not give the name of the place, nor of the people immediately concerned,
if these stories are to be published; because, for anything I know, some
persons may survive to whom the publication might give pain; I lived
there with him and my mother and sisters. Our house was on the road
between two large towns, situated about eight miles distant from each
other; and though we had a little ground and a short avenue in front, we
were not more than half a quarter of a mile from the highway. When all
was still, we could distinctly hear the carts and carriages as they
passed, and even distinguish by the sound of the wheels what kind of
vehicle it was. There was a carrier that plied between these two towns,
whom I will call Healy, and as everything we used we had from B., he was
generally at our house three or four times a week; in short, he did our
marketings, in a great degree; my mother giving him an order, as he
passed, for what he was to bring back; and many a time Healy has
smuggled a novel from the circulating library for my sisters, or done
little commissions for me that I could not so well manage for myself.
All this made him a popular character with us, for he was very obliging;
but for all that, he did not bear the best of characters. It was his
interest to be well with us, and the gentry in general, who were his
customers; and he understood that too well to incur our ill-will; but by
his equals and inferiors he was looked upon with a less favourable eye.
They had nothing very positive to allege against him; but they thought
him a hard, griping, greedy man, who was honest in his dealings with us
because the slightest suspicion would have ruined his trade, but who
would take an advantage when he thought no possible damage to himself
could accrue from it. He was about forty years of age; tall, with a long
face, prominent nose, and dark complexion; his shoulders were round, but
his frame was wiry, and he was reputed very strong.
"One evening, between thirty and forty years ago, towards the beginning
of winter, we were expecting Healy--my mother was solicitous about some
provisions she had ordered for an approaching dinner-party; and I was
very anxious for the arrival of a cricket-bat that I wanted for use the
day after the next. Of course, long before the time he usually arrived,
I was looking out for him, and fancying him late; I said, 'I wondered
Healy was not come!' Upon which my father looked at his watch, and found
that it wanted full half-an-hour of his time, which was nine o'clock;
sometimes, indeed, later, but never earlier. It was then exactly
half-past eight; and before my father had returned his watch into his
pocket, one of my sisters exclaimed, 'Here he is!' and we heard the
wheels coming up the avenue--we should have heard him before, but two
of my sisters were practising a duet, which was to be produced at the
approaching festivity, and drowned the sound.
"Thereupon, I and my mother left the room, and went towards the back
door, where Healy had just alighted, and was bringing sundry packages
into the kitchen.
"'Have you got my bat, Healy?' said I.
"'No, sir,' he replied; 'there wasn't one in the whole town the size you
wanted; but I'll bring you one from S. as I pass to-morrow. I know
they've got 'em there. I believe that's all, Ma'am?' he added,
addressing my mother.
"She said she believed it was, and was going to pay him his week's
account, which she had asked for, but he hurried out, saying, 'Another
time, if you please, Ma'am; I'm rather late to-night;' and he was in his
cart and away before I had time to give him some directions in regard to
the bat.
"'What a hurry he's in!' I said; 'and it wants almost twenty minutes to
nine now.'
"'I suppose he has a great many places to stop at,' said my mother; 'if
he don't get all his parcels delivered before people are gone to bed, he
gets into trouble sometimes. He's a very punctual fellow certainly.'
"We returned to the drawing-room, and resumed our occupations; and about
half-an-hour afterwards--happening to be all silent at the moment, we
heard a pair of light wheels and a brisk trotting horse passing in the
road.
"'That's farmer Gould's mare, I'm sure,' said I. 'What a famous trotter
she is!'
"'Yes,' said my father; 'I wish he'd part with her. I made him an offer
the other day. I should like her for my buggy.'
"'And what did he say? Won't he sell her?'
"'He said nothing--he only laughed, and shook his fat sides.'
"'Money is no object to him,' said my mother, 'he won't part with her
unless he gets another he likes better.'
"We breakfasted at nine o'clock, and I was getting up, and about half
dressed, when one of my sisters burst into my room, crying, 'La! Fred.,
such a shocking thing has happened! poor Farmer Gould was found dead in
the road this morning; they think his horse ran away, for it's not to
be found; and the chaise was upset and lying on its side. How lucky,
papa did not get the mare!'
"'Who says so?' said I.
"'The postman;' she answered, 'he saw some labourers standing round
something in the road; and when he came up to them, he found it was the
chaise, and poor farmer Gould quite dead beside it!'
"When I got down stairs I found the whole house occupied with the
subject of this sad accident, all lamenting the good man, who was a
general favourite, and agreeing that, for so heavy a person, a
two-wheeled carriage was very dangerous, as a fall was almost sure to be
fatal.
"My father said when he had finished his letters and papers he would
walk up to the farm, and see if he could be of any use to poor Mrs.
Gould; I, with the curiosity of fifteen, begged to go with him; and my
mother improved the occasion by giving the governor a serious lecture
about his love for high-trotting horses and buggies.
"I expected Healy with my bat about eleven o'clock, as he had nothing
else to bring, I knew he wouldn't come up the avenue, but leave it at a
cottage near our gate; and wishing to learn if he'd heard any
particulars about the accident, I walked down to meet him when the hour
approached. Presently, I saw him coming, sitting in front of his cart.
"'Well, Healy,' I said, 'isn't this a shocking thing about poor Farmer
Gould? You've heard he was found dead in the road this morning?'
"'Yes, Sir, the mare ran away, and pitched him out upon his head; I
can't say as ever I liked her myself; but I've got your bat, Master
Frederick; a nice un too; I wouldn't come away this morning till I'd got
it.'
"I thanked him, and he drove on, as if he had no time to lose in gossip,
while I was untying the string of my parcel.
"By the time my father and I reached Gould's farm, the doctor had
arrived from B., and we heard he was examining the body in the parlour,
where it had been laid by the labourers who found it. The chaise, too,
was standing near the door, just as it had been wheeled up, and the
mare, they told us, had been found in a neighbouring field, with the
harness hanging about her, and unhurt, except on the forehead, where
she appeared to have had a violent blow. The farm men, standing about,
said, that she had no doubt taken her head, and ran foul of something,
and so pitched out Mr. Gould, and overturned the chaise; which seemed
likely enough.
"My father said, he should like to see Mr. Wills, the surgeon; so we
stood about outside till he came. When he did, he looked very grave, as,
indeed, befitted the occasion; but in answer to my father's inquiries,
he said, that he could give no decided opinion of the cause of death
till he had investigated the case further; and then he proceeded to
examine the chaise, and next the horse. He then walked with us down to
the spot where the thing had happened, and narrowly surveyed the ground;
but he was very uncommunicative, which, as we knew him well, rather
surprised us. He hurried away, saying, that he must prepare for the
inquest on the following day.
"My father went to the inquest; and I should have liked to go, too, but
I was engaged to play a match at cricket with a few of my young
neighbours. However, I was home first, for the inquest lasted a long
time, and took a very unexpected turn.
"It appeared that Mr. Wills, who was by marriage a connexion of Gould's
wife, had suspected on the first examination of the body that the farmer
had not come fairly by his end. It so happened that Gould had dined with
him the last day he was at B., and had mentioned to him that he had 'at
last got that seventy pounds that he was afraid he should never see;'
alluding to some money that had been long owing to him; and as he spoke,
he drew from his pocket a bundle of notes, some of which appeared to be
of the Bank of England, and some of country banks. As soon, therefore,
as Wills had arrived at certain conclusions, he inquired of Mrs. Gould
if she had found his money safe.
"In her grief and surprise it had not occurred to her to search--and
indeed she was not aware of his having any sum of importance about him.
They proceeded immediately to examine his pockets, but no notes were
there; a few shillings, a silver watch, and some unconsidered trifles,
were all that was found about him. Mr. Wills made inquiries at the
banker's and others, at B., and by the time the inquest sat he was
prepared to say, that there was every reason to think that Mr. Gould had
had this money in his waistcoat pocket, where he had seen him deposit
it, at the time he left to return home.
"This presented quite a new view of the case to the coroner, who had
come there without the slightest suspicion of anything beyond an
accident. The labourers were examined as to the attitude in which they
had discovered the body, which, they all agreed, was lying on its face;
and indeed there were some stains from the dirt of the road, which
testified to this being the case; yet, according to Mr. Wills, death had
been occasioned by a terrible blow on the back of the head which had
fractured the skull; and which, in his opinion, was inflicted by a heavy
bludgeon. The man's hair was very thick behind; but on dividing it a
wound was visible, from which a small quantity of blood had oozed and
dried up.
"After a long investigation, the inquest was adjourned for a few days in
order that further evidence might be collected. We were all much excited
about this affair; it formed the staple of conversation at our dinner
party, and various were the conjectures formed as to who was the
criminal, if criminal there were; for some thought it possible that
Gould had fallen on his back in the first instance, and then got upon
his legs, and fallen a second time on his face; but Mr. Wills was
confident the death wound was not the result of a fall; and besides,
where was the money? Then all agreed, that if he had been robbed, it was
by no ordinary thief; it must have been by some one who knew the sum he
had in his pocket, and who did not care for the loose silver and the
watch.
"'No doubt,' said my father, 'they will find out if anybody was present
when the money was paid to him, or he may have told somebody of it, as
he told Wills.'
"We had so many things provided for the party, that for two or three
days we wanted nothing of Healy and did not see him; but the servants
having mentioned that they wanted soap for the next week's washing, my
mother sent a note to the cottage, where he always stopt to enquire for
orders, desiring him to bring some on his return, and also a barrel of
beer for the use of the kitchen.
"When I heard the cart coming up the avenue, I went to the back door, to
have a little gossip.
"'Well Healy,' said I, as he rolled in the barrel of beer; have you
heard any news?'
"'No sir,' said he.
"'Nothing about farmer Gould?' I asked.
"'No sir, nothing. Shall I put the beer in the cellar?' he enquired.
"This question being answered, I said, 'Did you meet anybody on the road
that night?'
"'Lord, sir, I meet loads of people as I never take any notice of. I've
enough to do to mind my own business.'
"'You couldn't have been far off when he was attacked--for you know Mr.
Wills says he's been killed by a blow on the back of the head, don't
you?'
"'Well, sir, I've heard so; but how should he know? He wasn't there, I
suppose. Anything else wanted, sir?'
"'I believe not, Healy,' I said; and he got into his cart and drove away
while I went back to the drawing-room.
"'What does Healy say?' asked my father. 'Has he heard anything new
about this affair?'
"'No, he says he hasn't, but he said very little and seemed rather
sulky, I thought.'
"'By the bye, he couldn't have been far off when the thing happened; for
he had only been gone half-an-hour when we recognized the step of poor
Gould's mare I recollect, and she'd soon overtake him.'
"'So I told him; and I asked him if he had met anybody on the road that
night, but he said he'd plenty to do to mind his own business.'
"My father who was reading the paper at the time, looked up at me over
his spectacles; and then fell into a reverie that lasted some minutes,
but he said nothing; my mother observed that she thought Healy ought to
be summoned as a witness; and my father rejoined, that no doubt he'd be
examined.
"On the following day the inquest was resumed; my father went early and
had some private conversation with Mr. Wills and I waited outside
amongst the assembled crowd, listening to their speculations and
conjectures. Presently, the coroner arrived, and I went in with him and
heard the whole of the evidence. That of Mr. Wills, and the labourers
who found the body was the same as before. Then, as my father had
conjectured, Healy was called; his face was familiar to everybody in the
room, and there was not one I should think who was not struck with the
singularly sulky, dogged expression his features had assumed. There was
no manifest reason for it, for he was only summoned like other
witnesses, and no breath of suspicion had been cast upon him; at least,
as far as we had heard. But he evidently came in a spirit of resistance
and wound up for self-defence. He declared that he had not overtaken Mr.
Gould on the night in question, and did not know he was on the road; nor
did he hear anything of what had happened till the next morning. He
believed he had met some tramps on the road that night--two men and a
woman--but he had not particularly noticed them, and he did not
recollect meeting anybody else. He had first heard of the accident at a
shop where he had gone to buy a bat for Master C. When he said this, he
looked up at me and our eyes met. I have often thought of that look
since.
"The next witness was Mr. F., who had paid Gould the seventy pounds in
notes; and then a Mr. H. B., a solicitor, came forward and volunteered
the following evidence, which, he said, he should have given before, but
that he had left home on the afternoon preceding this unfortunate
business, and had only returned yesterday. He was acquainted with Gould;
and had met him at the door of the bank at B----, as he himself was on
his way to the coach that was starting for E. Gould spoke to him, and
said he had just got that seventy pounds; and when he said so, he clapt
his hand on his pocket, implying it was there. He said, 'I came to pay
it in here, but I see they're shut, and it does not signify; I shall
have to pay away a good deal of it next week;' this was all that passed,
as I told him I must be off for I should lose the coach. Upon this, he
was asked if anybody else had been present when Gould made this
communication. He answered, that people had been passing to and fro, but
he could not say whether they heard it. There was one person who he
thought might, though he could not affirm that he did; and that was
Healy, the carrier, who was standing at the door of the tanner's shop,
which is next to the bank, and examining some cricket bats that he had
in his hand. Gould had spoken loud, as was his wont.
"I saw Mr. Wills and my father exchange looks when this evidence was
given, and then for the first time the question occurred to me, could
Healy be the murderer? I could hardly entertain the suspicion--it is so
difficult to believe such a thing of a person one is having constant
intercourse with. Healy was recalled and asked if he remembered seeing
Mr. Gould and the lawyer together on that day. He declared he did not.
"The harness was afterwards produced; and it appeared that the traces
had been cut, which was a strong confirmation of the worst suspicions.
"The inquest was once more adjourned; and Healy plied his trade as usual
for the next two days, though everybody had a strange feeling towards
him; and he retained his dogged, sulky look; on the third night we
missed him. We had expected a parcel from B----, but he did not come;
and the next day we heard he had been arrested on suspicion of being the
murderer of Mr. Gould. A gentleman's servant, who had been out without
leave to some festivity at B----, and had come home and got in at the
pantry window without being discovered, at last came forward, and said,
that as he was going to the rendezvous, he had seen a cart, which he
believed to be Healy's, though it was very dark, drawn right across the
road; the horse was out of the shafts and tied to a gate, for he nearly
ran against him; he did not see any person with the cart, but the driver
might be behind it. It was just where there are some large trees
over-hanging the road, which made it darker than in other parts; and a
person driving would not see the obstruction till he was on it. He
himself, thinking it was Healy, slipt quietly by, for he did not want to
be recognised, as the carrier often came to his master's, and might have
betrayed him. He met a one-horse carriage about a couple of miles
further on; the horse was trotting pretty fast. He thought it was Mr.
Gould, but he could not positively say, as the night was so dark.
"The spot described was precisely where Mr. Gould's body was found; and
the man added, that it struck him when he met the gig, that if the cart
had not moved out of the way, there would be an accident, and he should
have warned the driver to look out, if he had not been upon a lark
himself.
"You may imagine the sensation created by this allegation in the
neighbourhood, where the carrier was so well known. Till the spring
assizes at E----, where he was to be tried, it furnished the staple of
conversation, and every fresh bit of evidence, for or against him, was
eagerly repeated and canvassed. My father was summoned as a witness to
the hour at which Healy had been at our house that night, and also to
the recognising the foot of Mr. Gould's mare. The evidence was entirely
circumstantial, as nobody had witnessed the murder, though murder there
certainly had been; nor was there anybody else to whom suspicion could
attach. As for the tramps Healy said he had met, no trace of them could
be found, nor did anyone appear to have seen such a party.
"When all the evidence had been heard, my father said he felt
considerable doubt what the verdict would be, and he really believed the
jury were greatly perplexed; but when Healy stood up, and in the most
solemn manner said, 'I am innocent, my Lord! I call God to witness, I am
innocent! May this right arm wither if I murdered the man!' So great an
impression was made on the court, that, added to the prisoner's previous
good character, every body saw he would be acquitted.
"He was; Healy went forth a free man, and we were all too glad to
believe in his innocence, to dispute the justice of the verdict; but lo!
the hand of the Lord was on him. He had called upon God to bear witness
to his words; and he did. In three days from that time, Richard Healy's
stalwart right arm was withered! The muscles shrunk; the skin dried up;
and it looked like the limb of a mummy!
"Though a voice from Heaven testified against him, he could not be
arraigned again for the same crime, and he remained at liberty. He
attempted for a short time to carry on his business, but people ceased
to employ him; and his feeble arm could no longer lift the boxes and
hampers with which his cart was wont to be loaded. He went about,
avoided by every one but his own immediate connexions. I often met him,
but he never looked me in the face; indeed, he rarely, if ever, raised
his eyes; his round shoulders grew rounder, till he came to stoop like
an old man. He seemed to move under a heavy burthen that weighed him to
the earth.
"After an interval, however, he bought some property; and in his old
age--for he survived his trial several years--he was in prosperous
circumstances. But everybody said, 'Where did he get the money?'
"We were all deeply interested in this singular story; and in reference
to the withered arm, Colonel C. said, that he should certainly not have
believed it had he not seen it himself.
"I think, said I, that it was not so difficult to account for the
phenomenon as at first appears. Had he been innocent, the solemn
adjuration he uttered in court would have been justifiable in the eyes
of God and man, and would have occasioned him no concern afterwards; but
he was guilty; he had called upon God to bear witness to a lie, and,
doubtless, the consciousness of this sacrilegious appeal filled him with
horror and alarm. He would tremble lest his prayer should be heard and
the curse fall upon him. These terrors would direct all his thoughts to
his arm, and produce the very thing he feared; for Sir Henry Holland
asserts that the mind is capable of acting upon the body to such a
degree, as sometimes to create disease in a particular part on which the
attention is too intently fixed."
ROUND THE FIRE.
FOURTH EVENING.
"The circumstance I am going to mention," said Sir Charles L., "will
appear very insignificant after these interesting narratives, but as it
happened very lately, you'll perhaps think it worth hearing.
"I was living a few months ago in an hotel, the owner of which died
while I was there. He had an apoplectic seizure, and expired shortly
afterwards. A week before this happened, at a time he was supposed to be
in perfect health, an acquaintance of the family called, and without
giving any reason, requested his daughter not to attend a ball she was
engaged to go to. The young lady did not take her advice; but the
visitor confided to another person that she had a particular reason for
her request, which reason was as follows:--
"The night before she called, she and her husband had retired to bed in
a somewhat anxious state of mind respecting a near relative of theirs,
who was very ill, and whom they had been visiting. The husband, however,
soon fell asleep, but the wife lay thinking of the sick person, and the
consequences that would ensue if she died, when her reflections were
interrupted by seeing a bright spot of light suddenly appear upon the
wall--that is, upon the wainscoat of her room. She looked about to see
whence it proceeded; there was no light burning, nor could any be
reflected from the window; as she looked it increased in size, till, at
last, it was as large as the frame of a picture; then there began to
appear in the frame a form, gradually developed, till there was a
perfect head and face, hair and all, distinctly visible.
"Whilst this development was proceeding, she lay, as it were,
transfixed; she wanted to wake her husband, but she could neither speak
nor move; at length she seemed to burst the bonds, and cried to him to
look, but as she spoke, the vision faded, and by the time he was
sufficiently aroused there was nothing to be seen.
"Both he and she interpreted this occurrence into a bad omen for their
sick relative, and augured very ill of her case; but the next morning,
as she was standing in her shop, she saw the hotel keeper pass to
market, and he nodded to her, whereupon she turned to her husband, and
exclaimed--'That's the face I saw last night! Sure nothing can be going
to happen to him!'
"I heard these circumstances from my servant; and the unexpected seizure
and death occurred within a few days."
"When I was at Weimar, about two years ago," said Mademoiselle G., "an
accident occurred that occupied the attention of the whole place, and
which seems to belong to the same class of phenomena as the story just
related. The palace, called the Chateau, in Weimar, is at one end of the
park, and at the other end is another chateau, called the Belvedere;
both are ducal residences, and an avenue runs from the one palace to the
other. Opposite this avenue is the Russian chapel or Greek church--the
present Dowager Duchess being a sister of the Emperor Nicholas--and in
front of this chapel a sentinel is always posted.
"The Grand Duke, Charles Frederick, father of the present sovereign,
was, at the period I allude to, residing at the Belvedere not well in
health, but by no means alarmingly ill, for had that been the case he
would have been brought into Weimar, where etiquette requires that the
sovereign should make his first and last appearance in this world--there
he must be born, and there die, if possible.
"One night the sentinel, who was standing at the entrance of the Russian
chapel, was surprised to see, in the far distance, a long procession
winding its way down the avenue from the Belvedere. As there was no stir
in the town, for the night was far advanced, and as he had not heard of
any solemnity in preparation, the man stared at it in mute wonder, but
his amazement was redoubled when it approached near enough for him to
distinguish the individual objects to perceive that it was a State
funeral, accompanied by the royal mourners, and all the pomp usual at
these ceremonies; the velvet pall bore the initials and arms of the
duke, and following the bier was his favourite and well known horse, led
by one of his attendants. Slowly and mournfully the procession moved on
till it reached the chapel; the doors opened to admit the cortege; it
passed in; and as the doors closed on this mysterious vision the soldier
fell to the ground, where he was found in a state of insensibility when
the guard was relieved.