Cruel As The Grave Part 46

"'My dear lady, she have never entered the house since your ladys.h.i.+p gave the order that she was not so to do.'

"'But she has. I have seen her here at least a half a dozen times.'

"'Dear lady, I dare not contradict you; but poor Milly Jones has been down with the pleurisy for these two weeks past, and could not have got out of her bed, even if your ladys.h.i.+p had ordered her to come.'

"'Isaac, is this true?'

"'True as truth, your ladys.h.i.+p, which you can find it out for yourself by riding up to the hut and seeing the poor girl, which it would be a charity so to do.'

"'And you say she has not been here for a fortnight?'

"'No, madam.'

"'Then, in the name of Heaven, _who_ is it that I meet so often?' slowly and sternly demanded Mrs. Dubarry.

"Old Isaac solemnly shook his gray head, and answered never a word.

"'What do you mean by that? Speak! I will have an answer. Who is this silent girl in the red cloak, I ask?' repeated the lady.

"'Madam, I don't know. And that is what I meant when I shook my head,'

replied the old man, trembling.

"'You don't know! do you dare to mock me?'

"'Far from it, my lady; but goodness knows I don't know.'

"'But you have seen her?'

"'Dear, my lady, I don't know who she is, nor dare I speak of her; the master has forbidden us so to do. Dear madam, ask the master; but oh, for pity sake, do not ask me further,' pleaded the old man, very humbly.

"The lady turned white with jealousy. There was but one interpretation she could put upon this mystery.

"'Go and say to your master that I would feel much obliged if he would come to me here,' she said, grimly seating herself.

"The trembling old man went to the kennels, where Mr. Dubarry was busy doctoring a favorite setter, and delivered his message. Dubarry was still enough in love with his three months wife to come quickly at her call.

"'Philip!' exclaimed the lady, as soon as she saw him enter the room, 'once for all, I wish to know who is this girl in the red cloak; and why I am daily insulted with her presence in this house?'

"Dubarry went pale, as usual at the mention of the apparition; but he faltered out with what composure he could command:

"'I--I told you who she is--Milly Jones.'

"'No; begging your pardon, she is _not_ Milly Jones. Milly Jones has been ill with pleurisy, at home on the mountain, for the last two weeks; and I have sent her a pension of two dollars a week. No; this is no Milly Jones, and I insist on knowing who she is!'

"'Then, if she is not Milly Jones, she is a creature of your own imagination, for no other living girl comes to the house,' answered Dubarry doggedly.

"'You will not tell me who she is? Very well. When next I see her, _she_ shall tell me, silent as she is,' said the lady grimly setting her teeth.

"Dubarry arose with a sigh, and went back to his ailing setter; but his thoughts brooded over the subject of the apparition.

"The lady kept her word at a fearful cost. For the remainder of the day, her conduct towards her husband was so cold and repelling as to wound and offend him. So it happened that when the hour for retiring came that night, she went up to her chamber alone. She had but time to reach the room, when all the household was startled by a piercing shriek and a heavy fall.

"Mr. Dubarry, soon followed by all the servants, rushed up stairs to Mrs. Dubarry's bedroom. They found the lady extended on the floor, in a deep swoon. She was raised and laid upon the bed, and proper means taken to revive her. When at length she opened her eyes, and recognized her husband, she signed for every one else to leave the room; and when they had done so, she turned and took his hand and kissed it, and fixed her wild and frightened eyes upon him and whispered in an awe-struck tone:

"'Phil, dear, I wronged you. I took that creature in the red cloak to be a sweetheart of yours, Phil, but it was not; it was--_a spectre_!'

"There was silence between them for a minute, during which she never took her scared eyes from his pale face. He was the first to speak.

Summoning up as much resolution as he could muster, he affected a light laugh, and answered:

"'Spectre! My sweet wife, there is no such thing.'

"'Ah, but--but--if you could have seen what I saw, _felt what I felt_!'

"'Nonsense, dear one. You were the subject of an optical illusion.'

"'No, I was not. Hus.h.!.+ Let me tell you what happened. I came up into this room. It was warm and ruddy with the fire light and the lamp light; and in the glow I saw the girl standing between the hearth and the bed.

I spoke to her, asking her how she dared intrude into my most sacred privacy; and then she silently glided from the spot. But I told her she should not leave the room until she had given some account of herself.

And I put forth my hand to stop her, but the moment I did so I received a shock as from some powerful galvanic battery! a tremendous shock that threw me down upon my face. I knew no more until I came to my senses and found myself here, with you watching over me. Now, Philip, tell me that was an optical illusion, if you dare,' said the lady, solemnly.

"'Yes, love, I dare. I tell you that what you saw _was_ an optical illusion.'

"'--But what I felt?'

"'--Was a slight--a very slight attack of catalepsy. Both the vision and the fit, dear, took their rise in some abnormal state of the nervous system,' said Philip Dubarry; and feeling almost pleased with his own explanation of the mystery, he tried to persuade himself that it was the true one."

"But his wife turned her face to the wall, saying, however.

"'Well, at any rate, I am glad that the girl in the red cloak is not flesh and blood, Phil. I would rather she should be an 'optical illusion' or a fit of 'catalepsy,' or even a 'spectre,' than a sweetheart of yours, as I first took, her to be.

"'Be not afraid. You have no living rival, Alicia,' answered her husband.

"And the reconciliation between the husband and the wife was complete from that time forth.

"But somehow the condition of the lady was worse than before.

"_She was haunted_.

"She knew herself to be haunted; but whether by a spectral illusion or a real spectre, she could not know. In the glow of the fire light, in the shadow of the bed-curtains in the illuminated drawing-room, on the dark staircase, wherever and whenever she found herself alone, the vision of the girl in the red cloak crossed her path. She did not speak to it, or try to stop it again. She did not wish to risk another such an electric shock as should 'cast her shuddering on her face.' But her health wasted under the trial. Her nerves failed. She grew fearful of being left alone for an instant; nothing would induce her to go into any room in the house without an attendant. She contracted a habit of looking fearfully over her shoulder, and sometimes suddenly screaming.

"Nor was the mistress of the house the only sufferer from this 'abnormal state of the nervous system,' as the master of the house preferred to call the mystery. The servants grew so much afraid to move about the building alone, that their usefulness was much impaired. And at length one after another ran away, and took to the woods and mountain caves, preferring to starve or beg rather than live in luxury in the haunted house. New servants were procured to supply the places of the old ones, until the latter could be brought back; but none of them stayed long; nothing could induce them to remain in the 'haunted house.' The story of the gipsy girl's ghost got around in the neighborhood. Not all the despotic power of Mr. Dubarry could prevent this. The house came to be pointed out and avoided by the ignorant and superst.i.tious, as a haunted and accursed spot. Even the more intelligent and enlightened portion of the community gradually forsook it; for it was not very agreeable to visit a family where the mistress was so full of 'flaws and starts'

that, even at the head of her own table, she would often startle the whole company by suddenly looking over her right shoulder and uttering a piercing scream.

"And so the house was abandoned by high and low, rich and poor alike.

And the worthy gossips of the neighborhood wisely nodded over their tea-cups, and declared that the deserted condition of the house was but a just retribution for the sins of its master.

"And in the meantime the health of the mistress grew worse and worse.

The most serious fears were entertained for her life and reason, death or insanity seeming to be the most probable issue of her malady. Medical advice was called in. The doctor, either in complaisance or sincerity, agreed with Mr. Dubarry's theory of the patient's condition, ascribing her illness to an 'abnormal state of the nervous system,' and he advised change of air and scene, and he held forth good hopes that within a very few months, when the young wife should become a mother, her health might be perfectly reestablished.

"Under these circ.u.mstances, early in the new year, Mr. Dubarry took his wife to Williamsburg, to spend the winter among the gayeties of the colonial Governor's court.