AN ARTIST'S GHOST STORY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1567, 24 December 1883, Page 2 (Supplement)

AN ARTIST'S GHOST STORY.

When I was quite a young man I used to travel about a great deal in the North of England. I had several relatione there; and gradually, as I advanced in my position In the artistic world, I had numerous invitations to the larger houses, and even in some oases was kindly patronised by the county, who, however, generally expected something in the way of a sketch of their favorite view in the park, or a portrait of their youngeat and most troublesome offspring, as a slight return for their hospitality; so perhaps I was not quite as muoh elated as I should have been when my Aunt Mary came into my painting-room bearing triumphantly a ,coronetted missive addressed to me, Aunt Mary was the sweetest spinster that it has ever been my fate to see, She had passed through the fiery trial of an uninterrupted life of quiet monotony in one of the most soandal-loving country towns in the kingdom, without losing one atom of her pure kindliness of heart; and Ido not think I ever heard her say an unkind word of any one, Her nice tastes and fondness for flowers and flower-painting kept her by far too well employed to allow her to sink into one of the waspish old maids, of which species we had several, : whom we should very gladly have sold cheap to a sparsely populated savage country, as wives to the chiefs thereof, had such a course of conduct been practicable, I know I often wished the missionaries, who so often came to our town to demand subscriptions towards the!r&demption of the negro souls in the far west coast of Africa; could do something, towards our redemption from the sloughs of scandal, by bearing off from our midst such choice specimens of vinegar-tongued maidens as Miss Sophronia Benham and Selina Courtland, the daughters respectively of our vicar and solicitor, who were sworn friends of each other, and sworn enemies of any one gayer, prettier, and wiser than themselves, However, I am decidedly wandering away from the letter, and have kept Aunt Mary waiting far too, long. " Oh, my dear boy," said she, with a little flutter, in her voice which spoke volumes for the state of agitation she was in, "I : knew the Countess meant to ask you; see, 1 here is her letter." '. •

"Better late than nover," said I;." the other invitations have been oiit ' quit'o a week; however, I can't afford to throw away' a chance, so I suppose I must accept it, though I bet you anything you like, by this time to-morrow we shall have been told, at least fifty times, exactly whose place I have' been asked to take at the last moihent; but beggars mustn't be choosers, so here goes I" Our great lady had issued invitations for a large dinner-party at least a fortnight ago, I must tell you, and great had been the curiosity of the gossips of Swanham to know if I were going or not, and vast was the delight expressed on their countenances and pro-" found the sorrow spoken by their lip 3, when they heard .from Aunt Mary that at present (underlined) my invitation had not arrived; so I knew pretty well what the envelope contained; however, I niust confess I was elated to discover that not only was) I invited to the aforesaid dinner, but to stay the week at Ebor Court. Lady EbOr concluded her letter thus: "We should have sent you your invitation before, but I was not quite sure if Mr. Berson, R.A., the celebrated architect, was to be here this week; and, as I particularly wanted you to meet him, I was waiting to ask you when I received his answer.; However, he is to be with iis on the 14th, and I do hope nothing will prevent your com-, ing here on that date! although you paint pictures and he designs houses and churches, you will yet have much that is mutually interesting to discuss," ' _ ■ ( " Berson to be there,": said I meditatively,, "I should think that is about the restoration of old Ebor Hall. I should like to see the old place as it nsed to be, but unless those original plans could be found, there's no chance of that," :

" I cannot understand," said Aunt Mary, "how such valuable things could, bo mislaid, I know they were extant in your grandfather's time, for he saw them, You recollect old Lord Ebor was always wanting to restore the place, but somehow .or other, he never had the money. I remember as well if it were yesterday how angry Lady Ebor was if he mentioned it, for she was so extravagant and wilful that she wanted all the money to spend in London,, and not as she said in taking, away a place from the owls and bats* who were .much happier,there than she could ever be, I romember the plans being lost too, though that is sixty* years ago, I was a girl of-twelve then;" added she, " and I used to wonder if I could find them hidden away, and receive the reward the old Earl offered; but the townspeople always said that those who hide can find, and . even intimated that Lady Ebor had made away with them, so as to put a stop to any chance

of my Lord's Bettifig to'hs.lie.was' always talking ofidOirigj b'ntjmest.likely that was nothing but gossip, However, the|lans were lost, and nave never been heard of since.". ■' < '

The fourteenth of May oame'indue course, ; and : found me; on : my way to the Ebors, I remember distinctly as I drove \ip to the door noticing a, curious gleam of light in the north tower, almost as if a small lamp wore hanging among the iVy, or an extremely bright re-' fleetionfrom theißettjng Biiniieidgot tangled • there, 1 and remained long: after the bud! itself ihadi disappeared;:and-I also.as distinctly,recollect wondering : feebly how any one could: have got up into; the ;crumblidg; old ruici. But it was not until we wero seated at the dinner-table that the light struck mo as 'being, of any importance,. ;Lady Ebor had kindly piit me as close to Mr.Berson as /she, possibly could, and I gradually forgot ;my ; dinner entirely in the fas'oinatibh of his conversation; for he talked continuously, easily,; and most charmingly on every s'ubjeot;under the sun; and his rioh lund of anecdote: and, keen sense of humor lent a brightness: and charm to ' his talk that was . never' forgotten' •by any one who ever had the happiness of meeting him; Naturally,' towards ,the ! end of the dinner, the conversation turned on the Bubject of : the:restoration)' and;Lord:Ebor told the story about the plans,' much as Aunt Mary 'had done,' adding, .however, iwith: a laugh, "I haven't the least'doubt; that my nnd mother, made away with >the plans', ana o heartily 'wish she would come back .ahf show me where she put them jifor you must know that she is said>to haunt;the' north tower : when pal'ticularly aiixiousl to make herself obnoxious to her ; descendants. She

.burns a mysterious light up there, and generally succeeds in alarming onoof our servants so dreadfully that we almost always receive warning from him once a 1 month; 'however, as he lives in the lodge behind the town, ana at present my grandmother does nothing worse than hang out a light, he consents to remain, at all events at present, and really for quite six months now I don't think I have heard anything about the ghost," j " Then I am afraid you will to-morrow; Lord Ebor," said I quickly. "I am very sorry to say that I saw the light this even; ing, as I came'up the avenue j so the ghost is still existing, t j "I only wish she.would show us the plans," answered Lord Ebor.. "There's the reward of £SOO, still in my grandfather's will, waiting for the'lucky finder. Nowj Grantham," he added,'turning to me, " that would justsend you off to Itaiyuioely, so set to work; turn out every nook and oorner in my grandmother's rooms if you like—they are just as they used to be—and see if, as' you have seen one part of the ghost, yon can't get her to disclose her secret," i We all laughed heartily at this, for many and many a time had the rooms been searched, and even the boards had all been taken up. However, I promised Lord Ebor' that I would do my best, and when I went to bed I must confess that I lay awake for hours, turning over in. my mind the possibility of the plans being still undestroyecj, The ruined part of the castle fras well knowji to us all, for when Lord Ebor was away from home he used to allow the townspeople to 1 picnio there and otherwise disport themselves' among the scattered stones, ivy, and brokeh walls that represented the old parts of the towers and banqueting hall, and when I was quite a boy I well remember nearly killing' Aunt Mary with fright by climbing the tottering stairs that still romained in the north tower, in search,of 'a jackdaw's nest; and als I proudly descended with the eggs carefully seoured in my cap, I distinctly recollect her, being so beside herself with alarm that thequiet, undemonstrative old lady ..flew at me as soon as I set my foot on the 'ground, andshook me so desperately that the eggs weile all smashed, and reduced my best suit (in which I had been arrayed as guest at a stately picnic) to ohaos. As I fell asleep thinking of all these things, I made up my mind that as early as possible I would make my way into the north tower, and find out what caused the light that I had undoubtedly seen, for;I felt certain it could be accounted for, And repeating to myself " before breakfast," as a sort of mental oath or compact with myself, I was soon fast asleep and dreaming of wild means of finding the plans, and restoring trie castle, to be rewarded by the hand of Lady Ebor herself, bestowed upon me by her husband,'who seemed remarkably glad to get rid of her, oven going the length of giving nie -the family diamonds, "as a make-weight;" he observed, laughing sardonically ; and as he put them into my hands the glitter from them seemed gradually to spread and spread, until I woke with a start to see my room one flood of yellow light. Eubbing my-eyes I sat up in bed, and there standing by niy side, and looking quietly at me aa I got 'up,. was tho prettiest old;lady I have ever seen,: She was dressed in a very short, high'-waisted black satin gown, with a soft white handk'er-. chief round her throat, in which gleamed the very largest diamond I had ever heard of, let alone seen, and from this extraordinary stone, glowed the light that filled the room until it, was as'light as day; She had soft, white curls oh each side of her small face, and a ! marvellous- 1 erection of-white ribands, tulle,, , and flowers that I suppose was called a cap, covered the rest 6f her head, Her hands, were very tiny, and as white as snow; and while one held a key, which she 1 twisted ; about as she stood "there, the other was ' pressed to her, forehead, as if she were medi-. tating the next step to take.- Curiously enough I never felt the least bit alarmed, and , after the first start was over 1 1 gazed at her. very much as I should have' looked at astrange picture; and as she did not'seem in-, clined to move or speak, ■ I stretched out my hand, and taking up my sketch-book, or ' rather note-book, that,' like' most-ardent, young souls, lalways kept by me,' in casean idea for a picture should strike me in the middle of the night, 1 began calmly to sketch the mysterious visitant,' As 1 did so; she put the key into a large black satin reticule that hung on her arm,', and turning her face slightly to one side, stood motionless until I had almost' finished a portrait that anyone' who knew the old lady in her life would be quite certain to recognise; and just as I looked up.to see positively if three or four' white curls were arranged-on her hand, the 1 bright light went out,"and I found myself sitting up in bed, note-book in hand, in perfect darkness, As I was collecting my senses' and feeling about for a match, I heard a dig-' tant c6ck crow, and felt on my : hand'tho most dreadfully cold fingers that I have ever known; and as I sank biick : among my pillows I heard the word " to-morrow" dis- 1 tinctly uttered in my ears; and then I re-1 member no more until I awoke to a flood of 1 May sunshine, : the singing of a thousand birds, and'the very unghostlike sounds of the gardeners whistling and singing- below my windows, as they mowed the grass," I must say that I went down to breakfast Mihg like a hero, and when I.had told my story to the assembled guests and duly handed round my sketch-book for universal comment, and as a sort of proof of the ghost's not being' a dream, I was not prepared for a laugh from Lord Ebor, and the exclamation: "Oh I my dear sir;; you have simply'been : walking in your sleep and copying" Sir Joshua s portrait of my grandmother that hangs in the long gallery, Why, you- have got everything, attitude, dress ,aiid all,-down to. the very: reticule, on 1 her arhi/ that she always carried her keys in. ; Now just ail 'of you, who have finished your breakfasts, come with me and see for yourselves.": - Bather disgusted at this'prosaic-notion,;l got up with the rest and followed Lord Ebor to the long gallery; but it was locked, 1 and .on his turning to me and laughingly accusing me'of stealing the. key, the old housekeeper' bustled up and remarked, i ;rV; '"i ;•

! 'l'Oli, my lord, lam ao sorry yoix want the ikey/so eairly; but the qurata -Kaye got ityou know you allowed him to cppy sopib of: tneni texts in the old painted Bibles; and as he left all his things on the long table and was coming first thing this morning to finish,! told him to look the door and take the key with him, and then he'd know no one had touohed „what he was about; bat I'll send John off at once, mylord, ( I am so sorry," j > ''"'Nevdr < mind/ Lady Ebor, it will do quite wellwheh Miv Smith comos;."' We were i only talking of rtho plahji, and I vras ; going to 1 show the portraifc of 'tHe' iLady: Ebor, .who .vis. supposed,,to: have lost theme but. later on will be perhaps, more convenient.". • And so saying wo returned to the dining-hall, .in.When we- were SRfe>; from; the . servants Lord to, me and, asked.md if |l were;sure I had never seen; the, pioture in my many visits to the castle, .but. I assured.him that .I had never done.ao; ; and although we : all came .to the,conclusion., that the idea of a ghost;was .preposterous,,we;could.not sati?-' - factoriiy; account In ; any. way tor my-noctur-nal .visitors the drawing, iwbiohj when, the ouratercame with ,the key and; .admitted us into the long gallery, turned out to be ail exact oopy, of. the portrait by Sir Joshua j anil eyenin tno, picture! particularly noticed tha't : M the,'ourla iyere so arranged that one could ncjt po^itiyely,Jhovy; niaby. distinct; 'ones were 1 ,on eich side of 'the, head. ! few!- 1 ever, with, one thing dria' ; tho my aeomed bjit: 'a myatery after allj a'ntl: very purposeless.'' 1 • i.jK'tfio afternoon 'Mr. Bersori and ! l p'erief- .- trated into,the' north.tower, jand triad to .climb the stairs) but they were so dangerous .and-' shook, so, violently under our feet'.that . we' dar§d-not venture 'far, although the stairs led quite up into tlio. top of. the tower, wlierj) the. planks, and: rafters' still hung together a'ndformed a round room that had .once been . habitabje,' but now Was thiresort'of bats and owls, two of these latter fluffy creatures beinjj . a rafter, blinking at us as we peered up from below at : ing up, into the darkness when we disturbed '.them'tyr durl^i^OT.cliiiil);'"..;'' j |lfoUeW.a'-ViVm;m(Mt^ n 'inld Mr. Berso'n;'" biit:' l,shoujd'like ; to see',what causes the light,' 1 ' 'However,' it will never 3j> to clirtib'these',stairs' as they are; or there'll' be : a vacancy in : the"ranks of theß.A.;'bub I'll get some ma'sbns to pUt them'into'a littlb : safer condition, 1 and' .then we'll'explore'for 'ourselves, 'We cah't do"ihore'iintil theri.f' 'And 'as we-turned' away 'from' the north tower and started for 1 a'constitutional walk through' the town and over into' the we talked about every subject on earth almost ;' and' gradually Mr.' Berson ; gathered from me all my plana and hopes for the future, and gave me the most sterling good advice that I had ever had. No one who ever knew Mr. 'Berson' cOuld' 'forget hia'ready sympathy with young men, his own intense youthf ulness keeping him one amongst them long after his hair was white! and to him owe many of the first men ofithis present day the kindly word, the' generous hints as to colors and subjects that first put their feet into the paths that have' led them on to Fortune. So no wonder I-listened gladly and gratefully to him as he told me exactly how I ought'to continue my artistic studies: > "And," added he, as we turned homewards, "if you can only persuade,your ghost to find the plans, and, give .you that £SOO, you should, be off to : Rome at once,, Nothing like Rome and real, art if,you wish to succeed,:although I never, saw Rome until I was. forty, and f have been pretty,successful;.,though pcrhaps if I hall, gone in my youth, as I longed to do, I should have bean what I always longed to bo—an artist, Instead of an,architect, which, is aftdr. all but a poor loitering in the outer courts.", • By this time we had reached the house, and as I parted from .Mr, Berson in the hall to dress for dinner, I made up my mind that, if I could only keep'himfor a friend I should do well, ...... . ;,

i. . I do not. think we mentioned the plana: at i all: during,the evening, and' the, onlyworjl " that ;waa. spoken about the,matter was a. .laughing waning, given,, me. by Lady Eboi!, , as she left, us for th? night, not to dream anjr f more about the, ghost; • and as I was extremely tired by ray ; long walk,'as well .as by ; my disturbed slumbers ,the niglit before, I i certainly. did not, require rooking when I. i went to, bed,' and ,was soon veryjfast asleep,! : It must have been about two o'clock wheh i I awoke suddenly|with a dreadful start, in a. i desperate.and ,unaccountable,fright,, that' 1 seemed to bo.bprn of nothing save, the silent i darkness, for I had not been dreaming an<l ! i the room was quite dark," with not even (» glimmer of light anywhere, I am almost: i ashamed to confess it even now, but I was in; ; a bath of perspiration, and had just made up •, my mind that I would strike,alight and read , a while, when I heard stealthy footsteps ap- ; proach my door,,and,stop there.Agaih, came the silence, and for quite fivo.minutes . I ; by almost paralysed in the bed, wondering what would, come next, >vlien suddenly the room filled with, the bright light of the night before, and therein the same;'place and in the same attitude stood the, little old lady. ' The moment the,appearance took form j ceased to feel the smallest degree of alarm, and when she held up' the key, and jvent to-' . wards the door, I .rose, at once.; and whiie I hastily, donned a few garmonts-for though It' was not cold I did not wish to run the risk, of.being shot at, by some retainer who might by.chancebe out seeing to the young phea-. . sants in the middle of the night-she opened' the door and proceeded, to walk'with a moat audible tread and tapping of. high heels down . the long corridorj, towards, "the. staircase. , Momentarily expecting one of the numerous' bedroom doora to be flung open, and. half- 1 awakened sleepers to' rush out and sea whit' we were after, , I followed my mysterious 1 leader until wo came to the heavy front door, ' the mere opening of which in the morning served ordinarily as &feveillee to the household.; and,"as' my lady arrived there, to my ~ horror'she motioned to me to undo all the' enormous bolts,' the noise of whicli i knew was quite sufficient to wake the dead, 'let alone the sleepers overhead. However, as I did not at once comply, my lady' stamped her little foot and looked so extremely vicious' that I did not wait for a second command, and proceeded to work, 1 ShallTever forget' the awful groans, the'hideous bangs and; bumps that filled the hall from that terrible door as I went to work with my trembling' fingers? Every noise seemed louder than any noise had ever been before, and'to add to my wofis, the chair that.l had taken to use as a ladder to reach the top bolt gave way, and downi came with clatter enough to wake the Seven sleepers; However, no one stirred, and open catne ' the door, and we passed out into the silent gardeh,' where,a soft wind was gently - stirring "among the lilacs in the' shrubbery. Here 1 and tbere a white syringa bush looked' like a second ghost among the darkness, but the path was distinctly visible, as all the light'from the diamond' seemed concentrated 'on the way he had to tread; By-and-by we came to the gate of the north' tower, and I must' say I had a feeling of horror when I remembered the rickety stairs and our owl friends of the afternoon before j : but as I deoidedly hesi- ' toted and drew back,' as my ghost proceeded airily into the tower and 1 up the first flight, 'a yoic'ej that did not'seem to speak as: much as to exist in the air,'said, : "That way leads to'fortune." ' So on Iwent, without stopping to consider if the' promised fortune were good or bad, or were to consist in my ending : all my' troubles at onoe by breaking my neok. Up and up I went, now holding breathless to 1 a tiny spray Of ivy, as .the stones rattled ! down into the deptns below, and treading . on a dreadfully soft something, that either , disappeared 'with a' ; squeak of anguish into | the gloom; or arose with 1 awful feathery i wings, fanning the'musty air almost in my

face } aud now skinning my knuckles against ttio orumbling Walls in a desperate effort to .keep on my feet; and at last breathless, .and somewhat dilapidated, I found myself in the curious circular room which Mr, Berson and I had meant, to explore when we could get the stairs repaired, The ghost stood in ner meditative attitude, airily poised on one of the rafters that oomposed the. floor, from which most of the planks were missing, and thenshe[gUdediaotosS' I theyavfniug spaces to a hole in the.wall, .beckoning to me to follow, whioli l' did' by etridldg from rafter to rafterj ! and wondering which gap I ahoUld ae« beloV,;' HoWbver; my oon« diiotor, and gazed with her into, the hole in the toll,; where to' my-horror I saw-nothing at' ] first' but two awful > eyes' glaring at me. Fortunately 'I tias'bendingrather forward, and ' bolding'on to the wall ■ at each side «of 'the aperture, of I'should have fallen' backwards,'and this'story would never have been written; and then I discovered that the eyes' belonged'to l a,' motherly owl, who 'had selected the spot we were gazing at in which to bring up her yoiittg,' l ' As the ghoafc calmly raised'the bird' in "her small hands, 'I saw about three of the most frightful little beasts ' glaring at me out of a heap of sticks and rubbish, but -as ' her ladyship did not seem alarmed in'the least by the parent, I was not 'going to be dauhted'by'the'family) bo I put 'thehi <c»refully on one side,-«nd n following ' silent directions' given me' by her ladyship, I Iralsed from beloYrtho nut»Yea«rabl« tin bor, 1 vinj-'.-i;'-:-:;*-

"' After -reitoring the moffisr and'bAbsi to their ; .habitation j which would certainly re» quire some little repairing before 'being aa comfortable as it was before I disturbed the inhablta&ts, her ladyship opened the tini box with the identioal key she had had the night before, 1 and taking from it a - large ! roll of parchment, closed it; handed the roll'to me, and motioning me'ttf' the staircase, vanished utterly, leaving me alone to descend thoie terrible -stairs in'an almost equally terrible darkness, ' ' ' - -- > -

Gradually, however, the dawn began to peej) over the sky,'the birds began to stir 1 in the ivy round'the tower, dotfn'in the garden I heard' tHe chirp;' chirp, of an'early thrush, and knew l that : morning herself' was coining to my rescue;' And'by the time I could see enough to know thatl held in my hands the very plans' that had been so long'rnissing, the siinj'was 'beginning;; to-rise really j ana ut I saw'the paternal owlreturni'ng to his family after'atoight out/-I thought I 1 had better try to return ■ to; the 1 house before I was either ing 'his 'offspring, 1 or missed from'my ledroom, 1 •-. r'.'i

They'll believe in my ghoat now, thought I triumphantly, as I began the hazardous de« scent, clasping my precioua papera tightly to me, ''' Dear me I what an advetlture to toll Aunt Mary j and oh I how thoao old-maidish cata will squirm when they hear of my good fortune. It's worths this awful cxpßfiende) and then think of Rome I" And so talking •aloud to'keepup my courage, down I weritj If it were a difficult task to ascend with l the bright light and glistening satin dresS of ilhe ghost to guide me where to tread, you- can easily imagine how terrible was the descent } but I had almost reached the,, bottom when my foot slipped on a round stone and down T went,.and I remomber no more until I awoke to find myself surrounded by most of the male inhabitants of Ebor Court, and with Mr. 1 Berson trying hard to take, away' from me my precious papers, •• - When I fullyoame to myself I disoovered that,l,was,,covered with (feathers, moss, twigs, and every imaginable component part of, nests, aged and otherwise,. and that all round.me seemed corpses of :little owls, and then I sat up, looked;round-me, and-began to tell my story; but when it came to triumphantly, handing out my papers for, inspec< tiori, shall I ever forget the howl of derision that arose-no, nev.er,,until my dying day, .Lord Ebor. gazed at them, roared with laughter, and leaned .gasping for, speech .against the,,tower wall, while good, .kind] hearted-Mr.,Berson sat down deliberately on the lowest and most riokety stair, and lite* rally yelled aloud j and, by. the : time I had mastered my rage at the way they had re* ceived.my story, and had demanded an explanation of their extraordinary conduot, all the men had become possessed of the plans, and were roaring t00.;;,...••> And how can I tell .you now soberly even after all these years what had happened ? The,plans were; eomposid ,of, .several. nheetn | .pf; Rawing paper neatly colled ; up together, and recognised bymo.ai part of my,ordinary sketch, block; my, ghost existed in my own imagination, and I had been walking in my sleep. : On mature consideration of my night's work, I could never cease to be thankful to that mysterious , power that overlooks - the doings of children, drunkards, and sleep* Bough