MERRY SPOOKY CHRISTMAS (25 Weird & Supernatural Tales in One Edition). Томас ХардиЧитать онлайн книгу.
give upon perfectly good authority. A friend of mine was sitting a few years since in the drawing room at her country seat; there was a door at each end, leading to other rooms, both of which were open. A slight rustle caused her to raise her eyes from her work, when she saw her nephew enter at one door, walk straight through, and out at the other. The young man was at college, and she had no reason to expect him then, but concluding some unforeseen business had brought him, and that he was in search of her, she called—'Arthur, here I am,' and pursued him into the adjoining room, and then into the hall. Receiving no answer, and not being able to find him in any direction, she rang for the servants, and inquired where he was; but they did not know; they had seen nothing of him. She insisted he had arrived, and he was sought for all over the house and grounds in vain. The thing remained perfectly incomprehensible, till the post brought a letter, announcing that the young man had been drowned on that day.
"Another instance, equally well established, is that of Dr. C., of Dublin. He resided with his family some few miles from the city, I believe, at or near Howth, and when he returned in the evening after visiting his patients, he frequently, to save time, took a short cut across some sands, which in certain states of the tide were not always safe. Mrs. C. had often entreated him to relinquish this practice, and take the more circuitous way; but he thought he was too well acquainted with the place to run any danger. One evening that they were expecting him, as usual, to dinner, his brother, who was standing at the window, saw him arrive; he rode a white horse, and was therefore a conspicuous object. When the dinner hour came, as he had not appeared in the drawing room, his brother and Mrs. C., to whom the latter had mentioned having seen him, desired the servants to seek him in his dressing room, and ask if he was ready. He was not in his room, nor was he any where to be found; neither had any of the servants seen him, nor was his horse in the stable. Mr. C., however, confident of his arrival, suggested that he might be gone to visit some sick person in the neighbourhood; so they waited. But in vain; news presently arrived that horse and man had been drowned that evening in crossing the sands."
There was scarcely any one present unacquainted with examples of this kind of appearance amongst their family or friends, but Captain L. related to us a case still more curious and unaccountable that had happened to himself in India when he was in the Himalaya.
"I was just finishing my breakfast one morning," said he, "when my servant entered and announced a visitor. It was Captain P. B. of ours, who came to invite me to a game of billiards. Our billiard-room was situated about a mile beyond my quarter, and Captain B., who lived at the other extremity, had to pass my residence to go to it.
"'Are you going up there now?' I said.
"'Yes,' said he; 'will you come?'
"'Why, I can't come directly,' I answered; 'for I have a letter to write first; but if you'll go on, I'll join you presently.'
"He left me, and as soon as I had written my letter, I started for the billiard-room. When I entered it, Captain P. B. was not there, nor, indeed, anybody but the marker—which was not surprising, as it was earlier than we usually went there.
"'Where's Captain B?' I said.
"'Don't know, sir; he has not been here yet.'
"'Not been here?'
"'No, sir, not to-day.'
"Thinking, that as I was not ready, he had filled up the interval by going somewhere else, I began knocking about the balls; every now and then looking out of the window, expecting to see him approach; but when this had lasted upwards of two hours, I began to be rather impatient, and was just thinking of going away, when I saw him approaching with his wife in an open carriage from an opposite direction.
"'A pretty fellow you are, to keep me kicking my heels here waiting for you,' said I, as he entered the room.
"'Keep you waiting!' he said; 'I have not kept you waiting.'
"'Why, I've been here these two hours and more.'
"'How was I to know that; I did not know you were coming up here.'
"'Why, I told you I'd come as soon as I had finished my letter.'
"'My dear fellow, what are you talking about?' exclaimed my friend, in evident surprise; 'when did you tell me so? I don't recollect making any appointment to meet you to-day.'
"'What! not this morning, as you were passing my quarter?' said I, amazed in my turn. 'Didn't you ask me to come and play a game at billiards; and didn't I tell you I'd come as soon as I had finished my letter? and I did.'
"P. B. looked at me as if he thought I'd suddenly become insane; but as I suppose my countenance did not confirm that impression, he said, 'Here's some mistake; when do you suppose I made this appointment with you?'
"'Suppose!' I answered, rather indignant; 'what do you mean by suppose? Didn't you come into my quarter about three hours ago, just as I was finishing breakfast, and ask me to come up here and play a game at billiards with you?'
"'No; it must have been somebody else. Who gave you the message?'
"'Message! there was no message,' I answered, quite bewildered. 'You came in yourself—you know you did. What's the use of trying to hoax one?'
"'I don't know whether you are trying to hoax me,' replied P. B.; 'but upon my soul I have not been in your quarter to-day; nor have I seen you at all, till I entered this room. Moreover, I went with my wife at an early hour to breakfast with Captain D., and we are now returning thence; and I told the coachman to set me down here as he passed.'
"This was most confounding; and as we were both equally positive in what we asserted, we left the billiard-room together, and proceeded to take the testimony of my servant. On being asked who he had introduced when I was finishing breakfast, he unhesitatingly answered, Captain B. His account, in short, coincided entirely with mine.
"'Now then,' said Captain B., 'as you have your witness, you must hear mine,' and we went on to his quarter, where I received the most satisfactory and unimpeachable evidence, that what he said was correct. He had left home with Mrs. B. at six o'clock, and gone by appointment to breakfast with Captain D., who lived quite in a different direction to my quarter; and Captain D. afterwards testified to his never having left his house till he stept into the carriage with his wife.
"This event created a great sensation at the time; and people endeavoured by every means to explain it away, but nobody ever could. Captain B. did not like it at all; and his wife and family were very much alarmed, but nothing ensued, and I believe he is alive and well at this moment."
We next turned to Madame Von B., who said she knew so many cases of spiritual appearances, and occurrences of that nature, that she was rather perplexed by the abundance of her recollections. Amongst these she selected the following on account of its singularity:—
"We resided a great deal on the continent before I was married, and my mother had a favourite maid, called Françoise, who lived with her many years—a most trustworthy, excellent creature, in whom she had the greatest confidence; insomuch, that when I married, being very young and very inexperienced, as she was obliged to separate from me herself, she transferred Françoise to my service, considering her better able to take care of me than anybody else.
"I was living in Paris then, where Françoise, who was a native of Metz, had some relations settled in business, whom she often used to visit. She was generally very chatty when she returned from these people; for I knew all her affairs, and through her, all their affairs; and I took an interest in whatever concerned her or hers.
"One Sunday evening, after she had been spending the afternoon with this family, observing that she was unusually silent, I said to her, while she was undressing me, 'Well, Françoise, haven't you anything to tell me? How are your friends? Has Madame Pelletier got rid of her grippe?'
"Françoise started as if I had awakened her out of a reverie, and said, 'Oh! oui, Madame; oui, mercé; elle se porte bien aujourd'hui.'
"'And Monsieur Pelletier and the children, are they well?'
"'Oui, Madame, merci; ils se portent bien.'
"These