The Eve of All-Hallows Volume I Part 10

It was next inquired of him how long he had been blind? He replied, "I was of the same age that our dear and ever honoured young Lady (heaven bless her here and hereafter!) has entered into this holy day.--I was in my seventeenth year."

The Duke interdicted all further interruptions: "Cormac, my honest fellow, I fear that my young friends are somewhat disposed to trespa.s.s too much upon your time and patience; so quaff your flagon and strike your harp. But remember, Cormac, nothing dismal upon this happy day; no dirge--not even an overture, will be endured!"

Cormac made due obeisance; and seizing his harp, struck its accompanying notes, while he sung the following:--

SONG.

Who would not toast that lovely maid, And drink the health of Adelaide, And fill a b.u.mper round?

Who, in wandering o'er the glade, Could meet a nymph like Adelaide?

Then fill a b.u.mper round!

The beauties of a court would fade When they're compared with Adelaide-- Let all fill b.u.mpers round!

Of sweetest flowers a crown we'll braid, To deck the brow of Adelaide, While b.u.mpers flow around!

Alas! old Cormac he is blind, Or soon the flow'rets he could find Should braid the brow and gem the breast Of Adelaide the loveliest, While b.u.mpers foam'd around!

Much applause rang forth a chorus to the minstrel's impromptu Anacreontic, and flowing b.u.mpers were quaffed to "the health of Lady Adelaide!" A gla.s.s of Burgundy was handed to old Cormac, which he respectfully declined, but with the request that a gla.s.s of pure Innishowen (whiskey) might be subst.i.tuted in place of it; and with this st.u.r.dy appendage to his request, "that it might be unadulterated!" These demands being all strictly complied with, he most devoutly gave his young lady's health, tossed down at the instant the pure Innishowen, and in due approval cordially smacked his lips as the beverage disappeared.

The ladies soon retired, Adelaide deeply blushing at all the honours and attentions bestowed this day; and felt most grateful to the sightless old bard, who had in so feeling a manner manifested such attachment to his young mistress.

The ceremonies of the tea-table being duly concluded, the graver portion of the company sat down to their cards: various games were played, loo, cribbage, gresco, ombre, and lansquenet. The Duke sat down to primero, "which," observed his Grace, "is my favourite game, as it had been with Lord Strafford, when he held the high station in which I am at present placed."

The younger part of the company, in the mean time, not to discompose the gravity of the card-playing dowagers, retired apart to the great saloon, where were stationed all the preliminary _accessoires_ proper and duly prepared for the mysteries of the Eve of All-Hallows, in order to commence the various spells, tricks, sports, and charms, which national superst.i.tion and credulity have consecrated, and h.o.a.ry tradition handed down from age to age as the records of popular faith.

"_Allons nous_," said Lady Lucy, playfully, "_allons mes enfants_!"

"Oh, for mercy's sake, dear Lucy," rejoined Lady Let.i.tia, "pray let us have no more of this outlandish gibberish; but I pray you let the young folks at once begin their play, without preface or prologue."

"Thy design and intention, sweet sister of mine, displeaseth me not; for be it known, that I also am fully possessed with a most marvellous disposition, a wondrous curiosity for the commencement of the various charms, or mysteries, or incantations of this memorable night, call them by any name you think befitting; and here am I ready and willing to be the lady mistress of the ceremonies to be done and performed--ay, without the fee or reward of even plumb-cake or a single poesy! And now, my merry maids all, for the full and complete execution of the important duties attending my most consequential appointment, we shall soon commence our ceremonies of office, and all the various charms of this night of incantation." Then, with much sprightliness, she added, "But where, oh, where is my wand? my wand--my kingdom for a wand! I can do nothing with effect, unless armed with the insignia of my office."

A servant then came in, and presented a peeled wand or rod, which was framed from a witch-hazel that had grown on the Tyraugh mountains, and had been cut and stript of its bark at the express desire of old Cormac, and was now a.s.sumed and wielded with all due and becoming authority.

"Yes, yes, this is _comme il faut_! this will do. Now I am the most mysterious mistress of these enchanted revels, and this the wand of my stately vocation! Young ladies fair, young lords so gay, hear ye, hear ye all! In full plenitude, potency, and execution of this my office, hear and obey the important injunctions which I have to premise to each and to all of you--[this was expressed with much _gaiete du coeur_.]

Be it then known to you all _by these presents_, (as an old dotard once upon a time began his will);--but I am not dead, yet my _will_ is this: hear, hear ye all good people and true! and thus I do proclaim, amid all our play and revels to-night, but without sound of trumpet or kettle-drum, that there still remains a charm yet to be consummated, and of such confessed potency too, that this night should not be pa.s.sed over without giving it a fair trial, and at once putting its efficacy to the test! Having thus premised, it would be but foul play that my young friends should _burst in ignorance_ as to the mode and nature of the charm. _Eh! bien donc, mes chers enfants!_ you then must know, the fair young lady who wishes to recognise her future spouse for life, is to proceed at just this hour to a sequestered lime-kiln, bearing a charmed ball of untwisted cotton thread, and strongly holding the cord, is to fling the ball adown the cavern of the kiln; and upon its having reached the bottom, stoutly to exclaim, 'Who holds the ball?' When this is duly performed, the person who accomplishes it is to retire before midnight to bed; a banquet must be spread, and a mirror in which her fortune shall be read! Now, my gay and merry la.s.ses all, where is to be found that courageous one who dare do this?"

The young ladies all, as if by tacit consent, drew back, dissenting from the proposal. But not so Lady Adelaide, who advanced: "That daring one am I, and I accept your challenge;" seizing at the same time upon the charmed ball of untwisted cotton which Lady Lucy then held in her hand, and of which Lady Adelaide now became the possessor. "I hold now the charm; it shall not perish until at least its efficacy be tried. But remember I go alone!"

"Oh, my dearest, my best beloved Adelaide do not go!--I beseech you that you do not go at this hour of night--at this season of the year!

storm and rain may overtake you, and cause you to lament the rashness of your undertaking! In what I have said I wished to raise youthful curiosity, but at the same time I likewise meant to intimidate, but not to encourage the attempt!--Why will you go?"

"Because," rejoined Lady Adelaide, "from the very first I resolved that I would undertake the execution of the charm; and no remonstrance, not even force, shall compel me to relinquish my purpose; call it fate, call it destiny; describe it as rashness; call it e'en what pleaseth thee; it must--it shall be performed!"

"But," observed Lady Lucy, "should your absence be noticed what is then to be done to account for it? What will the Duke say?--what will the d.u.c.h.ess? And you will bring down the united raillery of all the loo, tredrille, primero, and cribbage tables, upon your truant head for this nocturnal adventure of romance!"

"Oh, tell the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess that as they know _the G.o.ds have made me poetical_, that the fit of inspiration was upon me; and now or never! If I were not to obey the impulse my precious verse would perish for ever!"

Adelaide then most sweetly smiling, said: "It boots not what remark may come from the sober dowagers and solemn wig-pated personages at the loo and ombre tables; they will be too much absorbed in their winnings and tricks to think of me. And now I go!"

"Oh stay, I prithee, stay a moment!--just until I tell thee," said Lady Lucy. "For before you go you must be told of what positively and fatally happened in our own family to a kinswoman of mine own, a young lady, upon the Eve of All-Hallows, who----"

"Not for the wide world," said Lady Adelaide, "would I hear another word. If the story, my dear aunt, be amusing or horrific, I pray thee tell it to my young friends, and then I shall have it told me when I return. Now wave thy mystic wand, and like a spirit I vanish.--_Presto_ I'm gone!"

Adelaide departed. This young lady was indeed the child of romance, with feelings the most tender and acute; and one who deeply had imbibed the superst.i.tions of the age in which she lived; all of which had chiefly been instilled, even from the very cradle, by the old talkative crone, her quondam nurse; and although possessing a strong understanding, yet still, as the ever constant dropping of water will impress and penetrate the hardest stone, in like manner the tales of superst.i.tion unceasingly told, and the numerous attestations of popular faith, did not fail fully to operate on her credulity.

Adelaide alone sallied forth from the ducal towers of Tyrconnel Castle, with deep determination to fulfil the spell of the charmed ball. The moon with pearly radiance shone forth on her fearless enterprise; enthusiastic in this adventure as in every thing which she thought, said, or did, she now boldly advanced to commence the solemn charm; and with firm and unshaken step she proceeded to the accomplishment of her nocturnal visit; while intently she looked around, fully to be a.s.sured that no human eye gazed upon the orgies which she was about to perform.

Adelaide then with quickened step approached a lime-kiln. This fabric had been for a lapse of time deserted and disused; its apex was crested with saxifrage, snap-dragon, and foxglove, which told its desolation; and the ivy too, in curling festoons suspended, overhung the pa.s.senger, and undulated in the breeze. The autumnal gale in mournful gusts swept, sighing in its course, over hill, and vale, and stream; while the owl hooted her solitary scream as Adelaide reached this deserted pile, now the lonely asylum of the nocturnal bat and wary field-mouse. The kiln had been constructed at the angle of a green knoll, which served as an ascent to it; and by this mount, or hill, Adelaide with facility ascended to the empty crater of the lime-kiln; when duly turning her face to the south she produced an untwisted ball of cotton thread, and firmly holding the end of the cord, or thread, of the ball, she flung the ball, as if a plummet, down the concavity of the kiln; when sounding its depth she ascertained that it had duly reached the bottom, then she undauntedly inquired in a loud and firm tone of voice--"Who holds the ball?" The cotton cord on the instant dropped promptly from her hand, whether by force or fear she knew not; while she thought she heard a voice unknown ascending in hollow tones from the echoing depth beneath, emphatically reply--"I grasp the ball!"

This might have been merely the effect of fear and mental deception, yet still she thought she had heard the awful response. No shape, no form, no figure, met her eye; but the words struck her ear and pierced her heart. Adelaide stood motionless, silent, and pale, as a statue; she had not the power to scream, articulation was totally suspended; and the powers of locomotion too were completely paralized, her imagination became spell-bound, her recollection was fled! At length nature completely overpowered, she fainted; and it was not for some time that she recovered the powers of animation, when all the solemn scene that had so lately occurred appeared to her but as a frightful dream that had pa.s.sed in review before her deceived imagination while she slumbered in that dreadful swoon.

For some considerable pause of time Adelaide sat motionless upon the sward of the little knoll that adjoined that ominous fabric, where so lately that awful charm, consecrated by the credulity of ages, had been performed.

After much mental exertion Adelaide found upon trial that she had sufficient bodily strength to arise; and now having stood up, she proceeded upon her return to the castle. The moon had retired behind a cloud, when, with a deep sigh, she exclaimed, "Oh, how much I wish that the deed had remained undone, and then my mind would have been at rest!

But now I am sadly disquieted, and my heart is sick within me. Oh, it was not well done!"

After a pause she continued--"But what will they all this while think of me at the castle? How shall my absence be accounted for? Why--why do I shudder thus in self-condemnation? This should not have been!"

Thus, in self-crimination, Adelaide vented her contrition, while with trembling fear and step she slowly wended back her wearied way to Tyrconnel Castle.

Still advancing, terror seemed every where to accompany her.

"Horror ubique----simul ipsa silentia terrent!"

The distant murmurs of the Eske uniting with the ocean affrighted her, as did her footsteps,--she thought them not her own; while ever and anon she would stop to listen; but no sounds were heard but those of the adjoining brook brawling[20] over its rocky channel, or the autumnal gale rustling the fallen foliage as it swept its plaintive blast along.

At times when partially the wind reposed, and all, for the interval, was in silence lulled, still her mind was not at rest; occasionally she would stop, and seemed to meditate to herself; then would she rehea.r.s.e the ominous incantation at the kiln, she would raise up her right arm, bend the hand, with thumb and fore-finger conjoined together; next suddenly dip the arm and hand, as when she plumbed the charmed ball adown the mystic concavity of the kiln. When having violently acted this, she would utter a piercing scream, and then awaken from her reverie.

[20] "Under an oak, whose antique root peeps out upon the brook that _brawls_ along this wood."

AS YOU LIKE IT.

As Adelaide was proceeding onward in her return to the castle, the sky suddenly became deeply darkened, and a thunder-storm arose; the thunder loudly re-echoed through the vaulted heavens, and the vivid lightning-flash preceded each awful peal; then descended torrents of rain, which fell with the plenitude and the force of a water-spout.

"Ah, if I had here a friend, a companion in this my hour of trial, I then would slightly value the tempest that now surrounds me! But the deed was all my own doing, and plaints now are of no avail. So unto the castle with whatever remnant of strength or courage may remain.--This is my only resource!"

All terrified, pale, and her garments deeply drenched with rain, at length Adelaide regained the castle; where, when she had put on fresh attire, forgetful of all the fears and perils which she had encountered, (such and so great are the contradictions of human nature,) that she fully, nevertheless, resolved to abide the full completion of the mysterious charm.

The awful thunder-storm served as a well-timed explanation for the deadly paleness of her countenance as the Lady Adelaide rejoined the social circle. The juvenile party were employed in the various pastimes of the night, in burning the boding nuts, while

"Some lovingly in flames consume, Till wasting into embers grey."

Meantime others parted company, north and south, with the rapidity, if not with the force, of a modern Congreve rocket. In others the spark soon expired, while the gentle relict that was left behind, "like Patience on a monument," kept stationary on her ordeal bar of trial, tranquil and serene, until, in expiring embers she blazed, and was no more! The melting of lead, and various other dainty devices followed.

All which were now succeeded by the grand finale of a ball, in which minuets, cotillions, and contre-danses followed in course, and were succeeded by a splendid supper.

The supper, which was superb and princely throughout, commenced and ended with delight to all the guests. And while sipping the n.o.ble beverage of the grape, pressed and brought from every generous clime, the following erudite discussion upon presages, prophecies, and predictions, occupied the grave and learned portion of the company:--

"Some presages," observed the Duke, "may certainly appear to have been casual, and subsequently adapted to the occasion by the ingenuity of others; but still there are others that appear supported by such a connected ma.s.s of evidence, that they can be neither questioned nor denied. Mariana, the famed historian of Spain, (A. D. 1453,) makes mention, in speaking of the tragical end of Don Alvaro, Earl of Luna, 'that it had been foretold to Alvaro that his death would be at Cadahalso, by which he supposed to be meant, a town he had of that name, and therefore he never went thither; but Cadahalso, in Spanish, means a _scaffold_,' (this prophecy thus 'paltered in a double sense,') for upon the scaffold Alvaro suffered, and there concluded a life eminent in glory."