The House by the Church-YardLe Fanu, Joseph Sheridan
General
The House by the Church-Yard
Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan
Country life -- Ireland -- Fiction; Ireland -- Social life and customs -- 18th century -- Fiction
'Well, my lady, 'tis proud I am to hear it, an' there's no harm done, at
any rate; an' I thought 'twas only right I should tell you the thruth,
and give you this warnin', my lady; an' here's the atturney's writin',
Ma'am--if you'll plaze to read it--Mr. Bagshot, iv Thomas
Street--sayin', if you'll be plazed to look at it--that 'tis a good
marriage, an' that if he marries any other woman, gentle or simple,
he'll take the law iv him in my daughter's cause, the black, parjured
villian, an' transport him, with a burnt hand, for bigamany; an' 'twas
only right, my lady, as the townspeople was talking, as if it was as
how he was thryin' to invagle you, Miss, the desaver, for he'd charrum
the birds off the trees, the parjurer; and I'll tell his raverence all
about it when I see him, in the morning--for 'tis only right he should
know. Wish the lady good-night, Nan, you slut--an the same from myself,
Ma'am.'
And, with another courtesy, the Glynns of Palmerstown withdrew.
CHAPTER XL.
OF A MESSENGER FROM CHAPELIZOD VAULT WHO WAITED IN THE TYLED HOUSE FOR
MR. MERVYN.
Mervyn was just about this time walking up the steep Ballyfermot Road.
It was then a lonely track, with great bushes and hedgerows overhanging
it; and as other emotions subsided, something of the chill and
excitement of solitude stole over him. The moon was wading through
flecked masses of cloud. The breath of night rustled lightly through the
bushes, and seemed to follow her steps with a strange sort of sigh and a
titter. He stopped and looked back under the branches of an old thorn,
and traced against the dark horizon the still darker outline of the
ivied church tower of Chapelizod, and thought of the dead that lay
there, and of all that those sealed lips might tell, and old tales of
strange meetings on moors and desolate places with departed spirits,
flitted across his brain; and the melancholy rush of the night air swept
close about his ears, and he turned and walked more briskly toward his
own gloomy quarters, passing the churchyard of Ballyfermot on his right.
There were plenty of head-stones among the docks and nettles: some short
and some tall, some straight and some slanting back, and some with a
shoulder up, and a lonely old ash-tree still and dewy in the midst,
glimmering cold among the moveless shadows; and then at last he sighted
the heavy masses of old elm, and the pale, peeping front of the 'Tyled
House,' through the close and dismal avenue of elm, he reached the front
of the mansion. There was no glimmer of light from the lower windows,
not even the noiseless flitting of a bat over the dark little
court-yard. His key let him in. He knew that his servants were in bed.
There was something cynical in his ree-raw independence. It was unlike
what he had been used to, and its savagery suited with his bitter and
unsociable mood of late.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account