LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1352, 14 June 1878, Page 3

LITERATURE.

HUSHED UP.

[" London Soeiety."] Concluded. Oct. 7. The doctors have held their consultation and left. The verdict is death. He may live till daybreak. My boy, my boy ! All the above extracts have been carefully marked in the various volumes of the diaries which contained them. The widow found each in its turn for fanner Byhs, and left him to read it for himself. When he had rend the last, she shut the book, and said, 'There is no mure here bearing on the subject. The next entry was written in your house on a loose sheet of paper, and cannot, be understood without an explanation. We lost our darling boy on the 7th of October, IS6S, and he was buried in the ground reserved for us in the new cemetery. His jjravo was one of the first made there. On the anniversary of liis death we went, my husband and T ()» we had often done before), to place flowers on his grave. For a long time wo stood there, hand in hand, sad and silent. At last—l know not why—an old recollection came over mo. " How Btrange," I said, "it is that some of the happiest days of my girlhood were spent on this now sad spot! " "Did you play here before it was God's acre ?" asked my husband. " Often and often," I replied. "Don,tyou know that Doctor Massmger lived here before lu3 house was burned down, and they bought the land for the cemetery ? " "I did not," he said wearily. " Spinks wrote to mo about the fire, but i had no interest in the spot then. Who was Doctor Massinger ? " ' T told him that he was an okl friend of my father; that they had been in the army together in India, where the doctor by some lucky speculations made a small fortune; that ho retired from the service, and bought Lornden Beeches, where lie lived till the fire. I added that he was rather an eccentric man, who shunned general society, and held political opinions which at one time caused ecme scandal in the country. "This, "I explained, "is probably the reason why you did not meet him at C.'iulderwolde in old Sir Jasper's time. They had a serious quarrel. I was too young to know the exact cause; but it was something about a poacher, and after it they did not speak. I think my father once tried to make it up ; but this does not interest vou."

" Not much—not at all, except so far as it relates to you," ho replied tenderly. "So you were a happy child hero ? " "Yes," T said, "very happy. After India these cool green fields seemed like Paradise. The garden was my great delight. It extended from near that great beech to the crest of (lie hill. That part where the turf is so smooth and level was the lawn. The road wa3 a good deal farther back then, and it must have been exactly where wo now are that the house steed," i went on, taking my "bearings," as a sailor would eay, from the position of the trees and the slope of the grass. "Yes; here ran the entrance-hall, and there, close beside where our darling sleep*, was the dining-room." 'The words were hardly oat of my mouth when my husband gave a piercing shriek, and staggered, pale and trembling, against the gravestone. " Deßcribo the house," he gasped j "tellme exactly what it was like." " [t via* an old-fashioned, formal, redbrick house," I said, and my room—" "There was an oak-(toured hall," he interrupted, getting more and more excited, "and (he dining-room was the second door on the right, it had a Turkey carpet on the floor, and a portrait over the mantelpiece." " Why, I thought you did not know—" I began. 'Again he interrupted. "Is it so? Is it as I have said ? Was ihe centre of the room here —here where I stand—at the side of our child's grave, over the place reserved for mine ? " " I think so," was my reply. "Do not think," he said solemnly; "be sure. You little imagine what may turn upon your answer. Fancy that you can rebuild the place. Here ran the hall, you say. Well, you know what a ground-plan is ? Make one in your mind's eye, and (ell me whereabouts the table would stand in that, dining-room," ' L did as he bade me, and after as good a calculation as I could make I found that it woidd stand, as he said, over the place which had beea s'-leettd for our la-t home. 'He turned as-de with a deep sigh, and bade me go home alone. He had to see his agent, and would follow. ' The rest of the day and all that night lie was restless and excited, but did not return to the subject of our conversation in the cemetery, except once, when i s;ud 1 feared he was ill, and begped him to see the doctor. I remember iiDv,' wish what strange warmth ho insisted that there was nothing the matter With "nun. Then he turned tlte subject with a laugh, and said, " When people shudder you say, 'some one is walking over your grave.' Well, 1 walked over my own grave to-day, and a sudden spasm made me call out. Does'that prove that i am iil P " ' The next morning he start«d for London (•>s he said) on.business ; hut I do not think he ever wont there. He sent me a telegnm i'jom Kedhill slating that lie might h_ave*t> go abroad, and would scid me word where ro write to him as soon as his plans were more settled. ' I never saw him again, find I leave you to imagine the agony of suspense and fear in which I lived for nearly three months. 'Now, Mr Byles, read over once more his accmnt of that strange and wonderful dream —the dream he had never told even to me, and had almost forgotten; the dream, every portion of which, except one, had been

fulfilled. Fulfilment of this one had become possible.' ' I remember all about it,' said Byles ; go on please. I don't quite see what it has to do with the shooting, though.' ' This will show,' replied the widow, placing a loose sheet of paper before him ; ' read.' He read as follows : Elberon Farm, Oct. 12. I have been here three days in perfect peace, and hive had opportunities of calm and reasonable reflection. i'he dream can be fulfilled throughout, hut will it ? All depends upon McDonnell, whose cursed hand is in every detail of fulfilment. lie greeted mo in my own house just as the man who showed me my grave had greeted me in on the moor. He'brought the news of the wreck, and was the first to suggest that Cauldevwolde could be mine. It was through him that Sir Jasper made me change my name. W-hen I left my wife in the cemetery I called on Spinks, and'asked how that particular plot of ground came to be allotted to me. He said lie had chosen it on the advice of the attorney of the company, who was very friendly, and recommended 'it as the best place, on account of its being on high land, and bearing the finest trees about. I asked the name of that attorney, and of course found it was McDonnell! I had introduced him to busine?s at Caulderwolde when we were friends. And this was his gratitude! He showed me my grave. Not precisely as in the dream, for that would be impossible, but as nearly as he could, I being alone. Ho will go on ; I have a rooted presentiment that he will go on, and send me to that grave, if I give him the merest chance. My only hope is to hide somewhere where he cannot" find me till the 31st of December has passed, and for that purpose lam here. Sometimes I think that my best plan would be to seek him out, and kill him in self-defence. It would be self-defence, morally and legally too. My boy is dead ! The scoundrel's wife has the reversion of Caulderwolde under Sir Jasper's will, if I die without issue. I could prove motive. I could show how he has followed me up, step by step. He has dreamed that dream himself, I am confident he has, but I could not prove that. No ; I will hide. Nov. 23. I have had to tell Byles who I am, so as not to be turned out. He will keep my pccret. I cannot write up my diary regularly as Uuscd. I suppose it is because I have not my proper book. I shall go home on the l?t of Jamiary, when I enter on my thirty-fifth year and am safe. Then I will copy this, and fill up all I have thought. I I shall remember most of what has passed through my mind, and Sibjl and I will have a good laugh over it. Nov. 31. If the dream be true, T have just one month to live. Thirty-one days, seven hundred and forty-four hours, forty-four thousand six hundred and forty minutes. When my boy was dying we counted the hours and the minutes, but he did not know when he was to die. Some of my minutes have pa«sed as I am writing. This sort of thing will drive me mad. I must not think.

T am in excellent bodily health. I even sleep well; no dreams. My appetite is good, only T cannot bear the idea of things being killed tor me. When T insured my life for Sibyl the doctors said that all my organs were perfect. What can happen ? Dec. 31. He has found me out ! I have soon hini! He will return ai:d do his damnable work. I saw him drive past as I was playing with the children. And I have not even a weapon. Stay, there is that old gun in the out-house ; I will puck up all my things and— Here fallowed a few words so blotted as to be illegible. 'Now.' said McDonnell, 'you must hear me. I need scarcely assure you that I knew nothing of that mysterious dream, end therelore could net have aided in making its prophecy true. T did not know that my brother-in-law had left Caulderwolde. Mrs FletcherB ddwyn will tell you that she made various excuses for his absence, not wishing to give rise for scandal. I went to Yorkshire purely on professional business, the nature of which you know. When I passed your farm I had not the remotest idea that he was within two hundred miles of me. As I returned, I heard a window open violently. I ljoked up, and saw him—saw him lean forward and take deliberate aim at me. Then came a flash, and two reports in quick 6ucces-ion, one louder than the other. They startled the horse I drove, and he ran away with me. That is all 1 know. ' What was Itodo ? Drive back and give my wife's brother into custody for an attempt at murder ? Remember I was not aware that the gun had burst. I did not know he was hurt till I got his widow's telegram. I had to consider what to do about myself only, and therefore could afford to be deliberate. ' I went home, half dazed, to think it over, and found the telegram calling me to Caulderwolde. 'I went back to Elberon as fast as steam could take me, and examined the dead man's valise for some clue to his conduct. Almost the first thing I found was that crumpled paper you have just read. This, of course, put us upon further search. We discovered hie old diaries at Caulderwolde, and they told us all. ' Now, Mr Byls, I appeal to you as a husband whether this poor lady's feelings should be wrung by a public inquiry into this most painful case ? Is it not one that may properly be hushed up ? ' And hushed up it was. I who tell it now break no confidence; for I have not given one real name, or place, or date, aud the person who might be hurt by a successful guess at the truth has been dead for several rears.