Women's Short Fictions: A Nineteenth-Century Online Anthology--return to Index



Alcott, "A Whisper in the the Dark," Part II--continued


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The stormy scene had passed so rapidly, been so strange and sudden, Guy's anger so scornful and abrupt, I could not understand it, and felt like a puppet in the grasp of some power I could not resist; but as my lover left the room I broke out of the bewilderment that held me, imploring him to stay and hear me.


It was too late, he was gone, and Sultan's tramp was already tearing down the avenue.  I listened till the sound died, then my hot temper rose past control, and womanlike asserted itself in vehement and voluble speech.  I was angry with my uncle, my cousin, and myself, and for several minutes poured forth a torrent of explanations, reproaches, and regrets, such as only a passionate girl could utter.


My uncle stood where I had left him when I flew to the door with my vain cry; he now looked baffled, yet sternly resolved, and as I paused for breath his only answer was "Sybil, you ask me to bring back that headstrong boy; I cannot; he will never come.  This marriage was distasteful to him, yet he submitted for my sake, because I have been unfortunate, and we are poor.  Let him go, forget the past, and be to me what I desire, for I loved your father and will be a faithful guardian to his daughter all my life.  Child, it must be--come, I implore, I command you."


He beckoned imperiously as if to awe me, and held up the glittering betrothal ring as if to tempt me.  The tone, the act, the look put me quite beside myself.  I did go to him, did take the ring, but said as resolutely as himself, "Guy rejects me, and I have done with love.  Uncle, you would have deceived me, used me as a means to your own selfish ends.  I will accept neither yourself nor your gifts, for now I despise both you and your commands." And as the most energetic emphasis I could give to my defiance, I flung the ring, case and all, across the room; it struck the great mirror, shivered it just in the middle, and sent several loosened fragments crashing to the floor.


"Great heavens!  Is the young lady mad?" exclaimed a voice behind us.  Both turned and saw Dr. Karnac, a stealthy, sallow-faced Spaniard, for whom I had an invincible aversion.  He was my uncle's physician, had been visiting a sick servant in the upper regions, and my adverse fate sent him to the door just at that moment with that unfortunate exclamation on his lips.


"What do you say?"


My uncle wheeled about and eyed the newcomer intently  as he repeated his words.  I have no doubt I looked like one demented, for I was desperately angry, pale and trembling with excitement, and as they fronted me with a curious expression of alarm on their faces, a sudden sense of the absurdity of the spectacle came over me; I laughed hysterically a moment, then broke into a passion of regretful tears, remembering that Guy was gone.  As I sobbed behind my hands, I knew the gentlemen were whispering together and of me, but I never heeded them, for as I wept myself calmer a comforting thought occurred to me.  Guy could not have gone far, for Sultan had been out all day, and though reckless of himself he was not of his horse, which he loved like a human being; therefore he was doubtless at the house of a humble friend nearby.  If I could slip away unseen, I might undo my miserable work, or at least see him again before he went away into the world, perhaps never to return.  This hope gave me courage for anything, and dashing away my tears, I took a covert survey.  Dr. Karnac and my uncle still stood before the fire, deep in their low-toned conversation; their backs were toward me; and hushing the rustle of my dress, I stole away with noiseless steps into the hall, seized Guy's plaid, and, opening the great door unseen, darted down the avenue.


Not far, however; the wind buffeted me to and fro, the rain blinded me, the mud clogged my feet and soon robbed me of a slipper; groping for it in despair, I saw a light flash into the outer darkness; heard voices calling, and soon the swift tramp of steps behind me.  Feeling like a hunted doe, I ran on, but before I had gained a dozen yards my shoeless foot struck a sharp stone, and I fell half stunned upon the wet grass of the wayside bank.  Dr. Karnac reached me first, took me up as if I were a naughty child, and carried me back through a group of staring servants to the drawing room, my uncle following with breathless entreaties that I would be calm and a most uncharacteristic display of bustle.


I was horribly ashamed; my head ached with the shock of the fall, my foot bled, my heart fluttered, and when the doctor put me down the crisis came, for as my uncle bent over me with the strange question "My poor girl, do you know me?" an irresistible impulse impelled me to push him from me, crying passionately, "Yes, I know and hate you; let me go!  Let me go, or it will be too late!" Then quite spent with the varying emotions of the last hour, for the first time in my life I swooned away.


*   *   *


Coming to myself, I found I was in my own room, with my uncle, the doctor, Janet, and Mrs. Best, the housekeeper, gathered about me, the latter saying, as she bathed my temples, "She's a sad sight, poor thing, so young, so bonny, and so unfortunate.  Did you ever see her so before, Janet?"


"Bless you, no, ma'am; there was no signs of such a tantrum when I dressed her for dinner."


"What do they mean?  Did they never see anyone angry before?" I dimly wondered, and presently, through the fast disappearing stupor that had held me, Dr. Karnac's deep voice came distinctly, saying, "If it continues, you are perfectly justified in doing so."


"Doing what?" I demanded sharply, for the sound both roused and irritated me, I disliked the man so intensely.


"Nothing, my dear, nothing," purred Mrs. Best, supporting me as I sat up, feeling weak and dazed, yet resolved to know what was going on.  I was "a sad sight" indeed: my drenched hair hung about my shoulders, my dress was streaked with mud, one shoeless foot was red with blood, the other splashed and stained, and a white, wild-eyed face completed the ruinous image the opposite mirror showed me. Everything looked blurred and strange, and a feverish unrest possessed me, for I was not one to subside easily after such a mental storm.  Leaning on my arm, I scanned the room and its occupants with all the composure I could collect.  The two women eyed me curiously yet pitifully; Dr. Karnac stood glancing at me furtively as he listened to my uncle, who spoke rapidly in Spanish as he showed the little scar upon his hand.


That sight did more to restore me than the cordial just administered, and I rose erect, saying abruptly, "Please, everybody, go away; my head aches, and I want to be alone."


"Let Janet stay and help you, dear; you are not fit," began Mrs. Best; but I peremptorily stopped her.


"No, go yourself, and take her with you; I'm tired of so much stir about such foolish things as a broken glass and a girl in a pet."


"You will be good enough to take this quieting draft before I go, Miss Sybil."


"I shall do nothing of the sort, for I need only solitude and sleep to be perfectly well," and I emptied the glass the doctor offered into the fire.


He shrugged his shoulders with a disagreeable smile, and quietly began to prepare another draft, saying, "You are mistaken, my dear young lady; you need much care, and should obey, that your uncle may be spared further apprehension and anxiety."


My patience gave out at this assumption of authority; and I determined to carry matters with a high hand, for they all stood watching me in a way which seemed the height of impertinent curiosity.


"He is not my uncle!  Never has been, and deserves neither respect nor obedience from me!  I am the best judge of my own health, and you are not bettering it by contradiction and unnecessary fuss.  This is my house, and you will oblige me by leaving it, Dr. Karnac; this is my room, and I insist on being left in peace immediately."


I pointed to the door as I spoke; the women hurried out with scared faces; the doctor bowed and followed, but paused on the threshold, while my uncle approached me, asking in a tone inaudible to those still hovering round the door, "Do you still persist in your refusal, Sybil?"


"How dare you ask me that again?  I tell you I had rather die than marry you!"


"The Lord be merciful to us!  Just hear how she's going on now about marrying Master.  Ain't it awful, Jane?" ejaculated Mrs. Best, bobbing her head in for a last look.


"Hold your tongue, you impertinent creature!" I called out; and the fat old soul bundled away in such comical haste I laughed, in spite of languor and vexation.


My uncle left me, and I heard him say as he passed the doctor, "You see how it is."


"Nothing uncommon; but that virulence is a bad symptom," answered the Spaniard, and closing the door locked it, having dexterously removed the key from within.


I had never been subjected to restraint of any kind; it made me reckless at once, for this last indignity was not to be endured.


"Open this instantly!" I commanded, shaking the door.  No one answered, and after a few ineffectual attempts to break the lock I left it, threw up the window and looked out; the ground was too far off for a leap, but the trellis where summer vines had clung was strong and high, a step would place me on it, a moment's agility bring me to the terrace below.  I was now in just the state to attempt any rash exploit, for the cordial had both strengthened and excited me; my foot was bandaged, my clothes still wet; I could suffer no new damage, and have my own way at small cost.  Out I crept, climbed safely down, and made my way to the lodge as I had at first intended.  But Guy was not there; and returning, I boldly went in at the great door, straight to the room where my uncle and the doctor were still talking.


"I wish the key of my room" was my brief command.


Both started as if I had been a ghost, and my uncle exclaimed, "You here!  How in heaven's name came you out?"


"By the window.  I am no child to be confined for a fit of anger.  I will not submit to it; tomorrow I shall go to Madame; till then I will be mistress in my own house.  Give me the key, sir."


"Shall I?" asked the doctor of my uncle, who nodded with a whispered "Yes, yes; don't excite her again."


It was restored, and without another word I went loftily up to my room, locked myself in, and spent a restless, miserable night.  When morning came, I breakfasted above stairs, and then busied myself packing trunks, burning papers, and collecting  every trifle Guy had ever given me.  No one annoyed me, and I saw only Janet, who had evidently received some order that kept her silent and respectful, though her face still betrayed the same curiosity and pitiful interest as the night before.  Lunch was brought up, but I could not eat, and began to feel that the exposure, the fall, and excitement of the evening had left me weak and nervous, so I gave up the idea of going to Madame till the morrow; and as the afternoon waned, tried to sleep, yet could not, for I had sent a note to several of Guy's haunts, imploring him to see me; but my messenger brought word that he was not to be found, and my heart was too heavy to rest.


When summoned to dinner, I still refused to go down; for I heard Dr. Karnac's voice, and would not meet him, so I sent word that I wished the carriage early the following morning, and to be left alone till then.  In a few minutes, back came Janet, with a glass of wine set forth on a silver salver, and a card with these words:  "Forgive, forget, for your father's sake, and drink with me, 'Oblivion to the past.'"


It touched and softened me.  I knew my uncle's pride, and saw in this an entire relinquishment of the hopes I had so thoughtlessly fostered in his mind.  I was passionate, but not vindictive.  He had been kind, I very willful.  His mistake was natural, my resentment ungenerous.  Though my resolution to go remained unchanged, I was sorry for my part in the affair; and remembering that through me his son was lost to him, I accepted his apology, drank his toast, and sent him back a dutiful "Good night."


I was unused to wine.  The draft I had taken was powerful with age, and, though warm and racy to the palate, proved too potent for me.  Still sitting before my fire, I slowly fell into a restless drowse, haunted by a dim dream that I was seeking Guy in a ship, whose motion gradually lulled me into perfect unconsciousness.


Waking at length, I was surprised to find myself in bed, with a shimmer of daylight peeping through the curtains.  Recollecting that I was to leave early, I sprang up, took one step, and remained transfixed with dismay, for the room was not my own!  Utterly unfamiliar was every object on which my eyes fell.  The place was small, plainly furnished, and close, as if long unused.  My trunks stood against the wall, my clothes lay on a chair, and on the bed I had left trailed a fur-lined cloak I had often seen on my uncle's shoulders.  A moment I stared about me bewildered, then hurried to the window.  It was grated!


A lawn, sere and sodden, lay without, and a line of somber firs hid the landscape beyond the high wall which encompassed the dreary plot.  More and more alarmed, I flew to the door and found it locked.  No bell was visible, no sound audible, no human presence near me, and an ominous foreboding thrilled cold through nerves and blood, as, for the first time, I felt the paralyzing touch of fear.  Not long, however.  My native courage soon returned, indignation took the place of terror, and excitement gave me strength.  My temples throbbed with a dull pain, my eyes were heavy, my limbs weighed down by an unwonted lassitude, and my memory seemed strangely confused; but one thing was clear to me:  I must see somebody, ask questions, demand explanations, and get away to Madame without delay.


With trembling hands I dressed, stopping suddenly with a cry; for lifting my hands to my head, I discovered that my hair, my beautiful, abundant hair, was gone!  There was no mirror in the room, but I could feel that it had been shorn away close about face and neck.  This outrage was more than I could bear, and the first tears I shed fell for my lost charm.  It was weak, perhaps, but I felt better for it, clearer in mind and readier to confront whatever lay before me.  I knocked and called.  Then, losing patience, shook and screamed; but no one came or answered me; and wearied out at last, I sat down and cried again in impotent despair.


An hour passed, then a step approached, the key turned, and a hard-faced woman entered with a tray in her hand.  I had resolved to be patient, if possible, and controlled myself to ask quietly, though my eyes kindled, and my voice trembled with resentment, "Where am I, and why am I here against my will?"


"This is your breakfast, miss; you must be sadly hungry" was the only reply I got.


"I will never eat till you tell me what I ask."


"Will you be quiet, and mind me if I do, miss?"


"You have no right to exact obedience from me, but I'll try."


"That's right.  Now all I know is that you are twenty miles from the Moors, and came because you are ill.  Do you like sugar in your coffee?"


"When did I come?  I don't remember it."


"Early this morning; you don't remember because you were put to sleep before being fetched, to save trouble."


"Ah, that wine!  Who brought me here?"


"Dr. Karnac, miss."


"Alone?"


"Yes, miss; you were easier to manage asleep than awake, he said."


I shook with anger, yet still restrained myself, hoping to fathom the mystery of this nocturnal journey.


"What is your name, please?" I meekly asked.


"You can call me Hannah."


"Well, Hannah, there is a strange mistake somewhere.  I am not ill--you see I am not--and I wish to go away at once to the friend I was to meet today.  Get me a carriage and have my baggage taken out."


"It can't be done, miss. We are a mile from town, and have no carriages here; besides, you couldn't go if I had a dozen.  I have my orders, and shall obey 'em."


"But Dr. Karnac has no right to bring or keep me here."


"Your  uncle sent you.  The doctor has the care of you, and that is all I know about it.  Now I have kept my promise, do you keep yours, miss, and eat your breakfast, else I can't trust you again."


"But what is the matter with me?  How can I be ill and not know or feel it?" I demanded, more and more bewildered.


"You look it, and that's enough for them as is wise in such matters.  You'd have had a fever, if it hadn't been seen to in time."


"Who cut my hair off?"


"I did; the doctor ordered it."


"How dared he?  I hate that man, and never will obey him."


"Hush, miss, don't clench your hands and look in that way, for I shall have to report everything you say and do to him, and it won't be pleasant to tell that sort of thing."


The woman was civil, but grim and cool.  Her eye was unsympathetic, her manner businesslike, her tone such as one uses to a refractory child, half soothing, half commanding.  I conceived a dislike to her at once, and resolved to escape at all hazards, for my uncle's inexplicable movements filled me with alarm.  Hannah had left my door open, a quick glance showed me another door also ajar at the end of a wide hall, a glimpse of green, and a gate.  My plan was desperately simple, and I executed it without delay.  Affecting to eat, I presently asked the woman for my handkerchief from the bed.  She crossed the room to get it.  I darted out, down the passage, along the walk, and tugged vigorously at the great bolt of the gate, but it was also locked.  In despair I flew into the garden, but a high wall enclosed it on every side; and as I ran round and round, vainly looking from some outlet, I saw Hannah, accompanied by a man as gray and grim as herself, coming leisurely toward me, with no appearance of excitement or displeasure.  Back I would not go; and inspired with a sudden hope, swung myself into one of the firs that grew  close against the wall.  The branches snapped under me, the slender tree swayed perilously, but up I struggled, till the wide  coping of the wall was gained.  There I paused and looked  back.  The woman was hurrying  through the gate to intercept my descent on the other side, and close behind me the man, sternly calling me to stop.  I looked down; a stony ditch was below, but I would rather risk my life than tamely lose my liberty, and with a flying leap tried to reach the bank; failed, fell heavily among the stones, felt an awful crash, and then came an utter blank.


*    *    *


For many weeks I lay burning in a fever, fitfully conscious of Dr. Karnac and the woman's presence; once I fancied I saw my uncle, but was never sure, and rose at last a shadow of my former self, feeling pitifully broken, both mentally and physically.  I was in a better room now,  wintry winds howled without, but a generous fire glowed behind the high closed fender, and books lay on my table.


I saw no one but Hannah, yet could wring no intelligence from her beyond what she had already told, and no sign of interest reached me from the outer world.  I seemed utterly deserted and forlorn, my spirit was crushed, my strength gone, my freedom lost, and for a time I succumbed to despair, letting one day follow another without energy or hope.  It is hard to live with no object to give zest to life, especially for those still blessed with youth, and even in my prison house I soon found one quite in keeping with the mystery that surrounded me.


As I sat reading by day or lay awake at night, I became aware that the room above my own was occupied by some inmate whom I never saw.  A peculiar person it seemed to be; for I heard steps going to and fro, hour after hour, in a tireless march that wore upon my nerves, as many a harsher sound would not have done.  I could neither tease nor surprise Hannah into any explanation of the thing, and day after day, I listened to it, till I longed to cover up my ears and implore the unknown walker to stop, for heaven's sake.  Other sounds I heard and fretted over:  a low monotonous murmur, as of someone singing a lullaby; a fitful tapping, like a cradle rocked on a carpetless floor; and at rare intervals cries of suffering, sharp but brief, as if forcibly suppressed.  These sounds, combined with the solitude, the confinement, and the books I read, a collection of ghostly tales and weird fancies, soon wrought my nerves to a state of terrible irritability, and wore upon my health so visibly that I was allowed at last to leave my room.


The house was so well guarded that I soon relinquished all hope of escape, and listlessly amused myself by roaming through the unfurnished rooms and echoing halls, seldom venturing into Hannah's domain; for there her husband sat, surrounded by chemical apparatus, poring over crucibles and retorts.  He never spoke to me, and I dreaded the glance of his cold eye, for it looked unsoftened by a ray of pity at the little figure that sometimes paused a moment on his threshold, wan and wasted as the ghost of departed hope.


The chief interest of these dreary walks centered in the door of the room above my own, for a great hound lay before it, eyeing me savagely as he rejected all advances, and uttering his deep bay if I approached too near.  To me this room possessed an irresistible fascination.  I could not keep away from it by day, I dreamed of it by night, it haunted me continually, and soon became a sort of monomania , which I condemned, yet could not control, till at length I found myself pacing to and fro as those invisible feet paced overhead.  Hannah came and stopped me, and a few hours later Dr. Karnac appeared.  I was so changed that I feared him with a deadly fear.  He seemed to enjoy it; for in the pride of youth and beauty I had shown him contempt and defiance at my uncle's, and he took an ungenerous satisfaction in annoying me by a display of power.  He never answered my questions or entreaties, regarded me as being without sense or will, insisted on my trying various mixtures and experiments in diet, gave me strange books to read, and weekly received Hannah's report of all that passed.  That day he came, looked at me, said, "Let her walk," and went away, smiling that hateful smile of his. 


Soon after this I took to walking in my sleep, and more than once woke to find myself roving lampless through that haunted house in the dead of night.  I concealed these unconscious wanderings for a time, but an ominous event broke them up at last and betrayed them to Hannah.


I had followed the steps one day for several hours, walking below as they walked above; had peopled that mysterious room with every mournful shape my disordered fancy could conjure up; had woven tragical romances about it, and brooded over the one subject of interest my unnatural life possessed with the intensity of a mind upon which its uncanny influence was telling with perilous rapidity. At midnight I woke to find myself standing in a streak of moonlight, opposite the door whose threshold I had never crossed.  The April night was warm, a single pane of glass high up in that closed door was drawn aside, as if for air; and as I stood dreamily collecting my sleep-drunken senses, I saw a ghostly hand emerge and beckon, as if to me.  It startled me broad awake, with a faint exclamation and a shudder from head to foot.  A cloud swept over the moon, and when it passed the hand was gone, but shrill through the keyhole came a whisper that chilled me to the marrow of my bones, so distinct and imploring was it.


"Find it!  For God's sake find it before it is too late!"


The hound sprang up with an angry growl; I heard Hannah leave her bed nearby; and with an inspiration strange as the moment, I paced slowly on with open eyes and lips apart, as I had seen Amina in the happy days when kind old Madame took me to the theater, whose mimic horrors I had never thought to equal with such veritable ones.  Hannah appeared at her door with a light, but on I went in a trance of fear; for I was kept from dropping in a swoon by the blind longing to fly from that spectral voice and hand.  Past Hannah I went, she following; and as I slowly laid myself in bed, I heard her say to her husband, who just then came up, "Sleepwalking, John;  it's getting worse and worse, as the doctor foretold; she'll settle down like the other presently, but she must be locked up at night, else the dog will do her a mischief."


The man yawned and grumbled; then they went, leaving me to spend hours of unspeakable suffering, which aged me more than years.  What was I to find?  Where was I to look?  and when would it be too late?  These questions tormented me; for I could find no answers to them, divine no meaning, see no course to pursue.  Why was I here?  What motive induced my uncle to commit such an act?  And when should I be liberated: were equally unanswerable, equally tormenting, and they haunted me like ghosts I had no power to exorcise or forget.  After that I walked no more, because I slept no more; sleep seemed scared away, and waking dreams harassed me with their terrors.  Night after night I paced my room in utter darkness--for I was allowed no lamp--night after night I wept bitter tears wrung from me by anguish, for which I had no name; and night after night the steps kept time to mine, and the faint lullaby came down to me as if to soothe and comfort my distress.  I felt that my health was going, my mind growing confused and weak; my thoughts wandered vaguely, memory began to fail, and idiocy or madness seemed my inevitable fate; but through it all my heart clung to Guy, yearning for him with a hunger that would not be appeased.


At rare intervals I was allowed to walk in the neglected garden, where no flowers bloomed, no birds sang, no companion came to me but surly John, who followed with his book or pipe, stopping when I stopped, walking when I walked, keeping a vigilant eye upon me, yet seldom speaking except to decline answering my questions.  These walks did me no good, for the air was damp and heavy with vapors from the marsh; for the house stood near a half-dried lake, and hills shut it in on every side.  No fresh winds from upland moor or distant ocean ever blew across the narrow valley; no human creature visited the place, and nothing but a vague hope that my birthday might bring some change, some help, sustained me.  It did bring help, but of such an unexpected sort that its effects remained through all my afterlife.  My birthday came, and with it my uncle. I was in my room, walking restlessly--for the habit was a confirmed one now--when the door opened, and Hannah, Dr. Karnac, my uncle, and a gentleman whom I knew to be his lawyer entered, and surveyed me as if I were a spectacle.  I saw my uncle start and turn pale; I had never seem myself since I came, but if I had not suspected that I was a melancholy wreck of my former self, I should have known it then, such sudden pain and pity softened his ruthless countenance for a single instant.  Dr. Karnac's eye had a magnetic power over me; I had always felt it, but in my present feeble state I dreaded, yet submitted to it with a helpless fear that should have touched his heart--it was on me then, I could not resist it, and paused fixed and fascinated by that repellent yet potent glance.


Hannah pointed to the carpet worn to shreds by my weary march, to the walls which I had covered with weird, grotesque, or tragic figures to while away the heavy hours, lastly to myself, mute, motionless, and scared, saying, as if in confirmation of some previous assertion, "You see, gentlemen, she is, as I said, quiet, but quite hopeless."


I thought she was interceding for me; and breaking from the bewilderment and fear that held me, I stretched my hands to them, crying with an imploring cry, "Yes, I am quiet!  I am hopeless!  Oh, have pity on me before this dreadful life kills me or drives me mad!"


Dr. Karnac came to me at once with a black frown, which I alone could see; I evaded him, and clung to Hannah, still crying frantically--for this seemed my last hope--"Uncle, let me go!  I will give you all I have, will never ask for Guy, will be obedient and meek if I may only go to Madame and never hear the feet again, or see the sights that terrify me in this dreadful room.  Take me out!  For God's take take me out!"


My uncle did not answer me, but covered up his face with a despairing gesture, and hurried from the room; the lawyer followed, muttering pitifully, "Poor thing!  Poor thing!" and Dr. Karnac laughed the first laugh I had ever heard him utter as he wrenched Hannah from my grasp and locked me in alone.  My one hope died then, and I resolved to kill myself rather than endure this life another month;  for now it grew clear to me that they believed me mad, and death of the body was far more preferable than that of the mind.  I think I was a little mad just then, but remember well the sense of peace that came to me as I tore strips from my clothing, braided them into a cord, hid it beneath my mattress, and serenely waited for the night   Sitting in the last twilight I thought to see in this unhappy world, I recollected that I had not heard the feet all day, and fell to pondering over the unusual omission. But if the steps had been silent in that room, voices had not, for I heard a continuous murmur at one time:  the tones of one voice were abrupt and broken, the other low, yet resonant, and that, I felt assured, belonged to my uncle.  Who was he speaking to?  What were they saying?  Should I ever know?  And even then, with death before me, the intense desire to possess the secret filled me with it old unrest.


Night came at last; I heard the clock strike one, and listening to discover if John still lingered up, I heard through the deep hush a soft grating in the room above, a stealthy sound that would have escaped ears less preternaturally alert than mine.  Like a flash came the thought, "Someone is filing bars or picking locks:  will the unknown remember me and let me share her flight?" The fatal noose hung ready, but I no longer cared to use it, for hope had come to nerve me with the strength and courage I had lost.  Breathlessly I listened; the sound went on, stopped; a dead silence reigned; then something brushed against my door, and with a suddenness that made me tingle from head to foot like an electric shock, through the keyhole came again that whisper, urgent, imploring, and mysterious, "Find it!  For God's sake find it before it is too late!" Then fainter, as if breath failed, came the broken words, "The dog--a lock of hair--there is yet time."


Eagerness rendered me forgetful of the secrecy I should preserve, and I cried aloud, "What shall I find?  Where shall I look?" My voice, sharpened by fear, rang shrilly through the house; Hannah's quick tread rushed down the hall; something fell; then loud and long rose a cry that made my heart stand still, so helpless, so hopeless was its wild lament.  I had betrayed and I could not save or comfort the kind soul who had lost liberty through me.  I was frantic to get out, and beat upon my door in a paroxysm of impatience, but no one came; and all night long those awful cries went on above, cries of mortal anguish, as if soul and body were being torn asunder.  Till dawn I listened, pent in that room which now possessed an added terror; till dawn I called, wept, and prayed, with mingled pity, fear, and penitence; and till dawn the agony of that unknown sufferer continued unabated.  I heard John hurry to and fro, heard Hannah issue orders with an accent of human sympathy in her hard voice; heard Dr. Karnac pass and repass my door;  and all the sounds of confusion and alarm in that once quiet house.  With daylight all was still, a stillness more terrible than the stir; for it fell so suddenly, remained so utterly unbroken, that there seemed no explanation of it but the dread word death.


At noon Hannah, a shade paler but grim as ever, brought me some food, saying she forgot my breakfast, and when I refuse to eat, yet asked no questions, she bade me go into the garden and not fret myself over last night's flurry.  I went, and passing down the corridor, glanced furtively at the door I never saw without a thrill; but I experienced a new sensation then, for the hound was gone, the door was open, and with an impulse past  control, I crept in and looked about me.  It was a room like mine, the carpet worn like mine, the windows barred like mine; there the resemblance ended, for an empty cradle stood beside the bed, and on that bed, below a sweeping cover, stark and still a lifeless body lay.  I was inured to fear now, and an unwholesome craving for new terrors seemed to have grown by what it fed on:  an irresistible desire led me close, nerved me to lift the cover and look below--a single glance--then with a cry as panic-stricken as that which rent the silence of the night, I fled away, for the face I saw was a pale image of my own.  Sharpened by suffering, pallid with death, the features were familiar as those I used to see; the hair, beautiful and blond as mine had been, streamed long over the pulseless breast, and on the hand, still clenched in that last struggle, shone the likeness of a ring I wore, a ring bequeathed me by my father.  An awesome fancy that it was myself assailed me;  I had plotted death, and with the waywardness of a shattered mind, I recalled legends of spirits returning to behold the bodies they had left.


Glad now to seek the garden, I hurried down, but on the threshold of the great hall door was arrested by the sharp crack of a pistol; and as a little cloud of smoke dispersed, I saw John drop the weapon and approach the hound, who lay writhing on the bloody grass.  Moved by compassion for the faithful brute whose long vigilance was so cruelly repaid, I went to him, and kneeling there, caressed the great head that never yielded to my touch before.  John assumed his watch at once, and leaning against a tree, cleaned the pistol, content that I should amuse myself with the dying creature, who looked into my face with eyes of almost human pathos and reproach.  The brass collar seemed to choke him as he gasped for breath, and leaning nearer to undo it, I saw, half hidden in his own black hair, a golden lock wound tightly round the collar, and so near its color as to be unobservable, except upon a close inspection.  No accident could have placed it there; no head but mine in that house wore hair of that sunny hue--yes, one other, and my heart gave a sudden leap as I remembered the shining locks just seen on that still bosom.


"Find it--the dog--the lock of hair," rang in my ears, and swift as light came the conviction that the unknown help was found at last.  The little band was woven close.  I had no knife; delay was fatal.  I bent my head as if lamenting over the poor beast and bit the knot apart, drew out a folded paper, hid it in my hand, and rising, strolled leisurely back to my own room, saying I did not care to walk till it was warmer.  With eager eyes I examined my strange treasure trove.  It consisted of two strips of thinnest paper, without address or signature, one almost illegible, worn at the edges and stained with the green rust of the collar; the other fresher, yet more feebly written, both abrupt and disjointed, but terribly significant to me.  This was the first:


I have never seen you, never heard your name, yet I know that you are young, that you are suffering, and I try to help you in my poor way.  I think you are not crazed yet, as I often am; for your voice is sane, your plaintive singing not like mine, your walking only caught from me, I hope.  I sing to lull the baby whom I never saw; I walk to lessen the long journey that will bring me to the husband I have lost--stop!  I must not think of those things or I shall forget.  If you are not already mad, you will be; I suspect you were sent here to be made so; for the air is poison, the solitude is fatal, and Karnac remorseless in his mania for prying into the mysteries of human minds.  What devil sent you I may never know, but I long to warn you.  I can devise no way but this; the dog comes into my room sometimes, you sometimes pause at my door and talk to him; you may find the paper I shall hide about his collar.  Read, destroy, but obey it.  I implore you to leave this house before it is too late.


The other paper was as follows:


I have watched you, tried to tell you where to look, for you have not found my warning yet, though I often tie it there and hope.  You fear the dog, perhaps, and my plot fails; yet I know by your altered step and voice that you are fast reaching my unhappy state; for I am fitfully mad, and shall be till I die.  Today I have seen a familiar face; it seems to have calmed and strengthened me, and though he would not help you, I shall make one desperate attempt.  I may not find you, so leave my warning to the hound, yet hope to breathe a word into your sleepless ear that shall send you back into the world the happy thing you should be.  Child!  Woman!  Whatever you are, leave this accursed house while you have power to do it.


That was all.  I did not destroy the papers, but I obeyed them, and for a week watched and waited till the propitious instant came.  I saw my uncle, the doctor, and two others follow the poor body to its grave beside the lake, saw all depart but Dr. Karnac, and felt redoubled hatred and contempt for the men who could repay my girlish slights with such a horrible revenge.  On the seventh day, as I went down for my daily walk, I saw John and Dr. Karnac so deep in some uncanny experiment that I passed out unguarded.  Hoping to profit by this unexpected chance, I sprang down the steps, but the next moment dropped half stunned upon the grass; for behind me rose a crash, a shriek, a sudden blaze that flashed up and spread, sending a noisome vapor rolling out with clouds of smoke and flame.


Aghast, I was just gathering myself up when Hannah fled out of the house, dragging her husband senseless and bleeding, while her own face was ashy with affright.  She dropped her burden beside me, saying, with white lips and a vain look for help where help was not, "Something they were at has burst, killed the doctor, and fired the house!  Watch John till I get help, and leave him at your peril." Then flinging open the gate she sped away.


"Now is my time," I thought, and only waiting till she vanished, I boldly followed her example, running rapidly along the road in an opposite direction, careless of bonnetless head and trembling limbs, intent only upon leaving that prison house far behind me.  For several hours, I hurried along that solitary road; the spring sun shone, birds sang in the blooming hedges, green nooks invited me to pause and rest, but I heeded none of them, steadily continuing my flight, till spent and footsore I was forced to stop a moment by a wayside spring.  As I stooped to drink, I saw my face for the first time in many months, and started to see how like that dead one it had grown, in all but the eternal peace which made that beautiful in spite of suffering and age.  Standing thus and wondering if Guy would know me, should we ever meet, the sound of wheels disturbed me.  Believing them to be coming from the place I had left, I ran desperately down the hill, turned a sharp corner, and before I could check myself passed a carriage slowly ascending.  A face sprang to the window, a voice cried "Stop!" but on I flew, hoping the traveler would let me go unpursued.  Not so, however; soon I heard fleet steps following, gaining rapidly, then a hand seized me, a voice rang in my ears, and with a vain struggle I lay panting in my captor's hold, fearing to look up and meet a brutal glance.  But the hand that had seized me tenderly drew me close, the voice that had alarmed cried joyfully, "Sybil, it is Guy:  Lie still, poor child, you are safe at last."


Then I knew that my surest refuge was gained, and too weak for words, clung to him in an agony of happiness, which brought to his kind eyes the tears I could not shed.


The carriage returned; Guy took me in, and for a time cared only to soothe and sustain my worn soul and body with the cordial of his presence, as we rolled homeward through a blooming world, whose beauty I had never truly felt before.  When the first tumult of emotion had subsided, I told the story of my captivity and my escape, ending with a passionate entreaty not to be returned to my uncle's keeping, for henceforth there could be neither affection nor respect between us.


"Fear nothing, Sybil; Madame is waiting for you at the Moors, and my father's unfaithful guardianship has ended with his life."


Then with averted face and broken voice Guy went on to tell his father's purposes, and what had caused this unexpected meeting.  The facts were briefly these:  The knowledge that my father had come between him and a princely fortune had always rankled in my uncle's heart, chilling the ambitious hopes he cherished even in his boyhood, and making life an eager search for pleasure in which to drown his vain regrets.  This secret was suspected by my father, and the household league was formed as some atonement for the innocent offense.  It seemed to soothe my uncle's resentful nature, and as years went on he lived freely, assured that ample means would be his through his son.  Luxurious, self-indulgent, fond of all excitements, and reckless in their pursuit, he took no thought for the morrow till a few months before his return.  A gay winter in Paris reduced him to those straits of which women know so little; creditors were oppressive, summer friends failed him, gambling debts harassed him, his son reproached him, and but one resource remained--Guy's speedy marriage with the half-forgotten heiress.  The boy had been educated to regard this fate as a fixed fact, and submitted, believing the time to be far distant; but the sudden summons came, and he rebelled against it, preferring liberty to love.  My uncle pacified the claimants by promises to be fulfilled at my expense, and hurried home to press on the marriage, which now seemed imperative.  I was taken to my future home, approved by my uncle, beloved by my cousin, and, but for my own folly, might have been a happy wife on that May morning when I listened to the unveiling of the past.  My mother had been melancholy mad since that unhappy rumor of my father's death; this affliction had been well concealed from me, lest the knowledge should prey upon my excitable nature and perhaps induce a like misfortune.  I believed her dead, yet I had seen her, knew where her solitary grave was made, and still carried in my bosom the warning she had sent me, prompted by the unerring instinct of a mother's heart.  In my father's will a clause was added just below the one confirming my betrothal, a clause decreeing that, if it should appear that I inherited my mother's malady, the fortune should revert to my cousin, with myself a mournful legacy to be cherished by him whether his wife or not.  This passage, and that relating to my freedom of choice, had been omitted in the copy shown me on the night when my seeming refusal of Guy had induced his father to believe that I loved him, to make a last attempt to keep the prize by offering himself, and, when  that failed, to harbor a design that changed my little comedy into the tragical experience I have told.


Dr. Karnac's exclamation had caused the recollection of that clause respecting my insanity to flash into my uncle's mind--a mind as quick to conceive as fearless to execute.  I unconsciously abetted the stratagem, and Dr. Karnac was an unscrupulous ally, for love of gain was as strong as love of science; both were amply gratified, and I, poor victim, was given up to be experimented upon, till by subtle means I was driven to the insanity which would give my uncle full control of my fortune and my fate.  How the black plot prospered has been told; but retribution speedily overtook them both, for Dr. Karnac paid his penalty by the sudden death that left his ashes among the blackened ruins of that house of horrors, and my uncle had preceded him.  For before the change of heirs could be effected my mother died, and the hours spent in that unhealthful spot insinuated the subtle poison of the marsh into his blood; years of pleasure left little vigor to withstand the fever, and a week of suffering ended a life of generous impulses perverted, fine endowments wasted, and opportunities forever lost.  When death drew near, he sent for Guy (who, through the hard discipline of poverty and honest labor, was becoming a manlier man), confessed all, and implored him to save me before it was too late.  He did, and when all was told, when each saw the other by the light of this strange and sad experience--Guy poor, again, I free, the old bond still existing, the barrier of misunderstanding gone--it was easy to see our way, easy to submit, to forgive, forget, and begin anew the life these clouds had darkened for a time.


Home received me, kind Madame welcomed me, Guy married me, and I was happy; but over all these years, serenely prosperous, still hangs for me the shadow of the past, still rises that dead image of my mother, still echoes that spectral whisper in the dark.



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