A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY.
A golden sunbeam was shining through a crevice in the blinds; the
birds were twittering in the ivy outside; oxen were lowing to each
other across the park. Morning, with all her music, was abroad.
I started up in bed and rubbed my eyes. Within the house everything
was as mute as the grave. That horrible tramping overhead had
ceased--had ceased, doubtless, with the return of daylight, which
would otherwise have shifted it from the region of the weird to that
of the commonplace. I smiled to myself as I thought of my terrors of
the past night, and felt brave enough just then to have faced a
thousand ghosts. In another minute I was out of bed, and had drawn up
my blind, and flung open my window, and was drinking in the sweet
peaceful scene that stretched away before me in long level lines to
the edge of a far-off horizon.
My window was high up and looked out at the front of the hall.
Immediately below me was a semicircular lawn, shut in from the park by
an invisible fence, close shaven, and clumped with baskets of flowers
glowing just now with all the brilliance of late autumn. The main
entrance--a flight of shallow steps, and an Ionic portico, as I
afterwards found--was at one end of the building, and was reached by a
long straight carriage drive, the route of which could be traced
across the park by the thicker growth of trees with which it was
fringed. This park stretched to right and left for a mile either way.
In front, it was bounded, a short half-mile away, by the high road,
beyond which were level wide-stretching meadows through which the
river Adair washed slow and clear.
But chief of all this morning I wanted to be down among the flowers.
I made haste to wash and dress, taking an occasional peep through
the window as I did so, and trying to entice the birds from their
hiding-places in the ivy. Then I opened my bedroom door, and then, in
view of the great landing outside, I paused. Several doors, all except
mine now closed, gave admittance from this landing to different rooms.
Both landing and stairs were made of oak, black and polished with age.
One broad flight of stairs, with heavy carved banisters, pointed the
way below; a second and narrower flight led to the regions above. As a
matter of course I chose the former, but not till after a minute's
hesitation as to whether I should venture to leave my room at all
before I should be called. But my desire to see the baskets of flowers
prevailed over everything else. I closed my door gently and hurried
down.
I found myself in the entrance-hall of Dupley Walls, into which I had
been ushered on my arrival. There were the two curtained doorways
through which Lady Pollexfen had come and gone. For the rest, it was a
gloomy place enough, with its flagged floor, and its diamond-paned
windows high up in the semicircular roof. A few rusty full-lengths
graced the walls; the stairs were guarded by two effigies in armour; a
marble bust of one of the Cæsars stood on a high pedestal in the
middle of the floor; and that was all.
I was glad to get away from this dismal spot and to find myself in the
passage which led to the housekeeper's room. I opened the door and
looked in, but the room was vacant. Farther along the same passage I
found the kitchen and other domestic offices. The kitchen clock was
just on the point of six as I went in. One servant alone had come
down. From her I enquired my way into the garden, and next minute I
was on the lawn. The close-cropped grass was wet with the heavy dew;
but my boots were thick and I heeded it not, for the flowers were
there within my very grasp.
Oh, those flowers! can I ever forget them? I have seen none so
beautiful since. There can be none so beautiful out of Paradise.
One spray of scarlet geranium was all that I ventured to pluck. But
the odours and the colours were there for all comers, and were as much
mine for the time being as if the flowers themselves had belonged to
me. Suddenly I turned and glanced up at the many-windowed house with a
sort of guilty consciousness that I might possibly be doing wrong. But
the house was still asleep--closed shutters or down-drawn blind at
every window. I saw before me a substantial-looking red-brick mansion,
with a high slanting roof, of not undignified appearance now that it
was mellowed by age, but with no pretensions to architectural beauty.
The sole attempt at outside ornamentation consisted of a few flutings
of white stone, reaching from the ground to the second floor, and
terminating in oval shields of the same material, on which had
originally been carved the initials of the builder and the date of
erection; but the summer's sun and the winter's rain of many a long
year had rubbed both letters and figures carefully out. Long
afterwards I knew that Dupley Walls had been built in the reign of the
Third William by a certain Squire Pollexfen of that date, "out of my
own head," as he himself put it in a quaint document still preserved
among the family archives; and rather a muddled head it must have been
in matters architectural.
After this, I ventured round by the main entrance, with its gravelled
carriage sweep, to the other side of the house, where I found a long
flagged terrace bordered with large evergreens in tubs placed at
frequent intervals. On to this terrace several French windows
opened--the windows, as I found later in the day, of Lady Pollexfen's
private rooms. To the left of this terrace stood a plantation of young
trees, through which a winding path that opened by a wicket into the
private grounds, invited me to penetrate. Through the green gloom I
advanced bravely, my heart beating with all the pleasure of one who
was exploring some unknown land. I saw no living thing by the way,
save two grey rabbits that scuttered across my path and vanished in
the undergrowth on the other side. Pretty frisky creatures! how I
should like to have caught them, and fed them, and made pets of them
as long as they lived!
Two or three hundred yards farther on the path ended with another
wicket, now locked, which opened into the high road. About a mile away
I could discern the roofs and chimneys of a little town. When I got
back to the hall I found dear old Dance getting rather anxious at my
long absence, but she brightened into smiles when I kissed her and
told her where I had been.
"You must have slept well, or you would hardly look so rosy this
morning," she said, as we sat down to breakfast.
"I should have slept very well if I had not been troubled by the
ghosts."
"Ghosts! my dear Miss Janet? You do not mean to say----" and the old
lady's cheek paled suddenly, and her cup rattled in her saucer as she
held it.
"I mean to say that Dupley Walls is haunted by two ghosts, one of
which came and kissed me last night when I was asleep; while the other
one was walking nearly all night in the room over mine."
Dance's face brightened, but still wore a puzzled expression. "You
must have dreamed that some one kissed you, dear," she said. "If you
were asleep you could not know anything about it."
"But I was awakened by it, and I am positive that it was no dream."
Then I told her what few particulars there were to tell.
"For the future we must lock your bedroom door," she said.
"Then I should be worse frightened than ever. Besides, a real ghost
would not be kept out by locking the door."
"Well, dear, tell me if you are disturbed in the same way again. But
as for the tramping you heard in the room overhead, that is easily
explained. It was no ghost that you heard walking, but Lady
Pollexfen." Then, seeing my look of astonishment, she went on to
explain. "You see, my dear Miss Janet, her ladyship is a very peculiar
person, and does many things that to commonplace people like you and
me may seem rather strange. One of these little peculiarities is her
fondness for walking about the room over yours at night. Now, if she
likes to do this, I know of no reason why she should not do it. It is
a little whim that does no harm to anybody; and as the house and
everything in it are her own, she may surely please herself in such a
trifle."
"But what is there in the room that she should prefer it to any other
in the house for walking in by night?" I asked.
"What--is--there--in the room?" said the old lady, staring at me
across the table with a strange frightened look in her eyes. "What a
curious question! The room is a common room, of course, with nothing
in it out of the ordinary way; only, as I said before, it happens to
be Lady Pollexfen's whim to walk there. So, if you hear the noise
again, you will know how to account for it, and will have too much
good sense to feel in the least afraid."
I had a half consciousness that Dance was prevaricating with me in
this matter, or hiding something from me; but I was obliged to accept
her version as the correct one, especially as I saw that, any further
questioning would be of no avail.
I did not see Lady Pollexfen that day. She was reported to be unwell,
and kept her own rooms.
About noon a message came from Sister Agnes that she would like to see
me in her room. When I entered she was standing by a square oak table,
resting one hand on it while the other was pressed to her heart. Her
face was very pale, but her dark eyes beamed on me with a veiled
tenderness that I could not misinterpret.
"Good morrow, Miss Holme," she said, offering a white slender hand for
my acceptance. "I am afraid that you will find Dupley Walls even
duller than Park Hill Seminary."
Her tone was cold and constrained. I looked up earnestly into her
face. Her lips began to quiver painfully. Suddenly she stooped and
kissed me. "Child! child! you must not look at me in that way," she
cried.
Instinct whispered something in my ear. "You are the lady who came and
kissed me when I was asleep!" I exclaimed.
Her brow contracted for a moment as if she were in pain. A hectic spot
came out suddenly on either cheek, and vanished almost as swiftly.
"Yes, it was I who came to your room last night," she said. "You are
not vexed with me for doing so?"
"On the contrary, I love you for it."
Her smile, the sweetest I ever saw, beamed out at this. Gently she
stroked my hair. "You looked so forlorn and weary last night," she
said, "that after I got to bed I could not help thinking about you. I
was afraid you would not be able to sleep in a strange place, so I
could not rest till I had visited you: but I never intended to awake
you."
"I do not mind how often I am awakened the same way," I said. "No one
has ever seemed to love me but you, and I cannot help loving you
back."
"Ma pauvre petite!" was all she said. We had sat down by this time
close to the window, and Sister Agnes was holding one of my hands in
hers and caressing it gently as she gazed dreamily across the park. My
eyes, childlike, wandered from her to the room and then back again.
The picture still lives in my memory as fresh as though it had been
limned but yesterday.
A square whitewashed room, fitted up with furniture of unpolished oak.
On the walls a few proof engravings of subjects taken from Sacred
History. A small bookcase in one corner, and a _prie-dieu_ in another.
The floor uncarpeted, but polished after the French fashion. A
writing-table; a large workbox; a heap of clothing for the poor; and
lastly, a stand for flowers.
The features of Sister Agnes were as delicate and clearly cut as those
of some antique statue, but their habitual expression was one of
intense melancholy. Her voice was low and gracious: the voice of a
refined and educated gentlewoman. Her hair was black, with here and
there a faint silver streak; but the peculiar head-dress of white
linen which she wore left very little of it visible. Disfiguring as
this head-dress might have been to many people, in her case it served
merely to enhance the marble whiteness and transparent purity of her
complexion. Her eyebrows were black and well-defined; but as for the
eyes themselves, I can only repeat what I said before, that their dark
depths were full of tenderness and a sort of veiled enthusiasm
difficult to describe in words. Her dress was black, soft, and coarse,
relieved by deep cuffs of white linen. Her solitary ornament, if
ornament it could be called, was a rosary of black beads. Not without
reason have I been thus particular in describing Sister Agnes and her
surroundings, as they who read will discover for themselves by-and-by.
Sister Agnes woke up from her reverie with a sigh, and began talking
to me about my schooldays, and my mode of life at Park Hill Seminary.
It was a pleasure to me to talk, because I felt that it was a pleasure
to her to listen to me. And she let me talk on and on for I can't tell
how long, only putting in a question now and again, till she knew
almost as much about Miss Chinfeather and Park Hill as I knew myself.
But she never seemed to weary. We were sitting close together, and
after a time I felt her arm steal gently round my waist, pressing me
closer still; and so, with my head nestling against her shoulder, I
talked on, heedless of the time. O happy afternoon!
It was broken by a summons for Sister Agues from Lady Pollexfen.
"To-morrow, if the weather holds fine, we will go to Clarke Forest and
gather blackberries," said Sister Agnes, as she gave me a parting
kiss.
That night I went early to bed, and never woke till daybreak.