Joseph Wilmot, or, The Memoirs of a Man-Servant — page 379: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ae cr 366 zlso too poor in quality, to do me any good; and T wished that the footman had exercised suflicient forethought to set a faggot blazing in the grate of the wide-mouthed chimney. A quarter of an hour elapsed, which however seemed a full hour; and the man re-appeared. He requested me to follow him—which I did,—he again shouldering my box and carrying his own candle, while I bore the one he had left me. We traversed the spacious hall, and ascended a wide staircase, the balustrades of which were the most massive I had ever seen; and on reaching the summit, I perceived that from the landing a long corridor branched off to the right and another to the left, a feeble glimmering at each extremity showing me that there was a window at either end, and therefore that this passage ran the whole length of the building. ._There was an array of doors on either side; but on the landing, and facing the staircase, there were folding-doors set in a deep and groined archway of some very dark wood, and thus having the appearance of the entrance to an oratorio, or chapel. An intense chill and a gloomy silence reigned throughout the chateau,—the latter broken only by the sounds of our footsteps as we ascended the stairs and entered upon the landing, all of which were of polished wood of avery dark hue, most probably walnut, but certainly not oak. There was no carpet in the parlour to which I was first shown, nor on the stairs or landing: but the absence of this must not be regarded by my English readers as any indication of poverty with respect to the mansion JOSEPH WILMOT; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A MAN-SERVANT. gether. The crude images which now floated through my brain, took their colouring as it were from recent events as well as from surrounding ob- jects. At one moment I thought I was still roll- ing along in the mail-coach: at another I fancied that some ghastly countenance was looking out at me from between the dark heavy draperies which hung in front of the alcove containing the bed. Then methought that I was gazing in the mirror over the mantel-piece, but that instead of my own face which was reflected, I beheld another which was pale as that of the dead; and yet I could not define to myself" what sermblance the features wore. Doubtless the shock I had sustained by the up- setting of the mail had produced a slight concus- sion of the brain; and hence the unconquerable drowsiness which had stolen over me—hence too these fantastic and horrible dreams which blended with my recollection of realities. But those dreams, be it understood, while operating upon the senses, did not dissipate my sleep, nor startle me up from the repose in which I was lulled in that arm. chair. My visions were as varied as they were fantastic; and as I believe that no one ever dreamt of horri- ble things without seeing shapes of spectral form and nature, I was not destined to be an exception to the generai rule. Thus methought that a figure clothed in white, slowly emerged from behind the draperies of the alcove, and advanced towards me, filling me with a mortal terror. But it vanished, yielding to some other dreamy effort of the fancy ; and this was succeeded by the appearance of an- —inasmuch as floor carpets are never seen in the old chateaux of France, and very seldom in modern dwellings, nor even in the hotels, unless it be in the bedrooms. The footman struck into the corridor diverging on the right hand from the landing; and con- ducted me into a spacious bed-chamber, the door of which stood open. My spirits instantaneously rose at the comfortable aspect of the apartment: for a cheerful fire was blazing in the chimney,—a faggot with three huge logs laid upon it: two wax- lights burnt on a table in the centre—and in an alcove at the farther extremity, a bed with clean sheets, evidently just put on, met my eye. The footman deposited the box upon the floor, which was of the same dark wood as I have before alluded to; and having given me to understand that breakfast would be served up to me at any hour that I chose to take it in the morning, he wished me good night and issued from the room, closing the door behind him. The “good night” however was rather a fashion of speech than actually correct ; for it was now one o'clock in the morning. Drawing one of the heavy high-backed chairs close up to the fire, I purposed to sit there for a few minutes to enjoy the welcome warmth ere retiring to rest; for my blood was frozen in my veins, and my limbs were numbed with the intense chill of the night-air and of the parlour down stairs. By degrees however a drowsiness came over me—a drowsiness which I could not shake off; and I gradually sank into a sort of dreamy repose. It was not however the depth of slumber into which I was plunged: it was a kind of sleep which, if not actually broken and unquiet, is nevertheless of that nature in which realities and illusions are blended and jumbled to- other shape quite different from the former one, inasmuch as it was enveloped in sable garments. Then that too flitted away, or melted into thin air; and images connected with the realities of my past experiences, trooped before me. I beheld Sir Mat- thew Heseltine, his eyes glaring on me with a rep- tile keenness and malignity of expression ten thousand times more intense than ever I had seen it on the part of the living man himself when first I knew him at Reading; and his lips were drawn in with that peculiar manner which I have so often noticed in former chapters of my narrative. Then I beheld Mrs. Lanover, with her soft melan- choly looks bent sweetly and encouragingly upon me; and the next moment her place in the apparition-throng was taken by her miscreant husband, looking a thousand times more horrible, | more hideous, and more threatening than he even in reality was in the worst moments of his diabohe nature. Then other images succeeded, presently followed by the lovely shape of Annabel, who, arrayed in robes of azure and of white, floated past me with her form of seraphie beauty, bending upon me looks bashfully expressive of tenderness and | hope. And now again appeared the form clad in the sable garments: but methought that this time, in- stead of suddenly springing up before me, as if self-created out of the nothingness of empty alr, 1b entered by the door, which slowly opened to give it admission. This shape gradually assumed a | more decided and positive form than any which my | fancy had previously conjured up. I now too felt the consciousness of slumbering in that arm-chair; | and therefore, in plain terms, I presume that this slumber was growing lighter, and tha\ 1 was approaching nearer a state of wakefulnes,\, I re- me ECORMICOOOKS.eE@ im