"Your story," said I, "reminds me of a very interesting letter which I
received soon after the publication of 'The Night side of Nature.' It
was from a clergyman who gave his name, and said he was chaplain to a
nobleman. He related that in a house he inhabited, or had inhabited, a
lady had one evening gone up stairs, and seen, to her amazement, in a
room, the door of which was open, a lady in an antique dress, standing
before a chest of drawers, and apparently examining their contents. She
stood still, wondering who this stranger could be, when the figure
turned her face towards her, and, to her horror, she saw there were no
eyes. Other members of the family saw the same apparition also. I
believe there were further particulars; but I unfortunately lost this
letter, with some others, in the confusion of changing my residence.
"The absence of eyes I take to be emblematical of moral blindness; for
in the world of spirits there is no deceiving each other by false
seemings; as we are, so we appear."
"Then," said Mrs. W. C., "the apparition--if it was an apparition--that
two of my servants saw lately, must be in a very degraded state.
"There is a road, and on one side of it a path, just beyond my garden
wall. Not long ago two of my servants were in the dusk of the evening
walking up this path, when they saw a large, dark object coming towards
them. At first, they thought it was an animal; and when it got close,
one of them stretched out her hand to touch it; but she could feel
nothing, and it passed on between her and the garden wall, although
there was _no space_, the path being only wide enough for two; and on
looking back, they saw it walking down the hill behind them. Three men
were coming up on the path; and as the thing approached, they jumped off
into the road.
"'Good heavens, what is that!' cried the women.
"'I don't know,' replied the men; 'I never saw such a thing as that
before.'
"The women came home greatly agitated; and we have since heard there is
a tradition that the spot is haunted by the ghost of a man who was
killed in a quarry close by."
"I have travelled a great deal," said our next speaker, the Chevalier de
La C. G.; and, certainly, I have never been in any country where
instances of these spiritual appearances were not adduced on apparently
credible authority. I have heard numerous stories of the sort, but the
one that most readily occurs to me at present, was told to me not long
ago, in Paris, by Count P.--the nephew of the celebrated Count P. whose
name occurs in the history of the remarkable incidents connected with
the death of the Emperor Paul.
"Count P., my authority for the following story, was attached to the
Russian embassy; and he told me, one evening, when the conversation
turned on the inconveniences of travelling in the East of Europe, that,
on one occasion, when in Poland, he found himself about seven o'clock in
an autumn evening on a forest road, where there was no possibility of
finding a house of public entertainment within many miles. There was a
frightful storm; the road, not good at the best, was almost
impracticable from the weather, and his horses were completely knocked
up. On consulting his people what was best to be done, they said, that
to go back was as impossible as to go forward; but that by turning a
little out of the main road, they should soon reach a castle where
possibly shelter might be procured for the night. The count gladly
consented, and it was not long before they found themselves at the gate
of what appeared a building on a very splendid scale. The courier
quickly alighted and rang at the bell, and while waiting for admission,
he enquired who the castle belonged to, and was told that it was Count
X's.
"It was some time before the bell was answered, but at length an elderly
man appeared at a wicket, with a lantern, and peeped out. On perceiving
the equipage, he came forward and stept up to the carriage, holding the
light aloft to discover who was inside. Count P. handed him his card,
and explained his distress.
"'There is no one here, my lord,' replied the man, 'but myself and my
family; the castle is not inhabited.'
"'That's bad news,' said the count; 'but nevertheless, you can give me
what I am most in need of, and that is--shelter for the night.'
"'Willingly,' said the man, 'if your lordship will put up with such
accommodation as we can hastily prepare.'
"'So,' said the count, 'I alighted and walked in; and the old man
unbarred the great gates to admit my carriages and people. We found
ourselves in an immense _couer_, with the castle _en face_, and stables
and offices on each side. As we had a _fourgon_ with us, with provender
for the cattle and provisions for ourselves, we wanted nothing but beds
and a good fire; and as the only one lighted was in the old man's
apartments, he first took us there. They consisted of a _suite_ of small
rooms in the left wing, that had probably been formerly occupied by the
upper servants. They were comfortably furnished, and he and his large
family appeared to be very well lodged. Besides the wife, there were
three sons, with their wives and children, and two nieces; and in a part
of the offices, where I saw a light, I was told there were labourers and
women servants, for it was a valuable estate, with a fine forest, and
the sons acted as _gardes chasse_.
"'Is there much game in the forest?' I asked.
"'A great deal of all sorts,' they answered.
"'Then I suppose during the season the family live here?'
"'Never,' they replied. 'None of the family ever reside here.'
"'Indeed!' I said; how is that? It seems a very fine place.'
"'Superb,' answered the wife of the custodian; 'but the castle is
haunted.'
"She said this with a simple gravity that made me laugh; upon which they
all stared at me with the most edifying amazement.
"'I beg your pardon,' I said; 'but you know, perhaps, in great cities,
such as I usually inhabit, there are no ghosts.'
"'Indeed!' said they. 'No ghosts!'
"'At least,' I said, 'I never heard of any; and we don't believe in such
things.'
"They looked at each other with surprise, but said nothing; not
appearing to have any desire to convince me. 'But do you mean to say,'
said I, 'that that is the reason the family don't live here, and that
the castle is abandoned on that account?'
"'Yes,' they replied, 'that is the reason nobody has resided here for
many years.'
"'But how can you live here then?'
"'We are never troubled in this part of the building,' said she. 'We
hear noises, but we are used to that.'
"'Well, if there is a ghost, I hope I shall see it,' said I.
"'God forbid!' said the woman, crossing herself. 'But we shall guard
against that; your seigneurie will sleep not far from this, where you
will be quite safe.'
"'Oh! but,' said I, 'I am quite serious, if there is a ghost, I should
particularly like to see him, and I should be much obliged to you to put
me in the apartments he most frequents.'
"They opposed this proposition earnestly, and begged me not to think of
if; besides, they said if any thing was to happen to my lord, how should
they answer for it; but as I insisted, the women went to call the
members of the family who were lighting fires and preparing beds in some
rooms on the same floor as they occupied themselves. When they came they
were as earnest against the indulgence of my wishes as the women had
been. Still I insisted.
"'Are you afraid,' I said, 'to go yourselves in the haunted chambers?'
"'No,' they answered. 'We are the custodians of the castle and have to
keep the rooms clean and well aired lest the furniture be spoiled--my
lord talks always of removing it, but it has never been removed
yet--but we would not sleep up there for all the world.'
"'Then it is the upper floors that are haunted?'
"'Yes, especially the long room, no one could pass a night there; the
last that did is in a lunatic asylum now at Warsaw,' said the custodian.
"'What happened to him?'
"'I don't know,' said the man; 'he was never able to tell.'
"'Who was he?' I asked.
"'He was a lawyer. My lord did business with him; and one day he was
speaking of this place, and saying that it was a pity he was not at
liberty to pull it down and sell the materials; but he cannot, because
it is family property and goes with the title; and the lawyer said he
wished it was his, and that no ghost should keep him out of it. My lord
said that it was easy for any one to say that who knew nothing about it,
and that he must suppose the family had not abandoned such a fine place
without good reasons. But the lawyer said it was some trick, and that it
was coiners, or robbers, who had got a footing in the castle, and
contrived to frighten people away that they might keep it to themselves;
so my lord said if he could prove that he should be very much obliged to
him, and more than that, he would give him a great sum--I don't know how
much. So the lawyer said, he would; and my lord wrote to me that he was
coming to inspect the property, and I was to let him do any thing he
liked.
"'Well, he came, and with him his son, a fine young man and a soldier.
They asked me all sorts of questions, and went over the castle and
examined every part of it. From what they said, I could see that they
thought the ghost was all nonsense, and that I and my family were in
collusion with the robbers or coiners. However, I did not care for that,
my lord knew that the castle had been haunted before I was born.
"'I had prepared rooms on this floor for them--the same I am preparing
for your lordship, and they slept there, keeping the keys of the upper
rooms to themselves, so I did not interfere with them. But one morning,
very early, we were awakened by some one knocking at our bedroom door,
and when we opened it, we saw Mr. Thaddeus--that was the lawyer's
son--standing there half-drest and as pale as a ghost; and he said his
father was very ill and he begged us to go to him; to our surprise he
led us up stairs to the haunted chamber, and there we found the poor
gentleman speechless, and we thought they had gone up there early and
that he had had a stroke. But it was not so; Mr. Thaddeus said, that
after we were all in bed, they had gone up there to pass the night. I
know they thought that there was no ghost but us, and that's why they
would not let us know their intention. They laid down upon some sofas,
wrapt up in their fur cloaks, and resolved to keep awake, and they did
so for some time, but at last the young man was overcome by drowsiness,
he struggled against it, but could not conquer it, and the last thing he
recollects was his father shaking him and saying 'Thaddeus, Thaddeus,
for God's sake keep awake!' But he could not, and he knew no more till
he woke and saw that day was breaking, and found his father sitting in a
corner of the room speechless, and looking like a corpse; and there he
was when we went up. The young man thought he'd been taken ill or had a
stroke, as we supposed at first; but when we found they had passed the
night in the haunted chambers, we had no doubt what had happened--he had
seen some terrible sight and so lost his senses.'
"'He lost his senses, I should say, from terror when his son fell
asleep,' said I, 'and he felt himself alone. He could have been a man of
no nerve. At all events, what you tell me raises my curiosity. Will you
take me up stairs and shew me those rooms?'
"'Willingly,' said the man, and fetching a bunch of keys and a light,
and calling one of his sons to follow him with another, he led the way
up the great staircase to a suite of apartments on the first floor. The
rooms were lofty and large, and the man said the furniture was very
handsome, but old. Being all covered with canvas cases, I could not
judge of it. 'Which is the long room?' I said.
"Upon which he led me into a long narrow room that might rather have
been called a gallery. There were sofas along each side, something like
a dais at the upper end; and several large pictures hanging on the
walls.
"I had with me a bull dog, of a very fine breed, that had been given me
in England by Lord F. She had followed me up stairs--indeed, she
followed me every where--and I watched her narrowly as she went smelling
about, but there were no indications of her perceiving any thing
extraordinary. Beyond this gallery there was only a small octagon room,
with a door that led out upon another staircase. When I had examined it
all thoroughly, I returned to the long room and told the man, as that
was the place especially frequented by the ghost, I should feel much
obliged if he would allow me to pass the night there. I could take upon
myself to say that Count X., would have no objection.
"'It is not that,' replied the man; 'but the danger to your lordship,'
and he conjured me not to insist on such a perilous experiment.
"When he found I was resolved, he gave way, but on condition that I
signed a paper, stating that in spite of his representations I had
determined to sleep in the long room.
"I confess, the more anxious these people seemed to prevent my sleeping
there, the more curious I was; not that I believed in the ghost the
least in the world. I thought that the lawyer had been right in his
conjecture, but that he hadn't nerve enough to investigate whatever he
saw or heard; and that they had succeeded in frightening him out of his
senses. I saw what an excellent place these people had got, and how much
it was their interest to maintain the idea that the castle was
uninhabitable. Now, I have pretty good nerves--I have been in situations
that have tried them severely--and I did not believe that any ghost, if
there was such a thing, or any jugglery by which a semblance of one
might be contrived, would shake them. As for any real danger, I did not
apprehend it; the people knew who I was, and any mischief happening to
me would have led to consequences they well understood. So they lighted
fires in both the grates of the gallery, and as they had abundance of
dry wood, they soon blazed up. I was determined not to leave the room
after I was once in it, lest, if my suspicions were correct, they might
have time to make their arrangements; so I desired my people to bring up
my supper, and I ate it there.
"My courier said he had always heard the castle was haunted, but he
dare say there was no ghost but the people below, who had a very
comfortable berth of it; and he offered to pass the night with me, but I
declined any companion and preferred trusting to myself and my dog. My
valet, on the contrary, strongly advised me against the enterprize,
assuring me that he had lived with a family in France whose chateau was
haunted, and had left his place in consequence.
"By the time I had finished my supper it was ten o'clock, and every
thing was prepared for the night. My bed, though an impromptu, was very
comfortable, made of amply stuffed cushions and thick coverlets, placed
in front of the fire. I was provided with light and plenty of wood; and
I had my regimental cutlass, and a case of excellent pistols, which I
carefully primed and loaded in presence of the custodian, saying, you
see I am determined to fire at the ghost, so if he cannot stand a
bullet, he had better not pay me a visit.
"The old man shook his head calmly, but made no answer. Having desired
the courier, who said he should not go to bed, to come up stairs
immediately if he heard the report of fire-arms, I dismissed my people
and locked the doors, barricading each with a heavy ottoman besides.
There was no arras or hangings of any sort behind which a door could be
concealed; and I went round the room, the walls of which were pannelled
with white and gold, knocking every part, but neither the sound, nor
Dido, the dog, gave any indications of there being anything unusual.
Then I undressed and lay down with my sword and my pistols beside me;
and Dido at the foot of my bed, where she always slept.
"I confess I was in a state of pleasing excitement; my curiosity and my
love of adventure were roused; and whether it was ghost, or robber, or
coiner, I was to have a visit from, the interview was likely to be
equally interesting. It was half-past ten when I lay down; my
expectations were too vivid to admit of sleep; and after an attempt at a
French novel, I was obliged to give it up; I could not fix my attention
to it. Besides, my chief care was not to be surprised. I could not help
thinking the custodian and his family had some secret way of getting
into the room, and I hoped to detect them in the fact; so I lay with my
eyes and ears open in a position that gave me a view of every part of
it, till my travelling clock struck twelve, which being pre-eminently
the ghostly hour, I thought the critical moment was arrived. But no, no
sound, no interruption of any sort to the silence and solitude of the
night occurred. When half-past twelve, and one struck, I pretty well
made up my mind that I should be disappointed in my expectations, and
that the ghost, whoever he was, knew better than to encounter Dido and a
brace of well charged pistols; but just as I arrived at this conclusion,
an unaccountable _frisson_ came over me, and I saw Dido, who tired with
her day's journey, had lain till now quietly curled up asleep, begin to
move, and slowly get upon her feet. I thought she was only going to
turn, but, instead of lying down, she stood still with her ears erect
and her head towards the dais, uttering a low growl.
"The dais, I should mention, was but the skeleton of a dais, for the
draperies were taken off. There was only remaining a canopy covered with
crimson velvet, and an arm chair covered with velvet too, but cased in
canvas like the rest of the furniture. I had examined this part of the
room thoroughly, and had moved the chair aside to ascertain that there
was nothing under it.
"Well, I sat up in bed and looked steadily in the same direction as the
dog, but I could see nothing at first, though it appeared that she did;
but as I looked, I began to perceive something like a cloud in the
chair, while at the same time a chill which seemed to pervade the very
marrow in my bones crept through me, yet the fire was good; and it was
not the chill of fear, for I cocked my pistols with perfect self
possession and abstained from giving Dido the signal to advance, because
I wished eagerly to see the denouement of the adventure.
"Gradually, this cloud took a form, and assumed the shape of a tall
white figure that reached from the ceiling to the floor of the dais,
which was raised by two steps. At him, Dido! At him! I said, and away
she dashed to the steps, but instantly turned and crept back completely
cowed. As her courage was undoubted, I own this astonished me, and I
should have fired, but that I was perfectly satisfied that what I saw
was not a substantial human form, for I had seen it grow into its
present shape and height from the undefined cloud that first appeared
in the chair. I laid my hand on the dog who had crept up to my side, and
I felt her shaking in her skin. I was about to rise myself and approach
the figure, though I confess I was a good deal awe struck, when it
stepped majestically from the dais, and seemed to be advancing. 'At
him!' I said, 'At him, Dido!' and I gave the dog every encouragement to
go forward; she made a sorry attempt, but returned when she had got half
way and crouched beside me whining with terror. The figure advanced upon
me; the cold became icy; the dog crouched and trembled; and I, as it
approached, honestly confess, said Count P., that I hid my head under
the bed clothes and did not venture to look up till morning. I know not
what it was--as it passed over me I felt a sensation of undefinable
horror, that no words can describe--and I can only say that nothing on
earth would tempt me to pass another night in that room, and I am sure
if Dido could speak, you'd find her of the same opinion.
"I had desired to be called at seven o'clock, and when the custodian,
who accompanied my valet, found me safe and in my perfect senses, I
must say the poor man appeared greatly relieved; and when I descended
the whole family seemed to look upon me as a hero. I thought it only
just to them to admit that something had happened in the night that I
felt impossible to account for, and that I should not recommend any body
who was not very sure of their nerves to repeat the experiment."
When the Chevalier had concluded this extraordinary story, I suggested
that the apparition of the castle very much resembled that mentioned by
the late professor Gregory, in his letters on mesmerism, as having
appeared in the Tower of London some years ago, and from the alarm it
created, having occasioned the death of a lady, the wife of an officer
quartered there, and one of the sentries. Every one who had read that
very interesting publication was struck by the resemblance.
ROUND THE FIRE.
EIGHTH EVENING.
"As this was our last evening, I was called upon for a story; but I
pleaded that I had told all mine in the 'Night Side of Nature,' and of
personal experience I had very little to tell; but I said I will give
you the history of a visit I made several years ago to a haunted house
although it resulted in almost nothing.
"After the publication of the 'Night Side,' I received many valuable
communications--I wish I had kept a note of them all, but I never
expected to publish again on the same subject. Amongst others, I
received a letter from a gentleman called Mc. N., and as it contained
several interesting particulars, I requested him to call on me. I
remember, in the letter, he told me that a few years previously, he had
been on an excursion from home, and that while stopping at an inn, one
morning, about five o'clock, the door opened and his father entered; he
came to the bedside, looked at him, and then went out again. The young
man sprang from his bed, and followed him down stairs, where he lost
sight of him. He returned home, and found his father had died on that
morning.
"He was in a lawyer's office, and, amongst other things, he mentioned to
me that there was not very far off a house said to be haunted, of which
they had the charge, but that it was impossible to do anything with it.
'We offer it at a mere nominal rent, but no one will stay there.'
"I was often absent from home at this time, but for the next two or
three years I sometimes met him and inquired about the house. The report
was always the same; till, at length, no one would go into it; it was
shut up--the shutters were closed, and the boys of the neighbourhood
threw stones at the windows and broke the glass. Yet it was situated in
a street where every other house was inhabited, and which had not been
built many years.
"It was as much as six or seven years after I had first heard of this
house, that I happened to mention the circumstance to some gentlemen of
my acquaintance--very eminent men, with honest, inquiring minds; truth
seekers, who, if she were in the bottom of a well, would have thought it
right to go after her. As they had humility enough to feel that they
could not pronounce upon a question that they had never studied or
investigated, they expressed a wish to visit the house. Accordingly, I
applied to Mr. Mc. N., who had the keys in his office, and he obligingly
consented to accompany us. Our expedition was to be kept a profound
secret; and it was so, till some time afterwards, when, like most other
secrets, it got wind and it spread abroad.
"We started in a carriage, between eleven and twelve o'clock at night,
taking with us a young girl who was easily mesmerised, and when in that
state a good clairvoyante. She was not told the object of our journey,
and had no means whatever of learning it. We said we were going to look
at a house, and that that was the most convenient time for the gentleman
to show it us. We did not drive to the door, but Mr. Mc. N. met us in
the next street, where we alighted, lest we should attract observation.
We walked to our destination, and Mr. Mc. N. explained to the policeman
on duty who he was and where we were going, lest he should suspect
mischief, and interrupt us. He then unlocked the door with the aid of
the policeman's lantern, for it was a dark winter's night; and on
entering, we found ourselves in a narrow passage.
"It was a small house, in no respect different from the others in the
street. They seemed all of the same description. A narrow frontage, with
one window and the door, on the ground floor; two windows above; two
rooms on a floor, three stories in height, and a kitchen, scullery, and
cellars underground.