Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. XXIV, May 1852, Vol. IVVarious
General
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. XXIV, May 1852, Vol. IV
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
The housekeeper has dropped her voice to little more than a whisper.
"She had been a lady of a handsome figure and a noble carriage. She
never complained of the change; she never spoke to any one of being
crippled, or of being in pain; but, day by day, she tried to walk upon
the terrace; and, with the help of a stick, and with the help of the
stone balustrade, went up and down, up and down, up and down, in sun and
shadow, with greater difficulty every day. At last, one afternoon, her
husband (to whom she had never, on any persuasion, opened her lips since
that night), standing at the great south window, saw her drop upon the
pavement. He hastened down to raise her, but she repulsed him as he bent
over her, and looking at him fixedly and coldly, said, 'I will die here,
where I have walked. And I will walk here, though I am in my grave. I
will walk here until the pride of this house is humbled. And when
calamity, or when disgrace is coming to it, let the Dedlocks listen for
my step!'"
Watt looks at Rosa. Rosa, in the deepening gloom, looks down upon the
ground, half frightened, and half shy.
"There and then she died. And from those days," says Mrs. Rouncewell,
"the name has come down--The Ghost's Walk. If the tread is an echo, it
is an echo that is only heard after dark, and is often unheard for a
long while together. But it comes back, from time to time; and so sure
as there is sickness or death in the family, it will be heard then."
"--And disgrace, grandmother--" says Watt.
"Disgrace never comes to Chesney Wold," returns the housekeeper.
Her grandson apologizes, with "True. True."
"That is the story. Whatever the sound is, it is a worrying sound," says
Mrs. Rouncewell, getting up from her chair, "and what is to be noticed
in it is, that it _must be heard_. My lady, who is afraid of nothing,
admits that when it is there, it must be heard. You can not shut it out.
Watt, there is a tall French clock behind you (placed there, a' purpose)
that has a loud beat when it is in motion, and can play music. You
understand how those things are managed?"
"Pretty well, grandmother, I think."
"Set it a-going."
Watt sets it a-going--music and all.
"Now, come hither," says the housekeeper. "Hither, child, toward my
lady's pillow. I am not sure that it is dark enough yet, but listen! Can
you hear the sound upon the terrace, through the music, and the beat,
and every thing?"
"I certainly can!"
"So my lady says."
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
THE RUSSIAN CZAR AT A PUBLIC BALL.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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