Death, the Knight, and the Lady: A Ghost StoryStacpoole, H. De Vere (Henry De Vere)
Science
Death, the Knight, and the Lady: A Ghost Story
Stacpoole, H. De Vere (Henry De Vere)
Fiction
It was late in the day when we reached Leeds, the air was chill; it
was like finding oneself in a new world. Women were standing about the
platform with their heads covered with shawls; they had clogs on their
feet, and one could hear them go click, clack. I gave the old guard
a sovereign. I felt sorry to part with him, he seemed the last thing
connecting me with the south. I felt like a lost dog. I had never felt
so all that horrible time in London: that is strange, is not it? Now,
when I was rich and bowed down to, I felt like a lost dog.
I had to wait two hours for the branch train, and as it left Leeds I
looked out of the window. It was a vile place, all manufactories, long
chimneys, furnaces, smoke.
Then, after a bit, I saw the country, all hills and twilight, dark
stone walls, desolate-looking fields, and then--a shiver ran through
me--I had seen this country before. Where? Never in this life. It was
the first time I had ever been north.
We stopped at little tiny stations, and I felt tired as death when at
last we drew up at a station with "Ashworth" on the lamps.
I put my head out of the window, and I saw a tall footman standing on
the platform amongst a lot of porters, and country women with their
heads covered with shawls. I beckoned to him, and he came at a run.
"Are you Mr Wilder's footman?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Oh, just see to my luggage, please," I said, getting out. I followed
him to the road beside the station where a carriage was waiting, a
closed carriage and pair, just like the one that had driven me to the
station in London.
We passed four desolate-looking crossroads. The moon, which had risen,
was lighting all the scenery round about, and I pulled down the
left-hand window to get a glimpse of the view and a breath of the keen,
pure air.
On a hill opposite I saw the ruins of a castle cut sharp against the
sky. I had seen that castle before. Was I positive? _Positive._ Look!
I said to myself. Look at that white zig-zag pathway down the hill,
look at the hill itself. Then, as I looked, an indescribable feeling
came over me, a delightful, far-away sort of feeling. It seemed dawn,
bright, clear, and cold. I thought I could catch the sound of a distant
horn, I thought I could feel the claws of a falcon on my wrist. I
seemed riding on a horse, not as a woman rides, but as a man. I felt
unutterably happy. It was the happiness of love. You understand me, I
was perfectly well awake, but this feeling, how can I describe it, so
dim, sweet, and far-away.
Then the carriage stopped. It seems that I had put my finger through
the little ivory ring of the check-string, and had pulled it without
knowing. The footman came to the window, and touched his hat.
"Can you tell me the name of that castle?" I asked. "That castle on the
hill."
"Castle Sinclair, ma'am."
"Oh! drive on, please." I think I said "Drive on, please," but I cannot
be sure; at all events we drove on. I was not terrified, I was dazed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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