THE SWORD ON THE WALL.
Where possession was impossible, knowledge might yet be reached: could
I not learn the story of the ancient weapon? How came that which had
more fitly hung in the hall of a great castle, here upon the wall of a
kitchen? My uncle, however, I felt, was not the source whence I might
hope for help. No better was my aunt. Indeed I had the conviction that
she neither knew nor cared anything about the useless thing. It was her
tea-table that must be kept bright for honour’s sake. But there was
grannie!
My relations with her had continued much the same. The old fear of her
lingered, and as yet I had had no inclination to visit her room by
myself. I saw that my uncle and aunt always behaved to her with the
greatest kindness and much deference, but could not help observing also
that she cherished some secret offence, receiving their ministrations
with a certain condescension which clearly enough manifested its origin
as hidden cause of complaint and not pride. I wondered that my uncle
and aunt took no notice of it, always addressing her as if they were on
the best possible terms; and I knew that my uncle never went to his
work without visiting her, and never went to bed without reading a
prayer by her bedside first. I think Nannie told me this.
She could still read a little, for her sight had been short, and had
held out better even than usual with such. But she cared nothing for
the news of the hour. My uncle had a weekly newspaper, though not by
any means regularly, from a friend in London, but I never saw it in my
grandmother’s hands. Her reading was mostly in the _Spectator_, or in
one of De Foe’s works. I have seen her reading Pope.
The sword was in my bones, and as I judged that only from grannie could
I get any information respecting it, I found myself beginning to
inquire why I was afraid to go to her. I was unable to account for it,
still less to justify it. As I reflected, the kindness of her words and
expressions dawned upon me, and I even got so far as to believe that I
had been guilty of neglect in not visiting her oftener and doing
something for her. True, I recalled likewise that my uncle had desired
me not to visit her except with him or my aunt, but that was ages ago,
when I was a very little boy and might have been troublesome. I could
even read to her now if she wished it. In short, I felt myself
perfectly capable of entering into social relations with her generally.
But if there was any flow of affection towards her, it was the sword
that had broken the seal of its fountain.
One morning at breakfast I had been sitting gazing at the sword on the
wall opposite me. My aunt had observed the steadiness of my look.
‘What are you staring at, Willie?’ she said. ‘Your eyes are fixed in
your head. Are you choking?’
The words offended me. I got up and walked out of the room. As I went
round the table I saw that my uncle and aunt were staring at each other
very much as I had been staring at the sword. I soon felt ashamed of
myself, and returned, hoping that my behaviour might be attributed to
some passing indisposition. Mechanically I raised my eyes to the wall.
Could I believe them? The sword was gone--absolutely gone! My heart
seemed to swell up into my throat; I felt my cheeks burning. The
passion grew within me, and might have broken out in some form or
other, had I not felt that would at once betray my secret. I sat still
with a fierce effort, consoling and strengthening myself with the
resolution that I would hesitate no longer, but take the first chance
of a private interview with grannie. I tried hard to look as if nothing
had happened, and when breakfast was over, went to my own room. It was
there I carried on my pasting operations. There also at this time I
drank deep in the ‘Pilgrim’s Progress;’ there were swords, and armour,
and giants, and demons there: but I had no inclination for either
employment now.
My uncle left for the farm as usual, and to my delight I soon
discovered that my aunt had gone with him. The ways of the house were
as regular as those of a bee-hive. Sitting in my own room I knew
precisely where any one must be at any given moment; for although the
only clock we had was oftener standing than going, a perfect instinct
of time was common to the household, Nannie included. At that moment
she was sweeping up the hearth and putting on the kettle. In half an
hour she would have tidied up the kitchen, and would have gone to
prepare the vegetables for cooking: I must wait. But the sudden fear
struck me that my aunt might have taken the sword with her--might be
going to make away with it altogether. I started up, and rushed about
the room in an agony. What could I do? At length I heard Nannie’s
pattens clatter out of the kitchen to a small outhouse where she pared
the potatoes. I instantly descended, crossed the kitchen, and went up
the winding stone stair. I opened grannie’s door, and went in.
She was seated in her usual place. Never till now had I felt how old
she was. She looked up when I entered, for although she had grown very
deaf, she could feel the floor shake. I saw by her eyes, which looked
higher than my head, that she had expected a taller figure to follow
me. When I turned from shutting the door, I saw her arms extended with
an eager look, and could see her hands trembling ere she folded them
about me, and pressed my head to her bosom.
‘O Lord!’ she said, ‘I thank thee. I will try to be good now. O Lord, I
have waited, and thou hast heard me. I will believe in thee again!’
From that moment I loved my grannie, and felt I owed her something as
well as my uncle. I had never had this feeling about my aunt.
‘Grannie!’ I said, trembling from a conflict of emotions; but before I
could utter my complaint, I had burst out crying.
‘What have they been doing to you, child?’ she asked, almost fiercely,
and sat up straight in her chair. Her voice, although feeble and
quavering, was determined in tone. She pushed me back from her and
sought the face I was ashamed to show. ‘What have they done to you, my
boy?’ she repeated, ere I could conquer my sobs sufficiently to speak.
‘They have taken away the sword that--’
‘What sword?’ she asked quickly. ‘Not the sword that your
great-grandfather wore when he followed Sir Marmaduke?’
‘I don’t know, grannie.’
‘Don’t know, boy? The only thing your father took when he--. Not the
sword with the broken sheath? Never! They daren’t do it! I will go down
myself. I must see about it at once.’
‘Oh, grannie, don’t!’ I cried in terror, as she rose from her chair.
‘They’ll not let me ever come near you again, if you do.’
She sat down again. After seeming to ponder for a while in silence, she
said:--
‘Well, Willie, my dear, you’re more to me than the old sword. But I
wouldn’t have had it handled with disrespect for all that the place is
worth. However, I don’t suppose they can--. What made them do it,
child? They’ve not taken it down from the wall?’
‘Yes, grannie. I think it was because I was staring at it too much,
grannie. Perhaps they were afraid I would take it down and hurt myself
with it. But I was only going to ask you about it. Tell me a story
about it, grannie.’
All my notion was some story, I did not think whether true or false,
like one of Nannie’s stories.
‘That I will, my child--all about it--all about it. Let me see.’
Her eyes went wandering a little, and she looked perplexed.
‘And they took it from you, did they? Poor child! Poor child!’
‘They didn’t take it from me, grannie. I never had it in my hands.’
‘Wouldn’t give it you then? Oh dear! Oh dear!’
I began to feel uncomfortable--grannie looked so strange and lost. The
old feeling that she ought to be buried because she was dead returned
upon me; but I overcame it so far as to be able to say:
‘Won’t you tell me about it then, grannie? I want so much to hear about
the battle.’
‘What battle, child? Oh yes! I’ll tell you all about it some day, but
I’ve forgot now, I’ve forgot it all now.’
She pressed her hand to her forehead, and sat thus for some time, while
I grew very frightened. I would gladly have left the room and crept
down-stairs, but I stood fascinated, gazing at the withered face
half-hidden by the withered hand. I longed to be anywhere else, but my
will had deserted me, and there I must remain. At length grannie took
her hand from her eyes, and seeing me, started.
‘Ah, my dear!’ she said,’ I had forgotten you. You wanted me to do
something for you: what was it?’
‘I wanted you to tell me about the sword, grannie.’
‘Oh yes, the sword!’ she returned, putting her hand again to her
forehead. ‘They took it away from you, did they? Well, never mind. I
will give you something else--though I don’t say it’s as good as the
sword.’
She rose, and taking an ivory-headed stick which leaned against the
side of the chimney-piece, walked with tottering steps towards the
bureau. There she took from her pocket a small bunch of keys, and
having, with some difficulty from the trembling of her hands, chosen
one and unlocked the sloping cover, she opened a little drawer inside,
and took out a gold watch with a bunch of seals hanging from it. Never
shall I forget the thrill that went through my frame. Did she mean to
let me hold it in my own hand? Might I have it as often as I came to
see her? Imagine my ecstasy when she put it carefully in the two hands
I held up to receive it, and said:
‘There, my dear! You must take good care of it, and never give it away
for love or money. Don’t you open it--there’s a good boy, till you’re a
man like your father. He _was_ a man! He gave it to me the day we were
married, for he had nothing else, he said, to offer me. But I would not
take it, my dear. I liked better to see him with it than have it
myself. And when he left me, I kept it for you. But you must take care
of it, you know.’
‘Oh, thank you, grannie!’ I cried, in an agony of pleasure. ‘I _will_
take care of it--indeed I will. Is it a real watch, grannie--as real as
uncle’s?’
‘It’s worth ten of your uncle’s, my dear. Don’t you show it him,
though. He might take that away too. Your uncle’s a very good man, my
dear, but you mustn’t mind everything he says to you. He forgets
things. I never forget anything. I have plenty of time to think about
things. I never forget.’
‘Will it go, grannie?’ I asked, for my uncle was a much less
interesting subject than the watch.
‘It won’t go without being wound up; but you might break it. Besides,
it may want cleaning. It’s several years since it was cleaned last.
Where will you put it now?’
‘Oh! I know where to hide it safe enough, grannie,’ I exclaimed. ‘I’ll
take care of it. You needn’t be afraid, grannie.’
The old lady turned, and with difficulty tottered to her seat. I
remained where I was, fixed in contemplation of my treasure. She called
me. I went and stood by her knee.
‘My child, there is something I want very much to tell you, but you
know old people forget things--’
‘But you said just now that you never forgot anything, grannie.’
‘No more I do, my dear; only I can’t always lay my hands upon a thing
when I want it.’
‘It was about the sword, grannie,’ I said, thinking to refresh her
memory.
‘No, my dear; I don’t think it was about the sword exactly--though that
had something to do with it. I shall remember it all by-and-by. It will
come again. And so must you, my dear. Don’t leave your old mother so
long alone. It’s weary, weary work, waiting.’
‘Indeed I won’t, grannie,’ I said. ‘I will come the very first time I
can. Only I mustn’t let auntie see me, you know.--You don’t want to be
buried now, do you, grannie?’ I added; for I had begun to love her, and
the love had cast out the fear, and I did not want her to wish to be
buried.
‘I am very, very old; much too old to live, my dear. But I must do you
justice before I can go to my grave. _Now_ I know what I wanted to say.
It’s gone again. Oh dear! Oh dear! If I had you in the middle of the
night, when everything comes back as if it had been only yesterday, I
could tell you all about it from beginning to end, with all the ins and
outs of it. But I can’t now--I can’t now.’
She moaned and rocked herself to and fro.
‘Never mind, grannie,’ I said cheerfully, for I was happy enough for
all eternity with my gold watch; ‘I will come and see you again as soon
as ever I can.’ And I kissed her on the white cheek.
‘Thank you, my dear. I think you had better go now. They may miss you,
and then I should never see you again--to talk to, I mean.’
‘Why won’t they let me come, and see you, grannie?’ I asked.
‘That’s what I wanted to tell you, if I could only see a little
better,’ she answered, once more putting her hand to her forehead.
‘Perhaps I shall be able to tell you next time. Go now, my dear.’
I left the room, nothing loth, for I longed to be alone with my
treasure. I could not get enough of it in grannie’s presence even.
Noiseless as a bat I crept down the stair. When I reached the door at
the foot I stood and listened. The kitchen was quite silent. I stepped
out. There was no one there. I scudded across and up the other stair to
my own room, carefully shutting the door behind me. Then I sat down on
the floor on the other side of the bed, so that it was between me and
the door, and I could run into the closet with my treasure before any
one entering should see me.
The watch was a very thick round one. The back of it was crowded with
raised figures in the kind of work called _repoussée_. I pored over
these for a long time, and then turned to the face. It was set all
round with shining stones--diamonds, though I knew nothing of diamonds
then. The enamel was cracked, and I followed every crack as well as
every figure of the hours. Then I began to wonder what I could do with
it next. I was not satisfied. Possession I found was not bliss: it had
not rendered me content. But it was as yet imperfect: I had not seen
the inside. Grannie had told me not to open it: I began to think it
hard that I should be denied thorough possession of what had been given
to me, I believed I should be quite satisfied if I once saw what made
it go. I turned it over and over, thinking I might at least find how it
was opened. I have little doubt if I had discovered the secret of it,
my virtue would have failed me. All I did find, however, was the head
of a curious animal engraved on the handle. This was something. I
examined it as carefully as the rest, and then finding I had for the
time exhausted the pleasures of the watch, I turned to the seals. On
one of them was engraved what looked like letters, but I could not read
them. I did not know that they were turned the wrong way. One of them
was like a W. On the other seal--there were but two and a
curiously-contrived key--I found the same head as was engraved on the
handle--turned the other way of course. Wearied at length, I took the
precious thing into the dark closet, and laid it in a little box which
formed one of my few possessions. I then wandered out into the field,
and went straying about until dinner-time, during which I believe I
never once lifted my eyes to the place where the sword had hung, lest
even that action should betray the watch.
From that day my head, and as much of my heart as might be, were filled
with the watch. And, alas! I soon found that my bookmending had grown
distasteful to me, and for the satisfaction of employment, possession
was a poor substitute. As often as I made the attempt to resume it, I
got weary, and wandered almost involuntarily to the closet to feel for
my treasure in the dark, handle it once more, and bring it out into the
light. Already I began to dree the doom of riches, in the vain attempt
to live by that which was not bread. Nor was this all. A certain weight
began to gather over my spirit--a sense almost of wrong. For although
the watch had been given me by my grandmother, and I never doubted
either her right to dispose of it or my right to possess it, I could
not look my uncle in the face, partly from a vague fear lest he should
read my secret in my eyes, partly from a sense of something out of
joint between him and me. I began to fancy, and I believe I was right,
that he looked at me sometimes with a wistfulness I had never seen in
his face before. This made me so uncomfortable that I began to avoid
his presence as much as possible. And although I tried to please him
with my lessons, I could not learn them as hitherto.
One day he asked me to bring him the book I had been repairing.
‘It’s not finished yet, uncle,’ I said.
‘Will you bring it me just as it is. I want to look for something in
it.’
I went and brought it with shame. He took it, and having found the
passage he wanted, turned the volume once over in his hands, and gave
it me back without a word.
Next day I restored it to him finished and tidy. He thanked me, looked
it over again, and put it in its place. But I fairly encountered an
inquiring and somewhat anxious gaze. I believe he had a talk with my
aunt about me that night.
The next morning, I was seated by the bedside, with my secret in my
hand, when I thought I heard the sound of the door-handle, and glided
at once into the closet. When I came out in a flutter of anxiety, there
was no one there. But I had been too much startled to return to what I
had grown to feel almost a guilty pleasure.
The next morning after breakfast, I crept into the closet, put my hand
unerringly into the one corner of the box, found no watch, and after an
unavailing search, sat down in the dark on a bundle of rags, with the
sensations of a ruined man. My world was withered up and gone. How the
day passed, I cannot tell. How I got through my meals, I cannot even
imagine. When I look back and attempt to recall the time, I see but a
cloudy waste of misery crossed by the lightning-streaks of a sense of
injury. All that was left me now was a cat-like watching for the chance
of going to my grandmother. Into her ear I would pour the tale of my
wrong. She who had been as a haunting discomfort to me, had grown to be
my one consolation.
My lessons went on as usual. A certain pride enabled me to learn them
tolerably for a day or two; but when that faded, my whole being began
to flag. For some time my existence was a kind of life in death. At
length one evening my uncle said to me, as we finished my lessons far
from satisfactorily--
‘Willie, your aunt and I think it better you should go to school. We
shall be very sorry to part with you, but it will be better. You will
then have companions of your own age. You have not enough to amuse you
at home.’
He did not allude by a single word to the affair of the watch. Could my
aunt have taken it, and never told him? It was not likely.
I was delighted at the idea of any change, for my life had grown
irksome to me.
‘Oh, thank you, uncle!’ I cried, with genuine expression.
I think he looked a little sad; but he uttered no reproach.
My aunt and he had already arranged everything. The next day but one, I
saw, for the first time, a carriage drive up to the door of the house.
I was waiting for it impatiently. My new clothes had all been packed in
a little box. I had not put in a single toy: I cared for nothing I had
now. The box was put up beside the driver. My aunt came to the door
where I was waiting for my uncle.
‘Mayn’t I go and say good-bye to grannie?’ I asked.
‘She’s not very well to-day,’ said my aunt. ‘I think you had better
not. You will be back at Christmas, you know.’
I was not so much grieved as I ought to have been. The loss of my watch
had made the thought of grannie painful again.
‘Your uncle will meet you at the road,’ continued my aunt, seeing me
still hesitate. ‘Good-bye.’
I received her cold embrace without emotion, clambered into the chaise,
and looking out as the driver shut the door, wondered what my aunt was
holding her apron to her eyes for, as she turned away into the house.
My uncle met us and got in, and away the chaise rattled, bearing me
towards an utterly new experience; for hardly could the strangest
region in foreign lands be more unknown to the wandering mariner than
the faces and ways of even my own kind were to me. I had never played
for one half-hour with boy or girl. I knew nothing of their play-things
or their games. I hardly knew what boys were like, except, outwardly,
from the dim reflex of myself in the broken mirror in my bed-room,
whose lustre was more of the ice than the pool, and, inwardly, from the
partly exceptional experiences of my own nature, with which even I was
poorly enough acquainted.