in the heart of the town of prior’s ash was situated the banking-house of godolphin, crosse, and godolphin. built at the corner of a street, it faced two ways. the bank and its doors were in high street, the principal street of the town; the entrance to the dwelling-house was in crosse street, a new, short street, not much frequented, which had been called after mr. crosse, who, at the time it was made, lived at the bank. there were only six or eight houses in crosse street; detached private dwellings; and the street led to the open country, and to a pathway, not a carriage-way, that would, if you liked to follow it, take you to ashlydyat.
the house attached to the bank was commodious: its rooms were large and handsome, though few in number. a pillared entrance, gained by steps, led into a small hall. on the right of this hall was the room used as a dining-room, a light and spacious apartment, its large window opening on to a covered terrace, where plants were kept; and that again opened to a sloping lawn, surrounded with shrubs and flowers. this room was hung with fine old pictures, brought from ashlydyat. lady godolphin did not care for pictures; she preferred delicately-papered walls; and very few of the ashlydyat paintings had been removed to the folly. on the left of the hall were the rooms belonging to the bank. at the back of the hall, beyond the dining-room, a handsome well-staircase led to the apartments above, one of which was a fine drawing-room. from the upper windows at the back of the house a view of lady godolphin’s folly might be obtained, rising high and picturesque; also of the turret of ashlydyat, grey and grim. not of ashlydyat itself: its surrounding trees concealed it.
this dining-room, elegant and airy, and fitted up with exquisite taste, was the favourite sitting-room of the miss godolphins. the drawing-room above, larger and grander, less comfortable, and looking on to the high street, was less used by them. in this lower room there sat one evening thomas godolphin and his eldest sister. it was about a month subsequent to that day, at the commencement of this history, when you saw the hounds throw off, and a week or ten days since sir george godolphin had been found insensible on the floor of his room at broomhead. the attack had proved to be nothing but a prolonged fainting-fit; but even that told upon sir george in his shattered health. it had caused plans to be somewhat changed. thomas godolphin’s visit to scotland had been postponed, for sir george was not strong enough for business consultations, which would have been the chief object of his journey; and george godolphin had not yet returned to prior’s ash.
[67]thomas and miss godolphin had been dining alone. bessy was spending the evening at all souls’ rectory: she and mr. hastings were active workers together in parish matters; and cecil was dining at ashlydyat. mrs. verrall had called in the afternoon and carried her off. dessert was on the table, but thomas had turned from it, and was sitting over the fire. miss godolphin sat opposite to him, nearer the table, her fingers busy with her knitting, on which fell the rays of the chandelier. they were discussing plans earnestly and gravely.
“no, thomas, it would not do,” she was saying. “we must go. one of the partners always has resided here at the bank. let business men be at their place of business.”
“but look at the trouble, janet,” remonstrated thomas godolphin. “consider the expense. you may be no sooner out than you may have to come back again.”
janet turned her strangely-deep eyes on her brother. “do not make too sure of that, thomas.”
“how do you mean, janet? in my father’s precarious state we cannot, unhappily, count upon his life.”
“thomas, i am sure—i seem to see—that he will not be with us long. no: and i am contemplating the time when he shall have left us. it would change many things. your home would then be ashlydyat.”
thomas godolphin smiled. as if any power would keep him from inhabiting ashlydyat when he should be master. “yes,” he answered. “and george would come here.”
“there it is!” said janet. “would george live here? i do not feel sure that he would.”
“of course he would, janet. he would live here with you, as i do now. that is a perfectly understood thing.”
“does he so understand it?”
“he understands it, and approves it.”
janet shook her head. “george likes his liberty; he will not be content to settle down to the ways of a sober household.”
“nay, janet, you must remember one thing. when george shall come to this house, he comes, so to say, as its master. he will not, of course, interfere with your arrangements; he will fall in with them readily; but neither will he, nor must he, be under your control. to attempt anything of the sort again would not do.”
janet knitted on in silence. she had essayed to keep master george in hand when they first came to the bank to live there: and the result was that he had chosen a separate home, where he could be entirely en garçon.
“eh me!” sighed janet. “if young men could but see the folly of their ways—as they see them in after-life!”
“therefore, janet, i say that it would be exceedingly inadvisable for you to quit the house,” continued thomas godolphin, leaving her remark unnoticed. “it might be, that before you were well out of it, you must return to it.”
“i see the inconvenience also; the uncertainty,” she answered. “but there is no help for it.”
[68]“yes there is. janet, i wish you would let me settle it.”
“how would you settle it?”
“by bringing ethel here. on a visit to you.”
janet laid down her knitting. “what do you mean? that there should be two mistresses in the house, she and i? no, no, thomas; the daftest old wife in the parish would tell you that does not do.”
“not two mistresses. you would be sole mistress, as you are now: i and ethel your guests. janet, indeed it would be the better plan. by the spring we should see how sir george went on. if he improved, then the question could be definitively settled: and either you or i would take up our residence elsewhere. if he does not improve, i fear, janet, that spring will have seen the end.”
something in the words appeared particularly to excite janet’s attention. she gazed at thomas as if she would search him through and through. “by spring!” she repeated. “when, then, do you contemplate marrying ethel?”
“i should like her to be mine by christmas,” was the low answer.
“thomas! and december close upon us!”
“if not, some time in january,” he continued, paying no attention to her surprise. “it is so decided.”
miss godolphin drew a long breath. “with whom is it decided?”
“with ethel.”
“you would marry a wife without a home to bring her to? had thoughtless george told me that he was going to do such a thing, i could have believed it of him. not of you, thomas.”
“janet, the home shall no longer be a barrier to us. i wish you would receive ethel here as your guest.”
“it is not likely that she would come. the first thing a married woman looks for is to have a home of her own.”
thomas smiled. “not come, janet? have you yet to learn how unassuming and meek is the character of ethel? we have spoken of this plan together, and ethel’s only fear is, lest she should ‘be in miss godolphin’s way.’ failing to carry out this project, janet—for i see you are, as i thought you would be, prejudiced against it—i shall hire a lodging as near to the bank as may be, and there i shall take ethel.”
“would it be seemly that the heir of ashlydyat should go into lodgings on his marriage?” asked janet, grief and sternness in her tone.
“things are seemly or unseemly, janet, according to circumstances. it would be more seemly for the heir of ashlydyat to take temporary lodgings while waiting for ashlydyat, than to turn his sisters from their home for a month, or a few months, as the case might be. the pleasantest plan would be for me to bring ethel here: as your guest. it is what she and i should both like. if you object to this, i shall take her elsewhere. bessy and cecil would be delighted with the arrangement: they are fond of ethel.”
“and when children begin to come, thomas?” cried miss godolphin in her old-fashioned, steady, scotch manner. she had a great deal of her mother about her.
thomas’s lips parted with a quaint smile. “things will be decided,[69] one way or the other, months before children shall have had time to arrive.”
janet knitted a whole row before she spoke again. “i will take a few hours to reflect upon it, thomas,” she said then.
“do so,” he replied, rising and glancing at the timepiece. “half-past seven! what time will cecil expect me? i wish to spend half an hour with ethel. shall i go for cecil before, or afterwards?”
“go for cecil at once, thomas. it will be better for her to be home early.”
thomas godolphin went to the hall-door and looked out upon the night. he was considering whether he need put on an overcoat. it was a bright moonlight night, warm and genial. so he shut the door, and started. “i wish the cold would come!” he exclaimed, half aloud. he was thinking of the fever, which still clung obstinately to prior’s ash, showing itself fitfully and partially in fresh places about every third or fourth day.
he took the foot-path, down crosse street: a lonely way, and at night especially unfrequented. in one part of it, as he ascended near ashlydyat, the pathway was so narrow that two people could scarcely walk abreast without touching the ash-trees growing on either side and meeting overhead. a murder had been committed on this spot a few years before: a sad tale of barbarity, offered to a girl by one who professed to be her lover. she lay buried in all souls’ churchyard; and he within the walls of the county prison where he had been executed. of course the rumour went that her ghost “walked” there, the natural sequence to these dark tales; and, what with that, and what with the loneliness of the place, few could be found in it after dark.
thomas godolphin went steadily on, his thoughts running upon the subject of his conversation with janet. it is probable that but for the difficulty touching a residence, ethel would have been his in the past autumn. when anything should happen to sir george, thomas would be in possession of ashlydyat three months afterwards; such had been the agreement with mr. verrall when he took ashlydyat. not in his father’s lifetime would thomas godolphin (clinging to the fancies and traditions which had descended with the old place) consent to take up his abode as master of ashlydyat; but no longer than was absolutely necessary would he remain out of it as soon as it was his own. george would then remove to the bank, which would still be his sister’s home, as it was now. in the event of george’s marrying, the miss godolphins would finally leave it: but george godolphin did not, as far as people saw, give indications that he was likely to marry. in the precarious state of sir george’s health—and it was pretty sure he would soon either get better or worse—these changes might take place any day: therefore it was not desirable that the miss godolphins should leave the bank, and that the trouble and expense of setting up and furnishing a house for them should be incurred. of course they could not go into lodgings. altogether, if janet could only be brought to see it, thomas’s plan was the best—that his young bride should be janet’s guest for a short time.
it was through the upper part of this dark path, which was called the ash-tree walk, that george godolphin had taken maria hastings, the[70] night they had left lady godolphin’s dinner-table to visit the dark plain. thomas, in due course, arrived at the end of the walk, and passed through the turnstile. lady godolphin’s folly lay on the right, high and white and clear in the moonbeams. ashlydyat lay to the left, dark and grey, and almost hidden by the trees. grey as it was, thomas looked at it fondly: his heart yearned to it: and it was to be the future home of himself and ethel!
“holloa! who’s this? oh, i beg your pardon, mr. godolphin!”
the speaker was snow, the surgeon. he had come swiftly upon thomas godolphin, turning the corner round the ash-trees from the dark plain. that he had been to ashlydyat was certain, for the road led nowhere else. thomas did not know that illness was in the house.
“neither did i,” said mr. snow in answer to the remark, “until an hour ago, when i was sent for in haste.”
a thought crossed thomas godolphin. “not a case of fever, i hope!”
“no. i think that’s leaving us. there has been an accident at ashlydyat to mrs. verrall. at least, what might have been an accident, i should rather say,” added the surgeon, correcting himself. “the injury is so slight as not to be worth the name of one.”
“what has happened?” asked thomas godolphin.
“she managed to set her sleeve on fire: a white lace or muslin sleeve, falling below the silk sleeve of her gown. in standing near a candle, the flame caught it. but now, look at that young woman’s presence of mind! instead of wasting moments in screams, or running through the house from top to bottom, as most people would have done, she instantly threw herself down upon the rug, and rolled herself in it. that’s the sort of woman to go through life.”
“is she much burnt?”
“pooh! many a child gets a worse burn a dozen times in its first dozen years. the arm between the elbow and the wrist is slightly scorched. it’s nothing. they need not have sent for me. the application of a little cold water will take out all the fire. your sister cecilia was ten times more alarmed than mrs. verrall.”
“i am truly glad it is no worse!” said thomas godolphin. “i feared fever might have found its way there.”
“that is taking its departure; as i think. and, the sooner it goes, the better. it has been capricious as the smiles of a coquette. how strange it is, that not a soul, down by those pollard pigsties, should have had it, except the bonds!”
“it is equally strange that, in many houses, it should have attacked only one inmate, and spared the rest. what do you think now of sarah anne grame?”
mr. snow shook his head, and his voice grew insensibly low. “in my opinion she is sinking fast. i found her worse this afternoon; weaker than she has been at all. lady sarah said, ‘if she could get her to ventnor?’—‘if she could get her to hastings?’ but the removal would kill her: she’d die on the road. it will be a terrible blow to lady sarah, if it does come: and—though it may seem harsh to say it—a retort upon her selfishness. did you know that they used to make ethel head nurse, while the fever was upon her?”
[71]“no!” exclaimed thomas godolphin.
“they did, then. my lady inadvertently let it out to-day. dear child! if she had caught it, i should never have forgiven her mother, whatever you may have done. good night. i have a dozen visits now to pay before bedtime.”
“worse!” soliloquized thomas godolphin, as he stepped on. “poor, peevish sarah anne! but—i wonder,” he hesitated as the thought struck him, “whether, if the worst should come, as snow seems to anticipate, it would put off ethel’s marriage? what with one delay and another——”
thomas godolphin’s voice ceased, and his heart stood still. he had turned the corner, to the front of the ash-tree grove, and stretching out before him was the dark plain, with its weird-like bushes, so like graves, and—its shadow, lying cold and still in the white moonlight. yes! there surely lay the shadow of ashlydyat. the grey archway rose behind it; the flat plain extended out before it, and the shadow was between them, all too distinctly visible.
the first shock over, thomas godolphin’s pulses coursed on again. he had seen that shadow before in his lifetime, but he halted to gaze at it again. it was very palpable. the bier, as it looked in the middle, a mourner at the head, a mourner at the foot, each—as a spectator could fancy—with bowed heads. in spite of the superstition touching this strange shadow in which thomas godolphin had been brought up, he looked round now for some natural explanation of it. he was a man of intellect, a man of the world, a man who played his full share in the practical business of everyday life: and such men are not given to acknowledging superstitious fancies in this age of enlightenment, no matter what bent may have been given to their minds in childhood.
therefore thomas godolphin ranged his eyes round and round in the air, and could see nothing that would solve the mystery. “i wonder whether it be possible that certain states of the atmosphere should give out these shadows?” he soliloquized. “but—if so—why should it invariably appear in that one precise spot; and in no other? could snow have seen it, i wonder?”
he walked on towards ashlydyat, his head always turned, looking at the shadow. “i am glad janet does not see it! it would frighten her into a belief that my father’s end was near,” came his next thought.
mrs. verrall, playing the invalid, lay on a sofa, her auburn hair somewhat ruffled, her pretty pink cheeks flushed, her satin slippers peeping out; altogether challenging admiration. the damaged arm, its silk sleeve pinned up, was stretched out on a cushion, a small delicate cambric handkerchief, saturated with water, resting lightly on the burn. a basin of water stood near, with a similar handkerchief lying in it, and mrs. verrall’s maid was at hand to change the handkerchiefs as might be required. thomas godolphin drew a chair near to mrs. verrall, and listened to the account of the accident, giving her his full sympathy, for it might have been a bad one.
“you must possess great presence of mind,” he observed. “i think your showing it, as you have done in this instance, has won mr. snow’s heart.”
mrs. verrall laughed. “i believe i do possess presence of mind.[72] and so does charlotte. once we were out with some friends in a barouche, and the horses took fright, ran up a bank, turned the carriage over, and nearly kicked it to pieces. while all those with us were fearfully frightened, charlotte and i remained calm and cool.”
“it is a good thing for you,” he observed.
“i suppose it is. better, at any rate, than to go mad with fear, as some do. cecil”—turning to her—“has had fright enough to last her for a twelvemonth, she says.”
“were you present, cecil?” asked her brother.
“i was present, but i did not see it,” replied cecil. “it occurred in mrs. verrall’s bedroom, and i was standing at the dressing-table, with my back to her. the first thing i knew, or saw, was mrs. verrall on the floor with the rug rolled round her.”
tea was brought in, and mrs. verrall insisted that they should remain for it. thomas pleaded an engagement, but she would not listen: they could not have the heart, she said, to leave her alone. so thomas—the very essence of good feeling and politeness—waived his objection and remained. not the bowing politeness of a petit maître, but the genuine consideration that springs from a noble and unselfish heart.
“i am in ecstasy that verrall was away,” she exclaimed. “he would have magnified it into something formidable, and i should not have been allowed to stir for a month.”
“when do you expect him home?” asked thomas godolphin.
“i never expect him until he comes,” replied mrs. verrall. “london seems to possess attractions for him. once up there, he may stay a day, or he may stay fifty. i never know.”
cecil went upstairs to put her things on when tea was over, the maid attending her. mrs. verrall turned to see that the door was closed, and then spoke abruptly.
“mr. godolphin, can anything be done to prevent the wind whistling as it does in these passages?”
“does it whistle?” he replied.
“the last few nights it has whistled—oh, i cannot describe it to you! if i were not a good sleeper, it would have kept me awake all night. i wish it could be stopped.”
“it cannot be done, i believe, without pulling the house down,” he said. “my mother had a great dislike to hear it, and a good deal of expense was incurred in trying to remedy it; but it did little or no good.”
“what puzzles me is, that the wind should have been whistling within the house, when there’s no wind whistling without. the weather has been quite calm. sometimes when it is actually blowing great guns we cannot hear it at all.”
“something peculiar in the construction of the passages,” he carelessly remarked. “you hear the whistling or not, according to the quarter from which the wind may happen to be blowing.”
“the servants tell a tale—these old ashlydyat retainers who remain in the house—that this strangely-sounding wind is connected with the ashlydyat superstition, and foretells ill to the godolphins.”
thomas godolphin smiled. “i am sure you do not give ear to anything so foolish, mrs. verrall.”
[73]“no, that i do not,” she answered. “it would take a great deal to imbue me with faith in the supernatural. ghosts! shadows! as if any one with common sense could believe in such impossibilities! they tell another tale about here, do they not? that a shadow of some sort may occasionally be seen in the moonbeams in front of the archway, on the dark plain; a shadow cast by no earthly substance. charlotte once declared she saw it. i only laughed at her!”
his lips parted as he listened, and he lightly echoed the laugh said to have been given by charlotte. considering what his eyes had just seen, the laugh must have been a very conscious one.
“when do you expect your brother home?” asked mrs. verrall. “he seems to be making a long stay at broomhead.”
“george is not at broomhead,” replied thomas godolphin. “he left it three or four days ago. he has joined a party of friends in the highlands. i do not suppose he will return here much before christmas.”
cecil appeared. they wished mrs. verrall good night, and a speedy cure to her burns; and departed. thomas took the open roadway this time, which did not bring them near to the ash-trees or the dark plain.
