By Eliza Parsons
Part 1
(Fragment)
The clock from the old castle had
just gone eight when the peaceful inhabitants of a neighbouring cottage, on the
skirts of the wood, were about to seek that repose which labour had rendered
necessary, and minds blest with innocence and tranquillity assured them the
enjoyment of. The evening was cold and tempestuous, the rain poured in
torrents, and the distant thunders rolled with tremendous noise around the
adjacent mountains, whilst the pale lightning added horrors to the scene.
Pierre was already in bed, and Jacqueline
preparing to follow, when the trampling of horses was heard, and immediately a
loud knocking at the door; they were both alarmed; Pierre listened, Jacqueline
trembled; the knocking was repeated with more violence; the peasant threw on
his humble garment, and, advancing to the door, demanded who was there? “Two
travellers, (answered a gentle voice) overtaken by the storm; pray, friend,
afford us shelter”. “O! (cried Jacqueline) perhaps they may be robbers, and we
shall be murdered.” “Pho! simpleton, (said Pierre) what can they expect to rob
us of.” He opened the door, and discovered a man supporting a lady whoappeared
almost fainting. “Pray, friend, (said the man) permit this lady to enter your cottage,
I fear she has suffered much from the storm.” “Poor soul, I am sorry for her; enter
and welcome, (cried Pierre.) Jacqueline placed her wooden arm-chair by the chimney,
ran for some wood, and kindled a blaze in a moment, whilst Pierre put the horse
into a little out-house which held their firing and his working implements, and
returned with a portmantua to the lady.
They had only some bread and milk to offer, but they made it warm, and
prevailed on their guest to take some. The man, who appeared an attendant, did
the same. The lady soon got her clothes dry, but she wanted rest, and they had
no bed to offer. One single room answered all their purposes of life; their
humble bed was on the floor, in a corner of it, but though mean it was whole
and clean. Jacqueline entreated the lady to lie down; she refused for some
time, but growing faint from exhausted spirits and fatigue, she was compelled
to accept the offer; the other sat silently round the fire: but, alas! horror
and affliction precluded sleep, and the fair traveller, after laying about two
hours, returned again to the fire-side, weary and unrefreshed. “Is there any
house near this?” (demanded she.) “No, madam, (replied Jacqueline) there is no
house, but there is a fine old castle just by, where there is room enough, for
only one old man and his wife live in it, and, Lord help us, I would not be in their
place for all the fine things there.” “Why so?” (said the lady.) “O! dear
madam, why it is haunted; there are bloody floors, prison rooms, and
scriptions, they say, on the windows, to make a body’s hair stand an end.” “And
how far from your cottage is this castle?” “A little step, madam, farther up
the wood.” “And do you think we could obtain entrance there?” “O, Lord! yes,
madam, and thank you too: why the poor old souls rejoice to see a body call
there now and then; I go sometimes in the middle of the day, but I take good
care to keep from the fine rooms and never to be out after dark.” “I wish,
(said the lady) it was possible to get there.” Pierre instantly offered his
service to conduct her as soon as it was light, and notwithstanding some very
horrible stories recounted by Jacqueline, she determined to visit this
proscribed place.
When the morning came, the
inhabitants of the cottage set out for the castle. The lady was so much
enfeebled, from fatigue and want of rest, that she was obliged to be placed on
the horse, and they found it very difficult to lead him through the thickets. They
at length espied a fine old building, with two wings, and a turret on the top,
where a large clock stood, a high wall surrounded the house, a pair of great
gates gave entrance into a spacious court, surrounded with flowering shrubs,
which lay broken and neglected on the ground, intermixed with the weeds which
were above a foot high in every part.
Whilst the lady’s attendant lifted her from the
horse, Pierre repaired to the kitchen door where the old couple lived, which
stood in one of the wings, and knocking pretty loudly, the old woman opened it,
and, with a look of astonishment, fixed her eyes on the lady and her servant.
“Good neighbour, (said Pierre) here is a great gentlewoman cruel ill; she wants
food and sleep, we have brought her here, she is not afeared of your ghosts and
so therefore you can give her a good bed, I suppose.” “To be sure I can, (answered
Bertha, which was the woman’s name:) to be sure I can make a bed fit for the emperor,
when the linen is aired: walk in, madam; you look very weak.”Indeed the want of
rest the preceding night had so much added to her former feeble state, that it
was with difficulty they conveyed her into the kitchen. Bertha warmed a little
wine, toasted a bit of bread, and leaving Jacqueline to attend the lady, she
made a fire in a handsome bedroom that was in that wing, took some fine linen
out of a chest and brought it down to air. “Dear, my lady, (cried she) make
yourself easy, I’ll take care of you, and if you aren’t afeared, you will have
rooms for a princess.”Pierre and Jacqueline being about to return to their
daily labour, found their kindness amply rewarded by the generosity of the
stranger, who gave them money enough, they said, to serve them for six months. With
a thousand blessings they retired, promising however to call daily on the lady whilst
she staid at the castle, though their hearts misgave them that they should
never see her more, from their apprehensions of the ghosts that inhabited the
rooms above stairs. When the apartment was arranged, the lady was assisted by
Bertha and laid comfortably to rest; she gave her some money to procure food
and necessaries, and desired her servant might have a bed also. This the good
woman promised, and, wishing her a good sleep, returned to the kitchen.
“God bless the poor lady, (said she) why she
is as weak as a child; sure you must have come a great way from home.” “Yes,
(answered Albert, the servant’s name,) we have indeed, and my poor lady is worn
down by sorrow and fatigue; I fear she must rest some time before she can
pursue her journey.” “Well, (said Bertha) she may stay as long as she likes
here, no body will disturb her in the day time, I am sure.” “And what will
disturb her at night?”(asked Albert.) “O, my good friend, (answered she) no
body will sleep in the rooms up stairs; the gentlefolks who were in it last
could not rest, such strange noises, and groans, and screams, and such like terrible
things are heard; then at t’other end of the house the rooms are never opened;
they say bloody work has been carried on there.” “How comes it, then, (said
Albert) that you and your husband have courage to live here?” “Dear me,
(replied she) why the ghosts never come down stairs, and I take care never to
go up o’nights; so that if madam stays here I fear she must sleepby day, or
else have a ground room, for they never comes down; they were some of your high
gentry, I warrant, who never went into kitchens.”Albert smiled at the idea, but,
resuming his discourse, asked the woman to whom the castle belonged? “To a
great Baron”, (said she) but I forget his name,” “And how long have you lived
here?” “Many a long year, friend; we have a small matter allowed us to live
upon, a good garden that gives us plenty of vegetables, for my husband, you must
know, is a bit of a gardener, and works in it when he is able.” “And where is
he now?” (said Albert) “Gone to the village six leagues off to get a little
meat, bread, and wine.” “What! does he walk?” “Lord help him, poor soul, he
walk! no, bless your heart, he rides upon our faithful Little ass, and takes
care never to overload her, as we don’t want much meat, thank God. But where
will you like to sleep? (added she;) will you go up stairs, or shall I bring
some bedding in the next room?”Albert hesitated, but, ashamed to have less
courage than his mistress, asked if there was any room near the lady’s? “Aye,
sure, (answered Bertha) close to her there is one as good as hers.” “Then I
will sleep there (said he.) His good hostess now nimbly as she could, bestirred
herself to put his room in order, and was very careful not to disturb the lady.
Albert was soon accommodated and retired to rest.
