THE LOCKS' GHOST.
There was general curiosity in Davy's Bend with reference to the new
occupant of The Locks, and when the people had exhausted themselves in
denouncing their own town more than _it_ deserved, and in praising Ben's
City more than it deserved, they began on Allan Dorris, and made him the
subject of their gossip.
Whoever was bold enough to invent new theories with reference to him,
and express them, was sure of a welcome at any of the houses where the
speculation concerning his previous history went on from day to day;
and, this becoming generally known, there was no lack of fresh material
for idle tongues. Whenever he walked into the town, he knew that the
stores turned out their crowds to look at him, and that in passing the
residences which were occupied, the windows were filled with curious
eyes. But although there were a hundred theories with reference to him,
it was only positively known that he one day appeared at his gate, two
months after his arrival, and tacked up a little sign on which was
inscribed in gold letters:
DR. DORRIS.
This curiosity of the people brought Dr. Dorris a great deal of
business, for many of them were willing to pay for the privilege of
seeing him, and he applied himself to practice with such energy that he
was soon in general demand. As the people knew more of him, their
curiosity became admiration; and many of them defended him from
imaginary charges as warmly as did Mrs. Wedge, for there was every
reason that the people should admire him, except that he had located at
Davy's Bend.
That he was skilful and experienced as a physician became apparent at
once, and it was therefore generally believed that he was only there
temporarily; for certainly no one who was really capable would consent
to remain long in Davy's Bend.
His heart was not in his work; this was a part of the gossip concerning
him, though it is difficult to imagine how the idea originated; for he
appeared to be pleased when he was called out at night, as though the
companionship of even those in distress suited him better than the
solitude of his own house; but though he was always trying to be
cheerful, he could not disguise the fact that his mind was busy with
matters outside of his work. Perhaps this was the excuse of the people
for saying that his heart was not in his work, and the charge may have
been true. While busy, he gave whatever was in hand careful and
intelligent attention, but as soon as he was idle again, he forgot his
surroundings, and permitted his mind to wander--nobody knew where. When
addressed, he good-naturedly remembered that he was in Davy's Bend, and
at the service of its people, and did whatever was expected of him with
so much gentleness and ability that he won all hearts. This was his
brief history during the summer following his arrival, except as shall
be related hereafter.
The sun, which had been struggling for mastery over the mist and the
fog, had triumphed after a fashion, and the pleasanter weather, and his
business, served to make him more cheerful than he had been; and had he
cared to think about such matters, the conviction would no doubt have
forced itself upon his mind that he was doing well, and that he had
every reason to feel contented, though he was not.
Still there were times when he was lonely in spite of his rather busy
life, and nights when he sent for Mrs. Wedge and Betty to keep him
company; for there were strange sounds through his house, when the
summer air was still and oppressive, and the doors and windows rattled
in the most unaccountable manner.
Thus it came about that they were with him one night long after their
usual time to retire, Dorris being particularly nervous and restless,
and having asked them to come up to his room rather late in the evening.
Mrs. Wedge had told him of Annie Benton a dozen times already, but she
made it a baker's dozen, and told him again of her simple history; of
her popularity in the town, though the people all seemed to be shy of
her, and of her gruff father, who, in Mrs. Wedge's opinion, would resent
the appearance of a lover in the most alarming manner. Mrs. Wedge
thought she observed that Dorris was fond of this subject, and kept on
talking about it; for he was paying close attention as he lounged in his
easy chair. Dorris laughed in such a way at the accounts of Thompson
Benton's jealousy of his daughter that Mrs. Wedge believed that he
regarded him as he might regard a growling mastiff, which growled and
snapped at whoever approached, knowing it was in bad taste and not
expected of him.
Mrs. Wedge was sure her employer was not afraid of old Thompson,--or of
any one else, for that matter,--so she added this declaration to the
great number she was constantly making in his defence, and repeated it
to herself whenever he was in her mind.
She was pleased with the circumstance that he admired Annie Benton, and
though she said a great deal in her praise, it was no more than the
truth, for she was a girl worthy of admiration and respect. But the
subject was exhausted at last, and when she got up to go out, Dorris
roused himself from one of his reveries, and asked her to tell him the
history of The Locks, as a last resort to induce her to keep him
company.
The worthy woman seated herself again, smoothed down the folds of her
apron, and began by saying,--
"Betty, open the door leading into the hall."
The child did as she was directed, and, coming back, brought up a low
chair, and rested her head on her grandmother's knee.
"Listen," Mrs. Wedge said again.
They were all perfectly quiet, and a timid step could be distinctly
heard on the stair; it came up to the landing, and, after hesitating a
moment, seemed to pass into the room into which no one was to look. The
little girl shivered, and was lifted into her grandmother's lap, where
she hid away in the folds of her dress.
Dorris was familiar with this step on the stair, for he had heard it
frequently, and at night the thought had often occurred to him that some
one was in the house, going quietly from one room to another. A great
many times he had taken the light, and looked into every place from the
cellar to the attic, but he found nothing, and discovered nothing,
except that when in the attic he heard the strange, muffled, and ghostly
noises in the rooms he had just left.
"It is not a ghost to frighten you," Mrs. Wedge said, looking at her
employer, "but the spirit of an unhappy woman come back from the grave.
Whenever the house is quiet, the step can always be heard on the stair,
but I have never regarded it with horror, though I have been familiar
with it for a great many years. I rather regard it as a visit from an
old friend; and before you came I often sat alone in this room after
dark, listening to the footsteps.
"Jerome Dudley, who built The Locks, was a young man of great
intelligence, energy, and capacity; but his wife was lacking in these
qualities. Perhaps I had better say that he thought so, for I never
express an opinion of my own on the subject, since they were both my
friends. I may say with propriety, however, that they were unsuited to
each other, and that both knew and admitted it, and accepted their
marriage as the blight of their lives. Differently situated, she would
have been a useful woman; but she was worse than of no use to Jerome
Dudley, as he was contemptible in many ways towards her in spite of his
capacity for being a splendid man under different circumstances.
"The world is full of such marriages, I have been told; so I had
sympathy for them both, and was as useful to them as I could be. When I
came here as housekeeper, I knew at once that they were living a life of
misery, for they occupied different rooms, and were never together
except at six o'clock dinner.
"Mr. Dudley always went to his business in the morning before his wife
was stirring, and did not return again until evening; and, after
despatching his dinner, he either went back to his work, or into his own
room, from which he did not emerge until morning. He was not a gloomy
man, but he was dissatisfied with his wife, and felt that she was a
drawback rather than a help to him.
"The management of the house was turned over to me completely, and when I
presided at the table in the morning, he was always good-natured and
respectful, (though he was always out of humor when his wife was in the
same room with him) and frequently told me of his successes, and he had
a great many, for he was a money-making man; but I am sure he never
spoke of them to his wife. His household affairs he discussed only with
me, and the fact that I remained in his service until I entered yours
should be taken as evidence that I gave satisfaction."
Dorris bowed respectfully to Mrs. Wedge in assent, and she proceeded,--
"Mrs. Dudley spent her time in her own room in an indolent way that was
common to her, doing nothing except to look after her little girl, who
was never strong. The child was four years old when I came, and the
father lavished all his affection upon it. He had the reputation of
being a hard, exacting man in his business, and gave but few his
confidence, which I think was largely due to his unsatisfactory home;
and I have heard him say that but two creatures in all the world seemed
to understand him--the child, and myself. It was a part of my duty to
carry the child to its father's room every night before putting it to
bed; and though I usually found him at a desk surrounded with business
papers, he always had time to kiss its pretty lips if asleep, or romp
with it if awake.
"While the mother cheerfully turned over the household affairs to me
entirely, she was jealous of the child, and constantly worried and
fretted with reference to it. The father believed that his daughter was
not well cared for, in spite of the mother's great affection, for she
humored it to its disadvantage; and I have sometimes thought that the
child was sick a great deal more than was necessary. From being shut up
in a close room too much, it was tender and delicate, and when the door
was open, it always went romping into the hall until brought back again,
which resulted in a cold and a spell of sickness. This annoyed Mr.
Dudley, and from remarks he occasionally made to me I knew he believed
that if the little girl should die, the mother would be to blame.
"'It would be better if she had no mother,' he was in the habit of
saying. When children are properly managed, they become a comfort; but
if a foolish sentiment is indulged in, the affections of the parents are
needlessly lacerated, and they become a burden. I say this with charity,
and I have become convinced of it during my long life. Little Dudley was
managed by the mother with so much mistaken affection that she was
always a care and a burden. Instead of going to bed at night, and
sleeping peacefully until morning, as children should, she was always
wakeful, fretful, and ill, and Mr. Dudley's rest was disturbed so much
that I thought he had some excuse for his bad humor; for nothing is so
certain as that all this was unnecessary. The child was under no
restraint, and was constantly doing that which was not good for her, and
though her mother protested, she did nothing else.
"Because the father complained of being disturbed at all hours of the
night, the mother accused him of heartlessness and of a lack of
affection, but he explained this to me by saying that he only protested
because his child was not cared for as it should be; because that which
was intended as a blessing became an irksome responsibility, and because
he was in constant dread for its life.
"Whether the mother was to blame or not will perhaps never be known; but
it is certain that the child died after a lingering illness, and the
father was in a pitiful state from rage and grief. He did not speak to
his wife during the illness, or after the death, which she must have
accepted as an accusation that she was somehow responsible; for she soon
took to her bed, and never left it alive except to wearily climb the
stairs at twelve o'clock every night, to visit the child's deserted
room,--the room next to this, and into which no one is permitted to
look. Her bed was on the lower floor, in the room back of the parlor,
and every night at twelve o'clock, which was the hour the child died,
she wrapped the coverings about her, and went slowly up the stairs,
clinging to the railing with pitiful weakness with one hand, and
carrying the lamp with the other.
"I frequently tried to prevent her doing this; but she always begged so
piteously that I could not resist the appeal. She imagined, poor soul,
that she heard the child calling her, and she always asked me not to
accompany her.
"One night she was gone such a long time that at last I followed, and
found her dead, kneeling beside her child's empty crib, and the light
out. Mr. Dudley was very much frightened and distressed; and I think the
circumstance hastened his departure from Davy's Bend, which occurred a
few weeks later. He has never been in the house since.
"It is said that once a year--on the third of May--at exactly twelve
o'clock at night, a light appears in the lower room, which soon goes
out, and appears in the hall. A great many people have told me that they
have seen the light, and that it grows dimmer in the lower hall, and
brighter in the upper, until it disappears in the room where the empty
crib still stands, precisely as if it were carried by some one climbing
the stair. It soon disappears from the upper room, and is seen no more
until another year rolls round. I have never seen the light, but I have
often heard the step. Sometimes it is silent for months together, but
usually I hear it whenever I am in the main house at night. Just before
there is a death in the town, or the occurrence of any serious accident,
it goes up and down with unvarying persistency; but there is a long rest
after the death or the accident foretold has occurred."
When Mrs. Wedge had ceased talking, there was perfect silence in the
room again, and the footsteps were heard descending the stair.
Occasionally there was a painful pause, but they soon went on again, and
were heard no more.
"Poor Helen," Mrs. Wedge said, wiping her eyes, "how reluctantly she
leaves the little crib."
Mrs. Wedge soon followed the ghost of poor Helen down the stair,
carrying Betty in her arms; and as Dorris stood on the landing lighting
them down, he thought, as they passed into the shadow in the lower hall,
that poor Helen had found her child, and was leaving the house forever,
content to remain in her grave at last.