LITERATURE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4880, 21 December 1883, Page 4

LITERATURE.

THB LONGEST NIGHT IN A LIFE. It was Christmas time, and ose of those old-fashioned winters in the days of the Georges, when the snow lay on the ground for weeka, when railways were unknown, and the eleotrio telegraph had not been dreamed of. The South road had been blooked up for nearly a month, when a partial tli-*w almost oaused a publio rejoioing i coaches began to run, and weather-bound travellers to have some hope of reaohing their destination. Among the firat ladies who undertook the journey from the West of Sootland to London at thiß time was a oertain Mibb Stirling, who had, for weeks past, desired to reach the metropolis. Her friends assured her that it was a. foolhardy attempt, but Miss Stirling's business was urgent, oonoer- i-< others more than herself, and she *•-- not to be deterred by personal disoont .rt or by physioal difficulties from doing - iat ahe thought waa right. So she kept io der purpose and took her seat in the mail for London. The thaw had oontinued for some days; the roads, though heavy, were open, and, with the aid of extra horses here and there, the first half of the journey was performed pretty easily. The Becond day was more trying than the first ; the wind blew keenly, and penetrated every ' crevice of the ooaoh, and when on reaohing a little roadside iun the snow began to fall fast, both the guard and coaohman urged their solitary passenger to remain there for the night. Mias Stirling hesitated for a moment, but the little inn looked by no means a pleasant place to be snowed-up in, io she resisted their entreaties, and, gathering her furs more olosely round her, she nestled herself into a oorner of the coaoh. Thus, for a time, she loat all consciousness of outward thinga in aleep. A oudden luroh awoke her; and ahe soon learned that they had stuok fiat in a snow-drift, and 'that no efforts of the tired horses oould extricate the coaoh from its unpleasant predionent. The guard, mounting onn of the loaders, get off in searoh of assistant, while the coaohman oomforted Miss Stir) i < by telling her hey were only a mile ••<■ two from "the quire's." Within an dour the distant inkling of the sledge bells was heard, and oon a hearty voioe was heard hailing them. A strong arm lifted Misa Stirling from the ooaoh, and supported her trembling steps to a aledge, olose at hand, and she soon found herself in a large hall brilliantly lighted by a hlaiing wood fire, and 'undly hands were busied in removing her wraps. "I told yon that the sleigh would have lentyof work this winter," exolaimed the host, addressing his wife. " We all say at Hawtree that Unole Atherton never oan be wrong," said a merry voice. "Atherton! Hawtree!" repeated Miss Sterling. " Ellen, is it possible that you are here ? Don't you know your old friend, Miss Btirling ?" liars Atherton fixed her eyes on the stranger, and reoognised the bright-haired girl she had loved in their school-day s, and cordial was the weloome she gave her as she congratulated herself on having )»er under her own roof } and then, laughing she told her ehe did not know how to dispt- re of her for the night, for the house was as full as it oould hold. Miss Stirling told ber to take no tronble on her acoount ; a ohair by the fire waa all Bhe oared for. "Butl have one ohamber still at yonr .service ; it ia very oomfortable, but aa it ia detached from the house I have never asked a lady to Bleep there till now." " I am quite willing to become its first lady t nant," said Miss Stirling, heartily. So the matter waa settled. The evening passed pleasantly ; music, danoing and ghost stories made the hours fly fast. It was long paat tbe hour of retiring at Belfield when Miss Stirling, under her hostess' guidance, took possesion of her out-door chamber.. lt really was a cheerful little apartment. The crimson hangings of the bed and window looked warm and oomfortable in the flashing firelight ; the long-parted friends found it impossible to resist the temptation of sitting down to have, what in old daya they ueed to oall a " twohanded ohat," and midnight rung out from the atable olook before Mrs Atherton said good night. She had already orossrd the threshold to go, when she turned baok < ■-> aay, " I forgot to tell you that the inside ba- of this door is not Tery seoure, and that the key only turns outeide." Miss Stirling laughingly allowed she had no objeotion to it on this partioular oooasion. " Very well, then, I will send my maid with the key at eight precisely." Ihey parted ; the door was looked outside, and the key taken out, Miss Stirling, standing by the window, watohed her friend depart. So, drawing her ohair once more to She fire, ahe arranged her dark silken tressea {or the night, her thoughts straying baok to the old* world memories which hor meeting with Mrs Atherton had revived. The sound , of the olook striking two was tfye first thing that recalled her to her present life. By this time the candles were burned down almost to their sookets , and the fire was dying fast. As she turned to fling a fresh log into the grate, her eyes fell upon the dressing glass, when ahe fancied ahe saw the bed-ourtains move. She Btood for a moment gasing at she mirror, but all was still, and she blamed hereelf for allowing nervous fears to overoome her. She approached t> o bed, and withdrew the enrtains, and wub rewarded by finding nothing, save the bedclothes folded neatly down. Allowing heraelf uo time for farther doubts or fears, she placed the candle on the maaatelpieoe, and stepped into bed. Her eyes ached with weariness, hut sleep teemed to fly from her. Bhe waa restless and feverish, and the vexation of feeling so made her more wakeful ; and the moonbeams stealing between the window-curtains cast ghostly shadows on the wall. Bo she carefully shut out the light on that side, and turned again to sleep, but she was soon thoroughly aroused by feeling the hed heave nnder her. Bhe started up, and waited with • beating heart a repetition of the movement, bnt it did not oome. Laying her head once more on the pillow, she determined to oontrol her groundless terrors. Again she started up! This time there oould be no doubt: the bed heaved more than onoe, aooompanied by a strange gurgling sonnd, aa if of a creature in pain. Leaning on her elbow, ahe listened — it came again, followed by a loud ruslli' y noise, as if some heavy body were draggr from under the bed in the direotion of thf Gre. What oould it be? Bhe longed to o»'-' out for help, but her tongue clave to the roof of her mouth, and the pulsea in her tern-, lea throbbsd until ■he felt aa if their painful beating sounded in the silenoe of the night like the loud ticking of a olook. Ihe unseen thing dragged itself along until it reaohed the hearthrug, where it flung itself down with violenoe. As it did so she heard, the olank of a ohain. Her breath oame less painfully as she heard it, for it occurred to her that the oreature might be nothing worse than the house dog. Even this notion waa disagreeable enough, but it was as nothing to the vague terror whioh had hitherto opprerssd her. She persuaded herself that if she lay quiet no harm would happen to her. j And the night would soon pass over. By-and-bye the creature began to snore, acd it ■truok her feverish fanoy that the snoring wbb not like that of the dog. She raised herself gently, and with trembling hands drew back an inoh or two of the curtains and peered out, thinking that any certainty was better than suoh terrible suspense. Bhe looked toward the fireplace, and there, Bure enough the huge oreature lay— a brown, hairy aaass, but of what shape it was impossible to divine, bo fitful was the light and so strangely wat it coiled up on the hearthrug. By-an*-bje, it began to stretoh itself out, to open Us eyes, whioh shone in the flickering rays of the fire, and to raise its pnwß above its hairy head. „, Good God ! thoae are not pawe. are human hands, and dangling from th- wrists hang fragments of broken ohains. A chill of horror froze Annie Stirling's veins as a flssh of the expiring fire showed her this clearly— far too clearly- and the oonviction seized npon her mind that she was shut up with an escaped convict. An it ward invocation to Heaven for aid rose from her heart, as with the whole foroe of her intelleot she endeavoured to survey the danger of her position. For the preaent ahe muat be still ; the night must he far spent ; she mult wait and hope. . _. . Bhe had not to wait long. The oroature moved again— stood upright -staggered towards the bed. For one moment— one dreadful moment— ehe saw M« faee-his pale, f inched features, his flashing eyes, his black ristling hair j but, thank God, he did not see her! She shrank behind the curtains, he advanoed to the bed tlowly, hesitatingly,

and the olanking sound of tbe broken ohains fell menacingly on her ear. He laid his hand upon the ourtains, and for a few moments fumbled to find the 'opening. These moments were all in all to Annie Stirling. Despair sharpened her senses ; she found that the other side of the bed was not set bo close against the. wall but that ahe could pass into the narrow spaoe between ; thia ahe contrived to do noiselessly. Bhe had hardly accomplished the diffioult feat, and sheltered herself hehind the curtainß, when the oreature flung itself on the bed, and drawing the olothes round him, uttered a sound more like the whinnying of a herse than the laugh of a human being. For some time Miss Stirling stood in her narrow hidingplace, trembling with oold and terror. She lifted np her heart in prayer for oourage | and when her composure had in some degree returned, it ooourred to her that if she could but reaoh the window, she might attraot the attention of some passer-by. Very cautiously she attempted the perilous experiment ; her bare feet moved noiselessly across the floor, and a friendly ray of moonlight guided her safely to the window. Ab ahe put out her hand toward the ourtains, her heart gave a fresh bound of terror, for it oame in oontaot with something soft and warm. At length, however, she remembered that she had flung down her fur oloak in that spot, and it was a meroy to oome upon it now; she wrapped it round her, and reaohed the window without any alarm from the ocoupant of the bed, whose heavy breathing gave assuranoe that he was now sound asleep. This was some oomfort, and ehe greatly needed it. She heard the stable olook strike four. Only four ! She felt as if it were impossible to survive even another hour. Was there no hope? None? She tried to support herself against the window-frame, but her first touch caused it to shake and creak in a manner that seemed to her startling loud. Drops of agony fell from her brow as ever aud anon a rustle of the bedclothes, or a slight olank ef the manacled bands, sent a renewed ohill to her heart. The olook struok five. Suddenly a n-an's whistle was heard in the court, and the driver of the mail ooaoh, lantern in hand, orossed the yard. Would to God she oould oall on him, or in any way attraot his attention, but she dared not make the alighteat aound. He looked up at the window, against whioh he brushed almost in pissing; and the light he held flashed on Misa Stirling'a crouchirg figure. Hepaased, looked again, and seemed about to speak, when she hastily made sign that he should be silent, but seek assistance at the Aouse. He gave her a glance of intelligence, and hastened away. How long his absenoe seemed. Oould he have understood her ? The occupant of the bed was growing every instant more and more restless ; he was griping round the room. They would oome too late ! too late ! But no! steps in the courtyard, the key turning in the look, the door opens. Then, with a yell that rang in Annie Stirling's ear until her dying day, the creature rushed to her hiding plaoe, dashed the slight windowframe to pieces, and finding himself baulked of his purpose to. esoape by the strength of the iron bar outside, turned like a wild beast on his pursuers. She was the first on whom hia glance fell. He olaaped her throat ; his faoe was olose to hera ; his glittering eyes were glaring at her in frenzy ; when a blow from behind felled him. She awoke from along swoon to find herself safe in Mrs Atherton's dressing-room, and to hear that no one was hnrt but the poor maniao, and that he was again in the oharge of his keepers, from whom he had eaoaped a few hours before. " A few hours ! A lifetime, Ellen ! But Heaven be thanked, it haa passed like a wild dream !" But one enduring effeot remained ever after to imprint on Annie Stirling's memory and on the memories of all that knew her, the event of that long night. Suoh had been her suffering, anxiety, and terror, that in those few hours her hair had turned as whito as snow.