The Argosy

About this issue

This August 1873 issue of The Argos continues "The Master of Greylands" by the author of East Lynne. Chapter XXII depicts a domestic scene among sisters at the Grey Nunnery, where three sisters iron laundry while debating the failed pea soup prepared by Sister Caroline. Sister Ann offers culinary advice, interjecting her superior soup-making expertise. The narrative takes a dramatic turn when a frantic ring at the door signals Miss Hallet's arrival, covered in dust and having suffered a hysteric episode after encountering the "Grey Friar"—an apparition with an eerie light that has been troubling the region. Miss Hallet claims the ghostly vision caused her to collapse in the dusty road. Her niece Jane, arriving separately from delivering knitted muffatees to a Commodore, corroborates the sighting of a "faint light." After Miss Hallet departs, Sisters Mildred and Mary Ursula remain in the parlor. Sister Mildred reveals a closely guarded secret: an underground passage connects the Nunnery's vaults to the Friar's Keep, discovered years earlier by her late sister Mary. The passage remains locked but accessible to the sisters, who regard it with mingled fascination and caution.