Tales and Sketches.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 18, 27 May 1871, Page 17

Tales and Sketches.

THE WINNING HAZARD. (From Chambers’s Journal.) chapter x. ' Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy will.’ A vague restlessness was upon John Lowther : he wandered from the garden to the front; there stood a knot of Lancashire men smoking : chaffing also in their broad vernacular. The Doric of Lancashire rather jars against Lowther’s nerves, and be strolls away from the bright inn door, and up the road a little way into the darkness. The road escaladed the hill, winding up it warily, crossing it on its lowest spur, and then shooting out in a long straight line, laid out by Roman engineers, did we know it, over a billowy tableland. Jack walked to the first turn of the road, and leaned over the parapet-wall, looking down the valley watching the stars twinkling in the placid waters below. Clink, clink, clink, there was a rattle of harness. Clacker, clickaclobclobclack ; the hoof fall of horses—four of them, one would say : an unmelodious whir, a break hard down on a groaning wheel; nearer and nearer, louder and louder these noises sounded, till at last, lamps gleaming, harness clinking, hoofs clattering, a four horse break van reveals itself out of the gloom, and the horses were pulled up into a walk almost hiding the gleam of the lamps in the vapor of their steaming sides. The road was level for a space from the brow of the mountain buttress where Lowther stood, but towards the village it shot steeply down"; so steeply, that driving over that brow, you might think you were taking a Curtian leap into the gulf. On the level piece, the driver pulled up his horses, and peered anxiously forward into the gloom. * Diaoul, I’ll never get her down the hill with this load !’ Then he saw the glow of Jack’s pipe. ‘Gwr bonnedig ! stand by them leaders’ heads a minute, will you ?’ ‘ Have you got such a load to-night, Morris?’ said Jack, who recognised the voice of his aunt’s coachman.

‘ ’Deed, I have,’ said Morris. ‘ Such a load I never had to drive. It didn’t seem heavy when we put it in the break, but it was as if the very devil was pulling behind when we started. I couldn’t get her along at all, and the mistress will be calling me for this job. I was to be home before dark, whatever.’

‘ You’ll be all right, Morris, if the break will hold.’

‘ That’s just what it won’t do, sir. I’ve strained it bad already, and that near wheeler can never hold back. Diaoul, I wish I knew what I shall do ?’

‘ Put that big strong leader there.to the pole.’ He’ll kick like blazes when he feels anything behind him.—Why, it’s Master John ! 'Deed, I beg your pardon; I didn’t know you, sir. Dear Anwyl! I am glad you’ve come down, Master John.’ ‘ Take the leaders out, Morris, and lead 'em down the hill to the inn ; and then bring back a chain and a slipper : we’ll fix it then.’

‘Well, I think that’s the best thing I can do, Master John. That’s my sister on the box, sir, as is holding the reins will you see as the ’osses don’t over persuade her, sir P’ * I’ll take care of her, Morris.’ The leaders were unharnessed, and Morris disappeared with them down the hill. Jack took a seat on the box, and began to talk to Jane Morris. ‘Yes, sir, I’m pretty well, thank you. O yes, I remember you very well, Mr John. There—don’t, Mr John. Name o’ goodness ! what would Lewis Jones say he saw you ?’ * That’s the sweetheart, is it P Thank goodness, it’s dark.' ‘ You might behave, yourself, Mr John, for all it’s dark. My ! what would her ladyship your aunt say ?’ ‘ I guess she got kissed, too, when she was young. Don’t you think so, Jenny ?’ ‘’Deed, I don’t know. But oh, Mr John, it’s a pity that there’s nobody as loves her as could look after her now. They sent me away for a holiday, Mr John ; but dear! I couldn’t stay, when I thought as those creatures were all about her night and day ; but I don’t expect as they’ll let me see her now.’ ‘ When did you see her last P’

‘Last Wednesday as was—no, it was Tuesday night. I put her ladyship to bed quite comfortable ; but I woke in the middle of the night with her screams, and, thank God, the doctor was in the house—that’s Gwen’s brother, youlrnow—and he was at the bedside before I was ; and, indeed it was lucky, for I was quite overcome, like, and couldn’t do anything. But she was quite quiet before morning, went off into a beautiful sleep—so the doctor told me, and indeed, he was very kind, for he saw I’d quite knocked up with it all; and he said I wasn’t fit for nursing, and so I’d better go to Liverpool to see my friends ; which I did ; but I couldn’t /Stop there, it was so dull after Llandanwg. And Morris tells me there’s been awful goings on since I left; nobody allowed to mistress and nothing; and all the ser-

vants sent away, except the cook and upper housemaid ; and nothing but praying, and groaning, and prosifying going on ever since ; and she living on nothing but slops.’ ‘ Do you think they ill treat her, Jane ?’ * No; they don’t ill treat her, poor think ; but they get her so excited with their New Jerusalem and such like nonsense, she gets quite out of her mind, like. Eh ! Mr John, why don’t you drive those people away ?’ ‘Jane, couldn’t you manage to let me see my aunt to-night ? I think if I could only see her, I could get her authority to act for her.’

‘’Deed, Mr John, I don’t see how. You see they’ve moved her into the east wing. Now, there are three rooms in that suite of apartments, one leading out of the other, and the outside door of all is made of iron: the old Squire had it put up time of the Rebeccaites, he was so afeared of being shot. And the doctor sleeps in that outside room, and Gwen sleeps in the next. My ! they’ll never let me see her—so Morris says—let alone you.’

Just then Morris appeared with hangers on carrying slipper, and chain, and ropes. They had lowered the waggon and its load nearly down the hill, when one of the wheels began to crack, and the vehicle came to a stop. ‘ What the name o’ dear have you got there, Morris,that’s breaking everything?’ ‘ Deed, they tell me they’re stones from foreign parts.’

‘ It’s bringing coals to Newcastle, bringing stoans here,’ suggested a Lancashire man.

‘ Look’ee here,’ said Jack ; ‘ get the thing out, a dozen of you, and carry it down to the inn coach house.’

The box they brought out of the waggon wasn’t so heavy, after all. Twelve men could carry it easily enough, and they formed an impromptu funeral procession, Jack being chief mourner. To complete the parallel, the parish clerk, who was one of the bearers, brought up the coffin trestles from the church tower hard by; and on these, in the big coach house, the big box was placed. But the chaplain was there in a moment—he had been looking out for them—and ordered the box to be carried up to the Plas at once.

Jack returned to the inn, and stood irresolute at the foot of the stairs. It was only ten o’clock, but he was weary and heavy eyed, and thought he would go to bed. Then a burst of. laughter ringing from the bar parlor stopped him. If there was any fun going on, he would see what it was.

The fun was this. The chaplain of the Plas, who had come down to the village about the big box, had found his way to the bar of the inn, and had been seized with a fit of prophesying. He stood in the centre of the room, surrounded by a circle of men smoking and drinking. His eyes were dilated, his limbs rigid, his hands clenched : he was perhaps under the influence of drink in a measure, but also evidently of some other excitement; he muttered rapidly to himself words of gibberish.

‘ Speak up !’ * Speak out!’ * Hear, hear !’ ‘ Go it, old fellow !’—such were the cries which greeted him from the Manchester men.

Then he broke into loud shouts. ‘ O yeas, O yeas, O yeas ! Let it come, let it come ! yea, it shall come ! yea, it is coming !’

‘Bring a basin, Mary!’ ‘A pail!’ ‘ Bring a mop !’ ‘ Towels !’ ‘ Turaleity !’— such the chorus.

Then lie changed to a deeper tone. ‘ Oh give it a name, give it a name ! Give it a name !’

‘Brandy cold !’v Whisky!’ ‘Gin!’ ‘Hi, Mary, glasses round for the prophet! interrupted the chorus.

‘ What foolery’s this ?’ in a gruff voice cried a man, pushing his way into the bar. Everybody turned round upon the new comer. Jack recognised him at once—he was the doctor from the Plas. He seized his brother by the arm, swung him out of the door, and then returned to the room. ‘ I think you might have found a better amusement than this, you fools !’ The doctor stared hard at Jack as he spoke, who returned his look with interest. The room was now as quiet as the grave, and all were looking at the two men who, it seemed, had signalled each other out as enemies.

‘Are ye deaf?’ said the doctor again. ‘ Didn’t I ask what fool had set this nonsense on foot ?’

Jack had half risen, half poised his arm to-strike the fellow, but suddenly he sat down again ; a thought had struck him — the man evidently wanted to force a quarrel upon him. Another thought as rapidly came into his brain—here were two of his aunt’s keepers out of the way, the third was a woman. Here was a chance to see his aunt; if he could only involve the doctor in a quarrel with somebody else. ‘ You’d better ask your polite question of some of these other gentlemen ; they saw the beginning of the affair, I didn’t.’ ‘Ay, ask me !’ ‘ Ask me P ‘And me!’ shouted half a dozen men in tones of defiance. Half a dozen men jumped up at

once, two or three coats were pulled off, and one tall, raw-boned youth, who was standing with a glass of beer in his hand, threw the contents into the doctor’s face —signal for general free fight. In the confusion, Jack slipped away, and made for Plas Dinorwich.

Grim, and gray, and gloomy stood the old Plas in the quiet starlight, Seemingly all the inmates had gone to rest. The doors were all fastened, the windows all dark—-all the front ones at least. Lowther passed into the old garden; there was a light shining there from one of the east windows. There, no doubt, his aunt was lying. Poor old body ! all her wealth couldn’t purchase one faithful soul to tend her dying hours! Jack, oppressed with dim forbodings, sat down on an old garden seat between two dark masses of yew ; he was quite in the shade in the dense black shadow of the yew. Deep solemn silence brooded m that dark garden plot; black funereal shadows rested there. There had been a fountain there once; an old suu dial too. The fountain was choked ; but a little black pool lay in the broken basin of it, and caught a dull gleam from the lighted window. And by the broken basin shone two little jewels in the gloom brightest gleam of amethist or of topaz dim and dull beside them. Ah, old Toad, are you there still ?—-friend of my youth ; a little comfort in that thought. But Toad, too, turned his eyes another way as liis old friend the Raven, screamed a greeting to him, swooping to the mountain tarn ; and the bright jewels were seen no more. The window was a little open, and the blind was flapping gently in the night air. That was the only sound that Lowther heard after the scream of the raven had died away in the distance.

Suddenly, a loud, piercing, prolonged cry broke from the window of the lighted room. Good heavens! was there murder being done in that quarter ? Jack sprang to his feet. Yes, there was a water pipe running up the wall just there, and the ivy was thick and strong : he climbed the wall ki a few seconds, thrust himself through the open window, and jumped into the room. But there was nothing there nothing but a little spaniel, which, chained to the wall, was howling dismally. Yes, and no doubt that other mystery would prove as simple. Stupid fellow that he was, his head full of mist, bursting into his aunt’s house in the middle of the night! Poor little Eideo, she was pleased enough to see him ; he had given the dog to his aunt, and she remembered her old master. Ah, if he should wake the old l & dy> perhaps, and frighten her into fits, how should he get out of it ? Yes, after all the trouble he had taken to get into the house, his only thought was how to get out of it. He wouldn’t risk the ivy and the waterspout again. And yet he’d like to have a peep at the old lady—just one peep. The room he was in was the outside one of the suite. Yes, there was the iron door Jane had told him of. Locked, by Jove ! He stepped cautiously into the next room—the inner room. Phew ! what a fume of pastilles, incense, or what not, with a faint,. strange, sickly, cadaverous smell! Ah, it was the inner room of all his aunt slept in ! Door closed—locked, too, by Jove ! Eunny that. And in this centre room was the wonderful box. No time lost in getting that stowed safely here. The box had been opened ; and there between it and the wall stood—the Patent Metallic Air-tight Coffin. Would make a good bath, Jack thought. The lid swung on a pivot, well poised and finished : it moved at a touch. Ugh ! horrible idea, being boxed up here for cycles of ages, instead of dissolving away in the bosom of kindly mother earth. As Jack stood there, looking at the metallic coffin, he heard a key turn in the lock of the iron door. 1 don’t know what impulse moved him : it was not fear, for it required less courage to face his enemies, doubtless now approaching—-it was a whim, in fact, unaccountable, uncontrollable, which drove him to turn round the coffin lid, to lay himself down in the coffin, and partly to close the lid. The iron door slammed ; footsteps approached ; voices were sounding in the room.

Gruff voice : Hasn’t the lawyer come ? Treble : No, not yet. Gruff-. Well, you’d better go and get ready for him. Treble : O Thomas, can’t it be done without that ? Oh, I’m so frightened ! Gruff : Nonsense, woman; she won’t bite you. Treble : Bite me, no. But oh, Thomas, I can never go through with it. I know there’ll be a judgment upon us for this. Griff : Don’t be a fool, Gwen; go and get ready, do you hear ! The inner door was now unlocked. No more was heard of the treble voice. The methodical pacing of footsteps was now to be heard —to and fro, to and fro, in wearisome iteration. Sailor’s trick that. Now, another set of footsteps is approaching, uncertain, feeble.’

* Bobert, if you don’t keep sober for the next two, days, I’ll kill you.’ ‘’Deed, I wasn’t drunk, no, indeed. It was the spirit.’

‘ Look here, Bobert; if you don’t bottle up that spirit, and cork it tight, I’ll drill a

hole into you—do you understand? Now did you see Captain Trudgett ?’ ‘I did.’ ‘And gave him Lady Morgan's notice of dismissal ?’ ‘I did.’

‘ And what did he say ?’ Well, indeed, it seemed very hard to hun—he talked about his children, and the number of years he’d served her ladyship and asked if she wouldn't see him ; and* mdeed, I was very sorry for the poor man.’’ Ah . you told him you’d receive the rents to-morrow ?’

‘ Yes ; and he said that he shouldn’t resign, his duties till her ladyship had given me a power of attorney to act for

‘Oh, I thought of that. Lawyer Jones wfll bring it to-night with the will.—-Why, Robert, I thought I told you to have that thing carefully covered up.’ . ‘ The coffin, is it ? 'Deed, I covered it up myself with that big coverlet. Name o goodness, somebody's slipped it off!' iOU d(?D t know what VOu/rG ahnnf Robert, that s the fact. Leaving it open too for the damp to get in.’ r A heavy tread approached Jack’s hiding place. Click, clack; the coffin lid was sprung to, and Jack lowther was shut up from the world of life in his aunt’s coffin

CHAPTER XI. ‘ Come from that nest Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep * There is probably no fate much more horrible to human anticipation iban to bo buried alive Not that, in reality, that form of death by suffocation can be much worse than any other, but that distempered imaginations have infected us with their superstitious horror of the charm,l house making bad gases into bogies, and honest human bones, which have served Te r purpose out and are turning i„ to d “,f into horrible devices for frighteffinv children: nevertheless, to be shut up in . coffin is a considerable trial for the nerves“ Jack lay for a moment quite still and rigid driving his fioger uails into the palms of his hands. Then he saw o faint hght above his face ; the glass plate intthe lid, and dashed his fists against it. But 12TVT was thick and strong; he knocked the skin off his f Ten M He d dn '* fell ‘tat. he only felt that he was choking. It wasn’t auite air tight that coffin, else Jack’s fate have been quickly decided; but there was ai , r *,° iee P tim alive. Ifhe couldn t break that glass, it would soon bo over with him. But his arms were tom cramped to strike an effective blow and he was soon clawing madly at the glass, nerve and reason almost gone. And then he felt his ring scrape against the glass and scratch it, and he remembered there was a diamond ,n the ring he wore. He had often seen men break a thick sheet of ? f scra “ n « i‘ with a diamond. Ho then drew his ring rapidly np apd together 0 T„d T* his hands r , n d t drafflns m a deep inspiration, he thrust upwards with all his might puttmg into the thrust all that was left to him of life, and the glass gave way. It was not a moment too soon, for, overcome by ? f &nd despair ’ Jack had almost fallen off into a swoon. When he came a httle to himself he fancied that he was sitting in the vice chancellor’s court; a h? q ry h^r| e V n i a glo , wlnff wi £. was rolling his head backwards and forwards; and if°t fc bp r J? ei fK faoe * the ton £ ue lolling out KntnL D Uth ’ Wa f> Puffing the case of Hornbook wmw Primer. C-A-T, C AT, i", i" * A. iteration was horrible; hlT r „ a f nd ? U , der ■‘•‘"“‘fed. like so many blows of a sledge hammer in his ears, till it seemed his ears must burst; then, with a tremendous whirl of delirious noises all about him, the scene changed, or rather its component parts were transported, like the fragments in a kaleidoscope. The man wii h nf7l lg W?S Stl i ll tbere ’ but the cratch ZE I th f „ V ! ce . chancellor had expanded Fa f 6d Wi * of judge. He was m the hot mephitic air of the wSl Dal a C ° U !? at York * All the S tL? d i madn ® ss had come to an end, 7et^ erß , had Cned oufc Silence! and the fiery faced men had ceased to wag sTJTT’ “ d onI J r ° lled their eyes! Silence. silence! silence ! the judge is going to speak. J s «

at 9 16 P ar> CoD victed after a . . re , H!. arid painstaking investigation telhgent and respectable jury of countrymen, it now only rests with me to pronounce the sentence of the court. I do not wish to add to the profound misery and remorse which must we 1 in the beast of one who has fallen r °?V UC k f kigh estate to such a miserable and degraded position. Poignantly do I reel here the judge’s voice trembled with emotion-* poignantly do I feel the sad reverse of fate which has placed before me one who was himself accustomed to sit in judgmenton his fellowmennow acouvicted telon, an outcast from the society he was so well qualified to adorn. The bearer of an honored name, the member of a sacred and dignified calling, relegated to a felon’s ceii, to a criminal dock ! .Only the evil spirit of gambling, only that eager desire to be rich, that sacra auri fames, which is the curse of the day, can account for such a miserable fall. But my duty is plain

The crime unhappy man, of which you have been convicted, is one that striker at the very foundations of society, shakes the very basis of the security of. property, ot the confidence of commercial relations. And you, prisoner, who should have been a shining light to your fellow men, have proved a false and deceptive glare, leading them to destruction. The sentence of the court is that you be imprisoned and kept to penal servitude for the term of ‘No! my lord, no!’ shouted Jack; * he’s an old man, my lord, an old man, and honorable. You shall not, by—— ! Jack found himself lying gasping in the coffin. He remembered it all now ; what a narrow escape he had had—-if he had indeed escaped. ' CHAPTER XII. ‘ How is’t with me, when every noise appals me ?» When Dr Thomas Jones had shut up the coffin, and spread a coverlet decorously over it, he resumed his pacing up and down the room. His brother, crouched on a low truckle bed, which stood on .one side of the room, had huddled himself up into a heap, whining and groaning every now and then; his excitement was over; he had relapsed into a state of nerveless utter misery. ‘Eobert,’ said the doctor, wheeling round suddenly upon him, ‘ you pretend to be a prophet; turn your gifts to some account for once. Tell me how this affair will end.’ * ’Deed, I can seen nothing but evil in it. Nothing but evil can come of it. Give it up. Tom, bach, send for the young English lord. Heaven will never prosper us. Anwyl dad ! what was that noise ? It was from the coffin. Thomas, bach! oh, I know it’s a warning.’ ‘Nonsense, Eobert; it was the metal giving a little.’ ‘ Ah, Thomas, it was a warning, I know. It can’t come to any good. Heaven will not prosper us.’ ‘ What has Heaven done for us hitherto, Bob? No; you’re stupid drunk to-night, Eobert ; there no aioen* about you. Heaven helps the clear head, the resolute will. Do you think, man, that people can livewitliout working, unlessthev ve gotthe nerve and the pluck to make other people work for them ? The old lady who sleeps yonder came into a fortune because she was somebody’s daughter; but the first getting of all that wealth took a long head and a cruel heart. Think, Eobert, how many poor freeholders were swallowed up to make this big estate! Why, a hundred years ago, Jones of the Tyddyn Maur, our great grandfather, was as big a man as Morgan Price of the Plas, and they both of them lived on oatmeal and butter milk all their days, for that matter. Only Price had the grip and Jones hadn’t. Things are changed now, Eobert. Peel this hand,’ said Dr Thomas, seizing his brother’s arm, and almost crushing the bone in his powerful grasp, ‘ and then think of the nerveless hand of her who is lying yonder! "Who shall be the heir ? The man of power and resource, or that fribble frabble of a boy who hasn’t even the pluck to strike a blow for the fortune that’s slipping away from him.’ ‘ 'Deed, I think you are a great deal too bold Thomas.’ ‘Hush! Here comes Lawyer Jones. — How d’ye do, Mr Jones ?’ ‘Nicely, thank you, doctor.—Well, Eobert, bach, how’s the spirit getting on, eh ? He, he, he !’ Eobert’s only reply to this greeting was a scowl. . ‘iii r q» ‘ How’s your patient to-night, doctor r ‘ Well, indeed, she’s but so so,’ . * Is her ladyship equal to the fatigue of going through all this business, doctor ? Hadn’t we better leave it till daylight to morrow P Surely a day won’t make any difference.’ . . ... * Lady Lavinia is anxious to settle all her worldly affairs while she has yet time. Her vital power is very low, but her intellect is still wonderfully clear.’ ‘ Indeed ; quite amazing at her age too; she must have a wonderful constitution to go through so much.’ ‘She’s borne up very much by her strong religious sense, and by the hope she has of benefiting her fellow creatures after her death: she is indeed a most devout soul ! I’ll see if her ladyship can receive you.’ , A pause of silence; then the doctor s voice was heard again. ‘ You have the will and power of attorney all ready ?’ ‘ I have.’ . ‘Her ladyship is quite sensible and calm ; but you’ll bear in mind that any excitement, must be avoided. Ask her questions Which she can answer by yes or no, or by a gesture : any lengthened conversation might overcome her—might even be fatal ; and a life is so valuable !’ ‘Just so; only, you Bee, I must read the document over to her, and I must see that she understands what she’s about/ ‘That of couse; only bear in mind what I said : frame your questions so that a simple yes or no will suffice. . As the door into the inner room was opened, and the three were stepping gently and cautiously into the dimly lighted chamber, a sharp clank, a crash as of a * Inspiration, as a bard’s.

door or window forced, rang out in the silence of the night. ‘HeavensLwhat was that?’ cried the lawyer, stepping back into the room. l lt came from that side of the room where the coverlet is hanging over that box. There is some one concealed there, I know/ The lawyer was moving towards the coffin, but was stopped by the doctor. ‘Nonsense, Jones; there’s nothing there but some linen of my sister’s. The noise you heard was a blast from the quarry, no doubt; they sound very close those shots sometimes, in the night especially. Come; her ladyship is waiting, and will be very angry at the delay.’ He looked white and scared too; his nerves were shaken. N But a few moments would end all this suspense ; if only that stupid lawyer would cease staring about him, and come to his work. * Lady Lavinia wishes you to proceed to business immediately.’ ‘Yes, I’m coming,’ said Mr Jones. ‘ Only I'm sure there’s somebody bid in that corner of the room ; I distinctly saw the coverlet move.’ They all passed into the inner chamber, from the open door of which was wafted a strong and fragrant aroma of incense, and a faint and sickly odor, which, seemed to overcome all the strength and fragrance of the perfumes. (To be continued.)