THE STATE BEDROOM.
Marmaduke had scarcely concluded his narration, when steps were heard in
the passage. I daresay I turned pale at the thought of seeing the man of
whom I had just heard such frightful things, for my companion observed,
as if to reassure me, "It is only Mr. Long."
"Are you quite sure?" said I.
Marmaduke smiled sadly.
"Do you think that I do not know my uncle's step? I should recognize it
amongst a score of others. If he overtook me in a crowded street, I
should feel that he was coming and shudder as he passed beside
me...--Pray, come in, sir."
"Well," cried my tutor, entering, radiant with, his good news, "no more
moping at home, my lads; you are to be henceforth cavaliers--you are to
scour the country. Boot and saddle! boot and saddle! Your uncle will not
trust me to get you a steed, Marmaduke; there are none good enough for
you, it seems, at Crittenden; he is going to send to London for an
animal worthy of you. But never mind, Peter; you shall have the best
mount that can be got in Midshire, and we will pit the country nag
against the town."
My tutor's voice revived me like a cordial: after the morbid horrors I
had been listening to, his cheery talk was inexpressibly grateful, as
the dawn and ordinary sounds of waking life are welcome to one who has
suffered from a nightmare.
"I was just about to show Meredith the Hall," said Marmaduke.
"Well it is time that we should be at our work, like good boys,"
observed Mr. Long, consulting his watch; "but still, for one morning, it
does not matter, if you would like to stay, Peter."
"I would rather go home, sir," cried I, with involuntary eagerness. I
was sorry the next moment, even before I saw the pained expression of my
young companion.
"He has had enough of Fairburn Hall already," said he, bitterly. Then
his face softened sadly, as though he would have said: "Am I not,
therefore, to be pitied, who pass every day and night under this
accursed roof?"
"Come," exclaimed Mr. Long, gaily, "I do not believe, Master Meredith,
in this new-born devotion to your books. Let us go over the house
first. I will accompany you as cicerone, for I once knew every hole and
corner of it--a great deal better, I will venture to affirm, than the
heir himself here." With these words he led the way into the passage.
"Every chamber on this floor is the facsimile of its neighbour," said
Marmaduke: "since you have seen mine, you have seen all--an immense bed,
a piece of carpet islanded amid a black sea of oak, a cupboard or two
large enough to live in, and shepherdesses, with swains in ruffles,
occupying the walls." There was, indeed, no appreciable difference in
any of the rooms, except with regard to their aspect.
"When I first came to Fairburn, I slept here," continued Marmaduke, as
we entered an apartment looking to the north, "and had that long
illness, which you doubtless remember, sir. Heavens, what dreams I have
had in this room! I have seen people standing by my bedside at night as
clearly as I see you now. They called me delirious, but I believe I was
stark mad."
"I remember it well," said Mr. Long, "although I did not recollect that
you occupied this room. How was it that you came to change your
quarters?"
"Oh, the doctor recommended the removal very strongly. Sir Massingberd
said it was all nonsense about the look-out from my window, and that the
east was as bad as the north for a boy in a fever; but he was obliged to
give way. And I certainly benefited by the change. The Park is a much
more cheerful sight than that forest of firs, and one is glad to see the
sun, even when one cannot get out of doors. At all events, I had no
such evil dreams."
"Yet this is what always used to be held the state-chamber," replied my
tutor. "Charles I. occupied that bed while he was yet king; and before
your ancestor, Sir Hugh, turned Puritan--a part he was very unfitted to
play--it is said he used to swear through his nose. Peter the Great,
too, is said to have passed a night here. Your dreams, therefore, should
have been historical and noteworthy. I forget which of these smiling
Phyllises is so complaisant as to make way when you would leave the room
without using the door."
Two full-length female portraits were painted in panel, one on either
side of the huge chimney-piece; a circlet of roses carved in oak
surrounded each by way of frame. Mr. Long advanced towards the one on
the right, and touched the bottom rose; it did not move. He went to the
other, and did likewise; the rose revolved in his fingers, and
presently, with a creak and a groan, the whole picture slid sideways
over the wall, disclosing a narrow flight of wooden stairs.
"That is charming," cried I. "That is the 'Mysteries of Udolpho'
realized. Where does it lead to, Marmaduke?" There was no answer. Mr.
Long and I looked round simultaneously. The lad was ghastly pale. He
stared into the dusty, gaping aperture, as though it had been a grave's
mouth.
"I do not know," he gasped with difficulty.
"Not know?" cried my tutor. "Do you mean to say that you have never been
told of Jacob's Ladder? The foot of it is in the third bookcase on the
left of the library door; the spring is somewhere in the index to
"Josephus." It is evident you never attempted to take down that
interesting work, which in this case is solid wood. The idea of your not
knowing that! And yet Sir Massingberd is so reticent that, with the
exception of Gilmore, the butler, I dare say nobody <i>does</i> know it now.
It is twenty years ago since I made Phyllis move aside, to the
astonishment of Mr. Clint, who came down here on business with poor Sir
Wentworth. I dare say nobody has moved her since."
"Yes, yes," cried Marmaduke, passionately; "my uncle has moved her.
Those visions were not dreams. I see it all now. He wanted to frighten
me to death, or to make me mad. When I knew the door was fast locked, he
would come and stand by my bedside, and stare at me. Cruel, cruel
coward!"
"Hush, hush, Marmaduke; this is monstrous--this is impossible!" cried
Mr. Long, endeavouring to pacify the boy, who was rocking himself to and
fro in an agony of distress and rage. "See how you terrify Peter! Be
calm, for Heaven's sake! Your uncle will hear you presently, and you
know how he hates to be disturbed."
At the mention of his uncle, Marmaduke subdued his cries by a great
effort, but he still sobbed and panted, as if for breath.
"Oh," moaned he, "consider how I came hither from my dead mother's arms
to this man's house--my only living relative, my father's brother--and
was taken ill here, a mere child; then this wretch, this demon, my host,
my...--Oh, Mr. Long, could you conceive it even of a Heath? He came up
to my lonely room by that secret way, and stood without speaking by my
pillow, while I lay speechless, powerless, imagining myself to be out
of my mind!"
"I do remember now," said my tutor, gravely, "how you harped upon that
theme of your evil dreams, and how the doctor thought you were in
reality losing your reason. Let us be thankful, however, that you were
preserved from so sad a fate; you are no longer a child now; Sir
Massingberd can frighten you no more, even if he had the wish. It was a
wicked, hateful act, whatever was the motive. But let us forget it. In a
few years you will be of age; then you will leave the Hall; and in the
meantime your uncle will annoy you no more. It will be his interest to
make a friend of you. Even now, you see, he provides you with the means
of enjoyment. You will ride out with your friend whenever you please;
and I will take measures so that you shall be more with us at the
rectory, and less at this melancholy place, which is totally unfit for
you. Mr. Clint shall be spoken with, if necessary. Yes, yes," added Mr.
Long, reversing the rose, and thereby replacing the shepherdess, but
quite unaware that he was still speaking aloud, "there must be a limit
to the power of such a guardian; the Chancellor shall interfere, and Sir
Massingberd be taught--"
"Nay, sir," cried Marmaduke in turn; "for Heaven's sake, let no
complaint be made against my uncle upon my account; perhaps, as you say,
I may now meet with better treatment. I will be patient. Say nothing of
this, I pray you, Meredith. Mr. Long, you know--"
"Yes, I know all," interrupted my tutor, with excitement. "You have a
friend in me, Marmaduke, remember, who will stick by you. I have shut my
eyes and my ears long enough, and perhaps too long. If things get worse
with you, my lad, do not forget that you have a home at the rectory.
Once there, you will not return to this house again. I will give
evidence myself; I will--"
"Thank you, thank you," replied Marmaduke, hurriedly. "All will now be
well, doubtless; but my uncle will wonder at your long delay--he will
suspect something. I think it will be better if you left."
He led the way down the great staircase, throwing an involuntary glance
over his shoulder, as we crossed the mouth of the dark passage leading
to the baronet's room. "This is a wretched welcome, Meredith; some day,
perhaps, I may take your hand at this Hall door under different
circumstances. Good-by, good-by."
And so we parted, between the two grim griffins.
"Peter," said my tutor, gravely, as we went our way, "whatever you may
think of what has passed to-day, say nothing. I am not so ignorant of
the wrongs of that poor boy as I appear to be; but there is nothing for
it but patience."