Page:Once a Week June to Dec 1863.pdf/99

18, 1863.] intended to speak to you about this painful matter, but having hitherto always endeavoured to drive the subject from my mind, I have not had sufficient resolution to do so.’

“I begged my father to explain himself, and to conceal nothing from me; for, to confess the truth, the more reluctant he appeared to be, the more urgently I pressed him.

“He then told me that, not long after my grandfather’s death, he had ordered this room to be prepared for a friend who was coming to spend a few days with him; that his servant had made difficulties and objections, and had proposed some other room for his guest, but that he did not choose to give way to her whims, and accordingly his friend slept in the room as he desired, but on the following morning he told my father that he must leave him that day, and when pressed to give his reasons for so sudden a determination, he protested that nothing could induce him to stay another night in a house in which his rest had been disturbed by such frightful visions. He refused to tell my father what it was he had seen—he refused to sleep in any other room, and he tried hard to persuade my father never either to sleep in that room himself, or to allow any other person to do so. Fully persuaded, however, that his friend was labouring under some mental delusion, my father, who had no fears whatever about the matter himself, was so far from being deterred from sleeping there, that he immediately resolved to do so that very night, and accordingly, in spite of the evident reluctance of his housekeeper, he did so, thinking, as he told me, that this would be the most effectual means of putting an end to the foolish rumours which had been spread by ignorant and superstitious servants.

“Taking the precaution to lock the door in order to prevent any intrusion in the night, he left a lamp burning on the dressing-table and went to bed; and, undisturbed by any apprehensions, soon fell asleep. My father was always a sound sleeper, and not easily disturbed by noise in the night, and it was not by any noise that he was now awakened, but by feeling the bed-clothes gently moving, as if some one were pulling them towards the foot of the bed. The bed, I should observe, stood just as you saw it last night, facing the fireplace, on each side of which stand those high-backed chairs, and with the left side towards the door. As it was a cold night, my father had drawn the side curtains of his bed, but there were no window-curtains, nor even blinds, and though the moon shone brightly into his room at the time he woke, and the lamp was still burning, he could see nothing but the furniture standing in the usual places. He lay quite still, and hearing no noise, nor perceiving any motion in the bed-clothes, he began to think that he had been dreaming, in consequence of the conversation he had had with his guest in the morning. But hardly had he composed himself to sleep again, when he felt the bed-curtains on both sides of his bed first gently, and then violently shake. Still he saw nothing, and, notwithstanding a certain degree of trepidation which he confessed that he felt, he made a sudden plunge at the curtain with open arms, but whatever was there it eluded his grasp, and again for a minute all was quiet. He now determined to rise, but the moment he began to stir, he beheld two figures slowly and noiselessly gliding from the sides of his bed towards the foot—they stopped for an instant, then moved in the direction of the windows, which were opposite the door, and between which was the table on which the lamp stood. Without again attempting to rise, my father turned to look whether the door was open. No, it was shut, and the key remained in the lock as he had left it. During the few seconds which passed while he was looking at the door, he perceived that the lamp had gone out, or had been extinguished, for instead of the yellow light of the lamp there was now only the pale blue light of the moon, shining through the windows. The two figures were still there, now standing motionless, then slowly retreating backwards in the direction of the fireplace. My father became nervous and extremely uncomfortable, yet he retained sufficient presence of mind to enable him to examine his nocturnal visitors.

“Except that they were of a different height, in all other respects they presented precisely the same horrible aspect, which my father described as that of a death’s head, partially concealed by a sort of cowl or veil, which fell over the shoulders, while the body was loosely wrapped in long white drapery, which, descending to the feet, concealed the whole of the figure except one bony wrist and hand. The idea of being locked in with these two frightful unearthly beings became intolerable, and my father resolved at all hazards to rush out of bed and make his escape. He rose, keeping his eyes fixed on the spectres who were now nodding their ghastly heads, and beckoning him with their skeleton fingers, but making no attempt to approach nearer the bed, or to intercept his retreat towards the door. Though in a state of considerable agitation, my father never for an instant lost his presence of mind, and though, as he told me, his hand shook violently as he unlocked the door, he did not neglect to take out the key and lock it again on the other side as soon as he found himself safely in the passage. This done, he passed on quickly to his own bedroom, and hurrying on his dressing gown, went without a minute’s delay to call up his man-servant. Now I must explain, for the benefit of those here who are not so well acquainted with the geography of the house as Mr. Bradley and the Major, that in order to reach the butler’s room it was necessary first to go down the front stairs, then through the servants’ hall, and up the back stairs which lead to the servants’ rooms. With all the haste, therefore, that my father could make, several minutes must have elapsed between the time of his leaving the room in which he had slept, and his reaching that of his servants.

“He knocked sharply at the door, but receiving no answer he went in, and, as he expected, found the butler and his wife both fast asleep. His first idea was to wake them, and ask if they had heard or seen anything unusual; but, after a few moments’ reflection, he decided that it would be much more discreet to leave them to their repose, which he felt assured had not been disturbed that night.