Cruel As The Grave Part 45

"'Indeed!' muttered the guilty man, in a sepulchral tone.

"'Indeed and indeed! Why, only last night, when we came home at midnight, from Mrs. Judge Mayo's ball, when you lingered below stairs to speak to the butler, and I ran up into my own room alone, I saw this strange looking little creature, with the streaming black hair and the red cloak, standing before my dressing-gla.s.s! Now what do you think of that?'

"'She--she--she has been a sort of a pet of the family, and has had the run of the house, coming in and out of all the rooms at all hours, like any little dog,' answered the conscious criminal, in a quavering voice.

"'_That_ must be reformed at once!' said the Fairfax bride, drawing herself up with much dignity, and also perhaps with some jealous suspicion.

"'It shall, by my soul! I will give orders to that effect,' quavered Philip Dubarry.

"'Nay, do not take that trouble. It is _my_ prerogative to order my household, and I shall do it,' proudly answered the lady.

"And here the matter might have ended, but for that interest Philip Dubarry felt in the subject. He remembered the most awful threat of his betrayed gipsy wife: 'In the flesh or in the spirit, to dwell in the house as long as its walls should stand! In the flesh or in the spirit, to blast and destroy the bride he should bring there to take her place.'

Up to this time he had never had any reason to suppose that the gipsy girl had kept her word. He had never seen nor heard of anything unusual about the house. But now when his wife spoke of this silent inmate in the red cloak, he recognized the portrait all but too well, and his guilty soul quaked with fear. And yet he was not superst.i.tious. He was a son of the eighteenth century, which was much more incredulous of the supernatural than the nineteenth, with all its mysterious spiritual manifestations, can be. He was a scientific and practical man. Yet he shuddered with awe as he listened to the description given by his unconscious wife of this strange visitant. And he could not forbear to question her.

"'Did you speak to the girl when you found her in your room at midnight?' he inquired.

"'Yes, certainly; I asked her how she came to be there so late. But instead of answering my question, she glided silently away.'

"'Have you spoken to any of the servants of this girl's intrusion into parts of the house where she has no business to come?'

"'No, not until this morning; for I never really felt interest enough in the little creature that I only casually met in the pa.s.sages of the house, until I found her in my bedroom at midnight. So this morning I described her to the housekeeper, and asked who she was, and who gave her liberty to intrude into my bedroom so late. And what do you think old Monica answered?'

"'I'm sure I don't know.'

"'She crossed herself, and cried out, 'Lord have mercy on all our souls!

You have seen her!' I inquired, 'Seen who?' But she answered, 'Nothing.

n.o.body. I don't know what I'm talking about. My head's wool-gathering, I believe.' Nor could any further questioning of mine draw from her any more satisfactory answer. And so I came to you for an explanation. And you tell me that she is Milly Jones, the child of poor parents, living on the mountain, and that she comes here for broken victuals and old clothes. Very well. In future I shall pension the poor family on the mountain, for I would not have any fellow-creature in my reach to suffer want; but I shall do it on condition that Miss Milly Jones stays home, and helps her mother with the family cooking and washing, instead of losing her time by day and her sleep by night in wandering through all the rooms of a gentleman's house, and taking possession of a lady's bed-chamber.'

"You see this bride never imagined a ghost, but strongly suspected a sweetheart, and so she was a little surprised when her husband answered:

"'Do so, my dear; and may Heaven grant that you may get rid of this unpleasant visitor at once and forever.'

"And as he said this, Philip Dubarry arose and went into his library and rung the bell, and to the servant who answered it, he said:

"'Send Monica the housekeeper here.'

"In a few minutes Monica entered the room.

"'Did I not order you, on pain of my heaviest displeasure, never to annoy Mrs. Dubarry by so much as the mention of the gipsy girl's name to her?' sternly demanded Philip Dubarry.

"The old woman fell down upon her knees, and lifted up both her hands, and exclaimed:

"'And no more I haven't, master, not once! But that don't do no good, for _she walks_!'

"'Who walks, you old fool?'

"'_She_, the gipsy girl, master. _She walks_, and the missis sees her as well as we do!'

"'We? Whom do you call "we," you insupportable idiot?'

"'Me and Ben the man-servant, and Betty the chambermaid, and Peggy the parlormaid. All sees her, master. We never, none of us, see her before the missis was brought home; but ever since that, we sees her every day; we sees just as much of her as we used to see when she was alive!'

answered the woman, grovelling and weeping.

"'_Where_ do you see her, or fancy you see her, lunatic?' fiercely demanded Philip Dubarry.

"'Everywhere, master! We meets her on the stairs; we sees her sitting at the head of the table, as soon as the meal is ready, and before the mistress comes to take the place; and we sees her lying in the unmade beds of a morning; but always, as soon as we screams, as scream we must, at such an object, master, she vanishes away!' answered the housekeeper.

"Philip Dubarry was awed and almost silenced,--_almost_, but not quite, for he was the very sort of hero to browbeat others the most fiercely when he was himself the most frightened. He rallied himself.

"'Look you here!' he furiously exclaimed; 'all this that you have just told me is the most wicked and abominable falsehood and absurdity! And now take notice! IF EVER I hear of one more word being uttered on this subject in this house, or out of it, by any one of you, under any circ.u.mstances whatever, by my blood, I will make you all wish that you had never been born! Repeat this to your fellow-servants', and order them from me to govern their tongues accordingly. Now go!' he thundered at the poor old woman, who hastily picked herself up, and hurried out of the room."

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE SPECTRE.

It was about to speak And then it started like a guilty thing.

Upon a fearful summons.--SHAKESPEARE.

"Philip Dubarry remained walking up and down the door, foaming with impotent rage, as well as trembling with a vague and awful terror. He had a practical and scientific mind, and could understand everything that might be governed by known laws. But he could not understand this unwelcome visitant, that had appeared to every one else in the house but himself. He was an arbitrary and despotic man who enforced his will upon all connected with him, and ruled all flesh with a rod of iron. But he could not rule the spirit, and he knew it. He could not lay this ghost of his guilt.

"There was one grain of truth in the ton of falsehood that he had told to his unconscious wife, to account for the apparition seen by her.

There really was a Milly Jones, the daughter of a poor family on the mountains, and she really did come occasionally to the house to ask for broken victuals and old clothes; but instead of being a beautiful black-eyed and black-haired little gipsy, in the picturesque red cloak, she was a pale-faced, light-haired, poor-spirited looking creature, in a faded calico frock, and an old plaid shawl; and instead of being the family pet, with the run of the house, she was the family nuisance, strictly prohibited from pa.s.sing the bounds of the servants' hall.

"So when that day, being a rainy day, and therefore highly favorable for attention to domestic matters, Mistress Alicia Dubarry called the house-steward to her presence, and ordered him to send a small pension of two dollars a week to the Jones family, with an intimation that Miss Milly need not come to collect it, the order was promptly executed, to the satisfaction of all the domestics; and poor Milly, glad to be relieved from her fatiguing journey and degrading mendicity, was seen no more at Shut-up Dubarry.

"But Mrs. Dubarry did not therefore get rid of her visitor. Not more than three days had elapsed since the issuing of her order, when, one evening between the lights, she entered her own bedroom, and saw the girl in the red cloak sitting quietly in the easy-chair beside the fire.

"'How dare you come here, after the message I sent you? Get up and begone, and let me never catch you here again,' angrily demanded the lady.

"The apparition melted into air; but as it disappeared, the words came, like a sigh borne upon the breeze:

"'_I wait._'

"The lady was about to dress for an evening party, and so she paid no attention to any chance sound.

"But the next morning she met the girl in the hall, and the next evening in the parlor; again she pa.s.sed the figure on the stairs, or encountered it in the drawing-room. The lady lost patience, and sent for the house-steward in her presence.

"'Did I not command that that girl should not come here again?' she sternly demanded.

"'Yes, my lady,' respectfully answered the man.

"'Then how is it that she comes here as much as ever?'