The Haunted Homestead Part 34

"Oh! for de Lord's love, ole mis'tess! ef we mus' go, you go first, you go first; I dar'n't; I's such a sinner, I is!" cried Ca.s.sy, wringing her hands in an agony of terror.

Urr-rrr-rr-r-r-r-rattle-te-bang-ang!

"A ten-strike! Ho! ho! ho! ho! ho! ho!" again sounded the revels.

"Hooley St. Bridget, pray for us! Hail Mary, full of grace! Don't go, ole mist'ess, honey! Oh, stay where you is in safety!" pleaded the old woman, clasping her hands.

"Nonsense! Hold your tongue, Ca.s.sy. If ever there was a woman plagued with a set of cowardly simpletons, it is myself. Let go my skirts this moment, Alice! Be silent, every one of you, and follow me as softly as possible," said my grandmother, in a low, stern voice, as she took up the candle and led the way downstairs. We followed at this order--Ca.s.sy holding on to her mistress' skirts, Alice holding to Ca.s.sy's, and I bringing up the rear, with carnal weapons in one hand and spiritual ones in the other--that is to say, with a big ruler and a prayerbook.

A chill, damp air met us at the foot of the stairs--nothing else.

The front hall was empty and bleak. We tried the doors, and found them as secure as we had left them, with the exception of the parlor door, by which Ca.s.sy had entered, and which was on the latch. Mrs. Hawkins pulled it to and locked it, saying, in a low voice, that she wished, while examining each room, to keep all the rest locked, that there might be no escape for any one concealed in the house.

First we went into the right-hand bedroom, opening from the hall. It was secure, vacant and bleak. We locked the door and drew out the key.

Next we looked into the left-hand bedroom; it was in precisely the same condition. We made it fast in the same manner.

Then we opened and entered the parlor. This was the bleakest room of any--large, square, lofty, totally bare, cold and damp.

"Nothing here," said Mrs. Hawkins, looking around.

Urr-rr-rr-r-r-r-r-rattle-te-bang-ang-ang! the phantom ball rolled, and scattered the ninepins.

"Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!" shouted the hollow, ghostly voices.

They seemed to be in the very room with us, reverberating in the very air we breathed, echoing from the four walls around, and from the ceiling above us!

"Jesu, Mary!" cried Ca.s.sy, dropping on her knees.

"Oh! oh! oh!" gasped Alice, clinging to me.

"This is very unaccountable," said our grandmother, looking all around the room, where nothing but bare walls and bare boards met the view.

We looked at each other in silence for a few moments, and then Mrs.

Hawkins said:

"Come! let us look into the dining-room, and then call up Hector to a.s.sist us in searching the grounds."

We pa.s.sed on into the next room and locked the door behind us, as we had locked every one in our tour through the house. That room was closely packed with furniture, over which we had to clamber our pa.s.sage.

While we were doing so, once again sounded the detonating roll of the ball, the rattling, scattering of the pins, and the hollow peals of laughter, all echoing around and around us, as it were, in the same rooms.

Alice again seized her grandmother.

Ca.s.sy fell over a stack of washtubs, and called on all the saints to help her.

Mrs. Hawkins ordered Alice to let her go, and Ca.s.sy to get up, and me to move on.

She was obeyed. A great general was our grandmother, and we all knew it!

We left the dining-room, locking the last door behind us. We dodged the dark, blind alley, sheltered the candle from the drizzling mist, and went around into the kitchen and called Hector from above.

The old man answered, and soon came toddling down the narrow stairs.

"Hector, have you heard those noises?" inquired Mrs. Hawkins.

"The Lord between us and evil! I've heern, mist'ess! I've heern!"

"What do you suppose it is?"

A dubious, solemn shake of the head was the old man's only reply.

"Can't you speak, Hector? How do you account for these noises? Come! no mysteries; answer if you can; what are they?"

"Dead people!" groaned the old man, with a shudder.

"Pooh!" exclaimed Mrs. Hawkins.

But I could see that even she was paler than usual.

"Come, Hector! There is no one in the house--that is certain. And no one can get into it while we are gone, because it is locked up. Now fasten up the kitchen, and let us go and search the grounds, and unkennel any interlopers that may be lurking there."

We came out and secured the kitchen door, and began our tour of the garden.

As we left the door, our watchdog ran out to join us.

This circ.u.mstance, while it greatly a.s.sisted us in our search, very much increased the perplexity of our minds. Had the dog heard the noises that had disturbed us, and if so, why had he not given the alarm?--or, on the other hand, were dogs insensible to supernatural sights and sounds? We could not tell; but we were glad to have Fidelle snuffing and trotting along before us, confident that if there were a human being lurking anywhere in the garden, he would smell him out. So we went up one gra.s.s-grown walk and down another, between rows of gooseberry bushes, currant bushes, and raspberry bushes, all damp and dripping with mist, and through alleys of dwarf plum trees, and all along the hedges of evergreen inside the brick wall, and past the iron gate, which was still chained, as it had been left, and then around in the stable, coachhouse, henhouse and smokehouse, each of which we found securely locked, and, when opened, damp, musty and vacant; and so we looked over every foot of ground, and into every outbuilding, finding all safe and leaving all safe; and at last, without having discovered anything, we arrived again at the dining-room door.

We all entered, locked the door after us, clambered over the piles of furniture, and pa.s.sed on into the parlor.

The parlor, as I have said, was as yet unfurnished, damp and cold. Yet there we paused for a little while to take breath.

"There is nothing concealed in the garden, and nothing in the house; that is demonstrated. These strange manifestations must admit of a natural explanation; but I confess myself at a loss to explain them,"

said Mrs. Hawkins.

"Oh! ole mist'ess; 'fess it's de ghoses, honey! 'fess it's de ghoses!

Memorize how n.o.body was ever able to lib in dis cussed house!" pleaded Ca.s.sy.

"Oh, yes, grandmother, do let's sit up here all night to-night, and move out early to-morrow morning," entreated Ally.

"What do you say, Madeleine?" inquired my grandmother.

"I say, brave it out!"

"So do I, my girl!" replied Mrs. Hawkins.

"Oh, for de love o' de Lord, don't ole mist'ess! don't, Miss Maddy!

don't! It's a temptin' o' Providence! Leave de 'fernel ole place to de ghoses, as has de bes' right to it!" prayed Ca.s.sy.