The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 278: what you’re looking at

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

THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. 263 She did not therefore immediately retire to rest Perhaps, in addition to all that we have just detailed, there were still darker and deeper fears haunting her mind, excited by the memories of the past and the associations of the present. She felt afraid to enter her couch. But at length literally ashamed of her terrors, she said aloud, “ This weakness on my part is preposterous!”?— and she advanced towards the bed. : But obedient to an irresistible impulse, she stooped down, raised the drapery, and looked under it. No object of alarm met her eyes; and rising up again, she once more blamed herself for her silly fears. But still she had not the courage to lie down; and almost before she was aware of it, she found herself looking into the cupboards, and with the lamp in her hand taking a close survey of the apartment. Kven to the dressing-room opeuing thence, and to @ bath-room which lay beyond, did she push her investigation: but still she discovered naught to alarm her. “Now,” she said to herself, “I will lie down :”?— but as she again approached the couch, she expe- rienced a vague and deepening terror for which she could not altogether account. Replacing the lamp upon the table, she stood hesitating in the middle of the room. She caught a glimpse of her countenance in the mirror suspended above the toilet-table, and saw that it was very pale. Her own looks frightened her, and a cold shudder swept through her entire frame. Her glossy black hair was gathered up beneath an elegant cap—a morning wrapper enveloped her superb form—her naked feet were thrust into embroidered slippers— and there she stood in the middle of the apartment, like a grand statue of classic beauty oppressed with a dumb deep consternation which she could not shake off. “No, no,—it cannot be!” she suddenly said to herself, with the desperate effort of a naturally strong mind endeavouring to cast away the incubus of a terror to the cause of which her proper intelli- gence could not assent: “the spirits of the departed do not walk upon earth! And yet if it were so, the shade of him may indeed be supposed to revisit that place——” But here her thoughts abruptly stopped short, for she dared not pursue their tenure: and then, by une of those inscrutable impulses which sometimes make their influence felt upon the denizens of this world, she experienced a shuddering desire to visit the spot to which she had just alluded and satisfy herself that there was no cause for alarm. Indeed, she began to feel that until she had done this she could not hope to shake off the vague terrors which had seized upon her—much less to pass her nights in tranquillity beneath that roof. And now all the fortitude of this naturally strong-minded woman | came back to her aid; and she resolved upon obey- ime the secret impulse which was every moment becoming paramount above the alternatives of obe- dience or disobedience. Jt was growing irresis- | tible! “Tf his spirit may appear to any one, it will be certain to appear to me,” she said to herself. so, better meet the apparition at once, than live in constant terror of beholding it draw aside the bed curtains or emerge from the obscurity of some corner in this room. But if not, then shall [ in- wit deed smile at the fears which have crept upon me— and they will revisit me no more.” These reflections, to which she could not have possibly been led in the broad day-light, were natural enough at the hour of night, when in- fluences unknown in the sunshine exercise their mystic and indomitable sway. Lady Saxondale hastened to throw on some additional clothing; and taking the lamp in her hand, she issued from the room. She paused just outside the threshold to assure herself that the household had retired to rest and that all was still within the castle—and hearing no sound, she passed onward through the passaves and corridors leading to the western side of the edifice. In a few minutes she reached that corridor whence the chapel opened; and here she stopped short suddenly, saying to herself, “‘The feeling that has brought me hither argues a greater weakness than the vague terror which first gave rise to it.” She was about to retrace her way: but no—she could not. An irresistible impulse urged her on; and in a sort of desperation, she said, “ Yes, I will proceed, if it be only to convince myself that I have the courage to do so!” She accordingly opened the chapel-door; and though it was the middle of summer, the place struck chill to her flesh, lightly clad as she was. She advanced a few paces, and then paused to listen and to look around. All was still—and no object of terror met her eyes. Through the open arched entrance her looks plunged into the cloister: but the light of the lamp did not penetrate far enough to develop in shapely outline the objects it con- tained: they looked like things darker than the darkness which enveloped them. She glanced to- wards the vestiary, and a shudder passed throuch her frame—while her countenance, already pale, grew paler still. But it was not that she saw any- thing to alarm her: for she did not. The door was shut—and all was silence, and stillness, and im- moveability around. She made a step forward to approach that ves- tiary; but with another cold shudder—a dread abhorrence for that spot—she turned aside and passed into the cloister. Now she was amidst the tombs, and in the presence of that colossal fizure of black marble representing a warrior in complete armour with the vizor closed,—the stone effigy of the founder of the proud race of Saxondale! Her ladyship was not a woman to tremble before this cold inanimate form; and she remained gazing upon it, as it stood there in its life-like attitude with the left hand upon the hip and the right arm extended towards the door. Sheeven felt the proud satisfaction of proving her own courage by lingering thus in that place of tombs and in the presence of that marble man. At length she turned away; and now with a firmer step, a stronger compression of the lips, and a more daring spirit of research, she approached the vestiary. Without hesitation— without even allowing herself to pause, lest her fortitude should fail her—she at once opened the door. As the huge portal moved slowly upon its hinges, the light of the lamp which she carried in her hand threw its beams into the place; and then, with a still unflinching boldness, she crossed the threshold. But, Ah} how was it that the lamp fell not from her hand?—for at the instant her blood all seemed —— ————— SSS ECOMmMiclboooks (CO)