"My little farmer," said he, addressing her by her pet name, "when you go
home, tell Sir Jonah that no business is to prevent him from bringing you
down to dine with me to-morrow. I will have no ifs in the matter--so tell
him that come he MUST."
Lady Barrington promised, and the following day saw her and Sir Jonah at
Mount Kennedy. That night, at about twelve, they retired to rest, and
towards two in the morning Sir Jonah was awakened by a sound of a very
extraordinary nature. It occurred first at short intervals and resembled
neither a voice nor an instrument, for it was softer than any voice, and
wilder than any music, and seemed to float about in mid-air, now in one
spot and now in another. To quote Sir Jonah's own language:
"I don't know wherefore, but my heart beat forcibly; the sound became
still more plaintive, till it almost died in the air; when a sudden
change, as if excited by a pang, changed its tone; it seemed descending. I
felt every nerve tremble: it was not a natural sound, nor could I make out
the point from whence it came. At length I awakened Lady Barrington, who
heard it as well as myself. She suggested that it might be an Æolian harp;
but to that instrument it bore no resemblance--it was altogether a
different character of sound. My wife at first appeared less affected than
I; but subsequently she was more so. We now went to a large window in our
bedroom, which looked directly upon a small garden underneath. The sound
seemed then, obviously, to ascend from a grass plot immediately below our
window. It continued. Lady Barrington requested I would call up her maid,
which I did, and she was evidently more affected than either of us. The
sounds lasted for more than half an hour. At last a deep, heavy, throbbing
sigh seemed to come from the spot, and was shortly succeeded by a sharp,
low cry, and by the distinct exclamation, thrice repeated, of
'Rossmore!--Rossmore!--Rossmore!' I will not attempt to describe my own
feelings," Sir Jonah goes on. "The maid fled in terror from the window,
and it was with difficulty I prevailed on Lady Barrington to return to
bed; in about a minute after the sound died gradually away until all was
still."
Sir Jonah adds that Lady Barrington, who was not so superstitious as
himself, made him promise he would not mention the incident to anyone next
day, lest they should be the laughing stock of the place.
At about seven in the morning, Sir Jonah's servant, Lawler, rapped at the
bedroom door and began, "Oh, Lord, sir!", in such agitated tones, that Sir
Jonah at once cried out: "What's the matter?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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