Ellen Percy; or, The Memoirs of an Actress — page 375: what you’re looking at

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362 truth Tt is that your grandfather himself was murdered by his old housekeeper !” “Good God!” I ejaculated, staggering back against the wall, and with a sensation of the deadly psleness that came over my countenance. “Ts it possible that such is the report ?” “Tt is indeed, Miss,” replied Mr. Jacobs. “ I¢ is said that Mrs. Parks poisoned the old man——— But you look very ill! Let me offer you a glass of water ?” “ No, no, I thank you!—I shall bo better in a moment! And such is the rumour!” I mur- mured, with a horrified feeling, as I now com: prehended those dark mysterious allusions which Mrs. Kelly had made to the character of the deceased housekeeper. “T am sorry that I should have told you any- thing to give you so much pain,” proceeded Mr. Jacobs: “but it was my duty to explain the whole truth. So you see, Miss, that when persons go about the neighbourhood making inquiries and learn that the place is generally known as fhe haunted house, itis no wonder they never come back to ask for the key to inspect the premises.” “No wonder, indeed!” IE murmured, scarcely knowing what I said; for my mind was filled with the most harrowing and torturing reflections. Mr. Jacobs had no more information to give me. I summoned all my fortitude to my aid—l nerved myself with all my energy to struggle against the horrible ideas—I will even say swspi- cions which had arisen in my mind: and taking up the key which the house-agent had laid upon his desk, I turned to leave the office, “You will permit me to accompany you, Miss?” said Mr. Jacobs. «No, I thank you,” was my response: then fancying that some little explanation was requisite for this refusal of the man’s courtesy, I added, “You may easily suppose that under all circum- stances my feelings are very much excited—and I would fain be alone.” . I left the office and proceeded to the house op- posite. I placed the key in the lock; but it was only with the greatest difficulty and after three or four attempts that I could turn it. Aé length the door opened; I crossed the threshold—the hall looked as gloomy as if it were the entrance fo a sepulchre—the silence which prevailed was like that of death— while the atmosphere seemed fraught with the dampness of the grave itself. I confess that I shuddered, and hesitated to advance farther into that house of evil repute: but con- quering my repugnance, and feeling ashamed of my superstitious terrors, I closed the door behind me. The light was now but feebly admitted into the hall by a window on the landing; for the panes of this window were all grimed with collected dust and with the falling soot from the chimneys of ad- jacent factories. My feet as I advanced raised a cloud of dust; and now that the front door was shut, the smell of the air was mouldy as well as damp. To enter into a house which has long been shut up, always tends to make a certain disagreo- able impression upon the mind: but to entera house to which such terrific rumours were at- tached as the one where I now found myself, was only too well calculated to inspire the boldest heart with a vague superstitious dread. Mustering all my energies, and resolute in ELLEN PEECY ; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF AN ACTRESS. trizmphing over these unpleasant impressions, I opened the door of the parlour which was wont to be inhabited during my grandfather’s lifetime. I should observe that the house was empty,—all the furniture (such as if was) having been hur. riedly disposed of after my grandsire’s death, when Mrs. Parks made up her mind to leave the town, The light was admitted into that parlour by the heart-shaped air-holes in the ricketty old shutters: but the room was involved in semi-obscurity ; and as I glanced around, it almost seemed t6 me as if shadows were stealing through the gloom at the farther extremity. I thought that I had already seen enough of this dismal dreary house: but on the other hand there was a feeling in my mind that I ought to visit the room where my poor grandfather had breathed his last—and I likewise had a yearning to ascend to the little chamber where I myself used to sleep. I passed into that back room on the ground floor which my grand. father was wont to call his office; and this was even darker than the front parlour. Phe paper had all become detached from the walls by the damp; and it hung in blackened tatters or in masses, like time-worn and dilapidated tapestry in the ruined chambers of some ateient castle. I[ passed on into the little room which my grand- father had occupied, and where he had breathed his last. It was empty, like the other rooms: but in imagination I again beheld the wretched, ricketty, dirty, comfortiess bed in whieh the old man died—the drapery hanging from the beam— and the eseritoire to which he had pointed when in his lasé moments indicating to Mrs. Parks where his will would be found. Oh! and now how vividly in my mind were conjured up the ter- rifie words which I had heard him speak on that occasion :—“ And if you do not fulfil the oath you hace taken~if you fail im one single particular —may the cwrse of a dying man cling to you for the remainder of your existence !—iay tt poison the very springs of that existence !—may it stifle your last prayer in your throat when your own time shall also come!—and may it hurry your soul into everlasting perdition !” . “Ob, my God!” [ thought to myself, “if that terrifie curse could have had its full effect! andif its withering, blighting influence can have fallen upon the vile perjured woman, body and soul!” A cold shudder crept over me; and when in imagination I depicted the last appalling seene of my grandfather’s hfe,—when, with my inward vision, I beheld that chamber furnished and peopled in every respect as I had thew seen it— but when, with my outward eyes, I saw it empty and gazed upon vacaney,—there was something awful and appalling in the very contrast between the actual fact and the effect of my fancy! And now a thousand reminiscences began to crowd in upon my mind. I reviewed all the cir- cumstances of my grandfather’s death: in short, I was at that moment constituting myself as it were a tribuna!, with the image of Mrs. Parks ar- raigned before me, accused of murder, and for me to pronounce the sentence Yea or N ay— Guilty or Not Guilty ! I recollected how my grandfather was first taken ill, without any visible cause for his indis- position—how on his refusal to have medical ad- vice Mrs. Parks did not use her influence to over- CONNIEDIOOKS Com