Old walls have mouths as well as ears.
The Convent: a Play.
To us of the present day, who see what Genii are guineas, fairy tales
are mere allegories. Your true sorcerer is a credit “on Coutts,”
and anything may be esteemed within his power who reckons by tens of
thousands.
Tom Linton was experimenting on this problem somewhat largely at
Tubbermore, where the old, misshapen, ugly house had undergone such
a series of transformations inside and out that the oldest inhabitant
might have failed to recognize it. Roman cement and stucco--those
cosmetics of architecture--had given to the front a most plausible air;
and what with a great flagged terrace beneath and a balustrade parapet
above, the whole had put on a wonderful look of solidity and importance.
French windows and plate-glass, stuccoed architraves and richly
traceried balconies, from which access was had to various terraces and
flower-plats, contributed an appearance of lightness to the building;
and what was lost in architectural elegance, was fully recompensed by
convenience and facility of enjoyment.
Within, the arrangements were excellent, and, as regarded the object
in view, perfect; various suites of apartments, so separated as to be
actually like residences, abounded throughout, so that the guests might
either indulge their solitude undisturbed, or mix in the wide circle of
the general company. For the latter, a magnificent suite of rooms led
along the entire basement story. Here, considering the shortness of the
time and the difficulties encountered, Linton's skill was pre-eminently
distinguished. Painting was too slow a process for such an emergency,
and accordingly the walls were hung with rich silks and stuffs from the
looms of Lyons, draped in a hundred graceful fashions, while the floors,
laid down in the rough, were concealed by the massive texture of Persian
carpets, the most costly ever brought to this country. The air of
comfort and “livableness”--if we may coin a word--depicted on every
side, took away the reproach of ostentatious splendor, which perhaps
might have been applied to rich decorations and gorgeous details in a
mere country house. And this was managed with no mean skill; and he must
have been a stern critic who could have canvassed too rigidly the merit
of appliances so manifestly provided for his own enjoyment. Books
and pictures--the Penates of domesticity--were there, and everything
possible was done to give a semblance of long habitation to that which
but a few weeks back had been a dreary ruin.
A critical eye might have detected in many instances the evidences of a
more refined taste than Mr. Linton's, and so was it Miss Leicester had
frequently aided him by her advice and suggestions, and every day, when
the weather permitted, saw old Mr. Corrigan and his granddaughter repair
to Tubbermore, whose progress they watched with a degree of interest
only felt by those whose retirement admits few sources of amusement
There was a secret cause of pride, too, in seeing the old residence of
the family--marred as had been its proportions by frequent and tasteless
additions--resume something of its once grandeur. Mary, whose earliest
lessons in infancy had been the tales of her powerful ancestors, who
lorded over an almost princely tract, entered heart and soul into
a course which favored so many of fancy's pleasantest fictions. Her
greatest delight, however, was in the restoration of one part of the
building, which all former innovators had apparently despaired of, and
left as a species of storehouse for every kind of lumber. This was a
great square tower, with an adjoining chapel, the floor of which was
formed by the tombstones of her earliest ancestors. One compartment of
a stained-glass window showed “the helmet and torch,” the arms of the
O'Regans, from which the family, by a corruption, took the name of
Corrigan; and various other mementos abounded to prove the high station
they had once supported.
Strongly imbued with a knowledge of the tales and customs of the period,
Mary restored the chapel to all the emblazoned splendor of the sixteenth
century. The rich carvings that modern research has discovered and
carried away from the châteaux of the Low Countries were adapted to the
place, and speedily the interior put on an air of highly preserved and
cherished antiquity.
The tower adjoining was also converted into a great chamber of
audience,--a “Ritter-Saal,”--hung round with weapons of the chase and
war, while great buffets displayed a wealth of antique plate and china,
of gem-wrought cups and massive flagons, that lent a lustre to its
otherwise too stern appearance. Lighted by a range of stained windows
far from the ground, the tempered sunlight cast a mellow glance on every
object; and here, in the silence of the noon, when the workmen had gone
to dinner, Mary used to sit alone, some strange spell fascinating her
to a spot where echoes had once awoke to the tramp of her own kinsmen's
footsteps.
“Tell me, Mr. Linton,” said she, as he entered suddenly, and found her
seated in her favorite place, “what part of the chapel adjoins the wall
we see yonder?”
“That,” said Linton, musing for a second,--“that, if I mistake not, must
be what you styled the crypt; the--”
“Exactly!” cried she, with animation. “The crypt is somewhat lower than
this chamber, two steps or so?”
“About as much.”
“How strange, how very strange!” she said, half to herself.
“What is strange!” said Linton, smiling at the intense preoccupation of
her features.
“You will laugh outright,” said she, “if I tell you. It was a dream I
had last night about this chamber.”
“Pray let me hear it,” said Linton, seating himself, and affecting a
deep interest “I own to a most implicit confidence in dreams.”
“Which is more than I do,” said she, laughing. “This has, however, so
much of truth about it, as the locality is concerned, and thus far it
is curious. Are you certain that you never told me before that the crypt
lay outside of that wall?”
“Perfectly; since I only learned as much myself about an hour ago.”
“How singular!”
“Come, do not torture my curiosity further. Let us have your dream.”
“It was very short. I dreamed that I was sitting here musing and
thinking over the lives and fortunes of some of those who once dwelt
within these walls, and comparing their destiny with that of their
descendants, only admitted, as it were, on sufferance, when suddenly a
door opened slowly there,--there, in the very midst of that wall,--and
I could see down into the crypt, and the chapel beyond it. On the altar
there were candles lighted, and I thought the figure of a man crossed
and recrossed below the steps, as if settling and arranging the books
and cushions; and, at last, he turned round, and I perceived that he
carried in his hands a small and strongly clasped box, and, as he came
towards me, he seemed to hold this out for me to take; but, as I did not
move or stir, he laid it down within the doorway, and, as he did so,
the wall gradually closed up again, and no vestige of the door could
be seen. Nay, so perfectly unshaken did all appear that I remember
remarking a cobweb that stretched from the frame of a picture, and
hung over the spot where the door seemed to be; and there,” cried she,
starting up,--“there, Mr. Linton, as I live, there is the cobweb!”
“Which, without doubt, you observed yesterday,” said Linton, “and in
your sleep the vision of our neglect was renewed.”
“No, no; I never saw it before. I am confident that I never noticed it
yesterday. I am sorry I revealed my dream to you,” said she, perceiving
that, in spite of all his tact, incredulity had lent a look of pitying
compassion to his features.
“On the contrary, I beg of you to believe in all my interest for your
recital; nay, I'll prove it too.”
“How so?” said she, eagerly.
“Simply enough. I 'll give orders at once to have a door made here, and
then we shall see if the view you describe of the crypt and the chapel
can be seen from this point.”
“Why don't you add, and of the figure with the casket, too?” said she,
smiling; “for I see you regard them all as alike veracious.”
“In any case,” cried Linton, “if he lay down the treasure--and treasure
it must be--here in the doorway, I 'll take care that the walls do not
swallow it up again; we shall be able to find it in the morning.”
“And will you really have this done?”
“I 'll give the orders this very day.”
“I must not be so silly,” said she, after a pause; “the whole is too
absurd. No, Mr. Linton, do not, I beg of you, do not take any notice of
my folly.”
“At all events,” said Linton, “your dream is a most happy inspiration;
a door here will be a great improvement, and if the vista takes in the
chapel, so much the better. Remember, too,” added he, in a lower and
more feeling voice,--“remember what I have told you so often, that
whatever we do here has, so to say, no other reward than the pleasure it
gives me the doing. Our great patron has about as much gratefulness
in his composition as taste. He will neither feel thankful for our
exertions, nor sensible of their success, and is just as likely to
desecrate yon Ritter-Saal, by making it his smoking-room.”
“If I thought so,” said she, proudly, and then stopped suddenly. “But
how can it concern me? I have only to wonder how you can accept of an
intimacy so distasteful.”
This, in its very abruptness, was a home-thrust; and so much did Linton
feel it that he reddened, at first with shame, and then with anger at
his want of composure.
“There are many circumstances in life, Miss Leicester,” said he,
gravely, “which demand heavy sacrifices of personal feeling; and happy
if sometimes the recompense come in seeing that our self-devotion has
worked well for others! I may one day explain myself more fully on this
head.”
Before Mary could answer, a messenger came to say that her grandfather
was waiting to return with her to the cottage, and she bid Linton
good-bye with a degree of interest for him she had never felt before.
Linton stood in a window and watched her as she went, nor did his eye
quit the graceful form till it disappeared in the covering of the trees.
“Yes,” said he to himself, “I have struck the right chord at last! She
neither is to be dazzled by the splendor nor excited by the ambitions of
the great world. The key to the mystery of her nature lies in the
very fact of her position in life,--the indignant struggle against a
condition she feels beneath her; she can sympathize with this. She is
just the very girl, too, to awaken Laura's jealousy, so brilliantly
handsome, so much of elegance in mien and deportment Ay! the game will
win; I may stake all upon it. Who is that?” said he, starting suddenly,
as a door banged behind him, and he saw Tom Keane, who had been a silent
listener to his soliloquy. Linton well knew that, shrewd as the man was,
the words could have conveyed little or nothing to his intelligence, and
carelessly asked what had the post brought.
“A heap of letters, yer honer,” said he, laying the heavily loaded bag
on the table. “I never see so many come to the town afore.”
As Linton unlocked the bag and emptied its contents before him, his face
suddenly grew dark and angry, for none of the letters, as he turned them
over, were for himself; they were all addressed Roland Cashel, Esq., and
marked “private.” At last he saw one with his own name, and, motioning
to Keane to leave him undisturbed, he sat down to read it. It came from
his correspondent, Mr. Phillis, and was of the briefest:
Sir,--All has gone wrong. R. C. sailed last night on a
yachting excursion with Lord and Lady K., some say for
Wales, others for the Isle of Wight. The truth I cannot
ascertain. The persons invited to Tubbennore are all
preparing to set out, but eagerly asking where C. is to be
found. There has been something like a breach at K.'s, and I
fancy it is about Lady Kilgoffs going in the yacht, which,
although seeming accident, must have been planned
previously. If you had been here the matter might have taken
another turn, as C. appears very tired of K.'s agency, and
the difficulty of obtaining money from him.
I have received a few lines from C., dated from “the
harbor,” to order a “fourgon” to be got ready; but I shall
pretend not to have received the note, and leave this, if
you desire it, for Tubbermore on hearing from you.
Yours, in duty,
R. Phillis.
Linton crashed the note passionately in his fingers, and with a cheek
almost purple, and swollen knotted veins about the forehead and temples,
he hastily walked to and fro in the apartment. “So, madam,” said he, “is
this, then, the reason of your compliance? Was this the source of that
yielding to my wishes that induced you to come here? And to dare this
towards _me!_” A fiendish laugh burst from him as he said, “Silly fool;
so long as you played fair, the advantage was all on your own side. Try
to cheat, and you 'll see who's the victor! And that cub, too,” added
he, with a hoarse passion, “who ventures a rivalry with me! Hate has an
inspiration that never deceives; from the first moment I saw him I felt
that for him.”
“You say you wanted the masons, sir,” said Keane, opening the door,
where he had been endeavoring, but ineffectually, to catch the clew of
Linton's words.
“Yes, let them come here,” said he, with his ordinary composure. “You
are to break a door there,” said he, as the men entered, “and I wish
to have it done with all speed. You 'll work all night, and be doubly
paid.” As he spoke, he sauntered out to muse over the late tidings he
had received, and plan within himself the coming campaign.
Thus loitering and reflecting, time slipped by and evening drew near.
“We must have a light here,” said one of the masons. “This room is never
very bright, and now it is almost dark as night. But what have we here?”
And at the moment his hammer sent forth a ringing sound as if it had
struck upon metal.
“What can it be?” said the other; “it seems like a plate of iron.”
Linton now drew nigh, as he overheard these words, and stationing
himself at a small window, beheld the two men as they labored to detach
what seemed a heavy stone in the wall.
“It's not a plate of iron, but a box,” cried one.
“Hush,” said the other, cautioning silence; “if it's money there 's in
it, let us consider a bit where we 'll hide it.”
“It sounds empty, anyhow,” said the first, as the metal rang clearly
out under the hammer. Meanwhile Linton stood overwhelmed at the strange
connection between the dream and the discovery. “It is a box, and here's
the key fastened to it by a chain,” cried the former speaker. He had
scarcely succeeded in removing the box from the wall, when Linton was
standing, unseen and noiseless, behind him.
“We 'll share it fair, whatever it is,” said the second.
“Of course,” said the other. “Let us see what there is to-share.” And
so he threw back the lid, and beheld, to his great dismay, nothing but a
roll of parchment fastened by a strap of what had once been red leather,
but which crumbled away as he touched it.
“'T is Latin,” said the first, who seemed the more intelligent of the
two, after a vain effort to decipher the heavily engrossed line at the
top.
“You are right,” said Linton; and the two men started with terror on
seeing him so near. “It is Latin, boys; it was the custom of the
monks to bury their prayers in that way once, and to beg whoever might
discover the document to say so many masses for the writer's soul; and
Protestant though I be, I do not think badly of the practice. Let us
find out the name.” And thus saying, he took up the roll and perused it
steadily. For a long time the evening darkness, the difficulty of the
letters, and the style of the record, impeded him; but as he read on,
the color came and went in his cheek, his hand trembled with agitation,
and had there been light enough to have noted him well, even the workmen
must have perceived the excitement under which he labored.
“Yes,” said he, at last, “it is exactly as I said; it was written by a
monk. This was an old convent once, and Father Angelo asks our prayers
for his eternal repose, which assuredly he shall have, heretic that I
am! Here, boys, here's a pound-note for you; Father Rush will tell you
how to use it for the best. Get a light and go on with your work, and if
you don't like to spend the money in masses, say nothing about the box,
and I 'll not betray your secret.”
[Illustration: 388]
A dry laugh and a significant leer of the eye showed that he had
accurately read his hearers' inmost thoughts, and Linton sat down as
if to await their return; but no sooner had they left the spot than he
hastened with all speed to the inn, to con over his newly discovered
treasure, and satisfy himself as to its importance and authenticity.
Drawing close the curtains of his windows, and locking the door of his
room, like one who would be alone, he again opened the casket, and took
out the scroll. With bent-down head and steady gaze, he perused it from
end to end, and then sat with riveted eyes fixed upon the signature and
massive seal which were appended to the foot of the document. “That this
should have been revealed in a dream,” said he, at length, “is almost
enough to shake one's faith in the whole! Am I myself awake, and is it
real what I see before me?” He walked the room with uncertain steps,
then opened wide the window, then closed it again, once more took up
the paper and studied it. In fact, it was clear to see that a sceptical
nature, the very habit of doubt, had indisposed him to believe in even
that which his very senses corroborated.
“What would I give for some lawyer's craft at this moment!” said he,
as the drops of perspiration stood upon his forehead, and his clenched
hands were clasped together in strong emotion; “what would I give for
the keenness that could pierce through every line of this, and see it
free of flaw--ay, that is the point! And then, Master Roland,”--here his
voice grew full and round,--“and then we should see who is the master
and who the dependent, if with a word--with one word--I could unmake
you, and from the insolence of your sudden wealth bring you down once
more to your fitting station! Never did Fortune stand by me like this!
Let me, however, not lose the game from over-strength; caution is
needed here. Before Corri-gan shall know himself the rightful owner of
Tubbermore, he must be satisfied to see Tom Linton his son-in-law. A
glorious hit that deals vengeance on every hand. Ay, my lady, we shall
acquit our debt to _you_ also!” From the heat of overwhelming passion
he again turned to the document which lay open on the table. “What if it
were only a copy? But this is scarce possible; the signatures look real,
and the seal cannot be counterfeit. Whom could I trust to inspect it?
With whom dare I place it for a day, or even an hour? No! I 'll never
suffer it out of my own keeping! I know not if the power to strike is
not the very acme of revenge!”
As he walked the room in deepest agitation he chanced for an instant
to catch a glimpse of Tubbermore, which, in the bright light of a
newly-risen moon, could be seen above the trees.
“So then it may chance that I have not expended my labor in vain,
and that this same house may be yet my own. Mine!” cried he, in
ecstasy,--“mine those swelling woods, that princely park; the high
position which wealth bestows, and the power that I could speedily
accomplish in political life. There may be many who have more ambition
to strive for: I 'll swear there are few men living have more grudges to
pay off.”
And with this speech, uttered in an accent of withering hate and
scorn, he again returned to gaze at the open parchment. The document,
surmounted by the royal arms, and engrossed in a stiff old-fashioned
hand, was a free pardon accorded by his Majesty George the Second to
Miles Hardress Corrigan, and a full and unqualified restoration to his
once forfeited estates. Certain legal formalities were also enjoined to
be taken, and certain oaths to be made, as the recognition of this act
of his sovereign's grace.
Such was the important document on which now he gazed, reading and
re-reading it, till every word became riveted on his memory.