THE ALARM AT THE INN.—BED-CHAMBER TERRORS.—A NIGHT SCENE.—A MORNING
SUCCEEDING TO A NIGHT OF ADVENTURE.
The inmates of the inn are all fast bound in sleep. The senses of all
seem steeped in deep forgetfulness; even the hour of dreams was passed.
The storm, which had raged so violently in the early part of the
evening, and which had appeared to have gone and a calm succeeded, had
returned, and the fury of the blast was only equalled by the deluging
rain and the fearful rumbling of the thunder.
But calmly slept the beautiful and innocent Mary Stevens. She was
young, and her mind bore no weight of care; when she slept no dreams
disturbed her rest, but a calm, death-like sleep sat upon her soul, and
steeped it in forgetfulness.
The storm raged around, but she heard it not; she was unconscious of
it. Perhaps the disturbance and fatigues of the previous day caused a
greater degree of depth to her insensibility, and rendered her mind
less liable to slight interruptions. But she slept soundly, and even
did not hear the intruder who walked across the floor of her bedroom,
and stood gazing on her fair arms as she lay sleeping.
The intruder was a tall man, enveloped in some strange mantle, all
white. He stooped over her, as if he listened to the beating of her
heart, while his strangely bright eyes, which shone fearfully, appeared
to express a horrible kind of joy, too terrible for human nature to
contemplate.
He stooped—he placed his hand upon her heart, and felt its pulsations,
and a terrible and ghastly smile passed over his features, while a
movement of the lips and mouth generally, appeared as if anticipatory
of a coming meal.
Then he took the white arm in his hands, and cast a longing look at
the features of the maiden, who appeared disturbed by the rude action,
and moved in her sleep, and was suddenly aroused from her slumber by a
severe pang in her arm, as though some creature had plunged its fangs
into her flesh.
She started up, and found herself flung upon the bed with gigantic
strength. She screamed, and uttered scream upon scream.
The old inn was filled with sounds of terror and pain. There was a loud
knocking heard at the door. Then, indeed, the assailant left his prey
to provide for his own safety; but it was almost too late, for the
door was burst open violently, as he made for another means of exit,
which was the means by which he had entered the apartment; but he was
prevented, and, as the first person entered the apartment, he threw him
down by placing something in his way. The light was thrown against some
furniture, which immediately rose up into a flame.
“Help! help! Fire! fire!”
These were fearful sounds, such as had never before been heard in that
place, and the inmates, woke up by the screams from deep slumber, were
startled and terrified at these sounds, and springing at once from
their beds, echoed the sounds as they run wildly about from place to
place.
“Where is the fire? What’s the matter?”
“Fire in the young lady’s room.”
All eyes were directed to that quarter, and in another instant there
were several persons rushing to the room, the glare of the fire in
which at once attracted their observation, and they rushed to the
rescue; among the foremost of whom was Sir Francis Varney, whose
bedchamber was not far distant from Mary Steven’s. He rushed to the
bed, and wrapping the bed-clothes round her, he carried her out of
the room and the scene of danger, and, as he came out of the room, he
inquired,—
[Illustration: Sir Francis Varney carries the girl from the fire.]
“Where is Captain Fraser?”
“Here—here I am, Sir Francis,” said the captain, coming hastily forward.
“Then, Captain, Fraser, I resign my charge up to you—you are her
proper protector; but I must apologise for my hasty intrusion into her
apartment.”
“Do not think of speaking in that manner, Sir Francis; we are already
indebted to you for our lives, and now we are again your debtor. Your
ready aid has twice saved the young lady.”
Captain Fraser took Miss Stevens from Sir Francis, and then carried
her, as she was quite insensible, to his own room to his wife, her
sister, where she was laid upon the bed, and found to be quite
insensible.
There was much confusion in the inn—people were running about from
place to place, and tumbling over each other in the confusion of
thought; and the moments were precious, for many were running about,
yet none did effective service, though all were willing enough to do
all that could be done by them under the circumstances.
“You had better get some water,” said Varney, “as quickly as you can.
It is useless to run about and stare at each other. Get all the buckets
you can. Be quick about it. There may yet be time enough to save the
inn, and keep the fire to the room where it is; but that time will soon
be at an end.”
Instantly two or three of the men ran down and got a plentiful supply
of water, and then, under the direction of Sir Francis Varney, the fire
was very soon got under, and the flames were extinguished.
Then came an inquiry how the fire had first appeared.
“Do you know how it happened?” inquired Sir Francis Varney, of the
innkeeper, who stood quite mute with astonishment at the scene before
him.
“Know, sir!” said the innkeeper. “I don’t know anything. I don’t know
myself. I don’t even know where I am, or what’s the matter.”
“Then I beg to tell you, sir,” said Varney, with much suavity of
manner, “then I beg to tell you, sir, that there has been a fire in
your inn—a young lady frightened out of her senses, and I know not the
cause.”
“No more don’t I,” said the landlord, with a short grunt, indicative of
wonderment and alarm. “I wish I did. I wonder who set the place a-fire;
that’s what I wants to know, and why he did it.”
“The motive was not a bad one, I believe.”
“Not a bad motive, that which causes one man to set fire to and destroy
another man’s property!”
“Not when it is not only not done with any evil intention, but it was
not even done wilfully,” said Sir Francis.
“Perhaps you saw it done,” said the landlord, with another grunt.
“I did,” replied Varney; “hearing the disturbance, I hastily threw on
some of my clothes, and ran out of my apartment to ascertain what was
the matter, and found several others had got here before me, and had
burst open the door. The first who entered, had a light in his hand,
and fell with it, setting the place on fire, which burned furiously for
a minute or more, the hangings being dry and old. I took the young lady
out, else I am sure she must have perished.”
“Well, I saw you come out with her in your arms, like a salamander; but
what I most want to know is, what was it that disturbed my customer?
That is of the greatest consequence to me.”
“You are perfectly right, my friend,” said Sir Francis, with much
composure, “to make that inquiry, that being the origin of all that
subsequently took place. You are a man of discernment, and must see
that the young lady herself can alone give us any account of that.”
“True, sir; but I am much obliged to you for the trouble you have
taken, not only for the young lady’s sake, but for the property you
have prevented being destroyed. You have, no doubt, saved the inn, and
all it contains.”
“That is enough, sir,” said Varney, waving his hand, “you have said
enough. I am glad I have rendered you a service, and that it has been
effectual.”
“It has been just the thing,” said the landlord.
“Then take my advice. See the place is secure, and send all persons to
bed, save, perhaps, a single individual, who might be set to watch the
room which has been on fire, and which may have some slumbering spark
in it, though I think not; but the quieter the place is, the sooner the
young lady’s alarm will be over, and then all will be well.”
“Certainly, certainly,” said the landlord, “it will be better to do so;
but here is the only gentleman who can tell us how the young lady is.”
Sir Francis Varney turned round, and beheld Captain Fraser coming
towards them with a very grave aspect.
“Captain Fraser,” said Sir Francis, “perhaps you can tell us what we
are so very anxious to learn, and what we have been inquiring about.”
“What may that be, Sir Francis?”
“We have been trying to learn what it is that caused the young lady to
scream out in such a fearful manner. We have settled the cause of the
fire—that has been manifest enough to us all.”
“Indeed! I am not acquainted with it.”
“It arose from the first person who entered her apartment after the
door was burst open, falling over something, and setting fire to the
curtains, which blazed up in an instant, and set the whole room on
fire.”
“Indeed!” said Captain Fraser, almost incredulously.
“Yes, I saw that myself,” said Varney, “and I stepped over him as he
lay on the ground, and therefore know it; but how is the young lady?
Has she recovered from the extreme fright into which she has been
thrown?”
“It is a much more serious affair than I had any notion of, Sir
Francis.”
“I am concerned to hear you say so.”
“Shall I send for the doctor?” inquired the landlord.
“Do—that is what I came to ask you to do; she has recovered once, and
has fainted again. I know not what to think. She has a singular wound
in her arm. I can’t understand that, at all events.”
“I did not see it when I took hold of her; though, to be sure, what
I did, was done in smoke and flame, and I could not be supposed to
scrutinize very closely, had I been so inclined; but what kind of wound
is it?”
“I can hardly describe it to you, save it is a bite; and there are
teeth-marks plain enough to be seen; though we have no means of telling
what kind of creature it was that inflicted the wounds.”
“Indeed! I am concerned, for the effect upon the imagination will be
very bad; but did she not see, or fancy she saw the object that injured
her?”
“It was dark, and the storm raged without; moreover, she was held down
by a powerful grasp; and when she attempted to rise, she was flung
down, and she could feel the blunted teeth enter her flesh, and the
creature appeared to suck her blood.”
“Dear me,” said Sir Francis, “what a very strange affair! It is
fortunate I was obliged to retire early, and I slept the lighter, and
was therefore easily aroused from my sleep; but I am proverbially a
light sleeper.”
“Are you, sir? But what has caused the wound in her arm I cannot tell;
it is quite a mystery. She has got a fancy into her mind that it was a
human being; but that could not have been the fact.”
“I should imagine not,” said Sir Francis.
“And then, I know of no animal who could commit such an act; a cat
or a dog could not have done it, though a dog might have made the
teeth-marks; but a dog would hardly have attempted to suck blood.”
“They will do it,” said Sir Francis, “that I know to be a fact; and
I believe it to be one that is generally admitted by all persons,
especially that breed of animals mostly kept, and which have something
of the bull-dog in them.”
“It may be so; but how could she be held down by one of them? She could
not be struck down when she attempted to rise.”
“It is not for me to combat the young lady’s opinions; but, remember,
my dear sir, how terrified, not to say how horrified, she must have
been at such an unusual, and, I may add, unheard-of an attack; if you
consider such things, and the improbability—not to say what appears
to me, the impossibility—you will see plenty of room for mistakes to
arise, and give her notions a wrong turn.”
“That is very true.”
“And besides, I would, if I were convinced of the contrary, endeavour
to persuade her of her mistake, unless you can discover the perpetrator
of the outrage, when justice demands that such a savage should be
severely punished.”
“By G—d! Sir Francis,” said the captain, “if I could see him, I would
shoot the scoundrel! But, then, I am getting angry without a cause; it
may not be what she thinks, and then, you know, all one’s anger goes
for nothing.”
“So it does; but, in the meantime, great care and attention is
requisite to regain her confidence and serenity of mind.”
“Oh, a day or two will make a great difference in these matters, when
we come to change the scene.”
“Are you travelling far, Captain Fraser?”
“As far as Bath,” said the captain.
At this moment the landlord returned, saying to Captain Fraser,—
“I have sent to Mr. Carter, who will be here, no doubt; he is close at
hand, and will come in a moment. He’s a very clever gentleman, is Mr.
Carter. I saw him perform four operations on coach accidents.”
“Operations on coach accidents!” said Sir Francis Varney; “a curious
matter, that. How did they succeed upon such materials?”
“Oh, they were two broken arms, and three broken legs.”
“Indeed! Did they all recover?”
“No; only one got over it.”
“Upon my word, a promising member of the faculty to entrust so tender a
charge to, under such delicate circumstances. But, landlord, have you
any bad characters about your house, or in the neighbourhood?”
“I can’t say anything about the neighbourhood, though I believe it is
as quiet and orderly as can be, or usually is. I never hear anything
against it, and know nothing against it; and as for them in the house,
I can answer they would not hurt a fly, unless provoked to do so; but
what I mean is, they are all honest and tried servants.”
“Well, that is saying a good deal,” said Captain Fraser; “but, have you
any dogs about the house—I mean, any large dogs?”
“Ah! dogs! Yes, I have several dogs, and good dogs they are, too.”
“Could any of them get into the rooms—the sleeping-rooms? I mean, could
any of them get into the room that has taken fire?”
“No, unless the door was opened,” said the landlord. “They are not
allowed to run about loose here, lest any one should get up in the
night and be mistaken for intruders; for my dogs, gentlemen, would take
any one they saw moving about outside of a night; but, otherwise, they
are quiet, well-conducted dogs.”
“Well, you mean to say they could not have got into Miss Stevens’s
room.”
“I do; I am sure of it. They could not, because there were none of
them about the house when we went to bed—when the house was shut up at
night. However, here is the doctor.”
The medical man now arrived, and was forthwith introduced to Captain
Fraser, who conducted him to the apartment in which Mrs. Fraser and
Miss Stevens were awaiting the coming of the doctor. Captain Fraser,
after having introduced him to the invalid, returned to the landlord
and Sir Francis.
“Well, I cannot make it out at all,” said Sir Francis. “There must
be some mystery in it, I am persuaded; and if that could only be
discovered, the matter would lose half its terrors to the mind of the
young lady.”
“No doubt it would do so,” said the captain. “The fire and her wound
together, have made a deep impression upon her.”
“The wound!” said the landlord. “Is the young lady hurt, then?”
“Hurt, indeed! she is seriously hurt. She has received a severe wound
in the arm, by some one, or some dog having seized and bitten her
seriously.”
“God bless me!” said the landlord; “I never heard of such a thing.
Somebody began to eat her, I suppose. Upon my word, it would almost
make one believe we are in the Cannibal Islands, to say the least of
it.”
“Here is the surgeon,” said Sir Francis, who noticed that gentleman’s
approach.
“Well, sir,” said Captain Fraser, “how is your patient?”
“I fear she is much terrified; and if she were to remain here long, I
should hardly like to answer for her health. She has received a very
severe shock.”
“Her wound—what think you of that, sir?”
“I really can’t say anything about it, save that it is a bite; but
how inflicted I cannot say. It is very mysterious, indeed; very
strange! But, what I look upon as most important in the affair, is
the impression it has produced upon her mind; that, you see, may last
her all her life, and produce very unfortunate consequences. I do
not know that it will be so, but I state what there is a possibility
of—or, I may, more correctly speaking, add,—of what there is a great
probability.”
“I regret to hear you say so,” said Sir Francis Varney. “Do you really
imagine the young lady has been bitten by any animal?”
“Yes, I do; there are evidences enough to prove that. There is the
wound in her arm, and the marks of the teeth quite plain; and she
suffers from the anguish of it much; but I shall be better able to say
more about it early in the morning, when I call again to see her.”
“She will be able to travel, I hope?”
“Oh, yes, she will be able to do that; indeed, I would recommend
she should try to do so, as the best means of throwing off all the
unpleasant feelings and thoughts upon the occasion.”
“Will you call early to-morrow?”
“I will,” said the doctor; and then he bade them good evening, and left.
“Well,” said the landlord, “I’m amazed at what the doctor says about
the young lady. I’m sorry it should have happened in my house; but I
hope something will turn up to make it turn out different.”
“That I’m afraid is not possible, seeing you have a clear demonstration
of what it is now; the mischief has been done.”
“I am the more sorry,” said the landlord, “that it is likely to prey
upon the young lady’s feelings, which are to be considered in the
case.”
“Certainly, certainly; there is where the mischief is likely to spring
from.”
“However, it is of no use to stand here all night—it is cold. I must
get an hour or two’s sleep before I get to business in the morning.”
“I think so too,” said Captain Fraser; “well, I will bid you good
night, Sir Francis, and shall expect you in the morning to breakfast.”
“With pleasure,” replied Varney; and they all parted, each going to his
own dormitory, to sleep or to think over the events of the night, as
best they might.