LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1830, 3 January 1880, Page 3

LITERATURE.

THE PRIORY GHOST. A CHRISTMAS GHOST STORY. [Written Specially por the “Globe.”] ( Concluded .) ‘ Just as yon please,’ he answered shortly, and they continued to play in silence, though Katie did not pay very much attention to her game, as she was wondering how she could best stave off Mr Blair’s impending declaration. Presently hep companion began ataln—- ‘ Katie, my dear, I want to speak ’ — ‘Oh! dear, what have I done?’ cried naughty little Katie, as by a dexterous movement she npset the chess board, and sent the pieces hither and thither. * I’m sorry to have given you the trouble of picking them up,’ she added, as she left him, and going over to Mrs Lascelles eat down by her side and busied herself with the old lady’s knitting. ‘Dear Mrs Lascelles,’ she said, ‘ I’m so glad to he able to have a nice quiet lit le chat with you. Didn’t I get rid of Mr Blair cleverly. I do hate that msn. See 1 there he goes to join the others in the billiard room. I suppose,’ she went on with a sigh, ‘ that he will tell papa a long story of the way I have behaved to him,’ ‘ You Ottght not to speak like that of the man you are going to marry,’ replied the old lady gravely. ‘ The man I am going to marry,’ echoed Katie disdainfully, ‘who could have told you such a thing V ‘I heard it on very good authority, namely, that of your father. He seems to like the match very much,’was the reply. ‘ I cannot and I will not marry Mr Blair,’ exclaimed the girl passionately. ‘Oh! how I bate him and his money. Its only because he is so rich that papa wants me to marry him. I might have been persuaded into it before; bnt,’ she added with a conscious smile, ‘nowit is impossible.’ ‘ Why dear ?’ ‘Because I love someone else,’was the whispered response. ‘ Mrs Lascelles, I must tell j I cannot keep it from you any longer. I have promised to marry the only man I could ever love —your son. ’ ‘ Harry 1’ returned the old lady, ‘Oh! Katie, my dearest child, you cannot think how glad I am. How proud I shall be of my dear little daughter 1’ ‘ Yon must remember,’ continued the girl, ‘ that it is a great secret, and you must never mention it till we give yon leave. We have papa’s consent to gain yet, and although Harry has some wonderful plan for gaining that 1 can’t say I'm quite as sanguine about it as he is.’ 1 May I know what the plan is, dear ?’ ‘ I’m afraid not. You see its a great secret, and Harry made me promise that I would not tell anyone.’ ‘ Then don’t tell me. But, Katie, you are looking so very tired that I really must send you to bed.’ * Very well,’ said Katie dutifully, and she retired, As she was brushing her long brown hair, a slip of paper was pushed under the door, on which the following words were written:— ‘My darling little Katie, —Yonr father was most indignant at my proposals for your hand, and declared that you should accept that fellow Blair, as soon as he popped the question. So what you’ve got to do for the present, dearest, is to keep yonr would-be lover at a distance. Never give him an opportunity. I will always come to the rescue when I am able, but your father will guard yon jealously from yonr devoted ‘ Harry. ‘ P.S. —Your father does not know that I have spoken to you. I did not think it necessary to mention the fact, as it might interfere with my plans.’ ‘Well,’ thought Katie, as she read this effusion, ‘ at any rate papa knows how much I dislike Mr Blair, for I told him so this morning I wonder how it will all end. However, it’s no use thinking any more about it. I may as well go to sleep ar d forget my troubles for a time. ’ And so she soon fell very fast asleep, and dreamt that she was being married to Mr Blair, and that when the marriage ceremony was over, be suddenly turned into Harry Lascelles, and her father kissed her and said he had never meant her to marry anyone against her will. With that she woke, feeling very happy, and inclined to look upon her dream as a good omen. Bnt while the balmy god had been shaking his wings over Katie, events had hurried on apace. Harry had, so to speak, forced the running, and eager as lovtra always are, had determined to carry out his cherished, though somewhat desperate, plan without a moment’s delay. At the witching (hour of

midnight, when all was dark and still, if anyone had entered the housekeeper's room, they would have seen a tall figure robed in pale blue silk, to which fat Mrs Bate* was putting the finishing touches. ‘Now, Master Harry, do stand still while I fix these curls on right,’ she said as she placed a wig of long golden curls upon the young man’s handsome head. * Yon must mind to hold your fan well before your mouth, so as to hide your moustache, for if that’s seen it will spoil all.’ ‘ All right, Bates, I’ll remember. But it is hardish work getting over the ground with all this extra gear about one’s feet. I hope the old man does not carry fire arms. And, besides, its hard on him. But I’m playing for tie sweetsst girl in Christendom, so give me your blessing. Bates, and stand clear and don’t breathe on the glasses.’ ‘ Lord bless you, how you carry on Master Harry. But its awesome work, and I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. It ain’t nice copying them dead folk, and Mistress Judith may take it ill. I would not do it for anybody but yon Master Harry, as'l’ve nurssd since you were so high.’ ‘ Well, Bates, I’m off. Farewell,” and Harry set forth on his hazardous journey along the long dark corridors past the ghostly pictures that seemed to glare at him and stretch out their hands to stop him. How the ghostly visitant found Mr Vincent’s door unfastened and what it said to that unhappy gentleman it is needless to relate, but certain it is that shortly after midnight a wild cry rang through the old house, and them all was still. Mr Vincent himself came down late next morning, and looked pale and tired. ‘My dear Mrs Lascelles, ’ he said quietly after breakfast, * I received a warning last night, which I think it right not to neglect. You know I wanted Katie to marry Mr Blair. Your family ghost appeared to me last night, and what it said has burnt itself into my brain. I don’t think I’m quite right perhaps in forcing my daughter’s affections. I’ve determined to leave the whole matter to her. To tell you the truth, your son spoke to me about her. Whether she reciprocates his affection I do not know, but in any case she shall have her own way.’

And so after breakfast Katie was closeted a full hour with her father, and at the end of that time Harry Lascelles was summoned to join them, and in still another half hour two of the happiest lovers that the sun ever shone on issued forth from the room fully prepared to start together for that journey down the river of life which is so cheerless when travelled alone, but so joyous when true love cheers the way. And that is the way Harry Lascelles gained his wife, and if his conscience did not prick him overmuch it was the natural consequence of the said wife being such a treasure. And the ghost of the Pricry was laid too, for never again did Mistress Judith LascelLs plague the members of the family. Disgusted probably at being impersonated, she retired from active business, and henceforward the sole memento of the dreadful tragedy which had once saddened the walls of the Priory was the picture from which the mournful eyes of the beautiful girl gazed sadly at the spectators.