Tales and Sketches.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 48, 23 December 1871, Page 15

Tales and Sketches.

CHRISTMAS EYE AT LONETHORPE MANOR. That old uncle of mine, Peter Greystore, with liis quaint antiquarian tastes and numerous hobbies, possessed a museum which would have done honor to any provincial town, containing, amidst many other curiosities, a vast number of coins of great worth ; but its chief feature in point of value was a really magnificent collection of uncut diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and all sorts of precious stones. , Amongst various eccentric propensities, he had one for living in an old fashioned country house ; and, when an unexpected accession of fortune placed such a residence within his reach, he purchased what I have no doubt he called “ A glorious old place, sir !” with ivied towers, oriel windows, huge fireplaces, and winding mysterious passages, cuttingoff corners from many a snuggery ; whilst its dark passages, winding stairs, leading to 5 unexpected rooms, and, by circuitous routes, bringing you back to the gallery from whence you started, made it supremely difficult to find your way about the interior, even after a considerable acquaintance with it. Lonethorpe Manor, as the place was called, was situated in one of the most out of the way parts of the county of Marlingshire, and possessed, with other attractions in my uncle’s eyes, the reputation of being haunted, and thither, some years before I was born, he removed from London with his family and all his belongings, of course including the farfamed museum. The house had, for a considerable period, been uninhabited, and had gradually fallen into a state of dilapidation, owing partly to its evil reputation and the impecuniosity of its former owner. To restore it in truly mediaeval fashion was one of the delights my usscle promised himself. But, as all its appointments were to be thoroughly appro priate, and in accordance with the various periods at which it had been built and added to, this was naturally a work of some time, and I believe for many years after he went to live there portions of it remained in the most unfinished and uninhabitable condition. I never knew the place until after his death, which happened just before I came of age, and when I found myself not only the inheritor of house and land but also of all the worthy old gentleman’s possessions. He had outlived his wife and children, and, never having made a will, I, then an orphan, was declared bis next of kin. Having no fancy myself for living in such an abode, so completely out of the world, I made arrangements to dispose of it with its contents immediately I attained my majority. On that memorable birthday, amongst the many tokens of good will and kind wishes which reached me from my friends, was a certain mysterious box of no great size, but of considerable weight, locked, clasped, and sealed so effectually as to render inspection of its contents impossible, except by the exercise of force. It was addressed to me, and accompanied by a short note, in an unsteady hand to this effect:— London, March 6, 1839. DearS'r, —You have probably never heard of my name, but in former years I was the bosom friend of your aunt and uncle Greystore. The contents of the box, which I send with this letter, belong to you as inheritor of Lone tliorpe Manor, bub I conjure you, by the respect in which you hold your uncle’s memory, on no account to open it till I am no more. I am a very old woman now, and you will not have long to wait; and, were it not that I wished to show my respect for you as Peter Greystore’s heir on this day of all others, I should have withheld the box until my death. As it is, I intrust it to you, feeling sure that I can rely implicitly on the honor of anyone bearing the revered name of Greystore, and that my wishes, however weak and foolish, will be complied with. How it came into my possession you will learn when you examine its content.- ; but, as you have pity in your heart and love for the departed, I once more adjure you to grant the last request I shall ever make of anyone in this world, and beg to subscribe myself “ Your obedient servant, “ Isabel Fabek.” I certainly never had heard of Mrs Faber, but, of course, I promised to comply faithfully with her injunctions, though by no means insensible to the feeling of curiosity and wonder at the mysterious character of this incident. Several years elapsed, however, before the old lady died, and then Lonetliorpe Manor was no longer mine. On breaking open the little chest, the first thing which met my eyes was the large roll of manuscript, which ran as follows and gave the key to the whole enigma : I was about forty-five years of age when my dear'friends Mr and Mrs Greystore wrote to entreat that I would try and rouse myself from the melancholy state into which I had fallen by reason of the great misery that had overshadowed my life for the last two years, that misery to which I shall have to recur in due time. Christmas was fast approaching, and they proposed that I should spend it with them at a country seat they had recently purchased, which entirely fulfilled, they said, their own notions of a rural residence. I was entreated to go down and make one of the small party expected to assemble at Christmas for a house-warming, when I might judge for myself whether the place was not most romantically gloomy and yet most comfortably habitable. After some prolonged correspondence, it was agreed I should leave London, the day before Chistmas Day with my maid, an old retainer, who, though loving and faithful, tyrannised over me, by right of long service and a close intimacy with my family troubles. So under the orders of old Ellis, at six o’clock on a chill, foggy morning, we drove in one of the rattling hackney-coaches which, with

sedan .shairs, in those days were our only me- ■ tropolitan publicconveyances, to the “Peacock” . at Islington, whence we took the stage-coach j bound for the county town of Marlingford. j The bustle of the start over, I wus at first in- ] terested in watching the incoming night mails, 1 as, meeting us on the great north road, they dashed by with flickering lamps ani steaming horses to the cheery music of their guards’ horn ; but by the time we bad passrd Highgate I had relapsed into the melancholy mood that had of late oppressed me, and to dissipate which in some degree my friends bad urged that I should visit them even at this inclement season of the year. My mind was full of the one great sorrow which had made me, the lonely woman I was, and I had throughout doubted whether the society of my lively little friend, Mrs Greystore, and the Christmas festivities of her house would not rather jar than otherwise upon my feelings. The journey, too, was dreary enough, but about three o’clock in the afternoon I was glad to see that we were approaching a larger town than any we had yet passed through, the guard wound his horn merrily, the coachman mended his pace as we rattled over the stones of the suburbs, and pulled up smartly in front of an old-fashioned inn. This was Marlingfovd, whence we were to go on to Lonethorpe in a postchaise. After we bad alighted, and the London coach was again on its way, I ordered my conveyance, and walked up and down the courtyard of the inn, glad to stretch my cramped limbs. Whilst doing so I overheard the old ostler remark to the weather-beaten postilion, as they were putting my horses to, that he would have “ but a bad ride of it. For his part he didn’t see why gentry couldn’t be contented to live in good towns, instead of out-of-the-way places, where there warn’t a decent road within miles. A fashious job for the cattle was a journey to Lonethorpe, even in summer ; but, now that the frost had just broke. up, it was wild work, and not partic’lar safe either, lie thought. He had heard as one or two travellers had been stopped lately about that place. However, that was the gentry’s own look-out! Postboys never come to no harm so long as they are quiet.” Really, there was much truth in the man’s remarks; a more dreary evening to travel on could not well be imagined ; and his reference to the possibility of robbery was hv no means reassuring. Yet I was but little influenced by the idea of such perils ; and, as Ellis had not overheard this colloquy, I determined to keep it to myself. Looking up the High street, bright fires shone through many a window, but by the time we drove away blinds and curtains were being drawn down, to shut out the desolate prospect, and I pictured to myself many a cosy family group gathering rouud the cheerful blaze, glad to be safely housed ere the short twilight of this Christmas Eve deepened into night. The streets were soon left behind, and the high road was gained ; a few farm teams returning from what labors in the fields the season permitted, passed us ; then came the only cheering sound we wore to hear for some time, the tinkling bells of the slow-going long s’age waggon, with swinging lamp already lighted. Our postilion nodded to the driver, who called out that it was a rough night, and with him and his lumbering vehicle passed away the last signs of life. The road lay up a long hill over which we slowly crawled, exposed to the full fury of the wind that howled and moaned piteously. The gaunt, naked branches of the few trees we saw were twisted and bent, and swaying hither and thither with a strangely spectral motion. Ragged clouds drifted over the wild, lowering sky, a thin, drizzling rain fell as the wintry day drew to its close, and no living thing was to be seen, except a few rooks, whose crocking voices blended well with the mornful soughing of the wind as they wended their solemn flight to their homes. About four miles from the town we came to some cross roads where stood a gibbet and chains, in which hung the bleaching bones of some wretched criminal, a sight by no means uncommon in the days of which I speak when capital punishment was awarded to many a crime besides that of murder. A litt'e further on we turned off the highway into a narrow lane, singularly uncared for and dreary, which was, of course, in a worse condition than the road we had quitted. So strangely unused and neglected did it appear that I could not resist letting down the glass and asking the man if he knew his way. “Oh! yes; never fear; but to be sure, it is the worst bit o’ road in all the county.” Such a piercing blast whislted through the open window that I was glad to draw in my head, and wrap my fur cloak round me. Soon after this it grew quite dark, and poor Ellis broke out into the most dismal forebodings ; and just in the midst of one of her querulous lamentations, I Was startled by hearing horses’ hoofs behind us. I had hardly time to realise this unexpected sound, when two riders galloped past, and in another instant the carriage was brought to a standstill. There was an altercation in threatening tones with the postboy, when the foremost horseman, returning to the coach-door, seized one of our lamps, wrenching it from its socket. As he did so the light fell full upon him, and I saw that he was masked. Then he thrust a pistol in at the window, which I had just lowered, saying, in a hoarse, guttural sort of whisper, “ Now then, your watch and purse ; whatever you have about you give it up quickly and no” He did not finish the sentence ; for at that moment the light his hand shone straight into my eyes, and he drew back as if appalled. Uttering an oath, he wheeled his horse round to where his companion was holding the postboy in check, and, exclaiming, “ Ride on Tom ; ride on! this won’t do,” the two dashed away into the darkness. The presence of mind which enabled me to observe and fix in my memory these details was now entirely gone. I have but the most

confused recollection of everything that happened afterwards, until I found myself, an hour later in the midst of my friends at Lonethorpe. Their warm welcome, hospitable solicitude, and anxiety for my welfare, however, only partially restored me to myself. The account which I gave of the attack by the highwayman and the sudden and mysterious manner in which he abandoned his purpose of robbery was listened to with profound interest. Eyeryone was amaized at his forbearance, and U jji P uzz^e d how to account for it. Yet, oddly enough, so was not I. Somehow, I felt no surprise on this point. That he should, under such favorable circmstances, have failed to carry out his intentions was undoubtedly very remarkable. What influenced him, or what so suddenly arrested his purpose, it was impossible to say ; but I can only repeat I wa9 not- astonished at it. Ah, me; had I then known what I afterwards knew there would have been no difficulty in explaining the contradictory feeling which had taken possession of me the strange sensation of no surprise at a most surprising event. When the excitement of my arrival had subsided, the staid but hearty greeting of Mr Greystore and the ardently-afieefionate embraces of his wife soothed and comforted me. The aspect of the oak-pannelled dining-room, with its blazing fire of huge logs shining a anc * clieerily on the polished walls and floors also tended to counteract the disagreeable influence of the day’s journey. We were not a large pa-ty, and I need not stop to describe these dear friends of my earlier days ; they have long since passed away ; and although you were not born then, you are the sole remaining link that binds me to that time. There were to be some juvenile festivities in honor of Christmas Eve; but, in consideration of the fatigue and terror I had undergone, I was to be excused from joining in them. I was therefore shown early to my room, a good night’s rest being prescribed as the surest restorative. So, my hostess leading the way across the hall, we ascended a staircase with a br. ad, low oak balustrade, terminating in a landing from which opened many rooms. ; Passing straight along this to the end we . turner up another short flight of stairs, then i descended two or three steps which brought | us to an ante-room, with a curious groined roof, and walls of such thickness it would have been impossible to stretch hand and arm out of the windows sunk in its depths. We were now, I wa3 told, in the tower at the east end of the house—the oldest part of the mansion, Beyond this lay, at right angles with the frontage, a wing containing some rooms of the same date aB the tower, long disused, but of such ample proportion and commanding such fine views of the park, that Mr Greystore had resolved to restore and furnish them in a thoroughly antique fashion and . make of them the guest chambers. Only one | was at present completed ; and “ Yon, Isabel,” said my friend, “ are to be the first occupant of our state apartment.” Nervous as I then , was, I must confess I would rather have del dined the honor and taken a room nearer to 1 the nurseries ; and I have sometimes wondered | at. the thoughtlessness of my hostess in select- | ing such a remote chamber for me, under the ! circumstances.

The room into which I was ushered was of oblong form and hung with tapestry ; another bright fire of great logs burned briskly upon the hearth; candles were lighted in oldfashioned sconces ; and Ellis, neat and trim, stood beside open boxes, all ready to attend upon me. Hardly had the door closed upon Mrs Greystore’s affectionate “ Good-night 1” to me and her caution to Ellis not to lose her way, before that Abigail exclaimed, “ Not lose my way, indeed ! Who could help it, I should like to know ? I never saw such a rambling place—not I! Just look, ma’am, at all these windows and doors! How is one to keep out draughts ? And the flame of the candles, too ! Didn’t I say’t would be so ?” As this was an evil that might possibly be remedied, I looked round to see from which window (there were three) the draught that made the light so unsteady came. Two were of ordinary size and seemed shut closely ; but the third was a French casement, opening down to the floor, and, like the other, had looped-up curtains. As I pub my hand up to try the fastening, the sash fell back, admitting with a whirl and dash, such a blast that the embers from the fire were scattered on the floor, and the lights all but extinguished. Starting back scared, but instantly recovering myself, I pushed it hastily to, quite ready to echo Ellis’s complaints on the carelessness of servants, who, on such a night, left windows insecurely fastened. Looking out, I dimly discerned that a long flight of stone steps, apparently disused and broken, led from a little terrace, or balcony, in front of the window down to the park. We commented on so unusual and unpleasant an argument as such means of access from without to a bed-chamber, and I felt truly glad that we found heavy shutters, which we immediately closed. It was, of course, too dark to see many yards ; but I was sure we were surrounded by trees from the sharp, crackling raps with which the bare branches were now and again dashed against the glass Annoyed by the careless neglect of the window fastening, I made a very special survey of the room and furniture. Just facing the foot of the huge four-post bed, with its masses of heavy, dark curtains, under which Ellis timidly peered, was an oak-panelled door, partially revealed by imperfect joining of the tapestry that elsewhere went all round the room. This we opened, and, peering in, merely discovered a very deep recess sunk in the thickness of the walls. -It appeared to be a sort of lumbercloset, and contained nothing that we could see but a few boxes and some odd pieces of furniture pushed to the far end. The door had once fitted neatly into the rough panelling of the wall, so as to be imperceptible ; but now, warped upon its hinges by age, it would not shut quite close. We next

proceeded to reconnoitre the heavy wardrobe and straight backed massive chairs, that looked more fit for show than comfort. I had hoped to hear that Ellis’s room la? 7 near mine; but on asking the question, she grimly shook her head, and said, “ Near, no; not nearer than halt a mile. To be sure, here’s a bell; but who knows where it rings to ? and you might call for an hour before anyone would hear you from such an out of the way corner !” Well! it was now too late, or, rather, my pride would not allow me to object to the loneliness of my chamber, so, turning to the old fashioned diaped mirror above the quaint looking toilet table, I prepared to undress, hoping that my unusual timidity would vauish when I had by habit reconciled myself to my grand solitude. Ellis s want of tact, however, in continuing to impress upon me the distance by which I was separated from the rest of the household, and the difficulty of communicating with her, counteracted my good resolutions, and by the time I was ready to get into bed I thought the place looked more dreary than ever. The fire being replenished, and I safely ensconed in a bed whose tester rose as high as the ceiling, there was no longer any excuse for my retaining Ellis, much as I dreaded being left alone, so she bade me “ Good-night” in a boding tone, and, stalking sullenly to the door, said, I shall lock this outhe outside, and take the key away; I must keep you as safe as looks can make you ; and I don’t mean to call you till late, for I am sure you want a good night s rest.” Finding remonstrance useless, I at last consented to let her have her way, but as she turned the key on the outside I felt a horrible dread of being locked up in so lonely a situation. How lonely it was I had not realised until the good woman’s receding footsteps fell on my ear; then came deep silence for a moment or two, during which I could hear nothing but the beating of my heart. A sudden whirl of branches against the windows, and a long, furious howl of wind down the chimney, seemed a relief from the appalling quiet; but as the gale died away the sound was so unearthly in its wailing sobs, I felt my flesh creep, as I listened to catch its last echoes. I tried to reason with myself on my folly, but no strength to reason vas left; the sleep that would have been so welcome, and that was my due, would not come to my pillow, court it as I would. I felt compelled to concentrate all my powers in an effort to combat a foreboding that something horrible was to happen, that something awful would break the stillness that succeeded the wintry gust. J

On the left of the bed were the two ordinary windows and the entrance door ; on the right the fireplace, and, parallel with my bed, still on the right, the large casement which had been blown open. Immediately facing me was the door of the cupboard, plainly visible, as the curtains, although closely drawn on both sides of my couch, were partially open at the foot. The fire was burning low; the soft, flaky sound of the ashes as they fell upon the hearth began at last to sooth and lull me. I lay, idly watching the grotesque shadows cast by the perforated rushlight shade as they danced and flickered upon the panel opposite. A drowsiness was stealing over me which would have ripened into sleep, but that, suddenly, a return of my old anxiety was induced by the idea, which brought a gasp into my throat, that I heard voices whispering not far off. Ia a moment I was wide awake and sitting upright in bed ; hut a wild gust of wind just then frustrated all my efforts to listen, and for some time I was kept in horrible suspense. As the blast died away I strained my ears to cracking, and surely I did hear voices from the direction of the cupboard ; bub before I could verify my dread the wind again drowned every sound, and, though sinking back upon my pillow half dead with terror, I still kept my eyes fixed upon the door. It moved! Yes; of a certainty it moved! Hardly knowing what I did, or with what intention, I sprang out of bed and wrapped myself round in one of the ample curtains at its foot, clinging the while with a convulsive grasp to the bedpost, hut never for so much as a second losing sight of the door. It again slowly moved, and this time a hand crept round its edge. Once more the whispering, and now quite audible to my preternaturally sharpened faculties. “ ’Sdeath, you fool!” said a husky voice, “ there is no one in the l’oom, People don’t come to bed at nine o’clock on Christmas Eve. Everybody is down below enjoying themselves with the youngsters. You’ll be able to pass out as you passed in.” “ But, suppose,” interrupted a second speaker, “they’ve fastened the window, while we’ve been on the job P You should have made Tom stop and watch.” “A likely game,” chimed in a third, “if I had watched and had found, I must have made short work of it; and our captain here swore there must be no blood, or he’d have it again from whoever drew it.” “ Stow this gabble,” again interrupted the first voice. “ Tom, go first, make sure there’s no one in the bed, and then fasten the door, open the window, and we’ll follow with the swag.” My heart stood still. Cold perspiration poured from my foi-ehead. I was turned to stone_ as, watching from my hiding piace, I saw a man slowly emerge from the recess. He wore a common riding dress, and his tread was muffled by short hose pulled over his high boots. He stood within a foot of me as he cast a harried glance into the bed. Seemingly convinced that there was no one there, he moved with less caution, and all but pushed against me as he walked round to the door. “ Ha, ha !” he muttered ; “ locked outside, eh ! they’ve been up here and made all safe, as they think; fastened up the window, too, no doubt. Never mind. Come out, boyß, we’ll soon be clear of it now.” And in another second he was unbarring the shutter of the long casement. The door of the recess now stood wide open.

One of the two men within was lifting on to his shoulders o small but heavy valise, «!™Pl>ed to a leathern bag. fcis companion, who his back towards me, was helping him. The burden adjusted, he who carried it stole across, also with muffled feet, to the now open window where the thief who had first appeared relieved him of part of the load, and the two massed out on to the little terrace. P The rush of wind admitted by the casement caused the fire to blaze brightly up, and its embers whirled about the hearth. While I had been breathlessly watching these proceedines the one man now left in the room had gone over to the toilet table, where he was rapidly despoiling my dressing case, and putting various ornaments and jewels hastily into his pockets; but his back was still towards me and he stooped over the table, too low lor the* mirrow to reflect his face. Suddenly he started, as if in terrified amazement, and, standing upright, turned round to examine by the firelight something he held in his hand. O God! shall I ever forget my feelings as his features were thus revealed to me ? Can you who read my story guess why, in that dread moment, I experienced the greatest revulsion of feeling that can possibly be conceived ? Can you guess why my terror was instantly transformed into the utmost fearlessness and courage ? Why, with every possible sensation of horror and misery still upon me, I felt a kind of overwhelming joy ? And can you anticipate why, as he was about to quit the room, and thus relieve me, as it would have seemed, of all further apprehension, I, with a wild, moaning sob, rushed from my hiding place and threw myself at his feet ? Because, in one word, ho was my son ! #***-#

Yes; my self-willed, wayward, unhappy son; of whose fate for the past two years I had been in such miserable ignorance, and whom, under such circumstances as these, I had at. last found! The associate and apparent leader of a gang of thieves and burglars, committing a fearful crime, for which were be discovered, his life would pay the forfeit! Committing a crime redoubled in its atrocity, since he was robbing the very man by whom as a lad he had been treated with an almost parental love and affection ! Taking advantage doubtless, of his intimate acquaintance with the peculiar and valuable property of Mr Greystore to possess himself of it, like an ungrateful and thankless thief that he was 1 I thought that to know of Lis wild and reckless courses since his father’s death, whilst still under my roof, had been misery sufficient; I thought that when, in a burst of unusually ungovernable and furious temper, he had left his home and had gone no one knew whither, baffling all pursuit and eluding every attempt made to discover him, my cup of bitterness was full! I thought that, as the days passed by and month succeeded month and still no traces of him appeared, and that a belief in liis death was all that was left to me I say that all this terrible suspense and grief was as nothing compared to the agony of heart which I endured at the moment when I saw him standing erect in the firelight of my lonely room. I wonder how I am able even to recount the misery of that hour as struggling with him in his efforts to disengage himself from my grasp, I eventually succeeded in somewhat calming him and inducing him to listen to me.

I have but the most confused remembrance of how, when I first sprang towards him, he started a 9 though he had seen a ghost, drew back, threw up his arms, and exclaimed, “ Again, a second time to-night! What devilish fate is pursuing me ? Why have you thus crossed my path twice within a few hours? How came you here ? Or are you but some infernal presentment of my mother sent to daunt me when I should be firmest ? But do not think to stay me; cease your ghostly pranks, and let me pass !” I know not in what words I besought and adjured him to keep quiet ; how in every way I strove to pacify him and assure him of my identity ; to point out to him that, if ever the hand of Providence had interposed to save him from utter destruction, I was its instrument ; and that now, if he did not listen to my prayer, he would be lost for ever; how I strove to keep him quiet and make him, in his perplexed excitement, subdue his voice lest even at that distance from the rest of the household he might be overheard; how he wavered, now seeming to listen, softened by my words and embraces ; now forcing me from him for a while, and struggling to escape by the window; and how by degrees, taking advantage of his gentler moods, I at last induced him to reclose the shutters, and eventually to sit down, whilst I kneeling at his feet, hid my face on his bosom and wept ns if my heart were breaking. I only remembered that there, in the dead of night, we two sat communing—mother and son. Not only literally but morally alike cut off from the rest of the world —I by my agony and he by his crime ! I will not dwell more than is necessary upon this extraordinary and terrible scene, unparalleled in its paiu and wretchedness.

Little by little I induced him to tell me some of the details of his recent mode of life. Awful as they were for a mother to hear, I felt that by confession some ground at least might be gained. I. need not repeat his history. Step by step, from bad to worse, of course, down he went, until by accident he found himself in the neighborhood of Lonethorpe, then unoccupied and deserted. He and his companions in crime for a while had secretly made it their head-quarters, and by its aid often eluded the ends of justice, making use of certain ingenious contrivances to keep alive the belief already rife in the neighborhood that the place was haunted. They had well explored all its mysterious labyrinth of passages and maze of underground chambers and retreats. Here indeed, they all but lived, carousing over the result of their depredations upon the highway. When the house was

purchased by Mr Greystore, and Bigns were made of an intention to occupy it, my unhappy son and his band (for he, in virtue of his superior education, had been constituted its leader) were obliged to beat a retreat. No sooner, however, he told me, did he learn that Mr Greystore was coming to reside at Lonethorpe than the idea of plundering his kind friend of his large collection of valuable uncut jewels and stones occured to him. I gathered from his broken and excited words as I forped them almost one by one from him that, by cunningly-conducted inquiries made of the servants, frequenting an alehouse in Marlingford, he ascertained the general habitß of the family, and which room had been converted into the museum. His intimate acquaintance with the house enabled him at once to understand how a disused and probably unknown secret passage and stairs led from the back of the closet in my room down to a sliding panel in the very apartment used by Mr Greystore as a repository for his antiquities and valuables. The largest and oldest of the basement rooms, it lay at the back of the building, strongly barred and secured. These facts were but just gleaned, and it was thought that the Christmas festivities would secure the robbers from all interruption. My occupation of the hitherto disussed room threw an unexpected difficulty in the way ; but, bold and determined as were the burglars, they defied it, and finding no one in the chamber, as they inspected it by the firelight, through the incautiously unshuttered and ioosely fastened window, they slipped in, and reached the cupboard probably only a few minutes before Ellis went to unpack my boxes. Once in undisturbed possession of the museum (for it was rightly calculated that the children s party occupied the whole attention of the household), my miserable, wicked boy was able deliberately to pillage the place of its most valuable contents, with which he was well acquainted. All that followed I myself had seen ; but, as he finished the confession of his guilt, he appeared more overcome than he had hitherto been. He looked at me, with tears in his eyes, and his still handsome features, marred and altered though they were by exposure and dissipation, were lighted up with something of the old expression that had been my joy and happiness to watch, when he prattled at my knee. “ Mother,” he said, in a voice changed utterly from what it used to be, but which struck familiarly on my ear, “ I have little more to tell; you know nearly the worst now. Yet, not quite ; for though these hands have hitherto been guiltless of . blood, I might tonight, but for the merest chance, have shed your 9. Yes, mother; for I at least threatened it; and had your carriage lamp been less bright, or had your face been muffled, who knows what my recklessness would have brought about!” “Ah! Wilfred, Wilfred!” I cried, “the masked highwayman! I understand it all! Oh! my poor boy ; how can I ever pray for you enough ?” “ As I saw,” he continued, “ whom fate or the fiend had thrown in my way I could not befieve my eyes; you, of all people, were farthest from my thoughts, and, as I rode off, I fancied I had seen a ghost, and cursed myself for a blockhead at being so unnerved ; but tonight—just now, when at that table —X chanced upon this picture of my dead father, which I have so often seen hanging around your neck, I was appalled, and again conceived that it was some supernatural influence, directed by you, to make me falter in my purpose, nor, at first, even when you threw yourself at riiy feet, could I believe in your identity ! However, let me keep this,” he added, suddenly, placing the miniature in the breast pocket of his weather stained riding coat. Then rising, and somewhat resuming his hardened tone, “ if this be the last time we ever meet, remember these words of mine. I cannot promise much ; but I have been pulled up —I have had a lesson ;it may do me some good, and it may not. Who knows ? I must be far away from here before daybreak. I shall find those scoundrels at our rendezvous ; and such of the plunder as their cursed fingers leave for iny share I swear to you I will restore. Take its restoration as the only proof I can give you of my repentance. 1 shall probably leave the country, and if in after years I ever retrieve my good name you shall see me; if not, mother, farewell! farewell for ever!” And, pressing his lips upon my forehead, as I sat helpless and stunned, in another moment he was out upon the balcony, and whilst the light from the window yet glimmered on his figure descending the steps, I lost all consciousness and fell in a swoon upon the floor.

Dawn was breaking, as the chill air from the : open easement began to revive me. After the suffering I had endured, I marvel to think how my presence of mind returned sufficiently to enable me to hide every trace of the scene which had been enacted. I did this, however, effectually, but not till it had cost me all my remaining strength ; and when Ellis came into the room some two hours later, she found me in bed delirious, with a raging fever. ###-## Days passed with only a few intervals of consciousness, so short in their duration that an indistinct terror of betraying myself in some way is all that I remember of that time. At last, when the tender care bestowed upon me had restored me in a degree, and a full recollection of everything that had passed returned, I was thankful to find that my fears were groundless. I had been perfectly silent, and, as soon as the doctor permitted mo to indulge in conversation, I was able to glean that my illness was attributed entirely to overfatigue and the shock I had sustained on my journey. More than a week elapsed after Christmas Day before the robbery was discovered. My illness and the check which it put upon the Christmas merriment had so occupied Mr G-reystore that he had not once

entered his museum. His consternation, and that, indeed of the whole household, was of course very great when he found his treasure gone; and the utter inability to gather the least clue to the way in which he had been despoiled added considerably to the excitement. There was no evidence of a violent entry into the room having been made ; its contents were comparatively undisturbed; little had been touched except such articles as were of more than mere archaeological worth, but the cases and drawers containing the vast number of gold and silver coins, and, above all, the priceless collection of uncut precious stones, were completely emptied, showing a=> Mr Greystore said, an intimate knowledge on on the part of the thieves of every nook and corner in which treasure would be found. Notwithstanding the minutest search, not a trace was left of how admission to the museum had been gained. No scratch or crack upon its panelled walls helped in their search the somewhat dull-eyed officers of justice (for those were not the days of detectives), who had been sent for especially from London. The country-side rang with accounts of the mysterious affair, which was by the majority of people attributed to the spiritual influences said to be at woik in the lonely old house. However, nothing led to the apprehension of anyone, even on suspicion, though the neighborhood was known to abound with many bad characters ; and, after a long while, my friend was fain to put up with his loss with the best philosophy ho could muster. I need not, I think, attempt to describe, even if it were possible, my conflicting feelings as I listened, distractedly, day by day, to the recital of these things. What could I do, knowing what I knew and feeling what I felt ? Nothing but to assume, in the presence of my friends, an air of extreme wonderment, anxiety, and interest, and to weep my heart out in prayer when alone. I prayed that time might restore my good friend’s much-valued proper ty and thus bring to me the fulfilment of the promise that ray guilty son had made. His last words rang in my ear :—“ Take its restoration as the only proof I can give you of my repentance.’ I have little more to tell. Many months passed, and I was back again in my own home a broken-hearted, miserable woman, looking ten years older than when I left it on that awful Christmas Eve. My hair had turned as white as snow, and I wonder I did not die. Anxiously, oh ! how anxiously I cannot express, did I look for tidings of the lost property. If it ever was restored, I might at least take some little comfort to my heart in the belief that Wilfred had been as good as his word ; and that, failing any proof to the contrary, I might accept it as an earnest of his changed life. This consolation at least was not denied me ; but it came in such a way as still to prevent a restitution of the treasure to its owner. At intervals packages were left at my house, by a messenger whom I failed to trace, containing parts of it; and in the course of a year or more I believed it. had been nearly all returned to me —to me, instead of to Mr Greystore. How could I forward it to my friend ? how could I account for it passing through my hands ? I hesitated how to act; I hoped that chance might aid me in some way. At any rate —may God forgive me if I did wrong ! I felt that my friend had better put up with his loss than that any act of mine should, however indirectly, lead to the discovery of my son’s iniquity. Thus, all I did wa3 to obtain, by dint of casual inquiry, a catalogue of the articles stolen, and, by comparing it with the jewels and coins received by me, ascertain if anything, and what, was still missing. So I learned that, with the exception of four gold pieces of the reign of Queen Elizabeth and a little packet of uncut rubies, the restitution was complete; but these latter I never received —no, nor any further tidings of my son for nearly ten years.

Hope was deferred until it paled and paled, and settled heart-sickness knew no abatement until the news was brought to me of Wilfred’s death. He had formed one of the party of emigrants from Holland, bound for Van Diemen’s Land, then just being established as a colony, and. when nearing port, he fell overboard and was drowned. Having sailed in his own name, his few effects were sent to me, by reason that, amongst them, a miniature, with my name and address at the back, gave at once the only and the safest clue to his connections. I never knew any particulars of his reformation, even if it ever took place ; but my faith teaches me that God, in his mercy, had sown the seeds of repentance, and yearnings after good in his heart and, when they began to bear fruit, took him to his rest, far away from further temptation. The news of Wilfred’s death again set me vacillating as to what course I might now pursue with regard to Mr Greystore’s treasure, of which I had all this while been in unlawful possession, when his sudden decease relieved me of my perplexity. I say relieved me ; for you, then becoming his sole heir, might at least, I thought, wait till I 100 had passed away. Thus 1 determined to write this history of my sorrowful secret, praying that its nature together with the restitution of your property, though tardy, will enable you to look with forgiveness upon the part which the weakness of my moral courage and strength of my natural affections compelled me to play. Here, indeed, wa9 something like a birth day present, for it must not be forgotten that the poor old lady had sent it me on my coming of age. It turned out indeed to be a second little fortune, which I had inherited : yet whilst I sat examining the contents of this casket of jewels their value seemed to pale and die away as I thought over the sad and painful narrative I had just read. Then a vague recollection crept over me of having as a child, heard something of a mysterious robbery that was attributed to ghosts.

And had this secret passage, this clue to the whole extraordinary disappearance of the treasure, never been discovered ? never opened perhaps since that terrible night thus described to me by the suffering, miserable mother ? Probably not. To ascertain this, X took. the earliest opportunity of going down into Marlingshire, and explaining to the present owner of Lonethorpe the object of my visit. Sure enough the old room presented no sign of sliding panel or secret entrance, tap or examine the wall as we might. The closet in Mrs Eaber’s bedroom likewise gave no sign at first of any means of egress ; but a little examination disclosed, in one corner of the floor, a small trap door,, which, when we had opened, with great difficulty, gave upon a flight of steep wooden stairs. Clearly, many years had passed since it had been disturbed ; and I had to exercise much caution in my movements, so decayed, and shaky were the steps. The lantern wnich I carried—for the place was pitch dark —showed a winding and descending passage, built cunningly in the thickness of the wall. At the end of this mole-like burrow, and fitted into some wookwork, was a huge metal knob, or handle, which, after wrenching, and twisting, and pushing, and screwing in various directions, at last began slowly to act as a lever upon the heavy panelling, which we were thus enabled to slide into a cavity, and lo! we found ourselves passing into the museum by a narrow doorway. Then only could we understand this most ingenious contrivance. On retracing our steps I saw something sparkle on the floor ; stooping down I picked up a coin—yes, and eventually three more, as well as the packet of uncut rubies, which of coui’se the thieveshad dropped on their return with the plunder. Thus the restitution was complete, and my valuable and now doubly curious collection unimpaired.