p> + +<p>"It required some nerve, I can tell you, to go to my haunted chamber +next night, and lie down quietly in the same bed," continued Tom. "I did +so with a degree of trepidation, which, I am not ashamed to say, a very +little matter would have sufficed to stimulate to downright panic. This +night, however, passed off quietly enough, as also the next; and so too +did two or three more. I grew more confident, and began to fancy that I +believed in the theories of spectral illusions, with which I had at +first vainly tried to impose upon my convictions.</p> + +<p>"The apparition had been, indeed, altogether anomalous. It had crossed +the room without any recognition of my presence: I had not disturbed +<i>it</i>, and <i>it</i> had no mission to <i>me</i>. What, then, was the imaginable +use of its crossing the room in a visible shape at all? Of course it +might have <i>been</i> in the closet instead of <i>going</i> there, as easily as +it introduced itself into the recess without entering the chamber in a +shape discernible by the senses. Besides, how the deuce <i>had</i> I seen it? +It was a dark night; I had no candle; there was no fire; and yet I saw +it as distinctly, in colouring and outline, as ever I beheld human form! +A cataleptic dream would explain it all; and I was determined that a +dream it should be.</p> + +<p>"One of the most remarkable phenomena connected with the practice of +mendacity is the vast number of deliberate lies we tell ourselves, whom, +of all persons, we can least expect to deceive. In all this, I need +hardly tell you, Dick, I was simply lying to myself, and did not believe +one word of the wretched humbug. Yet I went on, as men will do, like +persevering charlatans and impostors, who tire people into credulity by +the mere force of reiteration; so I hoped to win myself over at last to +a comfortable scepticism about the ghost.</p> + +<p>"He had not appeared a second time—that certainly was a comfort; and +what, after all, did I care for him, and his queer old toggery and +strange looks? Not a fig! I was nothing the worse for having seen him, +and a good story the better. So I tumbled into bed, put out my candle, +and, cheered by a loud drunken quarrel in the back lane, went fast +asleep.</p> + +<p>"From this deep slumber I awoke with a start. I knew I had had a +horrible dream; but what it was I could not remember. My heart was +thumping furiously; I felt bewildered and feverish; I sate up in the bed +and looked about the room. A broad flood of moonlight came in through +the curtainless window; everything was as I had last seen it; and though +the domestic squabble in the back lane was, unhappily for me, allayed, I +yet could hear a pleasant fellow singing, on his way home, the then +popular comic ditty called, 'Murphy Delany.' Taking advantage of this +diversion I lay down again, with my face towards the fireplace, and +closing my eyes, did my best to think of nothing else but the song, +which was every moment growing fainter in the distance:----</p> + +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"'Twas Murphy Delany, so funny and frisky,</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Stept into a shebeen shop to get his skin full; </span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He reeled out again pretty well lined with whiskey,</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">As fresh as a shamrock, as blind as a bull. </span><br> + +<p>"The singer, whose condition I dare say resembled that of his hero, was +soon too far off to regale my ears any more; and as his music died away, +I myself sank into a doze, neither sound nor refreshing. Somehow the +song had got into my head, and I went meandering on through the +adventures of my respectable fellow-countryman, who, on emerging from +the 'shebeen shop,' fell into a river, from which he was fished up to be +'sat upon' by a coroner's jury, who having learned from a 'horse-doctor' +that he was 'dead as a door-nail, so there was an end,' returned their +verdict accordingly, just as he returned to his senses, when an angry +altercation and a pitched battle between the body and the coroner winds +up the lay with due spirit and pleasantry.</p> + +<p>"Through this ballad I continued with a weary monotony to plod, down to +the very last line, and then <i>da capo</i>, and so on, in my uncomfortable +half-sleep, for how long, I can't conjecture. I found myself at last, +however, muttering, '<i>dead</i> as a door-nail, so there was an end'; and +something like another voice within me, seemed to say, very faintly, but +sharply, 'dead! dead! <i>dead</i>! and may the Lord have mercy on your soul!' +and instantaneously I was wide awake, and staring right before me from +the pillow.</p> + +<p>"Now—will you believe it, Dick?—I saw the same accursed figure +standing full front, and gazing at me with its stony and fiendish +countenance, not two yards from the bedside."</p> + +<p>Tom stopped here, and wiped the perspiration from his face. I felt very +queer. The girl was as pale as Tom; and, assembled as we were in the +very scene of these adventures, we were all, I dare say, equally +grateful for the clear daylight and the resuming bustle out of doors.</p> + +<p>"For about three seconds only I saw it plainly; then it grew +indistinct; but, for a long time, there was something like a column of +dark vapour where it had been standing, between me and the wall; and I +felt sure that he was still there. After a good while, this appearance +went too. I took my clothes downstairs to the hall, and dressed there, +with the door half open; then went out into the street, and walked about +the town till morning, when I came back, in a miserable state of +nervousness and exhaustion. I was such a fool, Dick, as to be ashamed to +tell you how I came to be so upset. I thought you would laugh at me; +especially as I had always talked philosophy, and treated <i>your</i> ghosts +with contempt. I concluded you would give me no quarter; and so kept my +tale of horror to myself.</p> + +<p>"Now, Dick, you will hardly believe me, when I assure you, that for many +nights after this last experience, I did not go to my room at all. I +used to sit up for a while in the drawing-room after you had gone up to +your bed; and then steal down softly to the hall-door, let myself out, +and sit in the 'Robin Hood' tavern until the last guest went off; and +then I got through the night like a sentry, pacing the streets till +morning.</p> + +<p>"For more than a week I never slept in bed. I sometimes had a snooze on +a form in the 'Robin Hood,' and sometimes a nap in a chair during the +day; but regular sleep I had absolutely none.</p> + +<p>"I was quite resolved that we should get into another house; but I could +not bring myself to tell you the reason, and I somehow put it off from +day to day, although my life was, during every hour of this +procrastination, rendered as miserable as that of a felon with the +constables on his track. I was growing absolutely ill from this wretched +mode of life.</p> + +<p>"One afternoon I determined to enjoy an hour's sleep upon your bed. I +hated mine; so that I had never, except in a stealthy visit every day to +unmake it, lest Martha should discover the secret of my nightly absence, +entered the ill-omened chamber.</p> + +<p>"As ill-luck would have it, you had locked your bedroom, and taken away +the key. I went into my own to unsettle the bedclothes, as usual, and +give the bed the appearance of having been slept in. Now, a variety of +circumstances concurred to bring about the dreadful scene through which +I was that night to pass. In the first place, I was literally +overpowered with fatigue, and longing for sleep; in the next place, the +effect of this extreme exhaustion upon my nerves resembled that of a +narcotic, and rendered me less susceptible than, perhaps, I should in +any other condition have been, of the exciting fears which had become +habitual to me. Then again, a little bit of the window was open, a +pleasant freshness pervaded the room, and, to crown all, the cheerful +sun of day was making the room quite pleasant. What was to prevent my +enjoying an hour's nap <i>here</i>? The whole air was resonant with the +cheerful hum of life, and the broad matter-of-fact light of day filled +every corner of the room.</p> + +<p>"I yielded—stifling my qualms—to the almost overpowering temptation; +and merely throwing off my coat, and loosening my cravat, I lay down, +limiting myself to <i>half</i>-an-hour's doze in the unwonted enjoyment of a +feather bed, a coverlet, and a bolster.</p> + +<p>"It was horribly insidious; and the demon, no doubt, marked my +infatuated preparations. Dolt that I was, I fancied, with mind and body +worn out for want of sleep, and an arrear of a full week's rest to my +credit, that such measure as <i>half</i>-an-hour's sleep, in such a +situation, was possible. My sleep was death-like, long, and dreamless.</p> + +<p>"Without a start or fearful sensation of any kind, I waked gently, but +completely. It was, as you have good reason to remember, long past +midnight—I believe, about two o'clock. When sleep has been deep and +long enough to satisfy nature thoroughly, one often wakens in this way, +suddenly, tranquilly, and completely.</p> + +<p>"There was a figure seated in that lumbering, old sofa-chair, near the +fireplace. Its back was rather towards me, but I could not be mistaken; +it turned slowly round, and, merciful heavens! there was the stony face, +with its infernal lineaments of malignity and despair, gloating on me. +There was now no doubt as to its consciousness of my presence, and the +hellish malice with which it was animated, for it arose, and drew close +to the bedside. There was a rope about its neck, and the other end, +coiled up, it held stiffly in its hand.</p> + +<p>"My good angel nerved me for this horrible crisis. I remained for some +seconds transfixed by the gaze of this tremendous phantom. He came close +to the bed, and appeared on the point of mounting upon it. The next +instant I was upon the floor at the far side, and in a moment more was, +I don't know how, upon the lobby.</p> + +<p>"But the spell was not yet broken; the valley of the shadow of death was +not yet traversed. The abhorred phantom was before me there; it was +standing near the banisters, stooping a little, and with one end of the +rope round its own neck, was poising a noose at the other, as if to +throw over mine; and while engaged in this baleful pantomime, it wore a +smile so sensual, so unspeakably dreadful, that my senses were nearly +overpowered. I saw and remember nothing more, until I found myself in +your room.</p> + +<p>"I had a wonderful escape, Dick—there is no disputing <i>that</i>—an escape +for which, while I live, I shall bless the mercy of heaven. No one can +conceive or imagine what it is for flesh and blood to stand in the +presence of such a thing, but one who has had the terrific experience. +Dick, Dick, a shadow has passed over me—a chill has crossed my blood +and marrow, and I will never be the same again—never, Dick—never!"</p> + +<p>Our handmaid, a mature girl of two-and-fifty, as I have said, stayed her +hand, as Tom's story proceeded, and by little and little drew near to +us, with open mouth, and her brows contracted over her little, beady +black eyes, till stealing a glance over her shoulder now and then, she +established herself close behind us. During the relation, she had made +various earnest comments, in an undertone; but these and her +ejaculations, for the sake of brevity and simplicity, I have omitted in +my narration.</p> + +<p>"It's often I heard tell of it," she now said, "but I never believed it +rightly till now—though, indeed, why should not I? Does not my mother, +down there in the lane, know quare stories, God bless us, beyant telling +about it? But you ought not to have slept in the back bedroom. She was +loath to let me be going in and out of that room even in the day time, +let alone for any Christian to spend the night in it; for sure she says +it was his own bedroom."</p> + +<p>"<i>Whose</i> own bedroom?" we asked, in a breath.</p> + +<p>"Why, <i>his</i>—the ould Judge's—Judge Horrock's, to be sure, God rest his +sowl"; and she looked fearfully round.</p> + +<p>"Amen!" I muttered. "But did he die there?"</p> + +<p>"Die there! No, not quite <i>there</i>," she said. "Shure, was not it over +the banisters he hung himself, the ould sinner, God be merciful to us +all? and was not it in the alcove they found the handles of the +skipping-rope cut off, and the knife where he was settling the cord, God +bless us, to hang himself with? It was his housekeeper's daughter owned +the rope, my mother often told me, and the child never throve after, and +used to be starting up out of her sleep, and screeching in the night +time, wid dhrames and frights that cum an her; and they said how it was +the speerit of the ould Judge that was tormentin' her; and she used to +be roaring and yelling out to hould back the big ould fellow with the +crooked neck; and then she'd screech 'Oh, the master! the master! he's +stampin' at me, and beckoning to me! Mother, darling, don't let me go!' +And so the poor crathure died at last, and the docthers said it was +wather on the brain, for it was all they could say."</p> + +<p>"How long ago was all this?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, then, how would I know?" she answered. "But it must be a wondherful +long time ago, for the housekeeper was an ould woman, with a pipe in her +mouth, and not a tooth left, and better nor eighty years ould when my +mother was first married; and they said she was a rale buxom, +fine-dressed woman when the ould Judge come to his end; an', indeed, my +mother's not far from eighty years ould herself this day; and what made +it worse for the unnatural ould villain, God rest his soul, to frighten +the little girl out of the world the way he did, was what was mostly +thought and believed by every one. My mother says how the poor little +crathure was his own child; for he was by all accounts an ould villain +every way, an' the hangin'est judge that ever was known in Ireland's +ground."</p> + +<p>"From what you said about the danger of sleeping in that bedroom," said +I, "I suppose there were stories about the ghost having appeared there +to others."</p> + +<p>"Well, there was things said—quare things, surely," she answered, as it +seemed, with some reluctance. "And why would not there? Sure was it not +up in that same room he slept for more than twenty years? and was it not +in the <i>alcove</i> he got the rope ready that done his own business at +last, the way he done many a betther man's in his lifetime?—and was not +the body lying in the same bed after death, and put in the coffin there, +too, and carried out to his grave from it in Pether's churchyard, after +the coroner was done? But there was quare stories—my mother has them +all—about how one Nicholas Spaight got into trouble on the head of it."</p> + +<p>"And what did they say of this Nicholas Spaight?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, for that matther, it's soon told," she answered.</p> + +<p>And she certainly did relate a very strange story, which so piqued my +curiosity, that I took occasion to visit the ancient lady, her mother, +from whom I learned many very curious particulars. Indeed, I am tempted +to tell the tale, but my fingers are weary, and I must defer it. But if +you wish to hear it another time, I shall do my best.</p> + +<p>When we had heard the strange tale I have <i>not</i> told you, we put one or +two further questions to her about the alleged spectral visitations, to +which the house had, ever since the death of the wicked old Judge, been +subjected.</p> + +<p>"No one ever had luck in it," she told us. "There was always cross +accidents, sudden deaths, and short times in it. The first that tuck, +it was a family—I forget their name—but at any rate there was two +young ladies and their papa. He was about sixty, and a stout healthy +gentleman as you'd wish to see at that age. Well, he slept in that +unlucky back bedroom; and, God between us an' harm! sure enough he was +found dead one morning, half out of the bed, with his head as black as a +sloe, and swelled like a puddin', hanging down near the floor. It was a +fit, they said. He was as dead as a mackerel, and so <i>he</i> could not say +what it was; but the ould people was all sure that it was nothing at all +but the ould Judge, God bless us! that frightened him out of his senses +and his life together.</p> + +<p>"Some time after there was a rich old maiden lady took the house. I +don't know which room <i>she</i> slept in, but she lived alone; and at any +rate, one morning, the servants going down early to their work, found +her sitting on the passage-stairs, shivering and talkin' to herself, +quite mad; and never a word more could any of <i>them</i> or her friends get +from her ever afterwards but, 'Don't ask me to go, for I promised to +wait for him.' They never made out from her who it was she meant by +<i>him</i>, but of course those that knew all about the ould house were at no +loss for the meaning of all that happened to her.</p> + +<p>"Then afterwards, when the house was let out in lodgings, there was +Micky Byrne that took the same room, with his wife and three little +children; and sure I heard Mrs. Byrne myself telling how the children +used to be lifted up in the bed at night, she could not see by what +mains; and how they were starting and screeching every hour, just all as +one as the housekeeper's little girl that died, till at last one night +poor Micky had a dhrop in him, the way he used now and again; and what +do you think in the middle of the night he thought he heard a noise on +the stairs, and being in liquor, nothing less id do him but out he must +go himself to see what was wrong. Well, after that, all she ever heard +of him was himself sayin', 'Oh, God!' and a tumble that shook the very +house; and there, sure enough, he was lying on the lower stairs, under +the lobby, with his neck smashed double undher him, where he was flung +over the banisters."</p> + +<p>Then the handmaiden added----</p> + +<p>"I'll go down to the lane, and send up Joe Gavvey to pack up the rest of +the taythings, and bring all the things across to your new lodgings."</p> + +<p>And so we all sallied out together, each of us breathing more freely, I +have no doubt, as we crossed that ill-omened threshold for the last +time.</p> + +<p>Now, I may add thus much, in compliance with the immemorial usage of +the realm of fiction, which sees the hero not only through his +adventures, but fairly out of the world. You must have perceived that +what the flesh, blood, and bone hero of romance proper is to the regular +compounder of fiction, this old house of brick, wood, and mortar is to +the humble recorder of this true tale. I, therefore, relate, as in duty +bound, the catastrophe which ultimately befell it, which was simply +this—that about two years subsequently to my story it was taken by a +quack doctor, who called himself Baron Duhlstoerf, and filled the +parlour windows with bottles of indescribable horrors preserved in +brandy, and the newspapers with the usual grandiloquent and mendacious +advertisements. This gentleman among his virtues did not reckon +sobriety, and one night, being overcome with much wine, he set fire to +his bed curtains, partially burned himself, and totally consumed the +house. It was afterwards rebuilt, and for a time an undertaker +established himself in the premises.</p> + +<p>I have now told you my own and Tom's adventures, together with some +valuable collateral particulars; and having acquitted myself of my +engagement, I wish you a very good night, and pleasant dreams.</p> +<br> +<hr class="full" noshade> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11699 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e14b37a --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #11699 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11699) diff --git a/old/11699-8.txt b/old/11699-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..96835e4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11699-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2086 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 1, by +Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 1 + +Author: Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu + +Release Date: March 24, 2004 [eBook #11699] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: iso-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK J. S. LE FANU'S GHOSTLY TALES, +VOLUME 1*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Andrea Ball, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +J. S. LE FANU'S GHOSTLY TALES, VOLUME 1 + +Schalken the Painter (1851) + +and + +An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street (1853) + +by + +Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu + + + + + + +Schalken the Painter + + + _"For he is not a man as I am that + we should come together; neither is + there any that might lay his hand + upon us both. Let him, therefore, + take his rod away from me, and let + not his fear terrify me."_ + +There exists, at this moment, in good preservation a remarkable work of +Schalken's. The curious management of its lights constitutes, as usual +in his pieces, the chief apparent merit of the picture. I say +_apparent_, for in its subject, and not in its handling, however +exquisite, consists its real value. The picture represents the interior +of what might be a chamber in some antique religious building; and its +foreground is occupied by a female figure, in a species of white robe, +part of which is arranged so as to form a veil. The dress, however, is +not that of any religious order. In her hand the figure bears a lamp, by +which alone her figure and face are illuminated; and her features wear +such an arch smile, as well becomes a pretty woman when practising some +prankish roguery; in the background, and, excepting where the dim red +light of an expiring fire serves to define the form, in total shadow, +stands the figure of a man dressed in the old Flemish fashion, in an +attitude of alarm, his hand being placed upon the hilt of his sword, +which he appears to be in the act of drawing. + +There are some pictures, which impress one, I know not how, with a +conviction that they represent not the mere ideal shapes and +combinations which have floated through the imagination of the artist, +but scenes, faces, and situations which have actually existed. There is +in that strange picture, something that stamps it as the representation +of a reality. + +And such in truth it is, for it faithfully records a remarkable and +mysterious occurrence, and perpetuates, in the face of the female +figure, which occupies the most prominent place in the design, an +accurate portrait of Rose Velderkaust, the niece of Gerard Douw, the +first, and, I believe, the only love of Godfrey Schalken. My great +grandfather knew the painter well; and from Schalken himself he learned +the fearful story of the painting, and from him too he ultimately +received the picture itself as a bequest. The story and the picture have +become heir-looms in my family, and having described the latter, I +shall, if you please, attempt to relate the tradition which has +descended with the canvas. + +There are few forms on which the mantle of romance hangs more +ungracefully than upon that of the uncouth Schalken--the boorish but +most cunning worker in oils, whose pieces delight the critics of our day +almost as much as his manners disgusted the refined of his own; and yet +this man, so rude, so dogged, so slovenly, in the midst of his +celebrity, had in his obscure, but happier days, played the hero in a +wild romance of mystery and passion. + +When Schalken studied under the immortal Gerard Douw, he was a very +young man; and in spite of his phlegmatic temperament, he at once fell +over head and ears in love with the beautiful niece of his wealthy +master. Rose Velderkaust was still younger than he, having not yet +attained her seventeenth year, and, if tradition speaks truth, possessed +all the soft and dimpling charms of the fair, light-haired Flemish +maidens. The young painter loved honestly and fervently. His frank +adoration was rewarded. He declared his love, and extracted a faltering +confession in return. He was the happiest and proudest painter in all +Christendom. But there was somewhat to dash his elation; he was poor and +undistinguished. He dared not ask old Gerard for the hand of his sweet +ward. He must first win a reputation and a competence. + +There were, therefore, many dread uncertainties and cold days before +him; he had to fight his way against sore odds. But he had won the heart +of dear Rose Velderkaust, and that was half the battle. It is needless +to say his exertions were redoubled, and his lasting celebrity proves +that his industry was not unrewarded by success. + +These ardent labours, and worse still, the hopes that elevated and +beguiled them, were however, destined to experience a sudden +interruption--of a character so strange and mysterious as to baffle all +inquiry and to throw over the events themselves a shadow of +preternatural horror. + +Schalken had one evening outstayed all his fellow-pupils, and still +pursued his work in the deserted room. As the daylight was fast falling, +he laid aside his colours, and applied himself to the completion of a +sketch on which he had expressed extraordinary pains. It was a religious +composition, and represented the temptations of a pot-bellied Saint +Anthony. The young artist, however destitute of elevation, had, +nevertheless, discernment enough to be dissatisfied with his own work, +and many were the patient erasures and improvements which saint and +devil underwent, yet all in vain. The large, old-fashioned room was +silent, and, with the exception of himself, quite emptied of its usual +inmates. An hour had thus passed away, nearly two, without any improved +result. Daylight had already declined, and twilight was deepening into +the darkness of night. The patience of the young painter was exhausted, +and he stood before his unfinished production, angry and mortified, one +hand buried in the folds of his long hair, and the other holding the +piece of charcoal which had so ill-performed its office, and which he +now rubbed, without much regard to the sable streaks it produced, with +irritable pressure upon his ample Flemish inexpressibles. "Curse the +subject!" said the young man aloud; "curse the picture, the devils, the +saint--" + +At this moment a short, sudden sniff uttered close beside him made the +artist turn sharply round, and he now, for the first time, became aware +that his labours had been overlooked by a stranger. Within about a yard +and half, and rather behind him, there stood the figure of an elderly +man in a cloak and broad-brimmed, conical hat; in his hand, which was +protected with a heavy gauntlet-shaped glove, he carried a long ebony +walking-stick, surmounted with what appeared, as it glittered dimly in +the twilight, to be a massive head of gold, and upon his breast, through +the folds of the cloak, there shone the links of a rich chain of the +same metal. The room was so obscure that nothing further of the +appearance of the figure could be ascertained, and his hat threw his +features into profound shadow. It would not have been easy to conjecture +the age of the intruder; but a quantity of dark hair escaping from +beneath this sombre hat, as well as his firm and upright carriage served +to indicate that his years could not yet exceed threescore, or +thereabouts. There was an air of gravity and importance about the garb +of the person, and something indescribably odd, I might say awful, in +the perfect, stone-like stillness of the figure, that effectually +checked the testy comment which had at once risen to the lips of the +irritated artist. He, therefore, as soon as he had sufficiently +recovered his surprise, asked the stranger, civilly, to be seated, and +desired to know if he had any message to leave for his master. + +"Tell Gerard Douw," said the unknown, without altering his attitude in +the smallest degree, "that Minheer Vanderhausen, of Rotterdam, desires +to speak with him on tomorrow evening at this hour, and if he please, in +this room, upon matters of weight; that is all." + +The stranger, having finished this message, turned abruptly, and, with a +quick, but silent step quitted the room, before Schalken had time to say +a word in reply. The young man felt a curiosity to see in what direction +the burgher of Rotterdam would turn, on quitting the studio, and for +that purpose he went directly to the window which commanded the door. A +lobby of considerable extent intervened between the inner door of the +painter's room and the street entrance, so that Schalken occupied the +post of observation before the old man could possibly have reached the +street. He watched in vain, however. There was no other mode of exit. +Had the queer old man vanished, or was he lurking about the recesses of +the lobby for some sinister purpose? This last suggestion filled the +mind of Schalken with a vague uneasiness, which was so unaccountably +intense as to make him alike afraid to remain in the room alone, and +reluctant to pass through the lobby. However, with an effort which +appeared very disproportioned to the occasion, he summoned resolution to +leave the room, and, having locked the door and thrust the key in his +pocket, without looking to the right or left, he traversed the passage +which had so recently, perhaps still, contained the person of his +mysterious visitant, scarcely venturing to breathe till he had arrived +in the open street. + +"Minheer Vanderhausen!" said Gerard Douw within himself, as the +appointed hour approached, "Minheer Vanderhausen, of Rotterdam! I never +heard of the man till yesterday. What can he want of me? A portrait, +perhaps, to be painted; or a poor relation to be apprenticed; or a +collection to be valued; or--pshaw! there's no one in Rotterdam to leave +me a legacy. Well, whatever the business may be, we shall soon know it +all." + +It was now the close of day, and again every easel, except that of +Schalken, was deserted. Gerard Douw was pacing the apartment with the +restless step of impatient expectation, sometimes pausing to glance over +the work of one of his absent pupils, but more frequently placing +himself at the window, from whence he might observe the passengers who +threaded the obscure by-street in which his studio was placed. + +"Said you not, Godfrey," exclaimed Douw, after a long and fruitful gaze +from his post of observation, and turning to Schalken, "that the hour he +appointed was about seven by the clock of the Stadhouse?" + +"It had just told seven when I first saw him, sir," answered the +student. + +"The hour is close at hand, then," said the master, consulting a +horologe as large and as round as an orange. "Minheer Vanderhausen from +Rotterdam--is it not so?" + +"Such was the name." + +"And an elderly man, richly clad?" pursued Douw, musingly. + +"As well as I might see," replied his pupil; "he could not be young, nor +yet very old, neither; and his dress was rich and grave, as might become +a citizen of wealth and consideration." + +At this moment the sonorous boom of the Stadhouse clock told, stroke +after stroke, the hour of seven; the eyes of both master and student +were directed to the door; and it was not until the last peal of the +bell had ceased to vibrate, that Douw exclaimed---- + +"So, so; we shall have his worship presently, that is, if he means to +keep his hour; if not, you may wait for him, Godfrey, if you court his +acquaintance. But what, after all, if it should prove but a mummery got +up by Vankarp, or some such wag? I wish you had run all risks, and +cudgelled the old burgomaster soundly. I'd wager a dozen of Rhenish, his +worship would have unmasked, and pleaded old acquaintance in a trice." + +"Here he comes, sir," said Schalken, in a low monitory tone; and +instantly, upon turning towards the door, Gerard Douw observed the same +figure which had, on the day before, so unexpectedly greeted his pupil +Schalken. + +There was something in the air of the figure which at once satisfied the +painter that there was no masquerading in the case, and that he really +stood in the presence of a man of worship; and so, without hesitation, +he doffed his cap, and courteously saluting the stranger, requested him +to be seated. The visitor waved his hand slightly, as if in +acknowledgment of the courtesy, but remained standing. + +"I have the honour to see Minheer Vanderhausen of Rotterdam?" said +Gerard Douw. + +"The same," was the laconic reply of his visitor. + +"I understand your worship desires to speak with me," continued Douw, +"and I am here by appointment to wait your commands." + +"Is that a man of trust?" said Vanderhausen, turning towards Schalken, +who stood at a little distance behind his master. + +"Certainly," replied Gerard. + +"Then let him take this box, and get the nearest jeweller or goldsmith +to value its contents, and let him return hither with a certificate of +the valuation." + +At the same time, he placed a small case about nine inches square in the +hands of Gerard Douw, who was as much amazed at its weight as at the +strange abruptness with which it was handed to him. In accordance with +the wishes of the stranger, he delivered it into the hands of Schalken, +and repeating his direction, despatched him upon the mission. + +Schalken disposed his precious charge securely beneath the folds of his +cloak, and rapidly traversing two or three narrow streets, he stopped at +a corner house, the lower part of which was then occupied by the shop of +a Jewish goldsmith. He entered the shop, and calling the little Hebrew +into the obscurity of its back recesses, he proceeded to lay before him +Vanderhausen's casket. On being examined by the light of a lamp, it +appeared entirely cased with lead, the outer surface of which was much +scraped and soiled, and nearly white with age. This having been +partially removed, there appeared beneath a box of some hard wood; which +also they forced open and after the removal of two or three folds of +linen, they discovered its contents to be a mass of golden ingots, +closely packed, and, as the Jew declared, of the most perfect quality. +Every ingot underwent the scrutiny of the little Jew, who seemed to feel +an epicurean delight in touching and testing these morsels of the +glorious metal; and each one of them was replaced in its berth with the +exclamation: "_Mein Gott_, how very perfect! not one grain of +alloy--beautiful, beautiful!" The task was at length finished, and the +Jew certified under his hand the value of the ingots submitted to his +examination, to amount to many thousand rix-dollars. With the desired +document in his pocket, and the rich box of gold carefully pressed under +his arm, and concealed by his cloak, he retraced his way, and entering +the studio, found his master and the stranger in close conference. +Schalken had no sooner left the room, in order to execute the commission +he had taken in charge, than Vanderhausen addressed Gerard Douw in the +following terms:---- + +"I cannot tarry with you to-night more than a few minutes, and so I +shall shortly tell you the matter upon which I come. You visited the +town of Rotterdam some four months ago, and then I saw in the church of +St. Lawrence your niece, Rose Velderkaust. I desire to marry her; and if +I satisfy you that I am wealthier than any husband you can dream of for +her, I expect that you will forward my suit with your authority. If you +approve my proposal, you must close with it here and now, for I cannot +wait for calculations and delays." + +Gerard Douw was hugely astonished by the nature of Minheer +Vanderhausen's communication, but he did not venture to express +surprise; for besides the motives supplied by prudence and politeness, +the painter experienced a kind of chill and oppression like that which +is said to intervene when one is placed in unconscious proximity with +the object of a natural antipathy--an undefined but overpowering +sensation, while standing in the presence of the eccentric stranger, +which made him very unwilling to say anything which might reasonably +offend him. + +"I have no doubt," said Gerard, after two or three prefatory hems, "that +the alliance which you propose would prove alike advantageous and +honourable to my niece; but you must be aware that she has a will of her +own, and may not acquiesce in what _we_ may design for her advantage." + +"Do not seek to deceive me, sir painter," said Vanderhausen; "you are +her guardian--she is your ward--she is mine if _you_ like to make her +so." + +The man of Rotterdam moved forward a little as he spoke, and Gerard +Douw, he scarce knew why, inwardly prayed for the speedy return of +Schalken. + +"I desire," said the mysterious gentleman, "to place in your hands at +once an evidence of my wealth, and a security for my liberal dealing +with your niece. The lad will return in a minute or two with a sum in +value five times the fortune which she has a right to expect from her +husband. This shall lie in your hands, together with her dowry, and you +may apply the united sum as suits her interest best; it shall be all +exclusively hers while she lives: is that liberal?" + +Douw assented, and inwardly acknowledged that fortune had been +extraordinarily kind to his niece; the stranger, he thought, must be +both wealthy and generous, and such an offer was not to be despised, +though made by a humourist, and one of no very prepossessing presence. +Rose had no very high pretensions for she had but a modest dowry, which +she owed entirely to the generosity of her uncle; neither had she any +right to raise exceptions on the score of birth, for her own origin was +far from splendid, and as the other objections, Gerald resolved, and +indeed, by the usages of the time, was warranted in resolving, not to +listen to them for a moment. + +"Sir" said he, addressing the stranger, "your offer is liberal, and +whatever hesitation I may feel in closing with it immediately, arises +solely from my not having the honour of knowing anything of your family +or station. Upon these points you can, of course, satisfy me without +difficulty?' + +"As to my respectability," said the stranger, drily, "you must take that +for granted at present; pester me with no inquiries; you can discover +nothing more about me than I choose to make known. You shall have +sufficient security for my respectability--my word, if you are +honourable: if you are sordid, my gold." + +"A testy old gentleman," thought Douw, "he must have his own way; but, +all things considered, I am not justified to declining his offer. I will +not pledge myself unnecessarily, however." + +"You will not pledge yourself unnecessarily," said Vanderhausen, +strangely uttering the very words which had just floated through the +mind of his companion; "but you will do so if it is necessary, I +presume; and I will show you that I consider it indispensable. If the +gold I mean to leave in your hands satisfy you, and if you don't wish my +proposal to be at once withdrawn, you must, before I leave this room, +write your name to this engagement." + +Having thus spoken, he placed a paper in the hands of the master, the +contents of which expressed an engagement entered into by Gerard Douw, +to give to Wilken Vanderhausen of Rotterdam, in marriage, Rose +Velderkaust, and so forth, within one week of the date thereof. While +the painter was employed in reading this covenant, by the light of a +twinkling oil lamp in the far wall of the room, Schalken, as we have +stated, entered the studio, and having delivered the box and the +valuation of the Jew, into the hands of the stranger, he was about to +retire, when Vanderhausen called to him to wait; and, presenting the +case and the certificate to Gerard Douw, he paused in silence until he +had satisfied himself, by an inspection of both, respecting the value of +the pledge left in his hands. At length he said---- + +"Are you content?" + +The painter said he would fain have another day to consider. + +"Not an hour," said the suitor, apathetically. + +"Well then," said Douw, with a sore effort, "I am content, it is a +bargain." + +"Then sign at once," said Vanderhausen, "for I am weary." + +At the same time he produced a small case of writing materials, and +Gerard signed the important document. + +"Let this youth witness the covenant," said the old man; and Godfrey +Schalken unconsciously attested the instrument which for ever bereft him +of his dear Rose Velderkaust. + +The compact being thus completed, the strange visitor folded up the +paper, and stowed it safely in an inner pocket. + +"I will visit you to-morrow night at nine o'clock, at your own house, +Gerard Douw, and will see the object of our contract;" and so saying +Wilken Vanderhausen moved stiffly, but rapidly, out of the room. + +Schalken, eager to resolve his doubts, had placed himself by the window, +in order to watch the street entrance; but the experiment served only to +support his suspicions, for the old man did not issue from the door. +This was _very_ strange, odd, nay fearful. He and his master returned +together, and talked but little on the way, for each had his own +subjects of reflection, of anxiety, and of hope. Schalken, however, did +not know the ruin which menaced his dearest projects. + +Gerard Douw knew nothing of the attachment which had sprung up between +his pupil and his niece; and even if he had, it is doubtful whether he +would have regarded its existence as any serious obstruction to the +wishes of Minheer Vanderhausen. Marriages were then and there matters of +traffic and calculation; and it would have appeared as absurd in the +eyes of the guardian to make a mutual attachment an essential element in +a contract of the sort, as it would have been to draw up his bonds and +receipts in the language of romance. + +The painter, however, did not communicate to his niece the important +step which he had taken in her behalf, a forebearance caused not by any +anticipated opposition on her part, but solely by a ludicrous +consciousness that if she were to ask him for a description of her +destined bridegroom, he would be forced to confess that he had not once +seen his face, and if called upon, would find it absolutely impossible +to identify him. Upon the next day, Gerard Douw, after dinner, called +his niece to him and having scanned her person with an air of +satisfaction, he took her hand, and looking upon her pretty innocent +face with a smile of kindness, he said:---- + +"Rose, my girl, that face of yours will make your fortune." Rose blushed +and smiled. "Such faces and such tempers seldom go together, and when +they do, the compound is a love charm, few heads or hearts can resist; +trust me, you will soon be a bride, girl. But this is trifling, and I am +pressed for time, so make ready the large room by eight o'clock +to-night, and give directions for supper at nine. I expect a friend; and +observe me, child, do you trick yourself out handsomely. I will not have +him think us poor or sluttish." + +With these words he left her, and took his way to the room in which his +pupils worked. + +When the evening closed in, Gerard called Schalken, who was about to +take his departure to his own obscure and comfortless lodgings, and +asked him to come home and sup with Rose and Vanderhausen. The +invitation was, of course, accepted and Gerard Douw and his pupil soon +found themselves in the handsome and, even then, antique chamber, which +had been prepared for the reception of the stranger. A cheerful wood +fire blazed in the hearth, a little at one side of which an +old-fashioned table, which shone in the fire-light like burnished gold, +was awaiting the supper, for which preparations were going forward; and +ranged with exact regularity, stood the tall-backed chairs, whose +ungracefulness was more than compensated by their comfort. The little +party, consisting of Rose, her uncle, and the artist, awaited the +arrival of the expected visitor with considerable impatience. Nine +o'clock at length came, and with it a summons at the street door, which +being speedily answered, was followed by a slow and emphatic tread upon +the staircase; the steps moved heavily across the lobby, the door of the +room in which the party we have described were assembled slowly opened, +and there entered a figure which startled, almost appalled, the +phlegmatic Dutchmen, and nearly made Rose scream with terror. It was the +form, and arrayed in the garb of Minheer Vanderhausen; the air, the +gait, the height were the same, but the features had never been seen by +any of the party before. The stranger stopped at the door of the room, +and displayed his form and face completely. He wore a dark-coloured +cloth cloak, which was short and full, not falling quite to his knees; +his legs were cased in dark purple silk stockings, and his shoes were +adorned with roses of the same colour. The opening of the cloak in front +showed the under-suit to consist of some very dark, perhaps sable +material, and his hands were enclosed in a pair of heavy leather gloves, +which ran up considerably above the wrist, in the manner of a gauntlet. +In one hand he carried his walking-stick and his hat, which he had +removed, and the other hung heavily by his side. A quantity of grizzled +hair descended in long tresses from his head, and rested upon the plaits +of a stiff ruff, which effectually concealed his neck. So far all was +well; but the face!--all the flesh of the face was coloured with the +bluish leaden hue, which is sometimes produced by metallic medicines, +administered in excessive quantities; the eyes showed an undue +proportion of muddy white, and had a certain indefinable character of +insanity; the hue of the lips bearing the usual relation to that of the +face, was, consequently, nearly black; and the entire character of the +face was sensual, malignant, and even satanic. It was remarkable that +the worshipful stranger suffered as little as possible of his flesh to +appear, and that during his visit he did not once remove his gloves. +Having stood for some moments at the door, Gerard Douw at length found +breath and collectedness to bid him welcome, and with a mute inclination +of the head, the stranger stepped forward into the room. There was +something indescribably odd, even horrible, about all his motions, +something undefinable, that was unnatural, unhuman; it was as if the +limbs were guided and directed by a spirit unused to the management of +bodily machinery. The stranger spoke hardly at all during his visit, +which did not exceed half an hour; and the host himself could scarcely +muster courage enough to utter the few necessary salutations and +courtesies; and, indeed, such was the nervous terror which the presence +of Vanderhausen inspired, that very little would have made all his +entertainers fly in downright panic from the room. They had not so far +lost all self-possession, however, as to fail to observe two strange +peculiarities of their visitor. During his stay his eyelids did not once +close, or, indeed, move in the slightest degree; and farther, there was +a deathlike stillness in his whole person, owing to the absence of the +heaving motion of the chest, caused by the process of respiration. These +two peculiarities, though when told they may appear trifling, produced a +very striking and unpleasant effect when seen and observed. Vanderhausen +at length relieved the painter of Leyden of his inauspicious presence; +and with no trifling sense of relief the little party heard the street +door close after him. + +"Dear uncle," said Rose, "what a frightful man! I would not see him +again for the wealth of the States." + +"Tush, foolish girl," said Douw, whose sensations were anything but +comfortable. "A man may be as ugly as the devil, and yet, if his heart +and actions are good, he is worth all the pretty-faced perfumed puppies +that walk the Mall. Rose, my girl, it is very true he has not thy pretty +face, but I know him to be wealthy and liberal; and were he ten times +more ugly, these two virtues would be enough to counter balance all his +deformity, and if not sufficient actually to alter the shape and hue of +his features, at least enough to prevent one thinking them so much +amiss." + +"Do you know, uncle," said Rose, "when I saw him standing at the door, I +could not get it out of my head that I saw the old painted wooden figure +that used to frighten me so much in the Church of St. Laurence at +Rotterdam." + +Gerard laughed, though he could not help inwardly acknowledging the +justness of the comparison. He was resolved, however, as far as he +could, to check his niece's disposition to dilate upon the ugliness of +her intended bridegroom, although he was not a little pleased, as well +as puzzled, to observe that she appeared totally exempt from that +mysterious dread of the stranger which, he could not disguise it from +himself, considerably affected him, as also his pupil Godfrey Schalken. + +Early on the next day there arrived, from various quarters of the town, +rich presents of silks, velvets, jewellery, and so forth, for Rose; and +also a packet directed to Gerard Douw, which on being opened, was found +to contain a contract of marriage, formally drawn up, between Wilken +Vanderhausen of the _Boom-quay_, in Rotterdam, and Rose Velderkaust of +Leyden, niece to Gerard Douw, master in the art of painting, also of the +same city; and containing engagements on the part of Vanderhausen to +make settlements upon his bride, far more splendid than he had before +led her guardian to believe likely, and which were to be secured to her +use in the most unexceptionable manner possible--the money being placed +in the hand of Gerard Douw himself. + +I have no sentimental scenes to describe, no cruelty of guardians, no +magnanimity of wards, no agonies, or transport of lovers. The record I +have to make is one of sordidness, levity, and heartlessness. In less +than a week after the first interview which we have just described, the +contract of marriage was fulfilled, and Schalken saw the prize which he +would have risked existence to secure, carried off in solemn pomp by his +repulsive rival. For two or three days he absented himself from the +school; he then returned and worked, if with less cheerfulness, with far +more dogged resolution than before; the stimulus of love had given place +to that of ambition. Months passed away, and, contrary to his +expectation, and, indeed, to the direct promise of the parties, Gerard +Douw heard nothing of his niece or her worshipful spouse. The interest +of the money, which was to have been demanded in quarterly sums, lay +unclaimed in his hands. + +He began to grow extremely uneasy. Minheer Vanderhausen's direction in +Rotterdam he was fully possessed of; after some irresolution he finally +determined to journey thither--a trifling undertaking, and easily +accomplished--and thus to satisfy himself of the safety and comfort of +his ward, for whom he entertained an honest and strong affection. His +search was in vain, however; no one in Rotterdam had ever heard of +Minheer Vanderhausen. Gerard Douw left not a house in the _Boom-quay_ +untried, but all in vain. No one could give him any information whatever +touching the object of his inquiry, and he was obliged to return to +Leyden nothing wiser and far more anxious, than when he had left it. + +On his arrival he hastened to the establishment from which Vanderhausen +had hired the lumbering, though, considering the times, most luxurious +vehicle, which the bridal party had employed to convey them to +Rotterdam. From the driver of this machine he learned, that having +proceeded by slow stages, they had late in the evening approached +Rotterdam; but that before they entered the city, and while yet nearly a +mile from it, a small party of men, soberly clad, and after the old +fashion, with peaked beards and moustaches, standing in the centre of +the road, obstructed the further progress of the carriage. The driver +reined in his horses, much fearing, from the obscurity of the hour, and +the loneliness, of the road, that some mischief was intended. His fears +were, however, somewhat allayed by his observing that these strange men +carried a large litter, of an antique shape, and which they immediately +set down upon the pavement, whereupon the bridegroom, having opened the +coach-door from within, descended, and having assisted his bride to do +likewise, led her, weeping bitterly, and wringing her hands, to the +litter, which they both entered. It was then raised by the men who +surrounded it, and speedily carried towards the city, and before it had +proceeded very far, the darkness concealed it from the view of the Dutch +coachman. In the inside of the vehicle he found a purse, whose contents +more than thrice paid the hire of the carriage and man. He saw and could +tell nothing more of Minheer Vanderhausen and his beautiful lady. + +This mystery was a source of profound anxiety and even grief to Gerard +Douw. There was evidently fraud in the dealing of Vanderhausen with him, +though for what purpose committed he could not imagine. He greatly +doubted how far it was possible for a man possessing such a countenance +to be anything but a villain, and every day that passed without his +hearing from or of his niece, instead of inducing him to forget his +fears, on the contrary tended more and more to aggravate them. The loss +of her cheerful society tended also to depress his spirits; and in order +to dispel the gloom, which often crept upon his mind after his daily +occupations were over, he was wont frequently to ask Schalken to +accompany him home, and share his otherwise solitary supper. + +One evening, the painter and his pupil were sitting by the fire, having +accomplished a comfortable meal, and had yielded to the silent and +delicious melancholy of digestion, when their ruminations were disturbed +by a loud sound at the street door, as if occasioned by some person +rushing and scrambling vehemently against it. A domestic had run without +delay to ascertain the cause of the disturbance, and they heard him +twice or thrice interrogate the applicant for admission, but without +eliciting any other answer but a sustained reiteration of the sounds. +They heard him then open the hall-door, and immediately there followed a +light and rapid tread on the staircase. Schalken advanced towards the +door. It opened before he reached it, and Rose rushed into the room. She +looked wild, fierce and haggard with terror and exhaustion, but her +dress surprised them as much as even her unexpected appearance. It +consisted of a kind of white woollen wrapper, made close about the neck, +and descending to the very ground. It was much deranged and +travel-soiled. The poor creature had hardly entered the chamber when she +fell senseless on the floor. With some difficulty they succeeded in +reviving her, and on recovering her senses, she instantly exclaimed, in +a tone of terror rather than mere impatience:---- + +"Wine! wine! quickly, or I'm lost!" + +Astonished and almost scared at the strange agitation in which the call +was made, they at once administered to her wishes, and she drank some +wine with a haste and eagerness which surprised them. She had hardly +swallowed it, when she exclaimed, with the same urgency: + +"Food, for God's sake, food, at once, or I perish." + +A considerable fragment of a roast joint was upon the table, and +Schalken immediately began to cut some, but he was anticipated, for no +sooner did she see it than she caught it, a more than mortal image of +famine, and with her hands, and even with her teeth, she tore off the +flesh, and swallowed it. When the paroxysm of hunger had been a little +appeased, she appeared on a sudden overcome with shame, or it may have +been that other more agitating thoughts overpowered and scared her, for +she began to weep bitterly and to wring her hands. + +"Oh, send for a minister of God," said she; "I am not safe till he +comes; send for him speedily." + +Gerard Douw despatched a messenger instantly, and prevailed on his niece +to allow him to surrender his bed chamber to her use. He also persuaded +her to retire to it at once to rest; her consent was extorted upon the +condition that they would not leave her for a moment. + +"Oh that the holy man were here," she said; "he can deliver me: the dead +and the living can never be one: God has forbidden it." + +With these mysterious words she surrendered herself to their guidance, +and they proceeded to the chamber which Gerard Douw had assigned to her +use. + +"Do not, do not leave me for a moment," said she; "I am lost for ever if +you do." + +Gerard Douw's chamber was approached through a spacious apartment, which +they were now about to enter. He and Schalken each carried a candle, so +that a sufficiency of light was cast upon all surrounding objects. They +were now entering the large chamber, which as I have said, communicated +with Douw's apartment, when Rose suddenly stopped, and, in a whisper +which thrilled them both with horror, she said:---- + +"Oh, God! he is here! he is here! See, see! there he goes!" + +She pointed towards the door of the inner room, and Schalken thought he +saw a shadowy and ill-defined form gliding into that apartment. He drew +his sword, and, raising the candle so as to throw its light with +increased distinctness upon the objects in the room, he entered the +chamber into which the shadow had glided. No figure was there--nothing +but the furniture which belonged to the room, and yet he could not be +deceived as to the fact that something had moved before them into the +chamber. A sickening dread came upon him, and the cold perspiration +broke out in heavy drops upon his forehead; nor was he more composed, +when he heard the increased urgency and agony of entreaty, with which +Rose implored them not to leave her for a moment. + +"I saw him," said she; "he's here. I cannot be deceived; I know him; +he's by me; he is with me; he's in the room. Then, for God's sake, as +you would save me, do not stir from beside me." + +They at length prevailed upon her to lie down upon the bed, where she +continued to urge them to stay by her. She frequently uttered incoherent +sentences, repeating, again and again, "the dead and the living cannot +be one: God has forbidden it." And then again, "Rest to the +wakeful--sleep to the sleep-walkers." These and such mysterious and +broken sentences, she continued to utter until the clergyman arrived. +Gerard Douw began to fear, naturally enough, that terror or +ill-treatment, had unsettled the poor girl's intellect, and he half +suspected, by the suddenness of her appearance, the unseasonableness of +the hour, and above all, from the wildness and terror of her manner, +that she had made her escape from some place of confinement for +lunatics, and was in imminent fear of pursuit. He resolved to summon +medical advice as soon as the mind of his niece had been in some measure +set at rest by the offices of the clergyman whose attendance she had so +earnestly desired; and until this object had been attained, he did not +venture to put any questions to her, which might possibly, by reviving +painful or horrible recollections, increase her agitation. The clergyman +soon arrived--a man of ascetic countenance and venerable age--one whom +Gerard Douw respected very much, forasmuch as he was a veteran polemic, +though one perhaps more dreaded as a combatant than beloved as a +Christian--of pure morality, subtle brain, and frozen heart. He entered +the chamber which communicated with that in which Rose reclined and +immediately on his arrival, she requested him to pray for her, as for +one who lay in the hands of Satan, and who could hope for deliverance +only from heaven. + +That you may distinctly understand all the circumstances of the event +which I am going to describe, it is necessary to state the relative +position of the parties who were engaged in it. The old clergyman and +Schalken were in the anteroom of which I have already spoken; Rose lay +in the inner chamber, the door of which was open; and by the side of the +bed, at her urgent desire, stood her guardian; a candle burned in the +bedchamber, and three were lighted in the outer apartment. The old man +now cleared his voice as if about to commence, but before he had time to +begin, a sudden gust of air blew out the candle which served to +illuminate the room in which the poor girl lay, and she, with hurried +alarm, exclaimed:---- + +"Godfrey, bring in another candle; the darkness is unsafe." + +Gerard Douw forgetting for the moment her repeated injunctions, in the +immediate impulse, stepped from the bedchamber into the other, in order +to supply what she desired. + +"Oh God! do not go, dear uncle," shrieked the unhappy girl--and at the +same time she sprung from the bed, and darted after him, in order, by +her grasp, to detain him. But the warning came too late, for scarcely +had he passed the threshold, and hardly had his niece had time to utter +the startling exclamation, when the door which divided the two rooms +closed violently after him, as if swung by a strong blast of wind. +Schalken and he both rushed to the door, but their united and desperate +efforts could not avail so much as to shake it. Shriek after shriek +burst from the inner chamber, with all the piercing loudness of +despairing terror. Schalken and Douw applied every nerve to force open +the door; but all in vain. There was no sound of struggling from within, +but the screams seemed to increase in loudness, and at the same time +they heard the bolts of the latticed window withdrawn, and the window +itself grated upon the sill as if thrown open. One _last_ shriek, so +long and piercing and agonized as to be scarcely human, swelled from the +room, and suddenly there followed a death-like silence. A light step was +heard crossing the floor, as if from the bed to the window; and almost +at the same instant the door gave way, and, yielding to the pressure of +the external applicants, nearly precipitated them into the room. It was +empty. The window was open, and Schalken sprung to a chair and gazed out +upon the street and canal below. He saw no form, but he saw, or thought +he saw, the waters of the broad canal beneath settling ring after ring +in heavy circles, as if a moment before disturbed by the submission of +some ponderous body. + +No trace of Rose was ever after found, nor was anything certain +respecting her mysterious wooer discovered or even suspected--no clue +whereby to trace the intricacies of the labyrinth and to arrive at its +solution, presented itself. But an incident occurred, which, though it +will not be received by our rational readers in lieu of evidence, +produced nevertheless a strong and a lasting impression upon the mind of +Schalken. Many years after the events which we have detailed, Schalken, +then residing far away received an intimation of his father's death, and +of his intended burial upon a fixed day in the church of Rotterdam. It +was necessary that a very considerable journey should be performed by +the funeral procession, which as it will be readily believed, was not +very numerously attended. Schalken with difficulty arrived in Rotterdam +late in the day upon which the funeral was appointed to take place. It +had not then arrived. Evening closed in, and still it did not appear. + +Schalken strolled down to the church; he found it open; notice of the +arrival of the funeral had been given, and the vault in which the body +was to be laid had been opened. The sexton, on seeing a well-dressed +gentleman, whose object was to attend the expected obsequies, pacing the +aisle of the church, hospitably invited him to share with him the +comforts of a blazing fire, which, as was his custom in winter time upon +such occasions, he had kindled in the hearth of a chamber in which he +was accustomed to await the arrival of such grisly guests and which +communicated, by a flight of steps, with the vault below. In this +chamber, Schalken and his entertainer seated themselves; and the sexton, +after some fruitless attempts to engage his guest in conversation, was +obliged to apply himself to his tobacco-pipe and can, to solace his +solitude. In spite of his grief and cares, the fatigues of a rapid +journey of nearly forty hours gradually overcame the mind and body of +Godfrey Schalken, and he sank into a deep sleep, from which he awakened +by someone's shaking him gently by the shoulder. He first thought that +the old sexton had called him, but _he_ was no longer in the room. He +roused himself, and as soon as he could clearly see what was around him, +he perceived a female form, clothed in a kind of light robe of white, +part of which was so disposed as to form a veil, and in her hand she +carried a lamp. She was moving rather away from him, in the direction of +the flight of steps which conducted towards the vaults. Schalken felt a +vague alarm at the sight of this figure and at the same time an +irresistible impulse to follow its guidance. He followed it towards the +vaults, but when it reached the head of the stairs, he paused; the +figure paused also, and, turning gently round, displayed, by the light +of the lamp it carried, the face and features of his first love, Rose +Velderkaust. There was nothing horrible, or even sad, in the +countenance. On the contrary, it wore the same arch smile which used to +enchant the artist long before in his happy days. A feeling of awe and +interest, too intense to be resisted, prompted him to follow the +spectre, if spectre it were. She descended the stairs--he followed--and +turning to the left, through a narrow passage, she led him, to his +infinite surprise, into what appeared to be an old-fashioned Dutch +apartment, such as the pictures of Gerard Douw have served to +immortalize. Abundance of costly antique furniture was disposed about +the room, and in one corner stood a four-post bed, with heavy black +cloth curtains around it; the figure frequently turned towards him with +the same arch smile; and when she came to the side of the bed, she drew +the curtains, and, by the light of the lamp, which she held towards its +contents, she disclosed to the horror-stricken painter, sitting bolt +upright in the bed, the livid and demoniac form of Vanderhausen. +Schalken had hardly seen him, when he fell senseless upon the floor, +where he lay until discovered, on the next morning, by persons employed +in closing the passages into the vaults. He was lying in a cell of +considerable size, which had not been disturbed for a long time, and he +had fallen beside a large coffin, which was supported upon small +pillars, a security against the attacks of vermin. + +To his dying day Schalken was satisfied of the reality of the vision +which he had witnessed, and he has left behind him a curious evidence of +the impression which it wrought upon his fancy, in a painting executed +shortly after the event I have narrated, and which is valuable as +exhibiting not only the peculiarities which have made Schalken's +pictures sought after, but even more so as presenting a portrait of his +early love, Rose Velderkaust, whose mysterious fate must always remain +matter of speculation. + + + + +An Account of Some Strange +Disturbances in Aungier Street + + +It is not worth telling, this story of mine--at least, not worth +writing. Told, indeed, as I have sometimes been called upon to tell it, +to a circle of intelligent and eager faces, lighted up by a good +after-dinner fire on a winter's evening, with a cold wind rising and +wailing outside, and all snug and cosy within, it has gone off--though I +say it, who should not--indifferent well. But it is a venture to do as +you would have me. Pen, ink, and paper are cold vehicles for the +marvellous, and a "reader" decidedly a more critical animal than a +"listener." If, however, you can induce your friends to read it after +nightfall, and when the fireside talk has run for a while on thrilling +tales of shapeless terror; in short, if you will secure me the _mollia +tempora fandi_, I will go to my work, and say my say, with better heart. +Well, then, these conditions presupposed, I shall waste no more words, +but tell you simply how it all happened. + +My cousin (Tom Ludlow) and I studied medicine together. I think he would +have succeeded, had he stuck to the profession; but he preferred the +Church, poor fellow, and died early, a sacrifice to contagion, +contracted in the noble discharge of his duties. For my present purpose, +I say enough of his character when I mention that he was of a sedate but +frank and cheerful nature; very exact in his observance of truth, and +not by any means like myself--of an excitable or nervous temperament. + +My Uncle Ludlow--Tom's father--while we were attending lectures, +purchased three or four old houses in Aungier Street, one of which was +unoccupied. _He_ resided in the country, and Tom proposed that we should +take up our abode in the untenanted house, so long as it should continue +unlet; a move which would accomplish the double end of settling us +nearer alike to our lecture-rooms and to our amusements, and of +relieving us from the weekly charge of rent for our lodgings. + +Our furniture was very scant--our whole equipage remarkably modest and +primitive; and, in short, our arrangements pretty nearly as simple as +those of a bivouac. Our new plan was, therefore, executed almost as soon +as conceived. The front drawing-room was our sitting-room. I had the +bedroom over it, and Tom the back bedroom on the same floor, which +nothing could have induced me to occupy. + +The house, to begin with, was a very old one. It had been, I believe, +newly fronted about fifty years before; but with this exception, it had +nothing modern about it. The agent who bought it and looked into the +titles for my uncle, told me that it was sold, along with much other +forfeited property, at Chichester House, I think, in 1702; and had +belonged to Sir Thomas Hacket, who was Lord Mayor of Dublin in James +II.'s time. How old it was _then_, I can't say; but, at all events, it +had seen years and changes enough to have contracted all that mysterious +and saddened air, at once exciting and depressing, which belongs to most +old mansions. + +There had been very little done in the way of modernising details; and, +perhaps, it was better so; for there was something queer and by-gone in +the very walls and ceilings--in the shape of doors and windows--in the +odd diagonal site of the chimney-pieces--in the beams and ponderous +cornices--not to mention the singular solidity of all the woodwork, from +the banisters to the window-frames, which hopelessly defied disguise, +and would have emphatically proclaimed their antiquity through any +conceivable amount of modern finery and varnish. + +An effort had, indeed, been made, to the extent of papering the +drawing-rooms; but somehow, the paper looked raw and out of keeping; and +the old woman, who kept a little dirt-pie of a shop in the lane, and +whose daughter--a girl of two and fifty--was our solitary handmaid, +coming in at sunrise, and chastely receding again as soon as she had +made all ready for tea in our state apartment;--this woman, I say, +remembered it, when old Judge Horrocks (who, having earned the +reputation of a particularly "hanging judge," ended by hanging himself, +as the coroner's jury found, under an impulse of "temporary insanity," +with a child's skipping-rope, over the massive old bannisters) resided +there, entertaining good company, with fine venison and rare old port. +In those halcyon days, the drawing-rooms were hung with gilded leather, +and, I dare say, cut a good figure, for they were really spacious rooms. + +The bedrooms were wainscoted, but the front one was not gloomy; and in +it the cosiness of antiquity quite overcame its sombre associations. But +the back bedroom, with its two queerly-placed melancholy windows, +staring vacantly at the foot of the bed, and with the shadowy recess to +be found in most old houses in Dublin, like a large ghostly closet, +which, from congeniality of temperament, had amalgamated with the +bedchamber, and dissolved the partition. At night-time, this +"alcove"--as our "maid" was wont to call it--had, in my eyes, a +specially sinister and suggestive character. Tom's distant and solitary +candle glimmered vainly into its darkness. _There_ it was always +overlooking him--always itself impenetrable. But this was only part of +the effect. The whole room was, I can't tell how, repulsive to me. There +was, I suppose, in its proportions and features, a latent discord--a +certain mysterious and indescribable relation, which jarred indistinctly +upon some secret sense of the fitting and the safe, and raised +indefinable suspicions and apprehensions of the imagination. On the +whole, as I began by saying, nothing could have induced me to pass a +night alone in it. + +I had never pretended to conceal from poor Tom my superstitious +weakness; and he, on the other hand, most unaffectedly ridiculed my +tremors. The sceptic was, however, destined to receive a lesson, as you +shall hear. + +We had not been very long in occupation of our respective dormitories, +when I began to complain of uneasy nights and disturbed sleep. I was, I +suppose, the more impatient under this annoyance, as I was usually a +sound sleeper, and by no means prone to nightmares. It was now, however, +my destiny, instead of enjoying my customary repose, every night to "sup +full of horrors." After a preliminary course of disagreeable and +frightful dreams, my troubles took a definite form, and the same vision, +without an appreciable variation in a single detail, visited me at least +(on an average) every second night in the week. + +Now, this dream, nightmare, or infernal illusion--which you please--of +which I was the miserable sport, was on this wise:---- + +I saw, or thought I saw, with the most abominable distinctness, although +at the time in profound darkness, every article of furniture and +accidental arrangement of the chamber in which I lay. This, as you know, +is incidental to ordinary nightmare. Well, while in this clairvoyant +condition, which seemed but the lighting up of the theatre in which was +to be exhibited the monotonous tableau of horror, which made my nights +insupportable, my attention invariably became, I know not why, fixed +upon the windows opposite the foot of my bed; and, uniformly with the +same effect, a sense of dreadful anticipation always took slow but sure +possession of me. I became somehow conscious of a sort of horrid but +undefined preparation going forward in some unknown quarter, and by some +unknown agency, for my torment; and, after an interval, which always +seemed to me of the same length, a picture suddenly flew up to the +window, where it remained fixed, as if by an electrical attraction, and +my discipline of horror then commenced, to last perhaps for hours. The +picture thus mysteriously glued to the window-panes, was the portrait of +an old man, in a crimson flowered silk dressing-gown, the folds of which +I could now describe, with a countenance embodying a strange mixture of +intellect, sensuality, and power, but withal sinister and full of +malignant omen. His nose was hooked, like the beak of a vulture; his +eyes large, grey, and prominent, and lighted up with a more than mortal +cruelty and coldness. These features were surmounted by a crimson velvet +cap, the hair that peeped from under which was white with age, while the +eyebrows retained their original blackness. Well I remember every line, +hue, and shadow of that stony countenance, and well I may! The gaze of +this hellish visage was fixed upon me, and mine returned it with the +inexplicable fascination of nightmare, for what appeared to me to be +hours of agony. At last---- + + The cock he crew, away then flew + +the fiend who had enslaved me through the awful watches of the night; +and, harassed and nervous, I rose to the duties of the day. + +I had--I can't say exactly why, but it may have been from the exquisite +anguish and profound impressions of unearthly horror, with which this +strange phantasmagoria was associated--an insurmountable antipathy to +describing the exact nature of my nightly troubles to my friend and +comrade. Generally, however, I told him that I was haunted by abominable +dreams; and, true to the imputed materialism of medicine, we put our +heads together to dispel my horrors, not by exorcism, but by a tonic. + +I will do this tonic justice, and frankly admit that the accursed +portrait began to intermit its visits under its influence. What of that? +Was this singular apparition--as full of character as of +terror--therefore the creature of my fancy, or the invention of my poor +stomach? Was it, in short, _subjective_ (to borrow the technical slang +of the day) and not the palpable aggression and intrusion of an external +agent? That, good friend, as we will both admit, by no means follows. +The evil spirit, who enthralled my senses in the shape of that portrait, +may have been just as near me, just as energetic, just as malignant, +though I saw him not. What means the whole moral code of revealed +religion regarding the due keeping of our own bodies, soberness, +temperance, etc.? here is an obvious connexion between the material and +the invisible; the healthy tone of the system, and its unimpaired +energy, may, for aught we can tell, guard us against influences which +would otherwise render life itself terrific. The mesmerist and the +electro-biologist will fail upon an average with nine patients out of +ten--so may the evil spirit. Special conditions of the corporeal system +are indispensable to the production of certain spiritual phenomena. The +operation succeeds sometimes--sometimes fails--that is all. + +I found afterwards that my would-be sceptical companion had his troubles +too. But of these I knew nothing yet. One night, for a wonder, I was +sleeping soundly, when I was roused by a step on the lobby outside my +room, followed by the loud clang of what turned out to be a large brass +candlestick, flung with all his force by poor Tom Ludlow over the +banisters, and rattling with a rebound down the second flight of stairs; +and almost concurrently with this, Tom burst open my door, and bounced +into my room backwards, in a state of extraordinary agitation. + +I had jumped out of bed and clutched him by the arm before I had any +distinct idea of my own whereabouts. There we were--in our +shirts--standing before the open door--staring through the great old +banister opposite, at the lobby window, through which the sickly light +of a clouded moon was gleaming. + +"What's the matter, Tom? What's the matter with you? What the devil's +the matter with you, Tom?" I demanded shaking him with nervous +impatience. + +He took a long breath before he answered me, and then it was not very +coherently. + +"It's nothing, nothing at all--did I speak?--what did I say?--where's +the candle, Richard? It's dark; I--I had a candle!" + +"Yes, dark enough," I said; "but what's the matter?--what _is_ it?--why +don't you speak, Tom?--have you lost your wits?--what is the matter?" + +"The matter?--oh, it is all over. It must have been a dream--nothing at +all but a dream--don't you think so? It could not be anything more than +a dream." + +"Of _course_" said I, feeling uncommonly nervous, "it _was_ a dream." + +"I thought," he said, "there was a man in my room, and--and I jumped out +of bed; and--and--where's the candle?" + +"In your room, most likely," I said, "shall I go and bring it?" + +"No; stay here--don't go; it's no matter--don't, I tell you; it was all +a dream. Bolt the door, Dick; I'll stay here with you--I feel nervous. +So, Dick, like a good fellow, light your candle and open the window--I +am in a _shocking state_." + +I did as he asked me, and robing himself like Granuaile in one of my +blankets, he seated himself close beside my bed. + +Every body knows how contagious is fear of all sorts, but more +especially that particular kind of fear under which poor Tom was at that +moment labouring. I would not have heard, nor I believe would he have +recapitulated, just at that moment, for half the world, the details of +the hideous vision which had so unmanned him. + +"Don't mind telling me anything about your nonsensical dream, Tom," said +I, affecting contempt, really in a panic; "let us talk about something +else; but it is quite plain that this dirty old house disagrees with us +both, and hang me if I stay here any longer, to be pestered with +indigestion and--and--bad nights, so we may as well look out for +lodgings--don't you think so?--at once." + +Tom agreed, and, after an interval, said---- + +"I have been thinking, Richard, that it is a long time since I saw my +father, and I have made up my mind to go down to-morrow and return in a +day or two, and you can take rooms for us in the meantime." + +I fancied that this resolution, obviously the result of the vision which +had so profoundly scared him, would probably vanish next morning with +the damps and shadows of night. But I was mistaken. Off went Tom at peep +of day to the country, having agreed that so soon as I had secured +suitable lodgings, I was to recall him by letter from his visit to my +Uncle Ludlow. + +Now, anxious as I was to change my quarters, it so happened, owing to a +series of petty procrastinations and accidents, that nearly a week +elapsed before my bargain was made and my letter of recall on the wing +to Tom; and, in the meantime, a trifling adventure or two had occurred +to your humble servant, which, absurd as they now appear, diminished by +distance, did certainly at the time serve to whet my appetite for change +considerably. + +A night or two after the departure of my comrade, I was sitting by my +bedroom fire, the door locked, and the ingredients of a tumbler of hot +whisky-punch upon the crazy spider-table; for, as the best mode of +keeping the + + Black spirits and white, + Blue spirits and grey, + +with which I was environed, at bay, I had adopted the practice +recommended by the wisdom of my ancestors, and "kept my spirits up by +pouring spirits down." I had thrown aside my volume of Anatomy, and was +treating myself by way of a tonic, preparatory to my punch and bed, to +half-a-dozen pages of the _Spectator_, when I heard a step on the flight +of stairs descending from the attics. It was two o'clock, and the +streets were as silent as a churchyard--the sounds were, therefore, +perfectly distinct. There was a slow, heavy tread, characterised by the +emphasis and deliberation of age, descending by the narrow staircase +from above; and, what made the sound more singular, it was plain that +the feet which produced it were perfectly bare, measuring the descent +with something between a pound and a flop, very ugly to hear. + +I knew quite well that my attendant had gone away many hours before, and +that nobody but myself had any business in the house. It was quite plain +also that the person who was coming down stairs had no intention +whatever of concealing his movements; but, on the contrary, appeared +disposed to make even more noise, and proceed more deliberately, than +was at all necessary. When the step reached the foot of the stairs +outside my room, it seemed to stop; and I expected every moment to see +my door open spontaneously, and give admission to the original of my +detested portrait. I was, however, relieved in a few seconds by hearing +the descent renewed, just in the same manner, upon the staircase leading +down to the drawing-rooms, and thence, after another pause, down the +next flight, and so on to the hall, whence I heard no more. + +Now, by the time the sound had ceased, I was wound up, as they say, to a +very unpleasant pitch of excitement. I listened, but there was not a +stir. I screwed up my courage to a decisive experiment--opened my door, +and in a stentorian voice bawled over the banisters, "Who's there?" +There was no answer but the ringing of my own voice through the empty +old house,--no renewal of the movement; nothing, in short, to give my +unpleasant sensations a definite direction. There is, I think, something +most disagreeably disenchanting in the sound of one's own voice under +such circumstances, exerted in solitude, and in vain. It redoubled my +sense of isolation, and my misgivings increased on perceiving that the +door, which I certainly thought I had left open, was closed behind me; +in a vague alarm, lest my retreat should be cut off, I got again into my +room as quickly as I could, where I remained in a state of imaginary +blockade, and very uncomfortable indeed, till morning. + +Next night brought no return of my barefooted fellow-lodger; but the +night following, being in my bed, and in the dark--somewhere, I suppose, +about the same hour as before, I distinctly heard the old fellow again +descending from the garrets. + +This time I had had my punch, and the _morale_ of the garrison was +consequently excellent. I jumped out of bed, clutched the poker as I +passed the expiring fire, and in a moment was upon the lobby. The sound +had ceased by this time--the dark and chill were discouraging; and, +guess my horror, when I saw, or thought I saw, a black monster, whether +in the shape of a man or a bear I could not say, standing, with its back +to the wall, on the lobby, facing me, with a pair of great greenish eyes +shining dimly out. Now, I must be frank, and confess that the cupboard +which displayed our plates and cups stood just there, though at the +moment I did not recollect it. At the same time I must honestly say, +that making every allowance for an excited imagination, I never could +satisfy myself that I was made the dupe of my own fancy in this matter; +for this apparition, after one or two shiftings of shape, as if in the +act of incipient transformation, began, as it seemed on second thoughts, +to advance upon me in its original form. From an instinct of terror +rather than of courage, I hurled the poker, with all my force, at its +head; and to the music of a horrid crash made my way into my room, and +double-locked the door. Then, in a minute more, I heard the horrid bare +feet walk down the stairs, till the sound ceased in the hall, as on the +former occasion. + +If the apparition of the night before was an ocular delusion of my fancy +sporting with the dark outlines of our cupboard, and if its horrid eyes +were nothing but a pair of inverted teacups, I had, at all events, the +satisfaction of having launched the poker with admirable effect, and in +true "fancy" phrase, "knocked its two daylights into one," as the +commingled fragments of my tea-service testified. I did my best to +gather comfort and courage from these evidences; but it would not do. +And then what could I say of those horrid bare feet, and the regular +tramp, tramp, tramp, which measured the distance of the entire staircase +through the solitude of my haunted dwelling, and at an hour when no good +influence was stirring? Confound it!--the whole affair was abominable. I +was out of spirits, and dreaded the approach of night. + +It came, ushered ominously in with a thunder-storm and dull torrents of +depressing rain. Earlier than usual the streets grew silent; and by +twelve o'clock nothing but the comfortless pattering of the rain was to +be heard. + +I made myself as snug as I could. I lighted _two_ candles instead of +one. I forswore bed, and held myself in readiness for a sally, candle in +hand; for, _coûte qui coûte_, I was resolved to _see_ the being, if +visible at all, who troubled the nightly stillness of my mansion. I was +fidgetty and nervous and tried in vain to interest myself with my books. +I walked up and down my room, whistling in turn martial and hilarious +music, and listening ever and anon for the dreaded noise. I sate down +and stared at the square label on the solemn and reserved-looking black +bottle, until "FLANAGAN & CO'S BEST OLD MALT WHISKY" grew into a sort of +subdued accompaniment to all the fantastic and horrible speculations +which chased one another through my brain. + +Silence, meanwhile, grew more silent, and darkness darker. I listened in +vain for the rumble of a vehicle, or the dull clamour of a distant row. +There was nothing but the sound of a rising wind, which had succeeded +the thunder-storm that had travelled over the Dublin mountains quite out +of hearing. In the middle of this great city I began to feel myself +alone with nature, and Heaven knows what beside. My courage was ebbing. +Punch, however, which makes beasts of so many, made a man of me +again--just in time to hear with tolerable nerve and firmness the lumpy, +flabby, naked feet deliberately descending the stairs again. + +I took a candle, not without a tremour. As I crossed the floor I tried +to extemporise a prayer, but stopped short to listen, and never finished +it. The steps continued. I confess I hesitated for some seconds at the +door before I took heart of grace and opened it. When I peeped out the +lobby was perfectly empty--there was no monster standing on the +staircase; and as the detested sound ceased, I was reassured enough to +venture forward nearly to the banisters. Horror of horrors! within a +stair or two beneath the spot where I stood the unearthly tread smote +the floor. My eye caught something in motion; it was about the size of +Goliah's foot--it was grey, heavy, and flapped with a dead weight from +one step to another. As I am alive, it was the most monstrous grey rat I +ever beheld or imagined. + +Shakespeare says--"Some men there are cannot abide a gaping pig, and +some that are mad if they behold a cat." I went well-nigh out of my wits +when I beheld this _rat_; for, laugh at me as you may, it fixed upon me, +I thought, a perfectly human expression of malice; and, as it shuffled +about and looked up into my face almost from between my feet, I saw, I +could swear it--I felt it then, and know it now, the infernal gaze and +the accursed countenance of my old friend in the portrait, transfused +into the visage of the bloated vermin before me. + +I bounced into my room again with a feeling of loathing and horror I +cannot describe, and locked and bolted my door as if a lion had been at +the other side. D--n him or _it_; curse the portrait and its original! I +felt in my soul that the rat--yes, the _rat_, the RAT I had just seen, +was that evil being in masquerade, and rambling through the house upon +some infernal night lark. + +Next morning I was early trudging through the miry streets; and, among +other transactions, posted a peremptory note recalling Tom. On my +return, however, I found a note from my absent "chum," announcing his +intended return next day. I was doubly rejoiced at this, because I had +succeeded in getting rooms; and because the change of scene and return +of my comrade were rendered specially pleasant by the last night's half +ridiculous half horrible adventure. + +I slept extemporaneously in my new quarters in Digges' Street that +night, and next morning returned for breakfast to the haunted mansion, +where I was certain Tom would call immediately on his arrival. + +I was quite right--he came; and almost his first question referred to +the primary object of our change of residence. + +"Thank God," he said with genuine fervour, on hearing that all was +arranged. "On _your_ account I am delighted. As to myself, I assure you +that no earthly consideration could have induced me ever again to pass a +night in this disastrous old house." + +"Confound the house!" I ejaculated, with a genuine mixture of fear and +detestation, "we have not had a pleasant hour since we came to live +here"; and so I went on, and related incidentally my adventure with the +plethoric old rat. + +"Well, if that were _all_," said my cousin, affecting to make light of +the matter, "I don't think I should have minded it very much." + +"Ay, but its eye--its countenance, my dear Tom," urged I; "if you had +seen _that_, you would have felt it might be _anything_ but what it +seemed." + +"I inclined to think the best conjurer in such a case would be an +able-bodied cat," he said, with a provoking chuckle. + +"But let us hear your own adventure," I said tartly. + +At this challenge he looked uneasily round him. I had poked up a very +unpleasant recollection. + +"You shall hear it, Dick; I'll tell it to you," he said. "Begad, sir, I +should feel quite queer, though, telling it _here_, though we are too +strong a body for ghosts to meddle with just now." + +Though he spoke this like a joke, I think it was serious calculation. +Our Hebe was in a corner of the room, packing our cracked delft tea and +dinner-services in a basket. She soon suspended operations, and with +mouth and eyes wide open became an absorbed listener. Tom's experiences +were told nearly in these words:---- + +"I saw it three times, Dick--three distinct times; and I am perfectly +certain it meant me some infernal harm. I was, I say, in danger--in +_extreme_ danger; for, if nothing else had happened, my reason would +most certainly have failed me, unless I had escaped so soon. Thank God. +I _did_ escape. + +"The first night of this hateful disturbance, I was lying in the +attitude of sleep, in that lumbering old bed. I hate to think of it. I +was really wide awake, though I had put out my candle, and was lying as +quietly as if I had been asleep; and although accidentally restless, my +thoughts were running in a cheerful and agreeable channel. + +"I think it must have been two o'clock at least when I thought I heard a +sound in that--that odious dark recess at the far end of the bedroom. It +was as if someone was drawing a piece of cord slowly along the floor, +lifting it up, and dropping it softly down again in coils. I sate up +once or twice in my bed, but could see nothing, so I concluded it must +be mice in the wainscot. I felt no emotion graver than curiosity, and +after a few minutes ceased to observe it. + +"While lying in this state, strange to say; without at first a suspicion +of anything supernatural, on a sudden I saw an old man, rather stout and +square, in a sort of roan-red dressing-gown, and with a black cap on his +head, moving stiffly and slowly in a diagonal direction, from the +recess, across the floor of the bedroom, passing my bed at the foot, and +entering the lumber-closet at the left. He had something under his arm; +his head hung a little at one side; and, merciful God! when I saw his +face." + +Tom stopped for a while, and then said---- + +"That awful countenance, which living or dying I never can forget, +disclosed what he was. Without turning to the right or left, he passed +beside me, and entered the closet by the bed's head. + +"While this fearful and indescribable type of death and guilt was +passing, I felt that I had no more power to speak or stir than if I had +been myself a corpse. For hours after it had disappeared, I was too +terrified and weak to move. As soon as daylight came, I took courage, +and examined the room, and especially the course which the frightful +intruder had seemed to take, but there was not a vestige to indicate +anybody's having passed there; no sign of any disturbing agency visible +among the lumber that strewed the floor of the closet. + +"I now began to recover a little. I was fagged and exhausted, and at +last, overpowered by a feverish sleep. I came down late; and finding you +out of spirits, on account of your dreams about the portrait, whose +_original_ I am now certain disclosed himself to me, I did not care to +talk about the infernal vision. In fact, I was trying to persuade myself +that the whole thing was an illusion, and I did not like to revive in +their intensity the hated impressions of the past night--or to risk the +constancy of my scepticism, by recounting the tale of my sufferings. + +"It required some nerve, I can tell you, to go to my haunted chamber +next night, and lie down quietly in the same bed," continued Tom. "I did +so with a degree of trepidation, which, I am not ashamed to say, a very +little matter would have sufficed to stimulate to downright panic. This +night, however, passed off quietly enough, as also the next; and so too +did two or three more. I grew more confident, and began to fancy that I +believed in the theories of spectral illusions, with which I had at +first vainly tried to impose upon my convictions. + +"The apparition had been, indeed, altogether anomalous. It had crossed +the room without any recognition of my presence: I had not disturbed +_it_, and _it_ had no mission to _me_. What, then, was the imaginable +use of its crossing the room in a visible shape at all? Of course it +might have _been_ in the closet instead of _going_ there, as easily as +it introduced itself into the recess without entering the chamber in a +shape discernible by the senses. Besides, how the deuce _had_ I seen it? +It was a dark night; I had no candle; there was no fire; and yet I saw +it as distinctly, in colouring and outline, as ever I beheld human form! +A cataleptic dream would explain it all; and I was determined that a +dream it should be. + +"One of the most remarkable phenomena connected with the practice of +mendacity is the vast number of deliberate lies we tell ourselves, whom, +of all persons, we can least expect to deceive. In all this, I need +hardly tell you, Dick, I was simply lying to myself, and did not believe +one word of the wretched humbug. Yet I went on, as men will do, like +persevering charlatans and impostors, who tire people into credulity by +the mere force of reiteration; so I hoped to win myself over at last to +a comfortable scepticism about the ghost. + +"He had not appeared a second time--that certainly was a comfort; and +what, after all, did I care for him, and his queer old toggery and +strange looks? Not a fig! I was nothing the worse for having seen him, +and a good story the better. So I tumbled into bed, put out my candle, +and, cheered by a loud drunken quarrel in the back lane, went fast +asleep. + +"From this deep slumber I awoke with a start. I knew I had had a +horrible dream; but what it was I could not remember. My heart was +thumping furiously; I felt bewildered and feverish; I sate up in the bed +and looked about the room. A broad flood of moonlight came in through +the curtainless window; everything was as I had last seen it; and though +the domestic squabble in the back lane was, unhappily for me, allayed, I +yet could hear a pleasant fellow singing, on his way home, the then +popular comic ditty called, 'Murphy Delany.' Taking advantage of this +diversion I lay down again, with my face towards the fireplace, and +closing my eyes, did my best to think of nothing else but the song, +which was every moment growing fainter in the distance:---- + + "'Twas Murphy Delany, so funny and frisky, + Stept into a shebeen shop to get his skin full; + He reeled out again pretty well lined with whiskey, + As fresh as a shamrock, as blind as a bull. + +"The singer, whose condition I dare say resembled that of his hero, was +soon too far off to regale my ears any more; and as his music died away, +I myself sank into a doze, neither sound nor refreshing. Somehow the +song had got into my head, and I went meandering on through the +adventures of my respectable fellow-countryman, who, on emerging from +the 'shebeen shop,' fell into a river, from which he was fished up to be +'sat upon' by a coroner's jury, who having learned from a 'horse-doctor' +that he was 'dead as a door-nail, so there was an end,' returned their +verdict accordingly, just as he returned to his senses, when an angry +altercation and a pitched battle between the body and the coroner winds +up the lay with due spirit and pleasantry. + +"Through this ballad I continued with a weary monotony to plod, down to +the very last line, and then _da capo_, and so on, in my uncomfortable +half-sleep, for how long, I can't conjecture. I found myself at last, +however, muttering, '_dead_ as a door-nail, so there was an end'; and +something like another voice within me, seemed to say, very faintly, but +sharply, 'dead! dead! _dead_! and may the Lord have mercy on your soul!' +and instantaneously I was wide awake, and staring right before me from +the pillow. + +"Now--will you believe it, Dick?--I saw the same accursed figure +standing full front, and gazing at me with its stony and fiendish +countenance, not two yards from the bedside." + +Tom stopped here, and wiped the perspiration from his face. I felt very +queer. The girl was as pale as Tom; and, assembled as we were in the +very scene of these adventures, we were all, I dare say, equally +grateful for the clear daylight and the resuming bustle out of doors. + +"For about three seconds only I saw it plainly; then it grew indistinct; +but, for a long time, there was something like a column of dark vapour +where it had been standing, between me and the wall; and I felt sure +that he was still there. After a good while, this appearance went too. I +took my clothes downstairs to the hall, and dressed there, with the door +half open; then went out into the street, and walked about the town till +morning, when I came back, in a miserable state of nervousness and +exhaustion. I was such a fool, Dick, as to be ashamed to tell you how I +came to be so upset. I thought you would laugh at me; especially as I +had always talked philosophy, and treated _your_ ghosts with contempt. I +concluded you would give me no quarter; and so kept my tale of horror to +myself. + +"Now, Dick, you will hardly believe me, when I assure you, that for many +nights after this last experience, I did not go to my room at all. I +used to sit up for a while in the drawing-room after you had gone up to +your bed; and then steal down softly to the hall-door, let myself out, +and sit in the 'Robin Hood' tavern until the last guest went off; and +then I got through the night like a sentry, pacing the streets till +morning. + +"For more than a week I never slept in bed. I sometimes had a snooze on +a form in the 'Robin Hood,' and sometimes a nap in a chair during the +day; but regular sleep I had absolutely none. + +"I was quite resolved that we should get into another house; but I could +not bring myself to tell you the reason, and I somehow put it off from +day to day, although my life was, during every hour of this +procrastination, rendered as miserable as that of a felon with the +constables on his track. I was growing absolutely ill from this wretched +mode of life. + +"One afternoon I determined to enjoy an hour's sleep upon your bed. I +hated mine; so that I had never, except in a stealthy visit every day to +unmake it, lest Martha should discover the secret of my nightly absence, +entered the ill-omened chamber. + +"As ill-luck would have it, you had locked your bedroom, and taken away +the key. I went into my own to unsettle the bedclothes, as usual, and +give the bed the appearance of having been slept in. Now, a variety of +circumstances concurred to bring about the dreadful scene through which +I was that night to pass. In the first place, I was literally +overpowered with fatigue, and longing for sleep; in the next place, the +effect of this extreme exhaustion upon my nerves resembled that of a +narcotic, and rendered me less susceptible than, perhaps, I should in +any other condition have been, of the exciting fears which had become +habitual to me. Then again, a little bit of the window was open, a +pleasant freshness pervaded the room, and, to crown all, the cheerful +sun of day was making the room quite pleasant. What was to prevent my +enjoying an hour's nap _here_? The whole air was resonant with the +cheerful hum of life, and the broad matter-of-fact light of day filled +every corner of the room. + +"I yielded--stifling my qualms--to the almost overpowering temptation; +and merely throwing off my coat, and loosening my cravat, I lay down, +limiting myself to _half_-an-hour's doze in the unwonted enjoyment of a +feather bed, a coverlet, and a bolster. + +"It was horribly insidious; and the demon, no doubt, marked my +infatuated preparations. Dolt that I was, I fancied, with mind and body +worn out for want of sleep, and an arrear of a full week's rest to my +credit, that such measure as _half_-an-hour's sleep, in such a +situation, was possible. My sleep was death-like, long, and dreamless. + +"Without a start or fearful sensation of any kind, I waked gently, but +completely. It was, as you have good reason to remember, long past +midnight--I believe, about two o'clock. When sleep has been deep and +long enough to satisfy nature thoroughly, one often wakens in this way, +suddenly, tranquilly, and completely. + +"There was a figure seated in that lumbering, old sofa-chair, near the +fireplace. Its back was rather towards me, but I could not be mistaken; +it turned slowly round, and, merciful heavens! there was the stony face, +with its infernal lineaments of malignity and despair, gloating on me. +There was now no doubt as to its consciousness of my presence, and the +hellish malice with which it was animated, for it arose, and drew close +to the bedside. There was a rope about its neck, and the other end, +coiled up, it held stiffly in its hand. + +"My good angel nerved me for this horrible crisis. I remained for some +seconds transfixed by the gaze of this tremendous phantom. He came close +to the bed, and appeared on the point of mounting upon it. The next +instant I was upon the floor at the far side, and in a moment more was, +I don't know how, upon the lobby. + +"But the spell was not yet broken; the valley of the shadow of death was +not yet traversed. The abhorred phantom was before me there; it was +standing near the banisters, stooping a little, and with one end of the +rope round its own neck, was poising a noose at the other, as if to +throw over mine; and while engaged in this baleful pantomime, it wore a +smile so sensual, so unspeakably dreadful, that my senses were nearly +overpowered. I saw and remember nothing more, until I found myself in +your room. + +"I had a wonderful escape, Dick--there is no disputing _that_--an escape +for which, while I live, I shall bless the mercy of heaven. No one can +conceive or imagine what it is for flesh and blood to stand in the +presence of such a thing, but one who has had the terrific experience. +Dick, Dick, a shadow has passed over me--a chill has crossed my blood +and marrow, and I will never be the same again--never, Dick--never!" + +Our handmaid, a mature girl of two-and-fifty, as I have said, stayed her +hand, as Tom's story proceeded, and by little and little drew near to +us, with open mouth, and her brows contracted over her little, beady +black eyes, till stealing a glance over her shoulder now and then, she +established herself close behind us. During the relation, she had made +various earnest comments, in an undertone; but these and her +ejaculations, for the sake of brevity and simplicity, I have omitted in +my narration. + +"It's often I heard tell of it," she now said, "but I never believed it +rightly till now--though, indeed, why should not I? Does not my mother, +down there in the lane, know quare stories, God bless us, beyant telling +about it? But you ought not to have slept in the back bedroom. She was +loath to let me be going in and out of that room even in the day time, +let alone for any Christian to spend the night in it; for sure she says +it was his own bedroom." + +"_Whose_ own bedroom?" we asked, in a breath. + +"Why, _his_--the ould Judge's--Judge Horrock's, to be sure, God rest his +sowl"; and she looked fearfully round. + +"Amen!" I muttered. "But did he die there?" + +"Die there! No, not quite _there_," she said. "Shure, was not it over +the banisters he hung himself, the ould sinner, God be merciful to us +all? and was not it in the alcove they found the handles of the +skipping-rope cut off, and the knife where he was settling the cord, God +bless us, to hang himself with? It was his housekeeper's daughter owned +the rope, my mother often told me, and the child never throve after, and +used to be starting up out of her sleep, and screeching in the night +time, wid dhrames and frights that cum an her; and they said how it was +the speerit of the ould Judge that was tormentin' her; and she used to +be roaring and yelling out to hould back the big ould fellow with the +crooked neck; and then she'd screech 'Oh, the master! the master! he's +stampin' at me, and beckoning to me! Mother, darling, don't let me go!' +And so the poor crathure died at last, and the docthers said it was +wather on the brain, for it was all they could say." + +"How long ago was all this?" I asked. + +"Oh, then, how would I know?" she answered. "But it must be a wondherful +long time ago, for the housekeeper was an ould woman, with a pipe in her +mouth, and not a tooth left, and better nor eighty years ould when my +mother was first married; and they said she was a rale buxom, +fine-dressed woman when the ould Judge come to his end; an', indeed, my +mother's not far from eighty years ould herself this day; and what made +it worse for the unnatural ould villain, God rest his soul, to frighten +the little girl out of the world the way he did, was what was mostly +thought and believed by every one. My mother says how the poor little +crathure was his own child; for he was by all accounts an ould villain +every way, an' the hangin'est judge that ever was known in Ireland's +ground." + +"From what you said about the danger of sleeping in that bedroom," said +I, "I suppose there were stories about the ghost having appeared there +to others." + +"Well, there was things said--quare things, surely," she answered, as it +seemed, with some reluctance. "And why would not there? Sure was it not +up in that same room he slept for more than twenty years? and was it not +in the _alcove_ he got the rope ready that done his own business at +last, the way he done many a betther man's in his lifetime?--and was not +the body lying in the same bed after death, and put in the coffin there, +too, and carried out to his grave from it in Pether's churchyard, after +the coroner was done? But there was quare stories--my mother has them +all--about how one Nicholas Spaight got into trouble on the head of it." + +"And what did they say of this Nicholas Spaight?" I asked. + +"Oh, for that matther, it's soon told," she answered. + +And she certainly did relate a very strange story, which so piqued my +curiosity, that I took occasion to visit the ancient lady, her mother, +from whom I learned many very curious particulars. Indeed, I am tempted +to tell the tale, but my fingers are weary, and I must defer it. But if +you wish to hear it another time, I shall do my best. + +When we had heard the strange tale I have _not_ told you, we put one or +two further questions to her about the alleged spectral visitations, to +which the house had, ever since the death of the wicked old Judge, been +subjected. + +"No one ever had luck in it," she told us. "There was always cross +accidents, sudden deaths, and short times in it. The first that tuck, it +was a family--I forget their name--but at any rate there was two young +ladies and their papa. He was about sixty, and a stout healthy gentleman +as you'd wish to see at that age. Well, he slept in that unlucky back +bedroom; and, God between us an' harm! sure enough he was found dead one +morning, half out of the bed, with his head as black as a sloe, and +swelled like a puddin', hanging down near the floor. It was a fit, they +said. He was as dead as a mackerel, and so _he_ could not say what it +was; but the ould people was all sure that it was nothing at all but the +ould Judge, God bless us! that frightened him out of his senses and his +life together. + +"Some time after there was a rich old maiden lady took the house. I +don't know which room _she_ slept in, but she lived alone; and at any +rate, one morning, the servants going down early to their work, found +her sitting on the passage-stairs, shivering and talkin' to herself, +quite mad; and never a word more could any of _them_ or her friends get +from her ever afterwards but, 'Don't ask me to go, for I promised to +wait for him.' They never made out from her who it was she meant by +_him_, but of course those that knew all about the ould house were at no +loss for the meaning of all that happened to her. + +"Then afterwards, when the house was let out in lodgings, there was +Micky Byrne that took the same room, with his wife and three little +children; and sure I heard Mrs. Byrne myself telling how the children +used to be lifted up in the bed at night, she could not see by what +mains; and how they were starting and screeching every hour, just all as +one as the housekeeper's little girl that died, till at last one night +poor Micky had a dhrop in him, the way he used now and again; and what +do you think in the middle of the night he thought he heard a noise on +the stairs, and being in liquor, nothing less id do him but out he must +go himself to see what was wrong. Well, after that, all she ever heard +of him was himself sayin', 'Oh, God!' and a tumble that shook the very +house; and there, sure enough, he was lying on the lower stairs, under +the lobby, with his neck smashed double undher him, where he was flung +over the banisters." + +Then the handmaiden added---- + +"I'll go down to the lane, and send up Joe Gavvey to pack up the rest of +the taythings, and bring all the things across to your new lodgings." + +And so we all sallied out together, each of us breathing more freely, I +have no doubt, as we crossed that ill-omened threshold for the last +time. + +Now, I may add thus much, in compliance with the immemorial usage of the +realm of fiction, which sees the hero not only through his adventures, +but fairly out of the world. You must have perceived that what the +flesh, blood, and bone hero of romance proper is to the regular +compounder of fiction, this old house of brick, wood, and mortar is to +the humble recorder of this true tale. I, therefore, relate, as in duty +bound, the catastrophe which ultimately befell it, which was simply +this--that about two years subsequently to my story it was taken by a +quack doctor, who called himself Baron Duhlstoerf, and filled the +parlour windows with bottles of indescribable horrors preserved in +brandy, and the newspapers with the usual grandiloquent and mendacious +advertisements. This gentleman among his virtues did not reckon +sobriety, and one night, being overcome with much wine, he set fire to +his bed curtains, partially burned himself, and totally consumed the +house. It was afterwards rebuilt, and for a time an undertaker +established himself in the premises. + +I have now told you my own and Tom's adventures, together with some +valuable collateral particulars; and having acquitted myself of my +engagement, I wish you a very good night, and pleasant dreams. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK J. S. LE FANU'S GHOSTLY TALES, +VOLUME 1*** + + +******* This file should be named 11699-8.txt or 11699-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/6/9/11699 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + +https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext06 + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** diff --git a/old/11699-8.zip b/old/11699-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..905fe67 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11699-8.zip diff --git a/old/11699-h.zip b/old/11699-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..113222f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11699-h.zip diff --git a/old/11699-h/11699-h.htm b/old/11699-h/11699-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ba111d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11699-h/11699-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2116 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 1, by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1,H2,H3 {text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + hr.full { width: 100%; + size: 5 } + BODY{margin-left: 10%;margin-right: 10%; + } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size: 9pt;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 1, by +Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 1</p> +<p>Author: Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu</p> +<p>Release Date: March 24, 2004 [eBook #11699]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: iso-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK J. S. LE FANU'S GHOSTLY TALES, VOLUME 1***</p> +<br> +<br> +<center><b>E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Andrea Ball,<br> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</b></center> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p> </p> + +<h1>J. S. LE FANU'S<br> +GHOSTLY TALES,</h1> + +<h2>VOLUME 1</h2> + +<h2>Schalken the Painter (1851)</h2> + +<h3>and</h3> + +<h2>An Account of Some Strange<br> +Disturbances in Aungier Street (1853)</h2> + +<h2>by<br> +Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu</h2> + +<p> </p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<center> +<a href="#Schalken_the_Painter">Schalken the Painter</a><br><br> +<a href="#An_Account_of_Some_Strange_Disturbances">An Account of +Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street</a> +</center> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="Schalken_the_Painter"></a><h2>Schalken the Painter</h2> + + +<div class="blkquot"><p><i>"For he is not a man as I am that + we should come together; neither is + there any that might lay his hand + upon us both. Let him, therefore, + take his rod away from me, and let + not his fear terrify me."</i></p></div> + +<p>There exists, at this moment, in good preservation a remarkable work of +Schalken's. The curious management of its lights constitutes, as usual +in his pieces, the chief apparent merit of the picture. I say +<i>apparent</i>, for in its subject, and not in its handling, however +exquisite, consists its real value. The picture represents the interior +of what might be a chamber in some antique religious building; and its +foreground is occupied by a female figure, in a species of white robe, +part of which is arranged so as to form a veil. The dress, however, is +not that of any religious order. In her hand the figure bears a lamp, by +which alone her figure and face are illuminated; and her features wear +such an arch smile, as well becomes a pretty woman when practising some +prankish roguery; in the background, and, excepting where the dim red +light of an expiring fire serves to define the form, in total shadow, +stands the figure of a man dressed in the old Flemish fashion, in an +attitude of alarm, his hand being placed upon the hilt of his sword, +which he appears to be in the act of drawing.</p> + +<p>There are some pictures, which impress one, I know not how, with a +conviction that they represent not the mere ideal shapes and +combinations which have floated through the imagination of the artist, +but scenes, faces, and situations which have actually existed. There is +in that strange picture, something that stamps it as the representation +of a reality.</p> + +<p>And such in truth it is, for it faithfully records a remarkable and +mysterious occurrence, and perpetuates, in the face of the female +figure, which occupies the most prominent place in the design, an +accurate portrait of Rose Velderkaust, the niece of Gerard Douw, the +first, and, I believe, the only love of Godfrey Schalken. My great +grandfather knew the painter well; and from Schalken himself he learned +the fearful story of the painting, and from him too he ultimately +received the picture itself as a bequest. The story and the picture have +become heir-looms in my family, and having described the latter, I +shall, if you please, attempt to relate the tradition which has +descended with the canvas.</p> + +<p>There are few forms on which the mantle of romance hangs more +ungracefully than upon that of the uncouth Schalken—the boorish but +most cunning worker in oils, whose pieces delight the critics of our day +almost as much as his manners disgusted the refined of his own; and yet +this man, so rude, so dogged, so slovenly, in the midst of his +celebrity, had in his obscure, but happier days, played the hero in a +wild romance of mystery and passion.</p> + +<p>When Schalken studied under the immortal Gerard Douw, he was a very +young man; and in spite of his phlegmatic temperament, he at once fell +over head and ears in love with the beautiful niece of his wealthy +master. Rose Velderkaust was still younger than he, having not yet +attained her seventeenth year, and, if tradition speaks truth, possessed +all the soft and dimpling charms of the fair, light-haired Flemish +maidens. The young painter loved honestly and fervently. His frank +adoration was rewarded. He declared his love, and extracted a faltering +confession in return. He was the happiest and proudest painter in all +Christendom. But there was somewhat to dash his elation; he was poor and +undistinguished. He dared not ask old Gerard for the hand of his sweet +ward. He must first win a reputation and a competence.</p> + +<p>There were, therefore, many dread uncertainties and cold days before +him; he had to fight his way against sore odds. But he had won the heart +of dear Rose Velderkaust, and that was half the battle. It is needless +to say his exertions were redoubled, and his lasting celebrity proves +that his industry was not unrewarded by success.</p> + +<p>These ardent labours, and worse still, the hopes that elevated and +beguiled them, were however, destined to experience a sudden +interruption—of a character so strange and mysterious as to baffle all +inquiry and to throw over the events themselves a shadow of +preternatural horror.</p> + +<p>Schalken had one evening outstayed all his fellow-pupils, and still +pursued his work in the deserted room. As the daylight was fast falling, +he laid aside his colours, and applied himself to the completion of a +sketch on which he had expressed extraordinary pains. It was a religious +composition, and represented the temptations of a pot-bellied Saint +Anthony. The young artist, however destitute of elevation, had, +nevertheless, discernment enough to be dissatisfied with his own work, +and many were the patient erasures and improvements which saint and +devil underwent, yet all in vain. The large, old-fashioned room was +silent, and, with the exception of himself, quite emptied of its usual +inmates. An hour had thus passed away, nearly two, without any improved +result. Daylight had already declined, and twilight was deepening into +the darkness of night. The patience of the young painter was exhausted, +and he stood before his unfinished production, angry and mortified, one +hand buried in the folds of his long hair, and the other holding the +piece of charcoal which had so ill-performed its office, and which he +now rubbed, without much regard to the sable streaks it produced, with +irritable pressure upon his ample Flemish inexpressibles. "Curse the +subject!" said the young man aloud; "curse the picture, the devils, the +saint—"</p> + +<p>At this moment a short, sudden sniff uttered close beside him made the +artist turn sharply round, and he now, for the first time, became aware +that his labours had been overlooked by a stranger. Within about a yard +and half, and rather behind him, there stood the figure of an elderly +man in a cloak and broad-brimmed, conical hat; in his hand, which was +protected with a heavy gauntlet-shaped glove, he carried a long ebony +walking-stick, surmounted with what appeared, as it glittered dimly in +the twilight, to be a massive head of gold, and upon his breast, through +the folds of the cloak, there shone the links of a rich chain of the +same metal. The room was so obscure that nothing further of the +appearance of the figure could be ascertained, and his hat threw his +features into profound shadow. It would not have been easy to conjecture +the age of the intruder; but a quantity of dark hair escaping from +beneath this sombre hat, as well as his firm and upright carriage served +to indicate that his years could not yet exceed threescore, or +thereabouts. There was an air of gravity and importance about the garb +of the person, and something indescribably odd, I might say awful, in +the perfect, stone-like stillness of the figure, that effectually +checked the testy comment which had at once risen to the lips of the +irritated artist. He, therefore, as soon as he had sufficiently +recovered his surprise, asked the stranger, civilly, to be seated, and +desired to know if he had any message to leave for his master.</p> + +<p>"Tell Gerard Douw," said the unknown, without altering his attitude in +the smallest degree, "that Minheer Vanderhausen, of Rotterdam, desires +to speak with him on tomorrow evening at this hour, and if he please, in +this room, upon matters of weight; that is all."</p> + +<p>The stranger, having finished this message, turned abruptly, and, with +a quick, but silent step quitted the room, before Schalken had time to +say a word in reply. The young man felt a curiosity to see in what +direction the burgher of Rotterdam would turn, on quitting the studio, +and for that purpose he went directly to the window which commanded the +door. A lobby of considerable extent intervened between the inner door +of the painter's room and the street entrance, so that Schalken occupied +the post of observation before the old man could possibly have reached +the street. He watched in vain, however. There was no other mode of +exit. Had the queer old man vanished, or was he lurking about the +recesses of the lobby for some sinister purpose? This last suggestion +filled the mind of Schalken with a vague uneasiness, which was so +unaccountably intense as to make him alike afraid to remain in the room +alone, and reluctant to pass through the lobby. However, with an effort +which appeared very disproportioned to the occasion, he summoned +resolution to leave the room, and, having locked the door and thrust the +key in his pocket, without looking to the right or left, he traversed +the passage which had so recently, perhaps still, contained the person +of his mysterious visitant, scarcely venturing to breathe till he had +arrived in the open street.</p> + +<p>"Minheer Vanderhausen!" said Gerard Douw within himself, as the +appointed hour approached, "Minheer Vanderhausen, of Rotterdam! I never +heard of the man till yesterday. What can he want of me? A portrait, +perhaps, to be painted; or a poor relation to be apprenticed; or a +collection to be valued; or—pshaw! there's no one in Rotterdam to leave +me a legacy. Well, whatever the business may be, we shall soon know it +all."</p> + +<p>It was now the close of day, and again every easel, except that of +Schalken, was deserted. Gerard Douw was pacing the apartment with the +restless step of impatient expectation, sometimes pausing to glance over +the work of one of his absent pupils, but more frequently placing +himself at the window, from whence he might observe the passengers who +threaded the obscure by-street in which his studio was placed.</p> + +<p>"Said you not, Godfrey," exclaimed Douw, after a long and fruitful gaze +from his post of observation, and turning to Schalken, "that the hour he +appointed was about seven by the clock of the Stadhouse?"</p> + +<p>"It had just told seven when I first saw him, sir," answered the +student.</p> + +<p>"The hour is close at hand, then," said the master, consulting a +horologe as large and as round as an orange. "Minheer Vanderhausen from +Rotterdam—is it not so?"</p> + +<p>"Such was the name."</p> + +<p>"And an elderly man, richly clad?" pursued Douw, musingly.</p> + +<p>"As well as I might see," replied his pupil; "he could not be young, nor +yet very old, neither; and his dress was rich and grave, as might become +a citizen of wealth and consideration."</p> + +<p>At this moment the sonorous boom of the Stadhouse clock told, stroke +after stroke, the hour of seven; the eyes of both master and student +were directed to the door; and it was not until the last peal of the +bell had ceased to vibrate, that Douw exclaimed----</p> + +<p>"So, so; we shall have his worship presently, that is, if he means to +keep his hour; if not, you may wait for him, Godfrey, if you court his +acquaintance. But what, after all, if it should prove but a mummery got +up by Vankarp, or some such wag? I wish you had run all risks, and +cudgelled the old burgomaster soundly. I'd wager a dozen of Rhenish, his +worship would have unmasked, and pleaded old acquaintance in a trice."</p> + +<p>"Here he comes, sir," said Schalken, in a low monitory tone; and +instantly, upon turning towards the door, Gerard Douw observed the same +figure which had, on the day before, so unexpectedly greeted his pupil +Schalken.</p> + +<p>There was something in the air of the figure which at once satisfied the +painter that there was no masquerading in the case, and that he really +stood in the presence of a man of worship; and so, without hesitation, +he doffed his cap, and courteously saluting the stranger, requested him +to be seated. The visitor waved his hand slightly, as if in +acknowledgment of the courtesy, but remained standing.</p> + +<p>"I have the honour to see Minheer Vanderhausen of Rotterdam?" said +Gerard Douw.</p> + +<p>"The same," was the laconic reply of his visitor.</p> + +<p>"I understand your worship desires to speak with me," continued Douw, +"and I am here by appointment to wait your commands."</p> + +<p>"Is that a man of trust?" said Vanderhausen, turning towards Schalken, +who stood at a little distance behind his master.</p> + +<p>"Certainly," replied Gerard.</p> + +<p>"Then let him take this box, and get the nearest jeweller or goldsmith +to value its contents, and let him return hither with a certificate of +the valuation."</p> + +<p>At the same time, he placed a small case about nine inches square in the +hands of Gerard Douw, who was as much amazed at its weight as at the +strange abruptness with which it was handed to him. In accordance with +the wishes of the stranger, he delivered it into the hands of Schalken, +and repeating his direction, despatched him upon the mission.</p> + +<p>Schalken disposed his precious charge securely beneath the folds of his +cloak, and rapidly traversing two or three narrow streets, he stopped at +a corner house, the lower part of which was then occupied by the shop of +a Jewish goldsmith. He entered the shop, and calling the little Hebrew +into the obscurity of its back recesses, he proceeded to lay before him +Vanderhausen's casket. On being examined by the light of a lamp, it +appeared entirely cased with lead, the outer surface of which was much +scraped and soiled, and nearly white with age. This having been +partially removed, there appeared beneath a box of some hard wood; which +also they forced open and after the removal of two or three folds of +linen, they discovered its contents to be a mass of golden ingots, +closely packed, and, as the Jew declared, of the most perfect quality. +Every ingot underwent the scrutiny of the little Jew, who seemed to feel +an epicurean delight in touching and testing these morsels of the +glorious metal; and each one of them was replaced in its berth with the +exclamation: "<i>Mein Gott</i>, how very perfect! not one grain of +alloy—beautiful, beautiful!" The task was at length finished, and the +Jew certified under his hand the value of the ingots submitted to his +examination, to amount to many thousand rix-dollars. With the desired +document in his pocket, and the rich box of gold carefully pressed under +his arm, and concealed by his cloak, he retraced his way, and entering +the studio, found his master and the stranger in close conference. +Schalken had no sooner left the room, in order to execute the commission +he had taken in charge, than Vanderhausen addressed Gerard Douw in the +following terms:----</p> + +<p>"I cannot tarry with you to-night more than a few minutes, and so I +shall shortly tell you the matter upon which I come. You visited the +town of Rotterdam some four months ago, and then I saw in the church of +St. Lawrence your niece, Rose Velderkaust. I desire to marry her; and if +I satisfy you that I am wealthier than any husband you can dream of for +her, I expect that you will forward my suit with your authority. If you +approve my proposal, you must close with it here and now, for I cannot +wait for calculations and delays."</p> + +<p>Gerard Douw was hugely astonished by the nature of Minheer +Vanderhausen's communication, but he did not venture to express +surprise; for besides the motives supplied by prudence and politeness, +the painter experienced a kind of chill and oppression like that which +is said to intervene when one is placed in unconscious proximity with +the object of a natural antipathy—an undefined but overpowering +sensation, while standing in the presence of the eccentric stranger, +which made him very unwilling to say anything which might reasonably +offend him.</p> + +<p>"I have no doubt," said Gerard, after two or three prefatory hems, "that +the alliance which you propose would prove alike advantageous and +honourable to my niece; but you must be aware that she has a will of her +own, and may not acquiesce in what <i>we</i> may design for her advantage."</p> + +<p>"Do not seek to deceive me, sir painter," said Vanderhausen; "you are +her guardian—she is your ward—she is mine if <i>you</i> like to make her +so."</p> + +<p>The man of Rotterdam moved forward a little as he spoke, and Gerard +Douw, he scarce knew why, inwardly prayed for the speedy return of +Schalken.</p> + +<p>"I desire," said the mysterious gentleman, "to place in your hands at +once an evidence of my wealth, and a security for my liberal dealing +with your niece. The lad will return in a minute or two with a sum in +value five times the fortune which she has a right to expect from her +husband. This shall lie in your hands, together with her dowry, and you +may apply the united sum as suits her interest best; it shall be all +exclusively hers while she lives: is that liberal?"</p> + +<p>Douw assented, and inwardly acknowledged that fortune had been +extraordinarily kind to his niece; the stranger, he thought, must be +both wealthy and generous, and such an offer was not to be despised, +though made by a humourist, and one of no very prepossessing presence. +Rose had no very high pretensions for she had but a modest dowry, which +she owed entirely to the generosity of her uncle; neither had she any +right to raise exceptions on the score of birth, for her own origin was +far from splendid, and as the other objections, Gerald resolved, and +indeed, by the usages of the time, was warranted in resolving, not to +listen to them for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Sir" said he, addressing the stranger, "your offer is liberal, and +whatever hesitation I may feel in closing with it immediately, arises +solely from my not having the honour of knowing anything of your family +or station. Upon these points you can, of course, satisfy me without +difficulty?'</p> + +<p>"As to my respectability," said the stranger, drily, "you must take that +for granted at present; pester me with no inquiries; you can discover +nothing more about me than I choose to make known. You shall have +sufficient security for my respectability—my word, if you are +honourable: if you are sordid, my gold."</p> + +<p>"A testy old gentleman," thought Douw, "he must have his own way; but, +all things considered, I am not justified to declining his offer. I will +not pledge myself unnecessarily, however."</p> + +<p>"You will not pledge yourself unnecessarily," said Vanderhausen, +strangely uttering the very words which had just floated through the +mind of his companion; "but you will do so if it is necessary, I +presume; and I will show you that I consider it indispensable. If the +gold I mean to leave in your hands satisfy you, and if you don't wish my +proposal to be at once withdrawn, you must, before I leave this room, +write your name to this engagement."</p> + +<p>Having thus spoken, he placed a paper in the hands of the master, the +contents of which expressed an engagement entered into by Gerard Douw, +to give to Wilken Vanderhausen of Rotterdam, in marriage, Rose +Velderkaust, and so forth, within one week of the date thereof. While +the painter was employed in reading this covenant, by the light of a +twinkling oil lamp in the far wall of the room, Schalken, as we have +stated, entered the studio, and having delivered the box and the +valuation of the Jew, into the hands of the stranger, he was about to +retire, when Vanderhausen called to him to wait; and, presenting the +case and the certificate to Gerard Douw, he paused in silence until he +had satisfied himself, by an inspection of both, respecting the value of +the pledge left in his hands. At length he said----</p> + +<p>"Are you content?"</p> + +<p>The painter said he would fain have another day to consider.</p> + +<p>"Not an hour," said the suitor, apathetically.</p> + +<p>"Well then," said Douw, with a sore effort, "I am content, it is a +bargain."</p> + +<p>"Then sign at once," said Vanderhausen, "for I am weary."</p> + +<p>At the same time he produced a small case of writing materials, and +Gerard signed the important document.</p> + +<p>"Let this youth witness the covenant," said the old man; and Godfrey +Schalken unconsciously attested the instrument which for ever bereft him +of his dear Rose Velderkaust.</p> + +<p>The compact being thus completed, the strange visitor folded up the +paper, and stowed it safely in an inner pocket.</p> + +<p>"I will visit you to-morrow night at nine o'clock, at your own house, +Gerard Douw, and will see the object of our contract;" and so saying +Wilken Vanderhausen moved stiffly, but rapidly, out of the room.</p> + +<p>Schalken, eager to resolve his doubts, had placed himself by the window, +in order to watch the street entrance; but the experiment served only to +support his suspicions, for the old man did not issue from the door. +This was <i>very</i> strange, odd, nay fearful. He and his master returned +together, and talked but little on the way, for each had his own +subjects of reflection, of anxiety, and of hope. Schalken, however, did +not know the ruin which menaced his dearest projects.</p> + +<p>Gerard Douw knew nothing of the attachment which had sprung up between +his pupil and his niece; and even if he had, it is doubtful whether he +would have regarded its existence as any serious obstruction to the +wishes of Minheer Vanderhausen. Marriages were then and there matters of +traffic and calculation; and it would have appeared as absurd in the +eyes of the guardian to make a mutual attachment an essential element in +a contract of the sort, as it would have been to draw up his bonds and +receipts in the language of romance.</p> + +<p>The painter, however, did not communicate to his niece the important +step which he had taken in her behalf, a forebearance caused not by any +anticipated opposition on her part, but solely by a ludicrous +consciousness that if she were to ask him for a description of her +destined bridegroom, he would be forced to confess that he had not once +seen his face, and if called upon, would find it absolutely impossible +to identify him. Upon the next day, Gerard Douw, after dinner, called +his niece to him and having scanned her person with an air of +satisfaction, he took her hand, and looking upon her pretty innocent +face with a smile of kindness, he said:----</p> + +<p>"Rose, my girl, that face of yours will make your fortune." Rose blushed +and smiled. "Such faces and such tempers seldom go together, and when +they do, the compound is a love charm, few heads or hearts can resist; +trust me, you will soon be a bride, girl. But this is trifling, and I am +pressed for time, so make ready the large room by eight o'clock +to-night, and give directions for supper at nine. I expect a friend; and +observe me, child, do you trick yourself out handsomely. I will not have +him think us poor or sluttish."</p> + +<p>With these words he left her, and took his way to the room in which his +pupils worked.</p> + +<p>When the evening closed in, Gerard called Schalken, who was about to +take his departure to his own obscure and comfortless lodgings, and +asked him to come home and sup with Rose and Vanderhausen. The +invitation was, of course, accepted and Gerard Douw and his pupil soon +found themselves in the handsome and, even then, antique chamber, which +had been prepared for the reception of the stranger. A cheerful wood +fire blazed in the hearth, a little at one side of which an +old-fashioned table, which shone in the fire-light like burnished gold, +was awaiting the supper, for which preparations were going forward; and +ranged with exact regularity, stood the tall-backed chairs, whose +ungracefulness was more than compensated by their comfort. The little +party, consisting of Rose, her uncle, and the artist, awaited the +arrival of the expected visitor with considerable impatience. Nine +o'clock at length came, and with it a summons at the street door, which +being speedily answered, was followed by a slow and emphatic tread upon +the staircase; the steps moved heavily across the lobby, the door of the +room in which the party we have described were assembled slowly opened, +and there entered a figure which startled, almost appalled, the +phlegmatic Dutchmen, and nearly made Rose scream with terror. It was the +form, and arrayed in the garb of Minheer Vanderhausen; the air, the +gait, the height were the same, but the features had never been seen by +any of the party before. The stranger stopped at the door of the room, +and displayed his form and face completely. He wore a dark-coloured +cloth cloak, which was short and full, not falling quite to his knees; +his legs were cased in dark purple silk stockings, and his shoes were +adorned with roses of the same colour. The opening of the cloak in front +showed the under-suit to consist of some very dark, perhaps sable +material, and his hands were enclosed in a pair of heavy leather gloves, +which ran up considerably above the wrist, in the manner of a gauntlet. +In one hand he carried his walking-stick and his hat, which he had +removed, and the other hung heavily by his side. A quantity of grizzled +hair descended in long tresses from his head, and rested upon the plaits +of a stiff ruff, which effectually concealed his neck. So far all was +well; but the face!--all the flesh of the face was coloured with the +bluish leaden hue, which is sometimes produced by metallic medicines, +administered in excessive quantities; the eyes showed an undue +proportion of muddy white, and had a certain indefinable character of +insanity; the hue of the lips bearing the usual relation to that of the +face, was, consequently, nearly black; and the entire character of the +face was sensual, malignant, and even satanic. It was remarkable that +the worshipful stranger suffered as little as possible of his flesh to +appear, and that during his visit he did not once remove his gloves. +Having stood for some moments at the door, Gerard Douw at length found +breath and collectedness to bid him welcome, and with a mute inclination +of the head, the stranger stepped forward into the room. There was +something indescribably odd, even horrible, about all his motions, +something undefinable, that was unnatural, unhuman; it was as if the +limbs were guided and directed by a spirit unused to the management of +bodily machinery. The stranger spoke hardly at all during his visit, +which did not exceed half an hour; and the host himself could scarcely +muster courage enough to utter the few necessary salutations and +courtesies; and, indeed, such was the nervous terror which the presence +of Vanderhausen inspired, that very little would have made all his +entertainers fly in downright panic from the room. They had not so far +lost all self-possession, however, as to fail to observe two strange +peculiarities of their visitor. During his stay his eyelids did not once +close, or, indeed, move in the slightest degree; and farther, there was +a deathlike stillness in his whole person, owing to the absence of the +heaving motion of the chest, caused by the process of respiration. These +two peculiarities, though when told they may appear trifling, produced a +very striking and unpleasant effect when seen and observed. Vanderhausen +at length relieved the painter of Leyden of his inauspicious presence; +and with no trifling sense of relief the little party heard the street +door close after him.</p> + +<p>"Dear uncle," said Rose, "what a frightful man! I would not see him +again for the wealth of the States."</p> + +<p>"Tush, foolish girl," said Douw, whose sensations were anything but +comfortable. "A man may be as ugly as the devil, and yet, if his heart +and actions are good, he is worth all the pretty-faced perfumed puppies +that walk the Mall. Rose, my girl, it is very true he has not thy pretty +face, but I know him to be wealthy and liberal; and were he ten times +more ugly, these two virtues would be enough to counter balance all his +deformity, and if not sufficient actually to alter the shape and hue of +his features, at least enough to prevent one thinking them so much +amiss."</p> + +<p>"Do you know, uncle," said Rose, "when I saw him standing at the door, I +could not get it out of my head that I saw the old painted wooden figure +that used to frighten me so much in the Church of St. Laurence at +Rotterdam."</p> + +<p>Gerard laughed, though he could not help inwardly acknowledging the +justness of the comparison. He was resolved, however, as far as he +could, to check his niece's disposition to dilate upon the ugliness of +her intended bridegroom, although he was not a little pleased, as well +as puzzled, to observe that she appeared totally exempt from that +mysterious dread of the stranger which, he could not disguise it from +himself, considerably affected him, as also his pupil Godfrey Schalken.</p> + +<p>Early on the next day there arrived, from various quarters of the town, +rich presents of silks, velvets, jewellery, and so forth, for Rose; and +also a packet directed to Gerard Douw, which on being opened, was found +to contain a contract of marriage, formally drawn up, between Wilken +Vanderhausen of the <i>Boom-quay</i>, in Rotterdam, and Rose Velderkaust of +Leyden, niece to Gerard Douw, master in the art of painting, also of the +same city; and containing engagements on the part of Vanderhausen to +make settlements upon his bride, far more splendid than he had before +led her guardian to believe likely, and which were to be secured to her +use in the most unexceptionable manner possible—the money being placed +in the hand of Gerard Douw himself.</p> + +<p>I have no sentimental scenes to describe, no cruelty of guardians, no +magnanimity of wards, no agonies, or transport of lovers. The record I +have to make is one of sordidness, levity, and heartlessness. In less +than a week after the first interview which we have just described, the +contract of marriage was fulfilled, and Schalken saw the prize which he +would have risked existence to secure, carried off in solemn pomp by his +repulsive rival. For two or three days he absented himself from the +school; he then returned and worked, if with less cheerfulness, with far +more dogged resolution than before; the stimulus of love had given place +to that of ambition. Months passed away, and, contrary to his +expectation, and, indeed, to the direct promise of the parties, Gerard +Douw heard nothing of his niece or her worshipful spouse. The interest +of the money, which was to have been demanded in quarterly sums, lay +unclaimed in his hands.</p> + +<p>He began to grow extremely uneasy. Minheer Vanderhausen's direction in +Rotterdam he was fully possessed of; after some irresolution he finally +determined to journey thither—a trifling undertaking, and easily +accomplished—and thus to satisfy himself of the safety and comfort of +his ward, for whom he entertained an honest and strong affection. His +search was in vain, however; no one in Rotterdam had ever heard of +Minheer Vanderhausen. Gerard Douw left not a house in the <i>Boom-quay</i> +untried, but all in vain. No one could give him any information whatever +touching the object of his inquiry, and he was obliged to return to +Leyden nothing wiser and far more anxious, than when he had left it.</p> + +<p>On his arrival he hastened to the establishment from which Vanderhausen +had hired the lumbering, though, considering the times, most luxurious +vehicle, which the bridal party had employed to convey them to +Rotterdam. From the driver of this machine he learned, that having +proceeded by slow stages, they had late in the evening approached +Rotterdam; but that before they entered the city, and while yet nearly a +mile from it, a small party of men, soberly clad, and after the old +fashion, with peaked beards and moustaches, standing in the centre of +the road, obstructed the further progress of the carriage. The driver +reined in his horses, much fearing, from the obscurity of the hour, and +the loneliness, of the road, that some mischief was intended. His fears +were, however, somewhat allayed by his observing that these strange men +carried a large litter, of an antique shape, and which they immediately +set down upon the pavement, whereupon the bridegroom, having opened the +coach-door from within, descended, and having assisted his bride to do +likewise, led her, weeping bitterly, and wringing her hands, to the +litter, which they both entered. It was then raised by the men who +surrounded it, and speedily carried towards the city, and before it had +proceeded very far, the darkness concealed it from the view of the Dutch +coachman. In the inside of the vehicle he found a purse, whose contents +more than thrice paid the hire of the carriage and man. He saw and could +tell nothing more of Minheer Vanderhausen and his beautiful lady.</p> + +<p>This mystery was a source of profound anxiety and even grief to Gerard +Douw. There was evidently fraud in the dealing of Vanderhausen with him, +though for what purpose committed he could not imagine. He greatly +doubted how far it was possible for a man possessing such a countenance +to be anything but a villain, and every day that passed without his +hearing from or of his niece, instead of inducing him to forget his +fears, on the contrary tended more and more to aggravate them. The loss +of her cheerful society tended also to depress his spirits; and in order +to dispel the gloom, which often crept upon his mind after his daily +occupations were over, he was wont frequently to ask Schalken to +accompany him home, and share his otherwise solitary supper.</p> + +<p>One evening, the painter and his pupil were sitting by the fire, having +accomplished a comfortable meal, and had yielded to the silent and +delicious melancholy of digestion, when their ruminations were disturbed +by a loud sound at the street door, as if occasioned by some person +rushing and scrambling vehemently against it. A domestic had run without +delay to ascertain the cause of the disturbance, and they heard him +twice or thrice interrogate the applicant for admission, but without +eliciting any other answer but a sustained reiteration of the sounds. +They heard him then open the hall-door, and immediately there followed a +light and rapid tread on the staircase. Schalken advanced towards the +door. It opened before he reached it, and Rose rushed into the room. She +looked wild, fierce and haggard with terror and exhaustion, but her +dress surprised them as much as even her unexpected appearance. It +consisted of a kind of white woollen wrapper, made close about the neck, +and descending to the very ground. It was much deranged and +travel-soiled. The poor creature had hardly entered the chamber when she +fell senseless on the floor. With some difficulty they succeeded in +reviving her, and on recovering her senses, she instantly exclaimed, in +a tone of terror rather than mere impatience:----</p> + +<p>"Wine! wine! quickly, or I'm lost!"</p> + +<p>Astonished and almost scared at the strange agitation in which the call +was made, they at once administered to her wishes, and she drank some +wine with a haste and eagerness which surprised them. She had hardly +swallowed it, when she exclaimed, with the same urgency:</p> + +<p>"Food, for God's sake, food, at once, or I perish."</p> + +<p>A considerable fragment of a roast joint was upon the table, and +Schalken immediately began to cut some, but he was anticipated, for no +sooner did she see it than she caught it, a more than mortal image of +famine, and with her hands, and even with her teeth, she tore off the +flesh, and swallowed it. When the paroxysm of hunger had been a little +appeased, she appeared on a sudden overcome with shame, or it may have +been that other more agitating thoughts overpowered and scared her, for +she began to weep bitterly and to wring her hands.</p> + +<p>"Oh, send for a minister of God," said she; "I am not safe till he +comes; send for him speedily."</p> + +<p>Gerard Douw despatched a messenger instantly, and prevailed on his niece +to allow him to surrender his bed chamber to her use. He also persuaded +her to retire to it at once to rest; her consent was extorted upon the +condition that they would not leave her for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Oh that the holy man were here," she said; "he can deliver me: the dead +and the living can never be one: God has forbidden it."</p> + +<p>With these mysterious words she surrendered herself to their guidance, +and they proceeded to the chamber which Gerard Douw had assigned to her +use.</p> + +<p>"Do not, do not leave me for a moment," said she; "I am lost for ever +if you do."</p> + +<p>Gerard Douw's chamber was approached through a spacious apartment, which +they were now about to enter. He and Schalken each carried a candle, so +that a sufficiency of light was cast upon all surrounding objects. They +were now entering the large chamber, which as I have said, communicated +with Douw's apartment, when Rose suddenly stopped, and, in a whisper +which thrilled them both with horror, she said:----</p> + +<p>"Oh, God! he is here! he is here! See, see! there he goes!"</p> + +<p>She pointed towards the door of the inner room, and Schalken thought he +saw a shadowy and ill-defined form gliding into that apartment. He drew +his sword, and, raising the candle so as to throw its light with +increased distinctness upon the objects in the room, he entered the +chamber into which the shadow had glided. No figure was there—nothing +but the furniture which belonged to the room, and yet he could not be +deceived as to the fact that something had moved before them into the +chamber. A sickening dread came upon him, and the cold perspiration +broke out in heavy drops upon his forehead; nor was he more composed, +when he heard the increased urgency and agony of entreaty, with which +Rose implored them not to leave her for a moment.</p> + +<p>"I saw him," said she; "he's here. I cannot be deceived; I know him; +he's by me; he is with me; he's in the room. Then, for God's sake, as +you would save me, do not stir from beside me."</p> + +<p>They at length prevailed upon her to lie down upon the bed, where she +continued to urge them to stay by her. She frequently uttered incoherent +sentences, repeating, again and again, "the dead and the living cannot +be one: God has forbidden it." And then again, "Rest to the +wakeful—sleep to the sleep-walkers." These and such mysterious and +broken sentences, she continued to utter until the clergyman arrived. +Gerard Douw began to fear, naturally enough, that terror or +ill-treatment, had unsettled the poor girl's intellect, and he half +suspected, by the suddenness of her appearance, the unseasonableness of +the hour, and above all, from the wildness and terror of her manner, +that she had made her escape from some place of confinement for +lunatics, and was in imminent fear of pursuit. He resolved to summon +medical advice as soon as the mind of his niece had been in some measure +set at rest by the offices of the clergyman whose attendance she had so +earnestly desired; and until this object had been attained, he did not +venture to put any questions to her, which might possibly, by reviving +painful or horrible recollections, increase her agitation. The +clergyman soon arrived—a man of ascetic countenance and venerable +age—one whom Gerard Douw respected very much, forasmuch as he was a +veteran polemic, though one perhaps more dreaded as a combatant than +beloved as a Christian—of pure morality, subtle brain, and frozen +heart. He entered the chamber which communicated with that in which Rose +reclined and immediately on his arrival, she requested him to pray for +her, as for one who lay in the hands of Satan, and who could hope for +deliverance only from heaven.</p> + +<p>That you may distinctly understand all the circumstances of the event +which I am going to describe, it is necessary to state the relative +position of the parties who were engaged in it. The old clergyman and +Schalken were in the anteroom of which I have already spoken; Rose lay +in the inner chamber, the door of which was open; and by the side of the +bed, at her urgent desire, stood her guardian; a candle burned in the +bedchamber, and three were lighted in the outer apartment. The old man +now cleared his voice as if about to commence, but before he had time to +begin, a sudden gust of air blew out the candle which served to +illuminate the room in which the poor girl lay, and she, with hurried +alarm, exclaimed:----</p> + +<p>"Godfrey, bring in another candle; the darkness is unsafe."</p> + +<p>Gerard Douw forgetting for the moment her repeated injunctions, in the +immediate impulse, stepped from the bedchamber into the other, in order +to supply what she desired.</p> + +<p>"Oh God! do not go, dear uncle," shrieked the unhappy girl—and at the +same time she sprung from the bed, and darted after him, in order, by +her grasp, to detain him. But the warning came too late, for scarcely +had he passed the threshold, and hardly had his niece had time to utter +the startling exclamation, when the door which divided the two rooms +closed violently after him, as if swung by a strong blast of wind. +Schalken and he both rushed to the door, but their united and desperate +efforts could not avail so much as to shake it. Shriek after shriek +burst from the inner chamber, with all the piercing loudness of +despairing terror. Schalken and Douw applied every nerve to force open +the door; but all in vain. There was no sound of struggling from within, +but the screams seemed to increase in loudness, and at the same time +they heard the bolts of the latticed window withdrawn, and the window +itself grated upon the sill as if thrown open. One <i>last</i> shriek, so +long and piercing and agonized as to be scarcely human, swelled from the +room, and suddenly there followed a death-like silence. A light step was +heard crossing the floor, as if from the bed to the window; and almost +at the same instant the door gave way, and, yielding to the pressure of +the external applicants, nearly precipitated them into the room. It was +empty. The window was open, and Schalken sprung to a chair and gazed out +upon the street and canal below. He saw no form, but he saw, or thought +he saw, the waters of the broad canal beneath settling ring after ring +in heavy circles, as if a moment before disturbed by the submission of +some ponderous body.</p> + +<p>No trace of Rose was ever after found, nor was anything certain +respecting her mysterious wooer discovered or even suspected—no clue +whereby to trace the intricacies of the labyrinth and to arrive at its +solution, presented itself. But an incident occurred, which, though it +will not be received by our rational readers in lieu of evidence, +produced nevertheless a strong and a lasting impression upon the mind of +Schalken. Many years after the events which we have detailed, Schalken, +then residing far away received an intimation of his father's death, and +of his intended burial upon a fixed day in the church of Rotterdam. It +was necessary that a very considerable journey should be performed by +the funeral procession, which as it will be readily believed, was not +very numerously attended. Schalken with difficulty arrived in Rotterdam +late in the day upon which the funeral was appointed to take place. It +had not then arrived. Evening closed in, and still it did not appear.</p> + +<p>Schalken strolled down to the church; he found it open; notice of the +arrival of the funeral had been given, and the vault in which the body +was to be laid had been opened. The sexton, on seeing a well-dressed +gentleman, whose object was to attend the expected obsequies, pacing the +aisle of the church, hospitably invited him to share with him the +comforts of a blazing fire, which, as was his custom in winter time upon +such occasions, he had kindled in the hearth of a chamber in which he +was accustomed to await the arrival of such grisly guests and which +communicated, by a flight of steps, with the vault below. In this +chamber, Schalken and his entertainer seated themselves; and the sexton, +after some fruitless attempts to engage his guest in conversation, was +obliged to apply himself to his tobacco-pipe and can, to solace his +solitude. In spite of his grief and cares, the fatigues of a rapid +journey of nearly forty hours gradually overcame the mind and body of +Godfrey Schalken, and he sank into a deep sleep, from which he awakened +by someone's shaking him gently by the shoulder. He first thought that +the old sexton had called him, but <i>he</i> was no longer in the room. He +roused himself, and as soon as he could clearly see what was around him, +he perceived a female form, clothed in a kind of light robe of white, +part of which was so disposed as to form a veil, and in her hand she +carried a lamp. She was moving rather away from him, in the direction of +the flight of steps which conducted towards the vaults. Schalken felt a +vague alarm at the sight of this figure and at the same time an +irresistible impulse to follow its guidance. He followed it towards the +vaults, but when it reached the head of the stairs, he paused; the +figure paused also, and, turning gently round, displayed, by the light +of the lamp it carried, the face and features of his first love, Rose +Velderkaust. There was nothing horrible, or even sad, in the +countenance. On the contrary, it wore the same arch smile which used to +enchant the artist long before in his happy days. A feeling of awe and +interest, too intense to be resisted, prompted him to follow the +spectre, if spectre it were. She descended the stairs—he followed—and +turning to the left, through a narrow passage, she led him, to his +infinite surprise, into what appeared to be an old-fashioned Dutch +apartment, such as the pictures of Gerard Douw have served to +immortalize. Abundance of costly antique furniture was disposed about +the room, and in one corner stood a four-post bed, with heavy black +cloth curtains around it; the figure frequently turned towards him with +the same arch smile; and when she came to the side of the bed, she drew +the curtains, and, by the light of the lamp, which she held towards its +contents, she disclosed to the horror-stricken painter, sitting bolt +upright in the bed, the livid and demoniac form of Vanderhausen. +Schalken had hardly seen him, when he fell senseless upon the floor, +where he lay until discovered, on the next morning, by persons employed +in closing the passages into the vaults. He was lying in a cell of +considerable size, which had not been disturbed for a long time, and he +had fallen beside a large coffin, which was supported upon small +pillars, a security against the attacks of vermin.</p> + +<p>To his dying day Schalken was satisfied of the reality of the vision +which he had witnessed, and he has left behind him a curious evidence of +the impression which it wrought upon his fancy, in a painting executed +shortly after the event I have narrated, and which is valuable as +exhibiting not only the peculiarities which have made Schalken's +pictures sought after, but even more so as presenting a portrait of his +early love, Rose Velderkaust, whose mysterious fate must always remain +matter of speculation.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="An_Account_of_Some_Strange_Disturbances"></a><h2> +An Account of Some Strange<br> +Disturbances in Aungier Street</h2> + +<p>It is not worth telling, this story of mine—at least, not worth +writing. Told, indeed, as I have sometimes been called upon to tell it, +to a circle of intelligent and eager faces, lighted up by a good +after-dinner fire on a winter's evening, with a cold wind rising and +wailing outside, and all snug and cosy within, it has gone off—though I +say it, who should not—indifferent well. But it is a venture to do as +you would have me. Pen, ink, and paper are cold vehicles for the +marvellous, and a "reader" decidedly a more critical animal than a +"listener." If, however, you can induce your friends to read it after +nightfall, and when the fireside talk has run for a while on thrilling +tales of shapeless terror; in short, if you will secure me the <i>mollia +tempora fandi</i>, I will go to my work, and say my say, with better heart. +Well, then, these conditions presupposed, I shall waste no more words, +but tell you simply how it all happened.</p> + +<p>My cousin (Tom Ludlow) and I studied medicine together. I think he would +have succeeded, had he stuck to the profession; but he preferred the +Church, poor fellow, and died early, a sacrifice to contagion, +contracted in the noble discharge of his duties. For my present purpose, +I say enough of his character when I mention that he was of a sedate but +frank and cheerful nature; very exact in his observance of truth, and +not by any means like myself—of an excitable or nervous temperament.</p> + +<p>My Uncle Ludlow—Tom's father—while we were attending lectures, +purchased three or four old houses in Aungier Street, one of which was +unoccupied. <i>He</i> resided in the country, and Tom proposed that we should +take up our abode in the untenanted house, so long as it should continue +unlet; a move which would accomplish the double end of settling us +nearer alike to our lecture-rooms and to our amusements, and of +relieving us from the weekly charge of rent for our lodgings.</p> + +<p>Our furniture was very scant—our whole equipage remarkably modest and +primitive; and, in short, our arrangements pretty nearly as simple as +those of a bivouac. Our new plan was, therefore, executed almost as soon +as conceived. The front drawing-room was our sitting-room. I had the +bedroom over it, and Tom the back bedroom on the same floor, which +nothing could have induced me to occupy.</p> + +<p>The house, to begin with, was a very old one. It had been, I believe, +newly fronted about fifty years before; but with this exception, it had +nothing modern about it. The agent who bought it and looked into the +titles for my uncle, told me that it was sold, along with much other +forfeited property, at Chichester House, I think, in 1702; and had +belonged to Sir Thomas Hacket, who was Lord Mayor of Dublin in James +II.'s time. How old it was <i>then</i>, I can't say; but, at all events, it +had seen years and changes enough to have contracted all that mysterious +and saddened air, at once exciting and depressing, which belongs to most +old mansions.</p> + +<p>There had been very little done in the way of modernising details; and, +perhaps, it was better so; for there was something queer and by-gone in +the very walls and ceilings—in the shape of doors and windows—in the +odd diagonal site of the chimney-pieces—in the beams and ponderous +cornices—not to mention the singular solidity of all the woodwork, from +the banisters to the window-frames, which hopelessly defied disguise, +and would have emphatically proclaimed their antiquity through any +conceivable amount of modern finery and varnish.</p> + +<p>An effort had, indeed, been made, to the extent of papering the +drawing-rooms; but somehow, the paper looked raw and out of keeping; and +the old woman, who kept a little dirt-pie of a shop in the lane, and +whose daughter—a girl of two and fifty—was our solitary handmaid, +coming in at sunrise, and chastely receding again as soon as she had +made all ready for tea in our state apartment;—this woman, I say, +remembered it, when old Judge Horrocks (who, having earned the +reputation of a particularly "hanging judge," ended by hanging himself, +as the coroner's jury found, under an impulse of "temporary insanity," +with a child's skipping-rope, over the massive old bannisters) resided +there, entertaining good company, with fine venison and rare old port. +In those halcyon days, the drawing-rooms were hung with gilded leather, +and, I dare say, cut a good figure, for they were really spacious rooms.</p> + +<p>The bedrooms were wainscoted, but the front one was not gloomy; and in +it the cosiness of antiquity quite overcame its sombre associations. But +the back bedroom, with its two queerly-placed melancholy windows, +staring vacantly at the foot of the bed, and with the shadowy recess to +be found in most old houses in Dublin, like a large ghostly closet, +which, from congeniality of temperament, had amalgamated with the +bedchamber, and dissolved the partition. At night-time, this +"alcove"—as our "maid" was wont to call it—had, in my eyes, a +specially sinister and suggestive character. Tom's distant and solitary +candle glimmered vainly into its darkness. <i>There</i> it was always +overlooking him—always itself impenetrable. But this was only part of +the effect. The whole room was, I can't tell how, repulsive to me. There +was, I suppose, in its proportions and features, a latent discord—a +certain mysterious and indescribable relation, which jarred indistinctly +upon some secret sense of the fitting and the safe, and raised +indefinable suspicions and apprehensions of the imagination. On the +whole, as I began by saying, nothing could have induced me to pass a +night alone in it.</p> + +<p>I had never pretended to conceal from poor Tom my superstitious +weakness; and he, on the other hand, most unaffectedly ridiculed my +tremors. The sceptic was, however, destined to receive a lesson, as you +shall hear.</p> + +<p>We had not been very long in occupation of our respective dormitories, +when I began to complain of uneasy nights and disturbed sleep. I was, I +suppose, the more impatient under this annoyance, as I was usually a +sound sleeper, and by no means prone to nightmares. It was now, however, +my destiny, instead of enjoying my customary repose, every night to "sup +full of horrors." After a preliminary course of disagreeable and +frightful dreams, my troubles took a definite form, and the same vision, +without an appreciable variation in a single detail, visited me at least +(on an average) every second night in the week.</p> + +<p>Now, this dream, nightmare, or infernal illusion—which you please—of +which I was the miserable sport, was on this wise:----</p> + +<p>I saw, or thought I saw, with the most abominable distinctness, although +at the time in profound darkness, every article of furniture and +accidental arrangement of the chamber in which I lay. This, as you know, +is incidental to ordinary nightmare. Well, while in this clairvoyant +condition, which seemed but the lighting up of the theatre in which was +to be exhibited the monotonous tableau of horror, which made my nights +insupportable, my attention invariably became, I know not why, fixed +upon the windows opposite the foot of my bed; and, uniformly with the +same effect, a sense of dreadful anticipation always took slow but sure +possession of me. I became somehow conscious of a sort of horrid but +undefined preparation going forward in some unknown quarter, and by some +unknown agency, for my torment; and, after an interval, which always +seemed to me of the same length, a picture suddenly flew up to the +window, where it remained fixed, as if by an electrical attraction, and +my discipline of horror then commenced, to last perhaps for hours. The +picture thus mysteriously glued to the window-panes, was the portrait of +an old man, in a crimson flowered silk dressing-gown, the folds of which +I could now describe, with a countenance embodying a strange mixture of +intellect, sensuality, and power, but withal sinister and full of +malignant omen. His nose was hooked, like the beak of a vulture; his +eyes large, grey, and prominent, and lighted up with a more than mortal +cruelty and coldness. These features were surmounted by a crimson velvet +cap, the hair that peeped from under which was white with age, while the +eyebrows retained their original blackness. Well I remember every line, +hue, and shadow of that stony countenance, and well I may! The gaze of +this hellish visage was fixed upon me, and mine returned it with the +inexplicable fascination of nightmare, for what appeared to me to be +hours of agony. At last----</p> + +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The cock he crew, away then flew </span><br> + +<p>the fiend who had enslaved me through the awful watches of the night; +and, harassed and nervous, I rose to the duties of the day.</p> + +<p>I had—I can't say exactly why, but it may have been from the exquisite +anguish and profound impressions of unearthly horror, with which this +strange phantasmagoria was associated—an insurmountable antipathy to +describing the exact nature of my nightly troubles to my friend and +comrade. Generally, however, I told him that I was haunted by abominable +dreams; and, true to the imputed materialism of medicine, we put our +heads together to dispel my horrors, not by exorcism, but by a tonic.</p> + +<p>I will do this tonic justice, and frankly admit that the accursed +portrait began to intermit its visits under its influence. What of that? +Was this singular apparition—as full of character as of +terror—therefore the creature of my fancy, or the invention of my poor +stomach? Was it, in short, <i>subjective</i> (to borrow the technical slang +of the day) and not the palpable aggression and intrusion of an external +agent? That, good friend, as we will both admit, by no means follows. +The evil spirit, who enthralled my senses in the shape of that +portrait, may have been just as near me, just as energetic, just as +malignant, though I saw him not. What means the whole moral code of +revealed religion regarding the due keeping of our own bodies, +soberness, temperance, etc.? here is an obvious connexion between the +material and the invisible; the healthy tone of the system, and its +unimpaired energy, may, for aught we can tell, guard us against +influences which would otherwise render life itself terrific. The +mesmerist and the electro-biologist will fail upon an average with nine +patients out of ten—so may the evil spirit. Special conditions of the +corporeal system are indispensable to the production of certain +spiritual phenomena. The operation succeeds sometimes—sometimes +fails—that is all.</p> + +<p>I found afterwards that my would-be sceptical companion had his troubles +too. But of these I knew nothing yet. One night, for a wonder, I was +sleeping soundly, when I was roused by a step on the lobby outside my +room, followed by the loud clang of what turned out to be a large brass +candlestick, flung with all his force by poor Tom Ludlow over the +banisters, and rattling with a rebound down the second flight of stairs; +and almost concurrently with this, Tom burst open my door, and bounced +into my room backwards, in a state of extraordinary agitation.</p> + +<p>I had jumped out of bed and clutched him by the arm before I had any +distinct idea of my own whereabouts. There we were—in our +shirts—standing before the open door—staring through the great old +banister opposite, at the lobby window, through which the sickly light +of a clouded moon was gleaming.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, Tom? What's the matter with you? What the devil's +the matter with you, Tom?" I demanded shaking him with nervous +impatience.</p> + +<p>He took a long breath before he answered me, and then it was not very +coherently.</p> + +<p>"It's nothing, nothing at all—did I speak?—what did I say?—where's +the candle, Richard? It's dark; I—I had a candle!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, dark enough," I said; "but what's the matter?—what <i>is</i> it?—why +don't you speak, Tom?—have you lost your wits?—what is the matter?"</p> + +<p>"The matter?—oh, it is all over. It must have been a dream—nothing at +all but a dream—don't you think so? It could not be anything more than +a dream."</p> + +<p>"Of <i>course</i>" said I, feeling uncommonly nervous, "it <i>was</i> a dream."</p> + +<p>"I thought," he said, "there was a man in my room, and—and I jumped out +of bed; and—and—where's the candle?"</p> + +<p>"In your room, most likely," I said, "shall I go and bring it?"</p> + +<p>"No; stay here—don't go; it's no matter—don't, I tell you; it was all +a dream. Bolt the door, Dick; I'll stay here with you—I feel nervous. +So, Dick, like a good fellow, light your candle and open the window—I +am in a <i>shocking state</i>."</p> + +<p>I did as he asked me, and robing himself like Granuaile in one of my +blankets, he seated himself close beside my bed.</p> + +<p>Every body knows how contagious is fear of all sorts, but more +especially that particular kind of fear under which poor Tom was at that +moment labouring. I would not have heard, nor I believe would he have +recapitulated, just at that moment, for half the world, the details of +the hideous vision which had so unmanned him.</p> + +<p>"Don't mind telling me anything about your nonsensical dream, Tom," said +I, affecting contempt, really in a panic; "let us talk about something +else; but it is quite plain that this dirty old house disagrees with us +both, and hang me if I stay here any longer, to be pestered with +indigestion and—and—bad nights, so we may as well look out for +lodgings—don't you think so?—at once."</p> + +<p>Tom agreed, and, after an interval, said----</p> + +<p>"I have been thinking, Richard, that it is a long time since I saw my +father, and I have made up my mind to go down to-morrow and return in a +day or two, and you can take rooms for us in the meantime."</p> + +<p>I fancied that this resolution, obviously the result of the vision which +had so profoundly scared him, would probably vanish next morning with +the damps and shadows of night. But I was mistaken. Off went Tom at peep +of day to the country, having agreed that so soon as I had secured +suitable lodgings, I was to recall him by letter from his visit to my +Uncle Ludlow.</p> + +<p>Now, anxious as I was to change my quarters, it so happened, owing to a +series of petty procrastinations and accidents, that nearly a week +elapsed before my bargain was made and my letter of recall on the wing +to Tom; and, in the meantime, a trifling adventure or two had occurred +to your humble servant, which, absurd as they now appear, diminished by +distance, did certainly at the time serve to whet my appetite for change +considerably.</p> + +<p>A night or two after the departure of my comrade, I was sitting by my +bedroom fire, the door locked, and the ingredients of a tumbler of hot +whisky-punch upon the crazy spider-table; for, as the best mode of +keeping the</p> + +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Black spirits and white,</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Blue spirits and grey, </span><br> + +<p>with which I was environed, at bay, I had adopted the practice +recommended by the wisdom of my ancestors, and "kept my spirits up by +pouring spirits down." I had thrown aside my volume of Anatomy, and was +treating myself by way of a tonic, preparatory to my punch and bed, to +half-a-dozen pages of the <i>Spectator</i>, when I heard a step on the flight +of stairs descending from the attics. It was two o'clock, and the +streets were as silent as a churchyard—the sounds were, therefore, +perfectly distinct. There was a slow, heavy tread, characterised by the +emphasis and deliberation of age, descending by the narrow staircase +from above; and, what made the sound more singular, it was plain that +the feet which produced it were perfectly bare, measuring the descent +with something between a pound and a flop, very ugly to hear.</p> + +<p>I knew quite well that my attendant had gone away many hours before, and +that nobody but myself had any business in the house. It was quite plain +also that the person who was coming down stairs had no intention +whatever of concealing his movements; but, on the contrary, appeared +disposed to make even more noise, and proceed more deliberately, than +was at all necessary. When the step reached the foot of the stairs +outside my room, it seemed to stop; and I expected every moment to see +my door open spontaneously, and give admission to the original of my +detested portrait. I was, however, relieved in a few seconds by hearing +the descent renewed, just in the same manner, upon the staircase leading +down to the drawing-rooms, and thence, after another pause, down the +next flight, and so on to the hall, whence I heard no more.</p> + +<p>Now, by the time the sound had ceased, I was wound up, as they say, to a +very unpleasant pitch of excitement. I listened, but there was not a +stir. I screwed up my courage to a decisive experiment—opened my door, +and in a stentorian voice bawled over the banisters, "Who's there?" +There was no answer but the ringing of my own voice through the empty +old house,—no renewal of the movement; nothing, in short, to give my +unpleasant sensations a definite direction. There is, I think, something +most disagreeably disenchanting in the sound of one's own voice under +such circumstances, exerted in solitude, and in vain. It redoubled my +sense of isolation, and my misgivings increased on perceiving that the +door, which I certainly thought I had left open, was closed behind me; +in a vague alarm, lest my retreat should be cut off, I got again into my +room as quickly as I could, where I remained in a state of imaginary +blockade, and very uncomfortable indeed, till morning.</p> + +<p>Next night brought no return of my barefooted fellow-lodger; but the +night following, being in my bed, and in the dark—somewhere, I +suppose, about the same hour as before, I distinctly heard the old +fellow again descending from the garrets.</p> + +<p>This time I had had my punch, and the <i>morale</i> of the garrison was +consequently excellent. I jumped out of bed, clutched the poker as I +passed the expiring fire, and in a moment was upon the lobby. The sound +had ceased by this time—the dark and chill were discouraging; and, +guess my horror, when I saw, or thought I saw, a black monster, whether +in the shape of a man or a bear I could not say, standing, with its back +to the wall, on the lobby, facing me, with a pair of great greenish eyes +shining dimly out. Now, I must be frank, and confess that the cupboard +which displayed our plates and cups stood just there, though at the +moment I did not recollect it. At the same time I must honestly say, +that making every allowance for an excited imagination, I never could +satisfy myself that I was made the dupe of my own fancy in this matter; +for this apparition, after one or two shiftings of shape, as if in the +act of incipient transformation, began, as it seemed on second thoughts, +to advance upon me in its original form. From an instinct of terror +rather than of courage, I hurled the poker, with all my force, at its +head; and to the music of a horrid crash made my way into my room, and +double-locked the door. Then, in a minute more, I heard the horrid bare +feet walk down the stairs, till the sound ceased in the hall, as on the +former occasion.</p> + +<p>If the apparition of the night before was an ocular delusion of my fancy +sporting with the dark outlines of our cupboard, and if its horrid eyes +were nothing but a pair of inverted teacups, I had, at all events, the +satisfaction of having launched the poker with admirable effect, and in +true "fancy" phrase, "knocked its two daylights into one," as the +commingled fragments of my tea-service testified. I did my best to +gather comfort and courage from these evidences; but it would not do. +And then what could I say of those horrid bare feet, and the regular +tramp, tramp, tramp, which measured the distance of the entire staircase +through the solitude of my haunted dwelling, and at an hour when no good +influence was stirring? Confound it!--the whole affair was abominable. I +was out of spirits, and dreaded the approach of night.</p> + +<p>It came, ushered ominously in with a thunder-storm and dull torrents of +depressing rain. Earlier than usual the streets grew silent; and by +twelve o'clock nothing but the comfortless pattering of the rain was to +be heard.</p> + +<p>I made myself as snug as I could. I lighted <i>two</i> candles instead of +one. I forswore bed, and held myself in readiness for a sally, candle in +hand; for, <i>coûte qui coûte</i>, I was resolved to <i>see</i> the being, if +visible at all, who troubled the nightly stillness of my mansion. I was +fidgetty and nervous and tried in vain to interest myself with my books. +I walked up and down my room, whistling in turn martial and hilarious +music, and listening ever and anon for the dreaded noise. I sate down +and stared at the square label on the solemn and reserved-looking black +bottle, until "FLANAGAN & CO'S BEST OLD MALT WHISKY" grew into a sort of +subdued accompaniment to all the fantastic and horrible speculations +which chased one another through my brain.</p> + +<p>Silence, meanwhile, grew more silent, and darkness darker. I listened in +vain for the rumble of a vehicle, or the dull clamour of a distant row. +There was nothing but the sound of a rising wind, which had succeeded +the thunder-storm that had travelled over the Dublin mountains quite out +of hearing. In the middle of this great city I began to feel myself +alone with nature, and Heaven knows what beside. My courage was ebbing. +Punch, however, which makes beasts of so many, made a man of me +again—just in time to hear with tolerable nerve and firmness the lumpy, +flabby, naked feet deliberately descending the stairs again.</p> + +<p>I took a candle, not without a tremour. As I crossed the floor I tried +to extemporise a prayer, but stopped short to listen, and never finished +it. The steps continued. I confess I hesitated for some seconds at the +door before I took heart of grace and opened it. When I peeped out the +lobby was perfectly empty—there was no monster standing on the +staircase; and as the detested sound ceased, I was reassured enough to +venture forward nearly to the banisters. Horror of horrors! within a +stair or two beneath the spot where I stood the unearthly tread smote +the floor. My eye caught something in motion; it was about the size of +Goliah's foot—it was grey, heavy, and flapped with a dead weight from +one step to another. As I am alive, it was the most monstrous grey rat I +ever beheld or imagined.</p> + +<p>Shakespeare says—"Some men there are cannot abide a gaping pig, and +some that are mad if they behold a cat." I went well-nigh out of my wits +when I beheld this <i>rat</i>; for, laugh at me as you may, it fixed upon me, +I thought, a perfectly human expression of malice; and, as it shuffled +about and looked up into my face almost from between my feet, I saw, I +could swear it—I felt it then, and know it now, the infernal gaze and +the accursed countenance of my old friend in the portrait, transfused +into the visage of the bloated vermin before me.</p> + +<p>I bounced into my room again with a feeling of loathing and horror I +cannot describe, and locked and bolted my door as if a lion had been at +the other side. D—n him or <i>it</i>; curse the portrait and its original! I +felt in my soul that the rat—yes, the <i>rat</i>, the RAT I had just seen, +was that evil being in masquerade, and rambling through the house upon +some infernal night lark.</p> + +<p>Next morning I was early trudging through the miry streets; and, among +other transactions, posted a peremptory note recalling Tom. On my +return, however, I found a note from my absent "chum," announcing his +intended return next day. I was doubly rejoiced at this, because I had +succeeded in getting rooms; and because the change of scene and return +of my comrade were rendered specially pleasant by the last night's half +ridiculous half horrible adventure.</p> + +<p>I slept extemporaneously in my new quarters in Digges' Street that +night, and next morning returned for breakfast to the haunted mansion, +where I was certain Tom would call immediately on his arrival.</p> + +<p>I was quite right—he came; and almost his first question referred to +the primary object of our change of residence.</p> + +<p>"Thank God," he said with genuine fervour, on hearing that all was +arranged. "On <i>your</i> account I am delighted. As to myself, I assure you +that no earthly consideration could have induced me ever again to pass a +night in this disastrous old house."</p> + +<p>"Confound the house!" I ejaculated, with a genuine mixture of fear and +detestation, "we have not had a pleasant hour since we came to live +here"; and so I went on, and related incidentally my adventure with the +plethoric old rat.</p> + +<p>"Well, if that were <i>all</i>," said my cousin, affecting to make light of +the matter, "I don't think I should have minded it very much."</p> + +<p>"Ay, but its eye—its countenance, my dear Tom," urged I; "if you had +seen <i>that</i>, you would have felt it might be <i>anything</i> but what it +seemed."</p> + +<p>"I inclined to think the best conjurer in such a case would be an +able-bodied cat," he said, with a provoking chuckle.</p> + +<p>"But let us hear your own adventure," I said tartly.</p> + +<p>At this challenge he looked uneasily round him. I had poked up a very +unpleasant recollection.</p> + +<p>"You shall hear it, Dick; I'll tell it to you," he said. "Begad, sir, I +should feel quite queer, though, telling it <i>here</i>, though we are too +strong a body for ghosts to meddle with just now."</p> + +<p>Though he spoke this like a joke, I think it was serious calculation. +Our Hebe was in a corner of the room, packing our cracked delft tea and +dinner-services in a basket. She soon suspended operations, and with +mouth and eyes wide open became an absorbed listener. Tom's experiences +were told nearly in these words:----</p> + +<p>"I saw it three times, Dick—three distinct times; and I am perfectly +certain it meant me some infernal harm. I was, I say, in danger—in +<i>extreme</i> danger; for, if nothing else had happened, my reason would +most certainly have failed me, unless I had escaped so soon. Thank God. +I <i>did</i> escape.</p> + +<p>"The first night of this hateful disturbance, I was lying in the +attitude of sleep, in that lumbering old bed. I hate to think of it. I +was really wide awake, though I had put out my candle, and was lying as +quietly as if I had been asleep; and although accidentally restless, my +thoughts were running in a cheerful and agreeable channel.</p> + +<p>"I think it must have been two o'clock at least when I thought I heard a +sound in that—that odious dark recess at the far end of the bedroom. It +was as if someone was drawing a piece of cord slowly along the floor, +lifting it up, and dropping it softly down again in coils. I sate up +once or twice in my bed, but could see nothing, so I concluded it must +be mice in the wainscot. I felt no emotion graver than curiosity, and +after a few minutes ceased to observe it.</p> + +<p>"While lying in this state, strange to say; without at first a suspicion +of anything supernatural, on a sudden I saw an old man, rather stout and +square, in a sort of roan-red dressing-gown, and with a black cap on his +head, moving stiffly and slowly in a diagonal direction, from the +recess, across the floor of the bedroom, passing my bed at the foot, and +entering the lumber-closet at the left. He had something under his arm; +his head hung a little at one side; and, merciful God! when I saw his +face."</p> + +<p>Tom stopped for a while, and then said----</p> + +<p>"That awful countenance, which living or dying I never can forget, +disclosed what he was. Without turning to the right or left, he passed +beside me, and entered the closet by the bed's head.</p> + +<p>"While this fearful and indescribable type of death and guilt was +passing, I felt that I had no more power to speak or stir than if I had +been myself a corpse. For hours after it had disappeared, I was too +terrified and weak to move. As soon as daylight came, I took courage, +and examined the room, and especially the course which the frightful +intruder had seemed to take, but there was not a vestige to indicate +anybody's having passed there; no sign of any disturbing agency visible +among the lumber that strewed the floor of the closet.</p> + +<p>"I now began to recover a little. I was fagged and exhausted, and at +last, overpowered by a feverish sleep. I came down late; and finding +you out of spirits, on account of your dreams about the portrait, whose +<i>original</i> I am now certain disclosed himself to me, I did not care to +talk about the infernal vision. In fact, I was trying to persuade myself +that the whole thing was an illusion, and I did not like to revive in +their intensity the hated impressions of the past night—or to risk the +constancy of my scepticism, by recounting the tale of my sufferings.</p> + +<p>"It required some nerve, I can tell you, to go to my haunted chamber +next night, and lie down quietly in the same bed," continued Tom. "I did +so with a degree of trepidation, which, I am not ashamed to say, a very +little matter would have sufficed to stimulate to downright panic. This +night, however, passed off quietly enough, as also the next; and so too +did two or three more. I grew more confident, and began to fancy that I +believed in the theories of spectral illusions, with which I had at +first vainly tried to impose upon my convictions.</p> + +<p>"The apparition had been, indeed, altogether anomalous. It had crossed +the room without any recognition of my presence: I had not disturbed +<i>it</i>, and <i>it</i> had no mission to <i>me</i>. What, then, was the imaginable +use of its crossing the room in a visible shape at all? Of course it +might have <i>been</i> in the closet instead of <i>going</i> there, as easily as +it introduced itself into the recess without entering the chamber in a +shape discernible by the senses. Besides, how the deuce <i>had</i> I seen it? +It was a dark night; I had no candle; there was no fire; and yet I saw +it as distinctly, in colouring and outline, as ever I beheld human form! +A cataleptic dream would explain it all; and I was determined that a +dream it should be.</p> + +<p>"One of the most remarkable phenomena connected with the practice of +mendacity is the vast number of deliberate lies we tell ourselves, whom, +of all persons, we can least expect to deceive. In all this, I need +hardly tell you, Dick, I was simply lying to myself, and did not believe +one word of the wretched humbug. Yet I went on, as men will do, like +persevering charlatans and impostors, who tire people into credulity by +the mere force of reiteration; so I hoped to win myself over at last to +a comfortable scepticism about the ghost.</p> + +<p>"He had not appeared a second time—that certainly was a comfort; and +what, after all, did I care for him, and his queer old toggery and +strange looks? Not a fig! I was nothing the worse for having seen him, +and a good story the better. So I tumbled into bed, put out my candle, +and, cheered by a loud drunken quarrel in the back lane, went fast +asleep.</p> + +<p>"From this deep slumber I awoke with a start. I knew I had had a +horrible dream; but what it was I could not remember. My heart was +thumping furiously; I felt bewildered and feverish; I sate up in the bed +and looked about the room. A broad flood of moonlight came in through +the curtainless window; everything was as I had last seen it; and though +the domestic squabble in the back lane was, unhappily for me, allayed, I +yet could hear a pleasant fellow singing, on his way home, the then +popular comic ditty called, 'Murphy Delany.' Taking advantage of this +diversion I lay down again, with my face towards the fireplace, and +closing my eyes, did my best to think of nothing else but the song, +which was every moment growing fainter in the distance:----</p> + +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"'Twas Murphy Delany, so funny and frisky,</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Stept into a shebeen shop to get his skin full; </span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He reeled out again pretty well lined with whiskey,</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">As fresh as a shamrock, as blind as a bull. </span><br> + +<p>"The singer, whose condition I dare say resembled that of his hero, was +soon too far off to regale my ears any more; and as his music died away, +I myself sank into a doze, neither sound nor refreshing. Somehow the +song had got into my head, and I went meandering on through the +adventures of my respectable fellow-countryman, who, on emerging from +the 'shebeen shop,' fell into a river, from which he was fished up to be +'sat upon' by a coroner's jury, who having learned from a 'horse-doctor' +that he was 'dead as a door-nail, so there was an end,' returned their +verdict accordingly, just as he returned to his senses, when an angry +altercation and a pitched battle between the body and the coroner winds +up the lay with due spirit and pleasantry.</p> + +<p>"Through this ballad I continued with a weary monotony to plod, down to +the very last line, and then <i>da capo</i>, and so on, in my uncomfortable +half-sleep, for how long, I can't conjecture. I found myself at last, +however, muttering, '<i>dead</i> as a door-nail, so there was an end'; and +something like another voice within me, seemed to say, very faintly, but +sharply, 'dead! dead! <i>dead</i>! and may the Lord have mercy on your soul!' +and instantaneously I was wide awake, and staring right before me from +the pillow.</p> + +<p>"Now—will you believe it, Dick?—I saw the same accursed figure +standing full front, and gazing at me with its stony and fiendish +countenance, not two yards from the bedside."</p> + +<p>Tom stopped here, and wiped the perspiration from his face. I felt very +queer. The girl was as pale as Tom; and, assembled as we were in the +very scene of these adventures, we were all, I dare say, equally +grateful for the clear daylight and the resuming bustle out of doors.</p> + +<p>"For about three seconds only I saw it plainly; then it grew +indistinct; but, for a long time, there was something like a column of +dark vapour where it had been standing, between me and the wall; and I +felt sure that he was still there. After a good while, this appearance +went too. I took my clothes downstairs to the hall, and dressed there, +with the door half open; then went out into the street, and walked about +the town till morning, when I came back, in a miserable state of +nervousness and exhaustion. I was such a fool, Dick, as to be ashamed to +tell you how I came to be so upset. I thought you would laugh at me; +especially as I had always talked philosophy, and treated <i>your</i> ghosts +with contempt. I concluded you would give me no quarter; and so kept my +tale of horror to myself.</p> + +<p>"Now, Dick, you will hardly believe me, when I assure you, that for many +nights after this last experience, I did not go to my room at all. I +used to sit up for a while in the drawing-room after you had gone up to +your bed; and then steal down softly to the hall-door, let myself out, +and sit in the 'Robin Hood' tavern until the last guest went off; and +then I got through the night like a sentry, pacing the streets till +morning.</p> + +<p>"For more than a week I never slept in bed. I sometimes had a snooze on +a form in the 'Robin Hood,' and sometimes a nap in a chair during the +day; but regular sleep I had absolutely none.</p> + +<p>"I was quite resolved that we should get into another house; but I could +not bring myself to tell you the reason, and I somehow put it off from +day to day, although my life was, during every hour of this +procrastination, rendered as miserable as that of a felon with the +constables on his track. I was growing absolutely ill from this wretched +mode of life.</p> + +<p>"One afternoon I determined to enjoy an hour's sleep upon your bed. I +hated mine; so that I had never, except in a stealthy visit every day to +unmake it, lest Martha should discover the secret of my nightly absence, +entered the ill-omened chamber.</p> + +<p>"As ill-luck would have it, you had locked your bedroom, and taken away +the key. I went into my own to unsettle the bedclothes, as usual, and +give the bed the appearance of having been slept in. Now, a variety of +circumstances concurred to bring about the dreadful scene through which +I was that night to pass. In the first place, I was literally +overpowered with fatigue, and longing for sleep; in the next place, the +effect of this extreme exhaustion upon my nerves resembled that of a +narcotic, and rendered me less susceptible than, perhaps, I should in +any other condition have been, of the exciting fears which had become +habitual to me. Then again, a little bit of the window was open, a +pleasant freshness pervaded the room, and, to crown all, the cheerful +sun of day was making the room quite pleasant. What was to prevent my +enjoying an hour's nap <i>here</i>? The whole air was resonant with the +cheerful hum of life, and the broad matter-of-fact light of day filled +every corner of the room.</p> + +<p>"I yielded—stifling my qualms—to the almost overpowering temptation; +and merely throwing off my coat, and loosening my cravat, I lay down, +limiting myself to <i>half</i>-an-hour's doze in the unwonted enjoyment of a +feather bed, a coverlet, and a bolster.</p> + +<p>"It was horribly insidious; and the demon, no doubt, marked my +infatuated preparations. Dolt that I was, I fancied, with mind and body +worn out for want of sleep, and an arrear of a full week's rest to my +credit, that such measure as <i>half</i>-an-hour's sleep, in such a +situation, was possible. My sleep was death-like, long, and dreamless.</p> + +<p>"Without a start or fearful sensation of any kind, I waked gently, but +completely. It was, as you have good reason to remember, long past +midnight—I believe, about two o'clock. When sleep has been deep and +long enough to satisfy nature thoroughly, one often wakens in this way, +suddenly, tranquilly, and completely.</p> + +<p>"There was a figure seated in that lumbering, old sofa-chair, near the +fireplace. Its back was rather towards me, but I could not be mistaken; +it turned slowly round, and, merciful heavens! there was the stony face, +with its infernal lineaments of malignity and despair, gloating on me. +There was now no doubt as to its consciousness of my presence, and the +hellish malice with which it was animated, for it arose, and drew close +to the bedside. There was a rope about its neck, and the other end, +coiled up, it held stiffly in its hand.</p> + +<p>"My good angel nerved me for this horrible crisis. I remained for some +seconds transfixed by the gaze of this tremendous phantom. He came close +to the bed, and appeared on the point of mounting upon it. The next +instant I was upon the floor at the far side, and in a moment more was, +I don't know how, upon the lobby.</p> + +<p>"But the spell was not yet broken; the valley of the shadow of death was +not yet traversed. The abhorred phantom was before me there; it was +standing near the banisters, stooping a little, and with one end of the +rope round its own neck, was poising a noose at the other, as if to +throw over mine; and while engaged in this baleful pantomime, it wore a +smile so sensual, so unspeakably dreadful, that my senses were nearly +overpowered. I saw and remember nothing more, until I found myself in +your room.</p> + +<p>"I had a wonderful escape, Dick—there is no disputing <i>that</i>—an escape +for which, while I live, I shall bless the mercy of heaven. No one can +conceive or imagine what it is for flesh and blood to stand in the +presence of such a thing, but one who has had the terrific experience. +Dick, Dick, a shadow has passed over me—a chill has crossed my blood +and marrow, and I will never be the same again—never, Dick—never!"</p> + +<p>Our handmaid, a mature girl of two-and-fifty, as I have said, stayed her +hand, as Tom's story proceeded, and by little and little drew near to +us, with open mouth, and her brows contracted over her little, beady +black eyes, till stealing a glance over her shoulder now and then, she +established herself close behind us. During the relation, she had made +various earnest comments, in an undertone; but these and her +ejaculations, for the sake of brevity and simplicity, I have omitted in +my narration.</p> + +<p>"It's often I heard tell of it," she now said, "but I never believed it +rightly till now—though, indeed, why should not I? Does not my mother, +down there in the lane, know quare stories, God bless us, beyant telling +about it? But you ought not to have slept in the back bedroom. She was +loath to let me be going in and out of that room even in the day time, +let alone for any Christian to spend the night in it; for sure she says +it was his own bedroom."</p> + +<p>"<i>Whose</i> own bedroom?" we asked, in a breath.</p> + +<p>"Why, <i>his</i>—the ould Judge's—Judge Horrock's, to be sure, God rest his +sowl"; and she looked fearfully round.</p> + +<p>"Amen!" I muttered. "But did he die there?"</p> + +<p>"Die there! No, not quite <i>there</i>," she said. "Shure, was not it over +the banisters he hung himself, the ould sinner, God be merciful to us +all? and was not it in the alcove they found the handles of the +skipping-rope cut off, and the knife where he was settling the cord, God +bless us, to hang himself with? It was his housekeeper's daughter owned +the rope, my mother often told me, and the child never throve after, and +used to be starting up out of her sleep, and screeching in the night +time, wid dhrames and frights that cum an her; and they said how it was +the speerit of the ould Judge that was tormentin' her; and she used to +be roaring and yelling out to hould back the big ould fellow with the +crooked neck; and then she'd screech 'Oh, the master! the master! he's +stampin' at me, and beckoning to me! Mother, darling, don't let me go!' +And so the poor crathure died at last, and the docthers said it was +wather on the brain, for it was all they could say."</p> + +<p>"How long ago was all this?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, then, how would I know?" she answered. "But it must be a wondherful +long time ago, for the housekeeper was an ould woman, with a pipe in her +mouth, and not a tooth left, and better nor eighty years ould when my +mother was first married; and they said she was a rale buxom, +fine-dressed woman when the ould Judge come to his end; an', indeed, my +mother's not far from eighty years ould herself this day; and what made +it worse for the unnatural ould villain, God rest his soul, to frighten +the little girl out of the world the way he did, was what was mostly +thought and believed by every one. My mother says how the poor little +crathure was his own child; for he was by all accounts an ould villain +every way, an' the hangin'est judge that ever was known in Ireland's +ground."</p> + +<p>"From what you said about the danger of sleeping in that bedroom," said +I, "I suppose there were stories about the ghost having appeared there +to others."</p> + +<p>"Well, there was things said—quare things, surely," she answered, as it +seemed, with some reluctance. "And why would not there? Sure was it not +up in that same room he slept for more than twenty years? and was it not +in the <i>alcove</i> he got the rope ready that done his own business at +last, the way he done many a betther man's in his lifetime?—and was not +the body lying in the same bed after death, and put in the coffin there, +too, and carried out to his grave from it in Pether's churchyard, after +the coroner was done? But there was quare stories—my mother has them +all—about how one Nicholas Spaight got into trouble on the head of it."</p> + +<p>"And what did they say of this Nicholas Spaight?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, for that matther, it's soon told," she answered.</p> + +<p>And she certainly did relate a very strange story, which so piqued my +curiosity, that I took occasion to visit the ancient lady, her mother, +from whom I learned many very curious particulars. Indeed, I am tempted +to tell the tale, but my fingers are weary, and I must defer it. But if +you wish to hear it another time, I shall do my best.</p> + +<p>When we had heard the strange tale I have <i>not</i> told you, we put one or +two further questions to her about the alleged spectral visitations, to +which the house had, ever since the death of the wicked old Judge, been +subjected.</p> + +<p>"No one ever had luck in it," she told us. "There was always cross +accidents, sudden deaths, and short times in it. The first that tuck, +it was a family—I forget their name—but at any rate there was two +young ladies and their papa. He was about sixty, and a stout healthy +gentleman as you'd wish to see at that age. Well, he slept in that +unlucky back bedroom; and, God between us an' harm! sure enough he was +found dead one morning, half out of the bed, with his head as black as a +sloe, and swelled like a puddin', hanging down near the floor. It was a +fit, they said. He was as dead as a mackerel, and so <i>he</i> could not say +what it was; but the ould people was all sure that it was nothing at all +but the ould Judge, God bless us! that frightened him out of his senses +and his life together.</p> + +<p>"Some time after there was a rich old maiden lady took the house. I +don't know which room <i>she</i> slept in, but she lived alone; and at any +rate, one morning, the servants going down early to their work, found +her sitting on the passage-stairs, shivering and talkin' to herself, +quite mad; and never a word more could any of <i>them</i> or her friends get +from her ever afterwards but, 'Don't ask me to go, for I promised to +wait for him.' They never made out from her who it was she meant by +<i>him</i>, but of course those that knew all about the ould house were at no +loss for the meaning of all that happened to her.</p> + +<p>"Then afterwards, when the house was let out in lodgings, there was +Micky Byrne that took the same room, with his wife and three little +children; and sure I heard Mrs. Byrne myself telling how the children +used to be lifted up in the bed at night, she could not see by what +mains; and how they were starting and screeching every hour, just all as +one as the housekeeper's little girl that died, till at last one night +poor Micky had a dhrop in him, the way he used now and again; and what +do you think in the middle of the night he thought he heard a noise on +the stairs, and being in liquor, nothing less id do him but out he must +go himself to see what was wrong. Well, after that, all she ever heard +of him was himself sayin', 'Oh, God!' and a tumble that shook the very +house; and there, sure enough, he was lying on the lower stairs, under +the lobby, with his neck smashed double undher him, where he was flung +over the banisters."</p> + +<p>Then the handmaiden added----</p> + +<p>"I'll go down to the lane, and send up Joe Gavvey to pack up the rest of +the taythings, and bring all the things across to your new lodgings."</p> + +<p>And so we all sallied out together, each of us breathing more freely, I +have no doubt, as we crossed that ill-omened threshold for the last +time.</p> + +<p>Now, I may add thus much, in compliance with the immemorial usage of +the realm of fiction, which sees the hero not only through his +adventures, but fairly out of the world. You must have perceived that +what the flesh, blood, and bone hero of romance proper is to the regular +compounder of fiction, this old house of brick, wood, and mortar is to +the humble recorder of this true tale. I, therefore, relate, as in duty +bound, the catastrophe which ultimately befell it, which was simply +this—that about two years subsequently to my story it was taken by a +quack doctor, who called himself Baron Duhlstoerf, and filled the +parlour windows with bottles of indescribable horrors preserved in +brandy, and the newspapers with the usual grandiloquent and mendacious +advertisements. This gentleman among his virtues did not reckon +sobriety, and one night, being overcome with much wine, he set fire to +his bed curtains, partially burned himself, and totally consumed the +house. It was afterwards rebuilt, and for a time an undertaker +established himself in the premises.</p> + +<p>I have now told you my own and Tom's adventures, together with some +valuable collateral particulars; and having acquitted myself of my +engagement, I wish you a very good night, and pleasant dreams.</p> +<br> +<hr class="full" noshade> + +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK J. S. LE FANU'S GHOSTLY TALES, VOLUME 1***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 11699-h.txt or 11699-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/6/9/11699">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/6/9/11699</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution.</p> + + + +<pre> +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +<a href="https://gutenberg.org/license">https://gutenberg.org/license)</a>. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">https://www.gutenberg.org</a> + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + +<a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext06">http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext06</a> + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL">https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/old/11699.txt b/old/11699.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..23559ab --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11699.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2086 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 1, by +Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 1 + +Author: Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu + +Release Date: March 24, 2004 [eBook #11699] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK J. S. LE FANU'S GHOSTLY TALES, +VOLUME 1*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Andrea Ball, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +J. S. LE FANU'S GHOSTLY TALES, VOLUME 1 + +Schalken the Painter (1851) + +and + +An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street (1853) + +by + +Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu + + + + + + +Schalken the Painter + + + _"For he is not a man as I am that + we should come together; neither is + there any that might lay his hand + upon us both. Let him, therefore, + take his rod away from me, and let + not his fear terrify me."_ + +There exists, at this moment, in good preservation a remarkable work of +Schalken's. The curious management of its lights constitutes, as usual +in his pieces, the chief apparent merit of the picture. I say +_apparent_, for in its subject, and not in its handling, however +exquisite, consists its real value. The picture represents the interior +of what might be a chamber in some antique religious building; and its +foreground is occupied by a female figure, in a species of white robe, +part of which is arranged so as to form a veil. The dress, however, is +not that of any religious order. In her hand the figure bears a lamp, by +which alone her figure and face are illuminated; and her features wear +such an arch smile, as well becomes a pretty woman when practising some +prankish roguery; in the background, and, excepting where the dim red +light of an expiring fire serves to define the form, in total shadow, +stands the figure of a man dressed in the old Flemish fashion, in an +attitude of alarm, his hand being placed upon the hilt of his sword, +which he appears to be in the act of drawing. + +There are some pictures, which impress one, I know not how, with a +conviction that they represent not the mere ideal shapes and +combinations which have floated through the imagination of the artist, +but scenes, faces, and situations which have actually existed. There is +in that strange picture, something that stamps it as the representation +of a reality. + +And such in truth it is, for it faithfully records a remarkable and +mysterious occurrence, and perpetuates, in the face of the female +figure, which occupies the most prominent place in the design, an +accurate portrait of Rose Velderkaust, the niece of Gerard Douw, the +first, and, I believe, the only love of Godfrey Schalken. My great +grandfather knew the painter well; and from Schalken himself he learned +the fearful story of the painting, and from him too he ultimately +received the picture itself as a bequest. The story and the picture have +become heir-looms in my family, and having described the latter, I +shall, if you please, attempt to relate the tradition which has +descended with the canvas. + +There are few forms on which the mantle of romance hangs more +ungracefully than upon that of the uncouth Schalken--the boorish but +most cunning worker in oils, whose pieces delight the critics of our day +almost as much as his manners disgusted the refined of his own; and yet +this man, so rude, so dogged, so slovenly, in the midst of his +celebrity, had in his obscure, but happier days, played the hero in a +wild romance of mystery and passion. + +When Schalken studied under the immortal Gerard Douw, he was a very +young man; and in spite of his phlegmatic temperament, he at once fell +over head and ears in love with the beautiful niece of his wealthy +master. Rose Velderkaust was still younger than he, having not yet +attained her seventeenth year, and, if tradition speaks truth, possessed +all the soft and dimpling charms of the fair, light-haired Flemish +maidens. The young painter loved honestly and fervently. His frank +adoration was rewarded. He declared his love, and extracted a faltering +confession in return. He was the happiest and proudest painter in all +Christendom. But there was somewhat to dash his elation; he was poor and +undistinguished. He dared not ask old Gerard for the hand of his sweet +ward. He must first win a reputation and a competence. + +There were, therefore, many dread uncertainties and cold days before +him; he had to fight his way against sore odds. But he had won the heart +of dear Rose Velderkaust, and that was half the battle. It is needless +to say his exertions were redoubled, and his lasting celebrity proves +that his industry was not unrewarded by success. + +These ardent labours, and worse still, the hopes that elevated and +beguiled them, were however, destined to experience a sudden +interruption--of a character so strange and mysterious as to baffle all +inquiry and to throw over the events themselves a shadow of +preternatural horror. + +Schalken had one evening outstayed all his fellow-pupils, and still +pursued his work in the deserted room. As the daylight was fast falling, +he laid aside his colours, and applied himself to the completion of a +sketch on which he had expressed extraordinary pains. It was a religious +composition, and represented the temptations of a pot-bellied Saint +Anthony. The young artist, however destitute of elevation, had, +nevertheless, discernment enough to be dissatisfied with his own work, +and many were the patient erasures and improvements which saint and +devil underwent, yet all in vain. The large, old-fashioned room was +silent, and, with the exception of himself, quite emptied of its usual +inmates. An hour had thus passed away, nearly two, without any improved +result. Daylight had already declined, and twilight was deepening into +the darkness of night. The patience of the young painter was exhausted, +and he stood before his unfinished production, angry and mortified, one +hand buried in the folds of his long hair, and the other holding the +piece of charcoal which had so ill-performed its office, and which he +now rubbed, without much regard to the sable streaks it produced, with +irritable pressure upon his ample Flemish inexpressibles. "Curse the +subject!" said the young man aloud; "curse the picture, the devils, the +saint--" + +At this moment a short, sudden sniff uttered close beside him made the +artist turn sharply round, and he now, for the first time, became aware +that his labours had been overlooked by a stranger. Within about a yard +and half, and rather behind him, there stood the figure of an elderly +man in a cloak and broad-brimmed, conical hat; in his hand, which was +protected with a heavy gauntlet-shaped glove, he carried a long ebony +walking-stick, surmounted with what appeared, as it glittered dimly in +the twilight, to be a massive head of gold, and upon his breast, through +the folds of the cloak, there shone the links of a rich chain of the +same metal. The room was so obscure that nothing further of the +appearance of the figure could be ascertained, and his hat threw his +features into profound shadow. It would not have been easy to conjecture +the age of the intruder; but a quantity of dark hair escaping from +beneath this sombre hat, as well as his firm and upright carriage served +to indicate that his years could not yet exceed threescore, or +thereabouts. There was an air of gravity and importance about the garb +of the person, and something indescribably odd, I might say awful, in +the perfect, stone-like stillness of the figure, that effectually +checked the testy comment which had at once risen to the lips of the +irritated artist. He, therefore, as soon as he had sufficiently +recovered his surprise, asked the stranger, civilly, to be seated, and +desired to know if he had any message to leave for his master. + +"Tell Gerard Douw," said the unknown, without altering his attitude in +the smallest degree, "that Minheer Vanderhausen, of Rotterdam, desires +to speak with him on tomorrow evening at this hour, and if he please, in +this room, upon matters of weight; that is all." + +The stranger, having finished this message, turned abruptly, and, with a +quick, but silent step quitted the room, before Schalken had time to say +a word in reply. The young man felt a curiosity to see in what direction +the burgher of Rotterdam would turn, on quitting the studio, and for +that purpose he went directly to the window which commanded the door. A +lobby of considerable extent intervened between the inner door of the +painter's room and the street entrance, so that Schalken occupied the +post of observation before the old man could possibly have reached the +street. He watched in vain, however. There was no other mode of exit. +Had the queer old man vanished, or was he lurking about the recesses of +the lobby for some sinister purpose? This last suggestion filled the +mind of Schalken with a vague uneasiness, which was so unaccountably +intense as to make him alike afraid to remain in the room alone, and +reluctant to pass through the lobby. However, with an effort which +appeared very disproportioned to the occasion, he summoned resolution to +leave the room, and, having locked the door and thrust the key in his +pocket, without looking to the right or left, he traversed the passage +which had so recently, perhaps still, contained the person of his +mysterious visitant, scarcely venturing to breathe till he had arrived +in the open street. + +"Minheer Vanderhausen!" said Gerard Douw within himself, as the +appointed hour approached, "Minheer Vanderhausen, of Rotterdam! I never +heard of the man till yesterday. What can he want of me? A portrait, +perhaps, to be painted; or a poor relation to be apprenticed; or a +collection to be valued; or--pshaw! there's no one in Rotterdam to leave +me a legacy. Well, whatever the business may be, we shall soon know it +all." + +It was now the close of day, and again every easel, except that of +Schalken, was deserted. Gerard Douw was pacing the apartment with the +restless step of impatient expectation, sometimes pausing to glance over +the work of one of his absent pupils, but more frequently placing +himself at the window, from whence he might observe the passengers who +threaded the obscure by-street in which his studio was placed. + +"Said you not, Godfrey," exclaimed Douw, after a long and fruitful gaze +from his post of observation, and turning to Schalken, "that the hour he +appointed was about seven by the clock of the Stadhouse?" + +"It had just told seven when I first saw him, sir," answered the +student. + +"The hour is close at hand, then," said the master, consulting a +horologe as large and as round as an orange. "Minheer Vanderhausen from +Rotterdam--is it not so?" + +"Such was the name." + +"And an elderly man, richly clad?" pursued Douw, musingly. + +"As well as I might see," replied his pupil; "he could not be young, nor +yet very old, neither; and his dress was rich and grave, as might become +a citizen of wealth and consideration." + +At this moment the sonorous boom of the Stadhouse clock told, stroke +after stroke, the hour of seven; the eyes of both master and student +were directed to the door; and it was not until the last peal of the +bell had ceased to vibrate, that Douw exclaimed---- + +"So, so; we shall have his worship presently, that is, if he means to +keep his hour; if not, you may wait for him, Godfrey, if you court his +acquaintance. But what, after all, if it should prove but a mummery got +up by Vankarp, or some such wag? I wish you had run all risks, and +cudgelled the old burgomaster soundly. I'd wager a dozen of Rhenish, his +worship would have unmasked, and pleaded old acquaintance in a trice." + +"Here he comes, sir," said Schalken, in a low monitory tone; and +instantly, upon turning towards the door, Gerard Douw observed the same +figure which had, on the day before, so unexpectedly greeted his pupil +Schalken. + +There was something in the air of the figure which at once satisfied the +painter that there was no masquerading in the case, and that he really +stood in the presence of a man of worship; and so, without hesitation, +he doffed his cap, and courteously saluting the stranger, requested him +to be seated. The visitor waved his hand slightly, as if in +acknowledgment of the courtesy, but remained standing. + +"I have the honour to see Minheer Vanderhausen of Rotterdam?" said +Gerard Douw. + +"The same," was the laconic reply of his visitor. + +"I understand your worship desires to speak with me," continued Douw, +"and I am here by appointment to wait your commands." + +"Is that a man of trust?" said Vanderhausen, turning towards Schalken, +who stood at a little distance behind his master. + +"Certainly," replied Gerard. + +"Then let him take this box, and get the nearest jeweller or goldsmith +to value its contents, and let him return hither with a certificate of +the valuation." + +At the same time, he placed a small case about nine inches square in the +hands of Gerard Douw, who was as much amazed at its weight as at the +strange abruptness with which it was handed to him. In accordance with +the wishes of the stranger, he delivered it into the hands of Schalken, +and repeating his direction, despatched him upon the mission. + +Schalken disposed his precious charge securely beneath the folds of his +cloak, and rapidly traversing two or three narrow streets, he stopped at +a corner house, the lower part of which was then occupied by the shop of +a Jewish goldsmith. He entered the shop, and calling the little Hebrew +into the obscurity of its back recesses, he proceeded to lay before him +Vanderhausen's casket. On being examined by the light of a lamp, it +appeared entirely cased with lead, the outer surface of which was much +scraped and soiled, and nearly white with age. This having been +partially removed, there appeared beneath a box of some hard wood; which +also they forced open and after the removal of two or three folds of +linen, they discovered its contents to be a mass of golden ingots, +closely packed, and, as the Jew declared, of the most perfect quality. +Every ingot underwent the scrutiny of the little Jew, who seemed to feel +an epicurean delight in touching and testing these morsels of the +glorious metal; and each one of them was replaced in its berth with the +exclamation: "_Mein Gott_, how very perfect! not one grain of +alloy--beautiful, beautiful!" The task was at length finished, and the +Jew certified under his hand the value of the ingots submitted to his +examination, to amount to many thousand rix-dollars. With the desired +document in his pocket, and the rich box of gold carefully pressed under +his arm, and concealed by his cloak, he retraced his way, and entering +the studio, found his master and the stranger in close conference. +Schalken had no sooner left the room, in order to execute the commission +he had taken in charge, than Vanderhausen addressed Gerard Douw in the +following terms:---- + +"I cannot tarry with you to-night more than a few minutes, and so I +shall shortly tell you the matter upon which I come. You visited the +town of Rotterdam some four months ago, and then I saw in the church of +St. Lawrence your niece, Rose Velderkaust. I desire to marry her; and if +I satisfy you that I am wealthier than any husband you can dream of for +her, I expect that you will forward my suit with your authority. If you +approve my proposal, you must close with it here and now, for I cannot +wait for calculations and delays." + +Gerard Douw was hugely astonished by the nature of Minheer +Vanderhausen's communication, but he did not venture to express +surprise; for besides the motives supplied by prudence and politeness, +the painter experienced a kind of chill and oppression like that which +is said to intervene when one is placed in unconscious proximity with +the object of a natural antipathy--an undefined but overpowering +sensation, while standing in the presence of the eccentric stranger, +which made him very unwilling to say anything which might reasonably +offend him. + +"I have no doubt," said Gerard, after two or three prefatory hems, "that +the alliance which you propose would prove alike advantageous and +honourable to my niece; but you must be aware that she has a will of her +own, and may not acquiesce in what _we_ may design for her advantage." + +"Do not seek to deceive me, sir painter," said Vanderhausen; "you are +her guardian--she is your ward--she is mine if _you_ like to make her +so." + +The man of Rotterdam moved forward a little as he spoke, and Gerard +Douw, he scarce knew why, inwardly prayed for the speedy return of +Schalken. + +"I desire," said the mysterious gentleman, "to place in your hands at +once an evidence of my wealth, and a security for my liberal dealing +with your niece. The lad will return in a minute or two with a sum in +value five times the fortune which she has a right to expect from her +husband. This shall lie in your hands, together with her dowry, and you +may apply the united sum as suits her interest best; it shall be all +exclusively hers while she lives: is that liberal?" + +Douw assented, and inwardly acknowledged that fortune had been +extraordinarily kind to his niece; the stranger, he thought, must be +both wealthy and generous, and such an offer was not to be despised, +though made by a humourist, and one of no very prepossessing presence. +Rose had no very high pretensions for she had but a modest dowry, which +she owed entirely to the generosity of her uncle; neither had she any +right to raise exceptions on the score of birth, for her own origin was +far from splendid, and as the other objections, Gerald resolved, and +indeed, by the usages of the time, was warranted in resolving, not to +listen to them for a moment. + +"Sir" said he, addressing the stranger, "your offer is liberal, and +whatever hesitation I may feel in closing with it immediately, arises +solely from my not having the honour of knowing anything of your family +or station. Upon these points you can, of course, satisfy me without +difficulty?' + +"As to my respectability," said the stranger, drily, "you must take that +for granted at present; pester me with no inquiries; you can discover +nothing more about me than I choose to make known. You shall have +sufficient security for my respectability--my word, if you are +honourable: if you are sordid, my gold." + +"A testy old gentleman," thought Douw, "he must have his own way; but, +all things considered, I am not justified to declining his offer. I will +not pledge myself unnecessarily, however." + +"You will not pledge yourself unnecessarily," said Vanderhausen, +strangely uttering the very words which had just floated through the +mind of his companion; "but you will do so if it is necessary, I +presume; and I will show you that I consider it indispensable. If the +gold I mean to leave in your hands satisfy you, and if you don't wish my +proposal to be at once withdrawn, you must, before I leave this room, +write your name to this engagement." + +Having thus spoken, he placed a paper in the hands of the master, the +contents of which expressed an engagement entered into by Gerard Douw, +to give to Wilken Vanderhausen of Rotterdam, in marriage, Rose +Velderkaust, and so forth, within one week of the date thereof. While +the painter was employed in reading this covenant, by the light of a +twinkling oil lamp in the far wall of the room, Schalken, as we have +stated, entered the studio, and having delivered the box and the +valuation of the Jew, into the hands of the stranger, he was about to +retire, when Vanderhausen called to him to wait; and, presenting the +case and the certificate to Gerard Douw, he paused in silence until he +had satisfied himself, by an inspection of both, respecting the value of +the pledge left in his hands. At length he said---- + +"Are you content?" + +The painter said he would fain have another day to consider. + +"Not an hour," said the suitor, apathetically. + +"Well then," said Douw, with a sore effort, "I am content, it is a +bargain." + +"Then sign at once," said Vanderhausen, "for I am weary." + +At the same time he produced a small case of writing materials, and +Gerard signed the important document. + +"Let this youth witness the covenant," said the old man; and Godfrey +Schalken unconsciously attested the instrument which for ever bereft him +of his dear Rose Velderkaust. + +The compact being thus completed, the strange visitor folded up the +paper, and stowed it safely in an inner pocket. + +"I will visit you to-morrow night at nine o'clock, at your own house, +Gerard Douw, and will see the object of our contract;" and so saying +Wilken Vanderhausen moved stiffly, but rapidly, out of the room. + +Schalken, eager to resolve his doubts, had placed himself by the window, +in order to watch the street entrance; but the experiment served only to +support his suspicions, for the old man did not issue from the door. +This was _very_ strange, odd, nay fearful. He and his master returned +together, and talked but little on the way, for each had his own +subjects of reflection, of anxiety, and of hope. Schalken, however, did +not know the ruin which menaced his dearest projects. + +Gerard Douw knew nothing of the attachment which had sprung up between +his pupil and his niece; and even if he had, it is doubtful whether he +would have regarded its existence as any serious obstruction to the +wishes of Minheer Vanderhausen. Marriages were then and there matters of +traffic and calculation; and it would have appeared as absurd in the +eyes of the guardian to make a mutual attachment an essential element in +a contract of the sort, as it would have been to draw up his bonds and +receipts in the language of romance. + +The painter, however, did not communicate to his niece the important +step which he had taken in her behalf, a forebearance caused not by any +anticipated opposition on her part, but solely by a ludicrous +consciousness that if she were to ask him for a description of her +destined bridegroom, he would be forced to confess that he had not once +seen his face, and if called upon, would find it absolutely impossible +to identify him. Upon the next day, Gerard Douw, after dinner, called +his niece to him and having scanned her person with an air of +satisfaction, he took her hand, and looking upon her pretty innocent +face with a smile of kindness, he said:---- + +"Rose, my girl, that face of yours will make your fortune." Rose blushed +and smiled. "Such faces and such tempers seldom go together, and when +they do, the compound is a love charm, few heads or hearts can resist; +trust me, you will soon be a bride, girl. But this is trifling, and I am +pressed for time, so make ready the large room by eight o'clock +to-night, and give directions for supper at nine. I expect a friend; and +observe me, child, do you trick yourself out handsomely. I will not have +him think us poor or sluttish." + +With these words he left her, and took his way to the room in which his +pupils worked. + +When the evening closed in, Gerard called Schalken, who was about to +take his departure to his own obscure and comfortless lodgings, and +asked him to come home and sup with Rose and Vanderhausen. The +invitation was, of course, accepted and Gerard Douw and his pupil soon +found themselves in the handsome and, even then, antique chamber, which +had been prepared for the reception of the stranger. A cheerful wood +fire blazed in the hearth, a little at one side of which an +old-fashioned table, which shone in the fire-light like burnished gold, +was awaiting the supper, for which preparations were going forward; and +ranged with exact regularity, stood the tall-backed chairs, whose +ungracefulness was more than compensated by their comfort. The little +party, consisting of Rose, her uncle, and the artist, awaited the +arrival of the expected visitor with considerable impatience. Nine +o'clock at length came, and with it a summons at the street door, which +being speedily answered, was followed by a slow and emphatic tread upon +the staircase; the steps moved heavily across the lobby, the door of the +room in which the party we have described were assembled slowly opened, +and there entered a figure which startled, almost appalled, the +phlegmatic Dutchmen, and nearly made Rose scream with terror. It was the +form, and arrayed in the garb of Minheer Vanderhausen; the air, the +gait, the height were the same, but the features had never been seen by +any of the party before. The stranger stopped at the door of the room, +and displayed his form and face completely. He wore a dark-coloured +cloth cloak, which was short and full, not falling quite to his knees; +his legs were cased in dark purple silk stockings, and his shoes were +adorned with roses of the same colour. The opening of the cloak in front +showed the under-suit to consist of some very dark, perhaps sable +material, and his hands were enclosed in a pair of heavy leather gloves, +which ran up considerably above the wrist, in the manner of a gauntlet. +In one hand he carried his walking-stick and his hat, which he had +removed, and the other hung heavily by his side. A quantity of grizzled +hair descended in long tresses from his head, and rested upon the plaits +of a stiff ruff, which effectually concealed his neck. So far all was +well; but the face!--all the flesh of the face was coloured with the +bluish leaden hue, which is sometimes produced by metallic medicines, +administered in excessive quantities; the eyes showed an undue +proportion of muddy white, and had a certain indefinable character of +insanity; the hue of the lips bearing the usual relation to that of the +face, was, consequently, nearly black; and the entire character of the +face was sensual, malignant, and even satanic. It was remarkable that +the worshipful stranger suffered as little as possible of his flesh to +appear, and that during his visit he did not once remove his gloves. +Having stood for some moments at the door, Gerard Douw at length found +breath and collectedness to bid him welcome, and with a mute inclination +of the head, the stranger stepped forward into the room. There was +something indescribably odd, even horrible, about all his motions, +something undefinable, that was unnatural, unhuman; it was as if the +limbs were guided and directed by a spirit unused to the management of +bodily machinery. The stranger spoke hardly at all during his visit, +which did not exceed half an hour; and the host himself could scarcely +muster courage enough to utter the few necessary salutations and +courtesies; and, indeed, such was the nervous terror which the presence +of Vanderhausen inspired, that very little would have made all his +entertainers fly in downright panic from the room. They had not so far +lost all self-possession, however, as to fail to observe two strange +peculiarities of their visitor. During his stay his eyelids did not once +close, or, indeed, move in the slightest degree; and farther, there was +a deathlike stillness in his whole person, owing to the absence of the +heaving motion of the chest, caused by the process of respiration. These +two peculiarities, though when told they may appear trifling, produced a +very striking and unpleasant effect when seen and observed. Vanderhausen +at length relieved the painter of Leyden of his inauspicious presence; +and with no trifling sense of relief the little party heard the street +door close after him. + +"Dear uncle," said Rose, "what a frightful man! I would not see him +again for the wealth of the States." + +"Tush, foolish girl," said Douw, whose sensations were anything but +comfortable. "A man may be as ugly as the devil, and yet, if his heart +and actions are good, he is worth all the pretty-faced perfumed puppies +that walk the Mall. Rose, my girl, it is very true he has not thy pretty +face, but I know him to be wealthy and liberal; and were he ten times +more ugly, these two virtues would be enough to counter balance all his +deformity, and if not sufficient actually to alter the shape and hue of +his features, at least enough to prevent one thinking them so much +amiss." + +"Do you know, uncle," said Rose, "when I saw him standing at the door, I +could not get it out of my head that I saw the old painted wooden figure +that used to frighten me so much in the Church of St. Laurence at +Rotterdam." + +Gerard laughed, though he could not help inwardly acknowledging the +justness of the comparison. He was resolved, however, as far as he +could, to check his niece's disposition to dilate upon the ugliness of +her intended bridegroom, although he was not a little pleased, as well +as puzzled, to observe that she appeared totally exempt from that +mysterious dread of the stranger which, he could not disguise it from +himself, considerably affected him, as also his pupil Godfrey Schalken. + +Early on the next day there arrived, from various quarters of the town, +rich presents of silks, velvets, jewellery, and so forth, for Rose; and +also a packet directed to Gerard Douw, which on being opened, was found +to contain a contract of marriage, formally drawn up, between Wilken +Vanderhausen of the _Boom-quay_, in Rotterdam, and Rose Velderkaust of +Leyden, niece to Gerard Douw, master in the art of painting, also of the +same city; and containing engagements on the part of Vanderhausen to +make settlements upon his bride, far more splendid than he had before +led her guardian to believe likely, and which were to be secured to her +use in the most unexceptionable manner possible--the money being placed +in the hand of Gerard Douw himself. + +I have no sentimental scenes to describe, no cruelty of guardians, no +magnanimity of wards, no agonies, or transport of lovers. The record I +have to make is one of sordidness, levity, and heartlessness. In less +than a week after the first interview which we have just described, the +contract of marriage was fulfilled, and Schalken saw the prize which he +would have risked existence to secure, carried off in solemn pomp by his +repulsive rival. For two or three days he absented himself from the +school; he then returned and worked, if with less cheerfulness, with far +more dogged resolution than before; the stimulus of love had given place +to that of ambition. Months passed away, and, contrary to his +expectation, and, indeed, to the direct promise of the parties, Gerard +Douw heard nothing of his niece or her worshipful spouse. The interest +of the money, which was to have been demanded in quarterly sums, lay +unclaimed in his hands. + +He began to grow extremely uneasy. Minheer Vanderhausen's direction in +Rotterdam he was fully possessed of; after some irresolution he finally +determined to journey thither--a trifling undertaking, and easily +accomplished--and thus to satisfy himself of the safety and comfort of +his ward, for whom he entertained an honest and strong affection. His +search was in vain, however; no one in Rotterdam had ever heard of +Minheer Vanderhausen. Gerard Douw left not a house in the _Boom-quay_ +untried, but all in vain. No one could give him any information whatever +touching the object of his inquiry, and he was obliged to return to +Leyden nothing wiser and far more anxious, than when he had left it. + +On his arrival he hastened to the establishment from which Vanderhausen +had hired the lumbering, though, considering the times, most luxurious +vehicle, which the bridal party had employed to convey them to +Rotterdam. From the driver of this machine he learned, that having +proceeded by slow stages, they had late in the evening approached +Rotterdam; but that before they entered the city, and while yet nearly a +mile from it, a small party of men, soberly clad, and after the old +fashion, with peaked beards and moustaches, standing in the centre of +the road, obstructed the further progress of the carriage. The driver +reined in his horses, much fearing, from the obscurity of the hour, and +the loneliness, of the road, that some mischief was intended. His fears +were, however, somewhat allayed by his observing that these strange men +carried a large litter, of an antique shape, and which they immediately +set down upon the pavement, whereupon the bridegroom, having opened the +coach-door from within, descended, and having assisted his bride to do +likewise, led her, weeping bitterly, and wringing her hands, to the +litter, which they both entered. It was then raised by the men who +surrounded it, and speedily carried towards the city, and before it had +proceeded very far, the darkness concealed it from the view of the Dutch +coachman. In the inside of the vehicle he found a purse, whose contents +more than thrice paid the hire of the carriage and man. He saw and could +tell nothing more of Minheer Vanderhausen and his beautiful lady. + +This mystery was a source of profound anxiety and even grief to Gerard +Douw. There was evidently fraud in the dealing of Vanderhausen with him, +though for what purpose committed he could not imagine. He greatly +doubted how far it was possible for a man possessing such a countenance +to be anything but a villain, and every day that passed without his +hearing from or of his niece, instead of inducing him to forget his +fears, on the contrary tended more and more to aggravate them. The loss +of her cheerful society tended also to depress his spirits; and in order +to dispel the gloom, which often crept upon his mind after his daily +occupations were over, he was wont frequently to ask Schalken to +accompany him home, and share his otherwise solitary supper. + +One evening, the painter and his pupil were sitting by the fire, having +accomplished a comfortable meal, and had yielded to the silent and +delicious melancholy of digestion, when their ruminations were disturbed +by a loud sound at the street door, as if occasioned by some person +rushing and scrambling vehemently against it. A domestic had run without +delay to ascertain the cause of the disturbance, and they heard him +twice or thrice interrogate the applicant for admission, but without +eliciting any other answer but a sustained reiteration of the sounds. +They heard him then open the hall-door, and immediately there followed a +light and rapid tread on the staircase. Schalken advanced towards the +door. It opened before he reached it, and Rose rushed into the room. She +looked wild, fierce and haggard with terror and exhaustion, but her +dress surprised them as much as even her unexpected appearance. It +consisted of a kind of white woollen wrapper, made close about the neck, +and descending to the very ground. It was much deranged and +travel-soiled. The poor creature had hardly entered the chamber when she +fell senseless on the floor. With some difficulty they succeeded in +reviving her, and on recovering her senses, she instantly exclaimed, in +a tone of terror rather than mere impatience:---- + +"Wine! wine! quickly, or I'm lost!" + +Astonished and almost scared at the strange agitation in which the call +was made, they at once administered to her wishes, and she drank some +wine with a haste and eagerness which surprised them. She had hardly +swallowed it, when she exclaimed, with the same urgency: + +"Food, for God's sake, food, at once, or I perish." + +A considerable fragment of a roast joint was upon the table, and +Schalken immediately began to cut some, but he was anticipated, for no +sooner did she see it than she caught it, a more than mortal image of +famine, and with her hands, and even with her teeth, she tore off the +flesh, and swallowed it. When the paroxysm of hunger had been a little +appeased, she appeared on a sudden overcome with shame, or it may have +been that other more agitating thoughts overpowered and scared her, for +she began to weep bitterly and to wring her hands. + +"Oh, send for a minister of God," said she; "I am not safe till he +comes; send for him speedily." + +Gerard Douw despatched a messenger instantly, and prevailed on his niece +to allow him to surrender his bed chamber to her use. He also persuaded +her to retire to it at once to rest; her consent was extorted upon the +condition that they would not leave her for a moment. + +"Oh that the holy man were here," she said; "he can deliver me: the dead +and the living can never be one: God has forbidden it." + +With these mysterious words she surrendered herself to their guidance, +and they proceeded to the chamber which Gerard Douw had assigned to her +use. + +"Do not, do not leave me for a moment," said she; "I am lost for ever if +you do." + +Gerard Douw's chamber was approached through a spacious apartment, which +they were now about to enter. He and Schalken each carried a candle, so +that a sufficiency of light was cast upon all surrounding objects. They +were now entering the large chamber, which as I have said, communicated +with Douw's apartment, when Rose suddenly stopped, and, in a whisper +which thrilled them both with horror, she said:---- + +"Oh, God! he is here! he is here! See, see! there he goes!" + +She pointed towards the door of the inner room, and Schalken thought he +saw a shadowy and ill-defined form gliding into that apartment. He drew +his sword, and, raising the candle so as to throw its light with +increased distinctness upon the objects in the room, he entered the +chamber into which the shadow had glided. No figure was there--nothing +but the furniture which belonged to the room, and yet he could not be +deceived as to the fact that something had moved before them into the +chamber. A sickening dread came upon him, and the cold perspiration +broke out in heavy drops upon his forehead; nor was he more composed, +when he heard the increased urgency and agony of entreaty, with which +Rose implored them not to leave her for a moment. + +"I saw him," said she; "he's here. I cannot be deceived; I know him; +he's by me; he is with me; he's in the room. Then, for God's sake, as +you would save me, do not stir from beside me." + +They at length prevailed upon her to lie down upon the bed, where she +continued to urge them to stay by her. She frequently uttered incoherent +sentences, repeating, again and again, "the dead and the living cannot +be one: God has forbidden it." And then again, "Rest to the +wakeful--sleep to the sleep-walkers." These and such mysterious and +broken sentences, she continued to utter until the clergyman arrived. +Gerard Douw began to fear, naturally enough, that terror or +ill-treatment, had unsettled the poor girl's intellect, and he half +suspected, by the suddenness of her appearance, the unseasonableness of +the hour, and above all, from the wildness and terror of her manner, +that she had made her escape from some place of confinement for +lunatics, and was in imminent fear of pursuit. He resolved to summon +medical advice as soon as the mind of his niece had been in some measure +set at rest by the offices of the clergyman whose attendance she had so +earnestly desired; and until this object had been attained, he did not +venture to put any questions to her, which might possibly, by reviving +painful or horrible recollections, increase her agitation. The clergyman +soon arrived--a man of ascetic countenance and venerable age--one whom +Gerard Douw respected very much, forasmuch as he was a veteran polemic, +though one perhaps more dreaded as a combatant than beloved as a +Christian--of pure morality, subtle brain, and frozen heart. He entered +the chamber which communicated with that in which Rose reclined and +immediately on his arrival, she requested him to pray for her, as for +one who lay in the hands of Satan, and who could hope for deliverance +only from heaven. + +That you may distinctly understand all the circumstances of the event +which I am going to describe, it is necessary to state the relative +position of the parties who were engaged in it. The old clergyman and +Schalken were in the anteroom of which I have already spoken; Rose lay +in the inner chamber, the door of which was open; and by the side of the +bed, at her urgent desire, stood her guardian; a candle burned in the +bedchamber, and three were lighted in the outer apartment. The old man +now cleared his voice as if about to commence, but before he had time to +begin, a sudden gust of air blew out the candle which served to +illuminate the room in which the poor girl lay, and she, with hurried +alarm, exclaimed:---- + +"Godfrey, bring in another candle; the darkness is unsafe." + +Gerard Douw forgetting for the moment her repeated injunctions, in the +immediate impulse, stepped from the bedchamber into the other, in order +to supply what she desired. + +"Oh God! do not go, dear uncle," shrieked the unhappy girl--and at the +same time she sprung from the bed, and darted after him, in order, by +her grasp, to detain him. But the warning came too late, for scarcely +had he passed the threshold, and hardly had his niece had time to utter +the startling exclamation, when the door which divided the two rooms +closed violently after him, as if swung by a strong blast of wind. +Schalken and he both rushed to the door, but their united and desperate +efforts could not avail so much as to shake it. Shriek after shriek +burst from the inner chamber, with all the piercing loudness of +despairing terror. Schalken and Douw applied every nerve to force open +the door; but all in vain. There was no sound of struggling from within, +but the screams seemed to increase in loudness, and at the same time +they heard the bolts of the latticed window withdrawn, and the window +itself grated upon the sill as if thrown open. One _last_ shriek, so +long and piercing and agonized as to be scarcely human, swelled from the +room, and suddenly there followed a death-like silence. A light step was +heard crossing the floor, as if from the bed to the window; and almost +at the same instant the door gave way, and, yielding to the pressure of +the external applicants, nearly precipitated them into the room. It was +empty. The window was open, and Schalken sprung to a chair and gazed out +upon the street and canal below. He saw no form, but he saw, or thought +he saw, the waters of the broad canal beneath settling ring after ring +in heavy circles, as if a moment before disturbed by the submission of +some ponderous body. + +No trace of Rose was ever after found, nor was anything certain +respecting her mysterious wooer discovered or even suspected--no clue +whereby to trace the intricacies of the labyrinth and to arrive at its +solution, presented itself. But an incident occurred, which, though it +will not be received by our rational readers in lieu of evidence, +produced nevertheless a strong and a lasting impression upon the mind of +Schalken. Many years after the events which we have detailed, Schalken, +then residing far away received an intimation of his father's death, and +of his intended burial upon a fixed day in the church of Rotterdam. It +was necessary that a very considerable journey should be performed by +the funeral procession, which as it will be readily believed, was not +very numerously attended. Schalken with difficulty arrived in Rotterdam +late in the day upon which the funeral was appointed to take place. It +had not then arrived. Evening closed in, and still it did not appear. + +Schalken strolled down to the church; he found it open; notice of the +arrival of the funeral had been given, and the vault in which the body +was to be laid had been opened. The sexton, on seeing a well-dressed +gentleman, whose object was to attend the expected obsequies, pacing the +aisle of the church, hospitably invited him to share with him the +comforts of a blazing fire, which, as was his custom in winter time upon +such occasions, he had kindled in the hearth of a chamber in which he +was accustomed to await the arrival of such grisly guests and which +communicated, by a flight of steps, with the vault below. In this +chamber, Schalken and his entertainer seated themselves; and the sexton, +after some fruitless attempts to engage his guest in conversation, was +obliged to apply himself to his tobacco-pipe and can, to solace his +solitude. In spite of his grief and cares, the fatigues of a rapid +journey of nearly forty hours gradually overcame the mind and body of +Godfrey Schalken, and he sank into a deep sleep, from which he awakened +by someone's shaking him gently by the shoulder. He first thought that +the old sexton had called him, but _he_ was no longer in the room. He +roused himself, and as soon as he could clearly see what was around him, +he perceived a female form, clothed in a kind of light robe of white, +part of which was so disposed as to form a veil, and in her hand she +carried a lamp. She was moving rather away from him, in the direction of +the flight of steps which conducted towards the vaults. Schalken felt a +vague alarm at the sight of this figure and at the same time an +irresistible impulse to follow its guidance. He followed it towards the +vaults, but when it reached the head of the stairs, he paused; the +figure paused also, and, turning gently round, displayed, by the light +of the lamp it carried, the face and features of his first love, Rose +Velderkaust. There was nothing horrible, or even sad, in the +countenance. On the contrary, it wore the same arch smile which used to +enchant the artist long before in his happy days. A feeling of awe and +interest, too intense to be resisted, prompted him to follow the +spectre, if spectre it were. She descended the stairs--he followed--and +turning to the left, through a narrow passage, she led him, to his +infinite surprise, into what appeared to be an old-fashioned Dutch +apartment, such as the pictures of Gerard Douw have served to +immortalize. Abundance of costly antique furniture was disposed about +the room, and in one corner stood a four-post bed, with heavy black +cloth curtains around it; the figure frequently turned towards him with +the same arch smile; and when she came to the side of the bed, she drew +the curtains, and, by the light of the lamp, which she held towards its +contents, she disclosed to the horror-stricken painter, sitting bolt +upright in the bed, the livid and demoniac form of Vanderhausen. +Schalken had hardly seen him, when he fell senseless upon the floor, +where he lay until discovered, on the next morning, by persons employed +in closing the passages into the vaults. He was lying in a cell of +considerable size, which had not been disturbed for a long time, and he +had fallen beside a large coffin, which was supported upon small +pillars, a security against the attacks of vermin. + +To his dying day Schalken was satisfied of the reality of the vision +which he had witnessed, and he has left behind him a curious evidence of +the impression which it wrought upon his fancy, in a painting executed +shortly after the event I have narrated, and which is valuable as +exhibiting not only the peculiarities which have made Schalken's +pictures sought after, but even more so as presenting a portrait of his +early love, Rose Velderkaust, whose mysterious fate must always remain +matter of speculation. + + + + +An Account of Some Strange +Disturbances in Aungier Street + + +It is not worth telling, this story of mine--at least, not worth +writing. Told, indeed, as I have sometimes been called upon to tell it, +to a circle of intelligent and eager faces, lighted up by a good +after-dinner fire on a winter's evening, with a cold wind rising and +wailing outside, and all snug and cosy within, it has gone off--though I +say it, who should not--indifferent well. But it is a venture to do as +you would have me. Pen, ink, and paper are cold vehicles for the +marvellous, and a "reader" decidedly a more critical animal than a +"listener." If, however, you can induce your friends to read it after +nightfall, and when the fireside talk has run for a while on thrilling +tales of shapeless terror; in short, if you will secure me the _mollia +tempora fandi_, I will go to my work, and say my say, with better heart. +Well, then, these conditions presupposed, I shall waste no more words, +but tell you simply how it all happened. + +My cousin (Tom Ludlow) and I studied medicine together. I think he would +have succeeded, had he stuck to the profession; but he preferred the +Church, poor fellow, and died early, a sacrifice to contagion, +contracted in the noble discharge of his duties. For my present purpose, +I say enough of his character when I mention that he was of a sedate but +frank and cheerful nature; very exact in his observance of truth, and +not by any means like myself--of an excitable or nervous temperament. + +My Uncle Ludlow--Tom's father--while we were attending lectures, +purchased three or four old houses in Aungier Street, one of which was +unoccupied. _He_ resided in the country, and Tom proposed that we should +take up our abode in the untenanted house, so long as it should continue +unlet; a move which would accomplish the double end of settling us +nearer alike to our lecture-rooms and to our amusements, and of +relieving us from the weekly charge of rent for our lodgings. + +Our furniture was very scant--our whole equipage remarkably modest and +primitive; and, in short, our arrangements pretty nearly as simple as +those of a bivouac. Our new plan was, therefore, executed almost as soon +as conceived. The front drawing-room was our sitting-room. I had the +bedroom over it, and Tom the back bedroom on the same floor, which +nothing could have induced me to occupy. + +The house, to begin with, was a very old one. It had been, I believe, +newly fronted about fifty years before; but with this exception, it had +nothing modern about it. The agent who bought it and looked into the +titles for my uncle, told me that it was sold, along with much other +forfeited property, at Chichester House, I think, in 1702; and had +belonged to Sir Thomas Hacket, who was Lord Mayor of Dublin in James +II.'s time. How old it was _then_, I can't say; but, at all events, it +had seen years and changes enough to have contracted all that mysterious +and saddened air, at once exciting and depressing, which belongs to most +old mansions. + +There had been very little done in the way of modernising details; and, +perhaps, it was better so; for there was something queer and by-gone in +the very walls and ceilings--in the shape of doors and windows--in the +odd diagonal site of the chimney-pieces--in the beams and ponderous +cornices--not to mention the singular solidity of all the woodwork, from +the banisters to the window-frames, which hopelessly defied disguise, +and would have emphatically proclaimed their antiquity through any +conceivable amount of modern finery and varnish. + +An effort had, indeed, been made, to the extent of papering the +drawing-rooms; but somehow, the paper looked raw and out of keeping; and +the old woman, who kept a little dirt-pie of a shop in the lane, and +whose daughter--a girl of two and fifty--was our solitary handmaid, +coming in at sunrise, and chastely receding again as soon as she had +made all ready for tea in our state apartment;--this woman, I say, +remembered it, when old Judge Horrocks (who, having earned the +reputation of a particularly "hanging judge," ended by hanging himself, +as the coroner's jury found, under an impulse of "temporary insanity," +with a child's skipping-rope, over the massive old bannisters) resided +there, entertaining good company, with fine venison and rare old port. +In those halcyon days, the drawing-rooms were hung with gilded leather, +and, I dare say, cut a good figure, for they were really spacious rooms. + +The bedrooms were wainscoted, but the front one was not gloomy; and in +it the cosiness of antiquity quite overcame its sombre associations. But +the back bedroom, with its two queerly-placed melancholy windows, +staring vacantly at the foot of the bed, and with the shadowy recess to +be found in most old houses in Dublin, like a large ghostly closet, +which, from congeniality of temperament, had amalgamated with the +bedchamber, and dissolved the partition. At night-time, this +"alcove"--as our "maid" was wont to call it--had, in my eyes, a +specially sinister and suggestive character. Tom's distant and solitary +candle glimmered vainly into its darkness. _There_ it was always +overlooking him--always itself impenetrable. But this was only part of +the effect. The whole room was, I can't tell how, repulsive to me. There +was, I suppose, in its proportions and features, a latent discord--a +certain mysterious and indescribable relation, which jarred indistinctly +upon some secret sense of the fitting and the safe, and raised +indefinable suspicions and apprehensions of the imagination. On the +whole, as I began by saying, nothing could have induced me to pass a +night alone in it. + +I had never pretended to conceal from poor Tom my superstitious +weakness; and he, on the other hand, most unaffectedly ridiculed my +tremors. The sceptic was, however, destined to receive a lesson, as you +shall hear. + +We had not been very long in occupation of our respective dormitories, +when I began to complain of uneasy nights and disturbed sleep. I was, I +suppose, the more impatient under this annoyance, as I was usually a +sound sleeper, and by no means prone to nightmares. It was now, however, +my destiny, instead of enjoying my customary repose, every night to "sup +full of horrors." After a preliminary course of disagreeable and +frightful dreams, my troubles took a definite form, and the same vision, +without an appreciable variation in a single detail, visited me at least +(on an average) every second night in the week. + +Now, this dream, nightmare, or infernal illusion--which you please--of +which I was the miserable sport, was on this wise:---- + +I saw, or thought I saw, with the most abominable distinctness, although +at the time in profound darkness, every article of furniture and +accidental arrangement of the chamber in which I lay. This, as you know, +is incidental to ordinary nightmare. Well, while in this clairvoyant +condition, which seemed but the lighting up of the theatre in which was +to be exhibited the monotonous tableau of horror, which made my nights +insupportable, my attention invariably became, I know not why, fixed +upon the windows opposite the foot of my bed; and, uniformly with the +same effect, a sense of dreadful anticipation always took slow but sure +possession of me. I became somehow conscious of a sort of horrid but +undefined preparation going forward in some unknown quarter, and by some +unknown agency, for my torment; and, after an interval, which always +seemed to me of the same length, a picture suddenly flew up to the +window, where it remained fixed, as if by an electrical attraction, and +my discipline of horror then commenced, to last perhaps for hours. The +picture thus mysteriously glued to the window-panes, was the portrait of +an old man, in a crimson flowered silk dressing-gown, the folds of which +I could now describe, with a countenance embodying a strange mixture of +intellect, sensuality, and power, but withal sinister and full of +malignant omen. His nose was hooked, like the beak of a vulture; his +eyes large, grey, and prominent, and lighted up with a more than mortal +cruelty and coldness. These features were surmounted by a crimson velvet +cap, the hair that peeped from under which was white with age, while the +eyebrows retained their original blackness. Well I remember every line, +hue, and shadow of that stony countenance, and well I may! The gaze of +this hellish visage was fixed upon me, and mine returned it with the +inexplicable fascination of nightmare, for what appeared to me to be +hours of agony. At last---- + + The cock he crew, away then flew + +the fiend who had enslaved me through the awful watches of the night; +and, harassed and nervous, I rose to the duties of the day. + +I had--I can't say exactly why, but it may have been from the exquisite +anguish and profound impressions of unearthly horror, with which this +strange phantasmagoria was associated--an insurmountable antipathy to +describing the exact nature of my nightly troubles to my friend and +comrade. Generally, however, I told him that I was haunted by abominable +dreams; and, true to the imputed materialism of medicine, we put our +heads together to dispel my horrors, not by exorcism, but by a tonic. + +I will do this tonic justice, and frankly admit that the accursed +portrait began to intermit its visits under its influence. What of that? +Was this singular apparition--as full of character as of +terror--therefore the creature of my fancy, or the invention of my poor +stomach? Was it, in short, _subjective_ (to borrow the technical slang +of the day) and not the palpable aggression and intrusion of an external +agent? That, good friend, as we will both admit, by no means follows. +The evil spirit, who enthralled my senses in the shape of that portrait, +may have been just as near me, just as energetic, just as malignant, +though I saw him not. What means the whole moral code of revealed +religion regarding the due keeping of our own bodies, soberness, +temperance, etc.? here is an obvious connexion between the material and +the invisible; the healthy tone of the system, and its unimpaired +energy, may, for aught we can tell, guard us against influences which +would otherwise render life itself terrific. The mesmerist and the +electro-biologist will fail upon an average with nine patients out of +ten--so may the evil spirit. Special conditions of the corporeal system +are indispensable to the production of certain spiritual phenomena. The +operation succeeds sometimes--sometimes fails--that is all. + +I found afterwards that my would-be sceptical companion had his troubles +too. But of these I knew nothing yet. One night, for a wonder, I was +sleeping soundly, when I was roused by a step on the lobby outside my +room, followed by the loud clang of what turned out to be a large brass +candlestick, flung with all his force by poor Tom Ludlow over the +banisters, and rattling with a rebound down the second flight of stairs; +and almost concurrently with this, Tom burst open my door, and bounced +into my room backwards, in a state of extraordinary agitation. + +I had jumped out of bed and clutched him by the arm before I had any +distinct idea of my own whereabouts. There we were--in our +shirts--standing before the open door--staring through the great old +banister opposite, at the lobby window, through which the sickly light +of a clouded moon was gleaming. + +"What's the matter, Tom? What's the matter with you? What the devil's +the matter with you, Tom?" I demanded shaking him with nervous +impatience. + +He took a long breath before he answered me, and then it was not very +coherently. + +"It's nothing, nothing at all--did I speak?--what did I say?--where's +the candle, Richard? It's dark; I--I had a candle!" + +"Yes, dark enough," I said; "but what's the matter?--what _is_ it?--why +don't you speak, Tom?--have you lost your wits?--what is the matter?" + +"The matter?--oh, it is all over. It must have been a dream--nothing at +all but a dream--don't you think so? It could not be anything more than +a dream." + +"Of _course_" said I, feeling uncommonly nervous, "it _was_ a dream." + +"I thought," he said, "there was a man in my room, and--and I jumped out +of bed; and--and--where's the candle?" + +"In your room, most likely," I said, "shall I go and bring it?" + +"No; stay here--don't go; it's no matter--don't, I tell you; it was all +a dream. Bolt the door, Dick; I'll stay here with you--I feel nervous. +So, Dick, like a good fellow, light your candle and open the window--I +am in a _shocking state_." + +I did as he asked me, and robing himself like Granuaile in one of my +blankets, he seated himself close beside my bed. + +Every body knows how contagious is fear of all sorts, but more +especially that particular kind of fear under which poor Tom was at that +moment labouring. I would not have heard, nor I believe would he have +recapitulated, just at that moment, for half the world, the details of +the hideous vision which had so unmanned him. + +"Don't mind telling me anything about your nonsensical dream, Tom," said +I, affecting contempt, really in a panic; "let us talk about something +else; but it is quite plain that this dirty old house disagrees with us +both, and hang me if I stay here any longer, to be pestered with +indigestion and--and--bad nights, so we may as well look out for +lodgings--don't you think so?--at once." + +Tom agreed, and, after an interval, said---- + +"I have been thinking, Richard, that it is a long time since I saw my +father, and I have made up my mind to go down to-morrow and return in a +day or two, and you can take rooms for us in the meantime." + +I fancied that this resolution, obviously the result of the vision which +had so profoundly scared him, would probably vanish next morning with +the damps and shadows of night. But I was mistaken. Off went Tom at peep +of day to the country, having agreed that so soon as I had secured +suitable lodgings, I was to recall him by letter from his visit to my +Uncle Ludlow. + +Now, anxious as I was to change my quarters, it so happened, owing to a +series of petty procrastinations and accidents, that nearly a week +elapsed before my bargain was made and my letter of recall on the wing +to Tom; and, in the meantime, a trifling adventure or two had occurred +to your humble servant, which, absurd as they now appear, diminished by +distance, did certainly at the time serve to whet my appetite for change +considerably. + +A night or two after the departure of my comrade, I was sitting by my +bedroom fire, the door locked, and the ingredients of a tumbler of hot +whisky-punch upon the crazy spider-table; for, as the best mode of +keeping the + + Black spirits and white, + Blue spirits and grey, + +with which I was environed, at bay, I had adopted the practice +recommended by the wisdom of my ancestors, and "kept my spirits up by +pouring spirits down." I had thrown aside my volume of Anatomy, and was +treating myself by way of a tonic, preparatory to my punch and bed, to +half-a-dozen pages of the _Spectator_, when I heard a step on the flight +of stairs descending from the attics. It was two o'clock, and the +streets were as silent as a churchyard--the sounds were, therefore, +perfectly distinct. There was a slow, heavy tread, characterised by the +emphasis and deliberation of age, descending by the narrow staircase +from above; and, what made the sound more singular, it was plain that +the feet which produced it were perfectly bare, measuring the descent +with something between a pound and a flop, very ugly to hear. + +I knew quite well that my attendant had gone away many hours before, and +that nobody but myself had any business in the house. It was quite plain +also that the person who was coming down stairs had no intention +whatever of concealing his movements; but, on the contrary, appeared +disposed to make even more noise, and proceed more deliberately, than +was at all necessary. When the step reached the foot of the stairs +outside my room, it seemed to stop; and I expected every moment to see +my door open spontaneously, and give admission to the original of my +detested portrait. I was, however, relieved in a few seconds by hearing +the descent renewed, just in the same manner, upon the staircase leading +down to the drawing-rooms, and thence, after another pause, down the +next flight, and so on to the hall, whence I heard no more. + +Now, by the time the sound had ceased, I was wound up, as they say, to a +very unpleasant pitch of excitement. I listened, but there was not a +stir. I screwed up my courage to a decisive experiment--opened my door, +and in a stentorian voice bawled over the banisters, "Who's there?" +There was no answer but the ringing of my own voice through the empty +old house,--no renewal of the movement; nothing, in short, to give my +unpleasant sensations a definite direction. There is, I think, something +most disagreeably disenchanting in the sound of one's own voice under +such circumstances, exerted in solitude, and in vain. It redoubled my +sense of isolation, and my misgivings increased on perceiving that the +door, which I certainly thought I had left open, was closed behind me; +in a vague alarm, lest my retreat should be cut off, I got again into my +room as quickly as I could, where I remained in a state of imaginary +blockade, and very uncomfortable indeed, till morning. + +Next night brought no return of my barefooted fellow-lodger; but the +night following, being in my bed, and in the dark--somewhere, I suppose, +about the same hour as before, I distinctly heard the old fellow again +descending from the garrets. + +This time I had had my punch, and the _morale_ of the garrison was +consequently excellent. I jumped out of bed, clutched the poker as I +passed the expiring fire, and in a moment was upon the lobby. The sound +had ceased by this time--the dark and chill were discouraging; and, +guess my horror, when I saw, or thought I saw, a black monster, whether +in the shape of a man or a bear I could not say, standing, with its back +to the wall, on the lobby, facing me, with a pair of great greenish eyes +shining dimly out. Now, I must be frank, and confess that the cupboard +which displayed our plates and cups stood just there, though at the +moment I did not recollect it. At the same time I must honestly say, +that making every allowance for an excited imagination, I never could +satisfy myself that I was made the dupe of my own fancy in this matter; +for this apparition, after one or two shiftings of shape, as if in the +act of incipient transformation, began, as it seemed on second thoughts, +to advance upon me in its original form. From an instinct of terror +rather than of courage, I hurled the poker, with all my force, at its +head; and to the music of a horrid crash made my way into my room, and +double-locked the door. Then, in a minute more, I heard the horrid bare +feet walk down the stairs, till the sound ceased in the hall, as on the +former occasion. + +If the apparition of the night before was an ocular delusion of my fancy +sporting with the dark outlines of our cupboard, and if its horrid eyes +were nothing but a pair of inverted teacups, I had, at all events, the +satisfaction of having launched the poker with admirable effect, and in +true "fancy" phrase, "knocked its two daylights into one," as the +commingled fragments of my tea-service testified. I did my best to +gather comfort and courage from these evidences; but it would not do. +And then what could I say of those horrid bare feet, and the regular +tramp, tramp, tramp, which measured the distance of the entire staircase +through the solitude of my haunted dwelling, and at an hour when no good +influence was stirring? Confound it!--the whole affair was abominable. I +was out of spirits, and dreaded the approach of night. + +It came, ushered ominously in with a thunder-storm and dull torrents of +depressing rain. Earlier than usual the streets grew silent; and by +twelve o'clock nothing but the comfortless pattering of the rain was to +be heard. + +I made myself as snug as I could. I lighted _two_ candles instead of +one. I forswore bed, and held myself in readiness for a sally, candle in +hand; for, _coute qui coute_, I was resolved to _see_ the being, if +visible at all, who troubled the nightly stillness of my mansion. I was +fidgetty and nervous and tried in vain to interest myself with my books. +I walked up and down my room, whistling in turn martial and hilarious +music, and listening ever and anon for the dreaded noise. I sate down +and stared at the square label on the solemn and reserved-looking black +bottle, until "FLANAGAN & CO'S BEST OLD MALT WHISKY" grew into a sort of +subdued accompaniment to all the fantastic and horrible speculations +which chased one another through my brain. + +Silence, meanwhile, grew more silent, and darkness darker. I listened in +vain for the rumble of a vehicle, or the dull clamour of a distant row. +There was nothing but the sound of a rising wind, which had succeeded +the thunder-storm that had travelled over the Dublin mountains quite out +of hearing. In the middle of this great city I began to feel myself +alone with nature, and Heaven knows what beside. My courage was ebbing. +Punch, however, which makes beasts of so many, made a man of me +again--just in time to hear with tolerable nerve and firmness the lumpy, +flabby, naked feet deliberately descending the stairs again. + +I took a candle, not without a tremour. As I crossed the floor I tried +to extemporise a prayer, but stopped short to listen, and never finished +it. The steps continued. I confess I hesitated for some seconds at the +door before I took heart of grace and opened it. When I peeped out the +lobby was perfectly empty--there was no monster standing on the +staircase; and as the detested sound ceased, I was reassured enough to +venture forward nearly to the banisters. Horror of horrors! within a +stair or two beneath the spot where I stood the unearthly tread smote +the floor. My eye caught something in motion; it was about the size of +Goliah's foot--it was grey, heavy, and flapped with a dead weight from +one step to another. As I am alive, it was the most monstrous grey rat I +ever beheld or imagined. + +Shakespeare says--"Some men there are cannot abide a gaping pig, and +some that are mad if they behold a cat." I went well-nigh out of my wits +when I beheld this _rat_; for, laugh at me as you may, it fixed upon me, +I thought, a perfectly human expression of malice; and, as it shuffled +about and looked up into my face almost from between my feet, I saw, I +could swear it--I felt it then, and know it now, the infernal gaze and +the accursed countenance of my old friend in the portrait, transfused +into the visage of the bloated vermin before me. + +I bounced into my room again with a feeling of loathing and horror I +cannot describe, and locked and bolted my door as if a lion had been at +the other side. D--n him or _it_; curse the portrait and its original! I +felt in my soul that the rat--yes, the _rat_, the RAT I had just seen, +was that evil being in masquerade, and rambling through the house upon +some infernal night lark. + +Next morning I was early trudging through the miry streets; and, among +other transactions, posted a peremptory note recalling Tom. On my +return, however, I found a note from my absent "chum," announcing his +intended return next day. I was doubly rejoiced at this, because I had +succeeded in getting rooms; and because the change of scene and return +of my comrade were rendered specially pleasant by the last night's half +ridiculous half horrible adventure. + +I slept extemporaneously in my new quarters in Digges' Street that +night, and next morning returned for breakfast to the haunted mansion, +where I was certain Tom would call immediately on his arrival. + +I was quite right--he came; and almost his first question referred to +the primary object of our change of residence. + +"Thank God," he said with genuine fervour, on hearing that all was +arranged. "On _your_ account I am delighted. As to myself, I assure you +that no earthly consideration could have induced me ever again to pass a +night in this disastrous old house." + +"Confound the house!" I ejaculated, with a genuine mixture of fear and +detestation, "we have not had a pleasant hour since we came to live +here"; and so I went on, and related incidentally my adventure with the +plethoric old rat. + +"Well, if that were _all_," said my cousin, affecting to make light of +the matter, "I don't think I should have minded it very much." + +"Ay, but its eye--its countenance, my dear Tom," urged I; "if you had +seen _that_, you would have felt it might be _anything_ but what it +seemed." + +"I inclined to think the best conjurer in such a case would be an +able-bodied cat," he said, with a provoking chuckle. + +"But let us hear your own adventure," I said tartly. + +At this challenge he looked uneasily round him. I had poked up a very +unpleasant recollection. + +"You shall hear it, Dick; I'll tell it to you," he said. "Begad, sir, I +should feel quite queer, though, telling it _here_, though we are too +strong a body for ghosts to meddle with just now." + +Though he spoke this like a joke, I think it was serious calculation. +Our Hebe was in a corner of the room, packing our cracked delft tea and +dinner-services in a basket. She soon suspended operations, and with +mouth and eyes wide open became an absorbed listener. Tom's experiences +were told nearly in these words:---- + +"I saw it three times, Dick--three distinct times; and I am perfectly +certain it meant me some infernal harm. I was, I say, in danger--in +_extreme_ danger; for, if nothing else had happened, my reason would +most certainly have failed me, unless I had escaped so soon. Thank God. +I _did_ escape. + +"The first night of this hateful disturbance, I was lying in the +attitude of sleep, in that lumbering old bed. I hate to think of it. I +was really wide awake, though I had put out my candle, and was lying as +quietly as if I had been asleep; and although accidentally restless, my +thoughts were running in a cheerful and agreeable channel. + +"I think it must have been two o'clock at least when I thought I heard a +sound in that--that odious dark recess at the far end of the bedroom. It +was as if someone was drawing a piece of cord slowly along the floor, +lifting it up, and dropping it softly down again in coils. I sate up +once or twice in my bed, but could see nothing, so I concluded it must +be mice in the wainscot. I felt no emotion graver than curiosity, and +after a few minutes ceased to observe it. + +"While lying in this state, strange to say; without at first a suspicion +of anything supernatural, on a sudden I saw an old man, rather stout and +square, in a sort of roan-red dressing-gown, and with a black cap on his +head, moving stiffly and slowly in a diagonal direction, from the +recess, across the floor of the bedroom, passing my bed at the foot, and +entering the lumber-closet at the left. He had something under his arm; +his head hung a little at one side; and, merciful God! when I saw his +face." + +Tom stopped for a while, and then said---- + +"That awful countenance, which living or dying I never can forget, +disclosed what he was. Without turning to the right or left, he passed +beside me, and entered the closet by the bed's head. + +"While this fearful and indescribable type of death and guilt was +passing, I felt that I had no more power to speak or stir than if I had +been myself a corpse. For hours after it had disappeared, I was too +terrified and weak to move. As soon as daylight came, I took courage, +and examined the room, and especially the course which the frightful +intruder had seemed to take, but there was not a vestige to indicate +anybody's having passed there; no sign of any disturbing agency visible +among the lumber that strewed the floor of the closet. + +"I now began to recover a little. I was fagged and exhausted, and at +last, overpowered by a feverish sleep. I came down late; and finding you +out of spirits, on account of your dreams about the portrait, whose +_original_ I am now certain disclosed himself to me, I did not care to +talk about the infernal vision. In fact, I was trying to persuade myself +that the whole thing was an illusion, and I did not like to revive in +their intensity the hated impressions of the past night--or to risk the +constancy of my scepticism, by recounting the tale of my sufferings. + +"It required some nerve, I can tell you, to go to my haunted chamber +next night, and lie down quietly in the same bed," continued Tom. "I did +so with a degree of trepidation, which, I am not ashamed to say, a very +little matter would have sufficed to stimulate to downright panic. This +night, however, passed off quietly enough, as also the next; and so too +did two or three more. I grew more confident, and began to fancy that I +believed in the theories of spectral illusions, with which I had at +first vainly tried to impose upon my convictions. + +"The apparition had been, indeed, altogether anomalous. It had crossed +the room without any recognition of my presence: I had not disturbed +_it_, and _it_ had no mission to _me_. What, then, was the imaginable +use of its crossing the room in a visible shape at all? Of course it +might have _been_ in the closet instead of _going_ there, as easily as +it introduced itself into the recess without entering the chamber in a +shape discernible by the senses. Besides, how the deuce _had_ I seen it? +It was a dark night; I had no candle; there was no fire; and yet I saw +it as distinctly, in colouring and outline, as ever I beheld human form! +A cataleptic dream would explain it all; and I was determined that a +dream it should be. + +"One of the most remarkable phenomena connected with the practice of +mendacity is the vast number of deliberate lies we tell ourselves, whom, +of all persons, we can least expect to deceive. In all this, I need +hardly tell you, Dick, I was simply lying to myself, and did not believe +one word of the wretched humbug. Yet I went on, as men will do, like +persevering charlatans and impostors, who tire people into credulity by +the mere force of reiteration; so I hoped to win myself over at last to +a comfortable scepticism about the ghost. + +"He had not appeared a second time--that certainly was a comfort; and +what, after all, did I care for him, and his queer old toggery and +strange looks? Not a fig! I was nothing the worse for having seen him, +and a good story the better. So I tumbled into bed, put out my candle, +and, cheered by a loud drunken quarrel in the back lane, went fast +asleep. + +"From this deep slumber I awoke with a start. I knew I had had a +horrible dream; but what it was I could not remember. My heart was +thumping furiously; I felt bewildered and feverish; I sate up in the bed +and looked about the room. A broad flood of moonlight came in through +the curtainless window; everything was as I had last seen it; and though +the domestic squabble in the back lane was, unhappily for me, allayed, I +yet could hear a pleasant fellow singing, on his way home, the then +popular comic ditty called, 'Murphy Delany.' Taking advantage of this +diversion I lay down again, with my face towards the fireplace, and +closing my eyes, did my best to think of nothing else but the song, +which was every moment growing fainter in the distance:---- + + "'Twas Murphy Delany, so funny and frisky, + Stept into a shebeen shop to get his skin full; + He reeled out again pretty well lined with whiskey, + As fresh as a shamrock, as blind as a bull. + +"The singer, whose condition I dare say resembled that of his hero, was +soon too far off to regale my ears any more; and as his music died away, +I myself sank into a doze, neither sound nor refreshing. Somehow the +song had got into my head, and I went meandering on through the +adventures of my respectable fellow-countryman, who, on emerging from +the 'shebeen shop,' fell into a river, from which he was fished up to be +'sat upon' by a coroner's jury, who having learned from a 'horse-doctor' +that he was 'dead as a door-nail, so there was an end,' returned their +verdict accordingly, just as he returned to his senses, when an angry +altercation and a pitched battle between the body and the coroner winds +up the lay with due spirit and pleasantry. + +"Through this ballad I continued with a weary monotony to plod, down to +the very last line, and then _da capo_, and so on, in my uncomfortable +half-sleep, for how long, I can't conjecture. I found myself at last, +however, muttering, '_dead_ as a door-nail, so there was an end'; and +something like another voice within me, seemed to say, very faintly, but +sharply, 'dead! dead! _dead_! and may the Lord have mercy on your soul!' +and instantaneously I was wide awake, and staring right before me from +the pillow. + +"Now--will you believe it, Dick?--I saw the same accursed figure +standing full front, and gazing at me with its stony and fiendish +countenance, not two yards from the bedside." + +Tom stopped here, and wiped the perspiration from his face. I felt very +queer. The girl was as pale as Tom; and, assembled as we were in the +very scene of these adventures, we were all, I dare say, equally +grateful for the clear daylight and the resuming bustle out of doors. + +"For about three seconds only I saw it plainly; then it grew indistinct; +but, for a long time, there was something like a column of dark vapour +where it had been standing, between me and the wall; and I felt sure +that he was still there. After a good while, this appearance went too. I +took my clothes downstairs to the hall, and dressed there, with the door +half open; then went out into the street, and walked about the town till +morning, when I came back, in a miserable state of nervousness and +exhaustion. I was such a fool, Dick, as to be ashamed to tell you how I +came to be so upset. I thought you would laugh at me; especially as I +had always talked philosophy, and treated _your_ ghosts with contempt. I +concluded you would give me no quarter; and so kept my tale of horror to +myself. + +"Now, Dick, you will hardly believe me, when I assure you, that for many +nights after this last experience, I did not go to my room at all. I +used to sit up for a while in the drawing-room after you had gone up to +your bed; and then steal down softly to the hall-door, let myself out, +and sit in the 'Robin Hood' tavern until the last guest went off; and +then I got through the night like a sentry, pacing the streets till +morning. + +"For more than a week I never slept in bed. I sometimes had a snooze on +a form in the 'Robin Hood,' and sometimes a nap in a chair during the +day; but regular sleep I had absolutely none. + +"I was quite resolved that we should get into another house; but I could +not bring myself to tell you the reason, and I somehow put it off from +day to day, although my life was, during every hour of this +procrastination, rendered as miserable as that of a felon with the +constables on his track. I was growing absolutely ill from this wretched +mode of life. + +"One afternoon I determined to enjoy an hour's sleep upon your bed. I +hated mine; so that I had never, except in a stealthy visit every day to +unmake it, lest Martha should discover the secret of my nightly absence, +entered the ill-omened chamber. + +"As ill-luck would have it, you had locked your bedroom, and taken away +the key. I went into my own to unsettle the bedclothes, as usual, and +give the bed the appearance of having been slept in. Now, a variety of +circumstances concurred to bring about the dreadful scene through which +I was that night to pass. In the first place, I was literally +overpowered with fatigue, and longing for sleep; in the next place, the +effect of this extreme exhaustion upon my nerves resembled that of a +narcotic, and rendered me less susceptible than, perhaps, I should in +any other condition have been, of the exciting fears which had become +habitual to me. Then again, a little bit of the window was open, a +pleasant freshness pervaded the room, and, to crown all, the cheerful +sun of day was making the room quite pleasant. What was to prevent my +enjoying an hour's nap _here_? The whole air was resonant with the +cheerful hum of life, and the broad matter-of-fact light of day filled +every corner of the room. + +"I yielded--stifling my qualms--to the almost overpowering temptation; +and merely throwing off my coat, and loosening my cravat, I lay down, +limiting myself to _half_-an-hour's doze in the unwonted enjoyment of a +feather bed, a coverlet, and a bolster. + +"It was horribly insidious; and the demon, no doubt, marked my +infatuated preparations. Dolt that I was, I fancied, with mind and body +worn out for want of sleep, and an arrear of a full week's rest to my +credit, that such measure as _half_-an-hour's sleep, in such a +situation, was possible. My sleep was death-like, long, and dreamless. + +"Without a start or fearful sensation of any kind, I waked gently, but +completely. It was, as you have good reason to remember, long past +midnight--I believe, about two o'clock. When sleep has been deep and +long enough to satisfy nature thoroughly, one often wakens in this way, +suddenly, tranquilly, and completely. + +"There was a figure seated in that lumbering, old sofa-chair, near the +fireplace. Its back was rather towards me, but I could not be mistaken; +it turned slowly round, and, merciful heavens! there was the stony face, +with its infernal lineaments of malignity and despair, gloating on me. +There was now no doubt as to its consciousness of my presence, and the +hellish malice with which it was animated, for it arose, and drew close +to the bedside. There was a rope about its neck, and the other end, +coiled up, it held stiffly in its hand. + +"My good angel nerved me for this horrible crisis. I remained for some +seconds transfixed by the gaze of this tremendous phantom. He came close +to the bed, and appeared on the point of mounting upon it. The next +instant I was upon the floor at the far side, and in a moment more was, +I don't know how, upon the lobby. + +"But the spell was not yet broken; the valley of the shadow of death was +not yet traversed. The abhorred phantom was before me there; it was +standing near the banisters, stooping a little, and with one end of the +rope round its own neck, was poising a noose at the other, as if to +throw over mine; and while engaged in this baleful pantomime, it wore a +smile so sensual, so unspeakably dreadful, that my senses were nearly +overpowered. I saw and remember nothing more, until I found myself in +your room. + +"I had a wonderful escape, Dick--there is no disputing _that_--an escape +for which, while I live, I shall bless the mercy of heaven. No one can +conceive or imagine what it is for flesh and blood to stand in the +presence of such a thing, but one who has had the terrific experience. +Dick, Dick, a shadow has passed over me--a chill has crossed my blood +and marrow, and I will never be the same again--never, Dick--never!" + +Our handmaid, a mature girl of two-and-fifty, as I have said, stayed her +hand, as Tom's story proceeded, and by little and little drew near to +us, with open mouth, and her brows contracted over her little, beady +black eyes, till stealing a glance over her shoulder now and then, she +established herself close behind us. During the relation, she had made +various earnest comments, in an undertone; but these and her +ejaculations, for the sake of brevity and simplicity, I have omitted in +my narration. + +"It's often I heard tell of it," she now said, "but I never believed it +rightly till now--though, indeed, why should not I? Does not my mother, +down there in the lane, know quare stories, God bless us, beyant telling +about it? But you ought not to have slept in the back bedroom. She was +loath to let me be going in and out of that room even in the day time, +let alone for any Christian to spend the night in it; for sure she says +it was his own bedroom." + +"_Whose_ own bedroom?" we asked, in a breath. + +"Why, _his_--the ould Judge's--Judge Horrock's, to be sure, God rest his +sowl"; and she looked fearfully round. + +"Amen!" I muttered. "But did he die there?" + +"Die there! No, not quite _there_," she said. "Shure, was not it over +the banisters he hung himself, the ould sinner, God be merciful to us +all? and was not it in the alcove they found the handles of the +skipping-rope cut off, and the knife where he was settling the cord, God +bless us, to hang himself with? It was his housekeeper's daughter owned +the rope, my mother often told me, and the child never throve after, and +used to be starting up out of her sleep, and screeching in the night +time, wid dhrames and frights that cum an her; and they said how it was +the speerit of the ould Judge that was tormentin' her; and she used to +be roaring and yelling out to hould back the big ould fellow with the +crooked neck; and then she'd screech 'Oh, the master! the master! he's +stampin' at me, and beckoning to me! Mother, darling, don't let me go!' +And so the poor crathure died at last, and the docthers said it was +wather on the brain, for it was all they could say." + +"How long ago was all this?" I asked. + +"Oh, then, how would I know?" she answered. "But it must be a wondherful +long time ago, for the housekeeper was an ould woman, with a pipe in her +mouth, and not a tooth left, and better nor eighty years ould when my +mother was first married; and they said she was a rale buxom, +fine-dressed woman when the ould Judge come to his end; an', indeed, my +mother's not far from eighty years ould herself this day; and what made +it worse for the unnatural ould villain, God rest his soul, to frighten +the little girl out of the world the way he did, was what was mostly +thought and believed by every one. My mother says how the poor little +crathure was his own child; for he was by all accounts an ould villain +every way, an' the hangin'est judge that ever was known in Ireland's +ground." + +"From what you said about the danger of sleeping in that bedroom," said +I, "I suppose there were stories about the ghost having appeared there +to others." + +"Well, there was things said--quare things, surely," she answered, as it +seemed, with some reluctance. "And why would not there? Sure was it not +up in that same room he slept for more than twenty years? and was it not +in the _alcove_ he got the rope ready that done his own business at +last, the way he done many a betther man's in his lifetime?--and was not +the body lying in the same bed after death, and put in the coffin there, +too, and carried out to his grave from it in Pether's churchyard, after +the coroner was done? But there was quare stories--my mother has them +all--about how one Nicholas Spaight got into trouble on the head of it." + +"And what did they say of this Nicholas Spaight?" I asked. + +"Oh, for that matther, it's soon told," she answered. + +And she certainly did relate a very strange story, which so piqued my +curiosity, that I took occasion to visit the ancient lady, her mother, +from whom I learned many very curious particulars. Indeed, I am tempted +to tell the tale, but my fingers are weary, and I must defer it. But if +you wish to hear it another time, I shall do my best. + +When we had heard the strange tale I have _not_ told you, we put one or +two further questions to her about the alleged spectral visitations, to +which the house had, ever since the death of the wicked old Judge, been +subjected. + +"No one ever had luck in it," she told us. "There was always cross +accidents, sudden deaths, and short times in it. The first that tuck, it +was a family--I forget their name--but at any rate there was two young +ladies and their papa. He was about sixty, and a stout healthy gentleman +as you'd wish to see at that age. Well, he slept in that unlucky back +bedroom; and, God between us an' harm! sure enough he was found dead one +morning, half out of the bed, with his head as black as a sloe, and +swelled like a puddin', hanging down near the floor. It was a fit, they +said. He was as dead as a mackerel, and so _he_ could not say what it +was; but the ould people was all sure that it was nothing at all but the +ould Judge, God bless us! that frightened him out of his senses and his +life together. + +"Some time after there was a rich old maiden lady took the house. I +don't know which room _she_ slept in, but she lived alone; and at any +rate, one morning, the servants going down early to their work, found +her sitting on the passage-stairs, shivering and talkin' to herself, +quite mad; and never a word more could any of _them_ or her friends get +from her ever afterwards but, 'Don't ask me to go, for I promised to +wait for him.' They never made out from her who it was she meant by +_him_, but of course those that knew all about the ould house were at no +loss for the meaning of all that happened to her. + +"Then afterwards, when the house was let out in lodgings, there was +Micky Byrne that took the same room, with his wife and three little +children; and sure I heard Mrs. Byrne myself telling how the children +used to be lifted up in the bed at night, she could not see by what +mains; and how they were starting and screeching every hour, just all as +one as the housekeeper's little girl that died, till at last one night +poor Micky had a dhrop in him, the way he used now and again; and what +do you think in the middle of the night he thought he heard a noise on +the stairs, and being in liquor, nothing less id do him but out he must +go himself to see what was wrong. Well, after that, all she ever heard +of him was himself sayin', 'Oh, God!' and a tumble that shook the very +house; and there, sure enough, he was lying on the lower stairs, under +the lobby, with his neck smashed double undher him, where he was flung +over the banisters." + +Then the handmaiden added---- + +"I'll go down to the lane, and send up Joe Gavvey to pack up the rest of +the taythings, and bring all the things across to your new lodgings." + +And so we all sallied out together, each of us breathing more freely, I +have no doubt, as we crossed that ill-omened threshold for the last +time. + +Now, I may add thus much, in compliance with the immemorial usage of the +realm of fiction, which sees the hero not only through his adventures, +but fairly out of the world. You must have perceived that what the +flesh, blood, and bone hero of romance proper is to the regular +compounder of fiction, this old house of brick, wood, and mortar is to +the humble recorder of this true tale. I, therefore, relate, as in duty +bound, the catastrophe which ultimately befell it, which was simply +this--that about two years subsequently to my story it was taken by a +quack doctor, who called himself Baron Duhlstoerf, and filled the +parlour windows with bottles of indescribable horrors preserved in +brandy, and the newspapers with the usual grandiloquent and mendacious +advertisements. This gentleman among his virtues did not reckon +sobriety, and one night, being overcome with much wine, he set fire to +his bed curtains, partially burned himself, and totally consumed the +house. It was afterwards rebuilt, and for a time an undertaker +established himself in the premises. + +I have now told you my own and Tom's adventures, together with some +valuable collateral particulars; and having acquitted myself of my +engagement, I wish you a very good night, and pleasant dreams. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK J. S. LE FANU'S GHOSTLY TALES, +VOLUME 1*** + + +******* This file should be named 11699.txt or 11699.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/6/9/11699 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + +https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext06 + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** diff --git a/old/11699.zip b/old/11699.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b2dc01d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11699.zip |