JASPER
She led them to the north gallery and, pausing at the door, saidmerrily, "The ghost--or ghosts rather, for there were two--whichfrightened Patty were Sir Jasper and myself, meeting to discuss certainimportant matters which concerned Mr. Treherne. If you want to seespirits we will play phantom for you, and convince you of our power."
"Good, let us go and have a ghostly dance, as a proper finale of ourrevel," answered Rose as they flocked into the long hall.
At that moment the great clock struck twelve, and all paused to bid theold year adieu. Sir Jasper was the first to speak, for, angry with Mrs.Snowdon, yet thankful to her for making a jest to others of what hadbeen earnest to him, he desired to hide his chagrin under a gay manner;and taking Rose around the waist was about to waltz away as sheproposed, saying cheerily, "'Come one and all, and dance the new yearin,'" when a cry from Octavia arrested him, and turning he saw herstand, pale and trembling, pointing to the far end of the hall.
Eight narrow Gothic windows pierced either wall of the northgallery. A full moon sent her silvery light strongly in upon theeastern side, making broad bars of brightness across the floor. Nofires burned there now, and wherever the moonlight did not fall deepshadows lay. As Octavia cried out, all looked, and all distinctlysaw a tall, dark figure moving noiselessly across the second bar oflight far down the hall.
"Is it some jest of yours?" asked Sir Jasper of Mrs. Snowdon, as theform vanished in the shadow.
"No, upon my honor, I know nothing of it! I only meant to relieveOctavia's superstitious fears by showing her our pranks" was thewhispered reply as Mrs. Snowdon's cheek paled, and she drew nearerto Jasper.
"Who is there?" called Treherne in a commanding tone.
No answer, but a faint, cold breath of air seemed to sigh along thearched roof and die away as the dark figure crossed the third streakof moonlight. A strange awe fell upon them all, and no one spoke, butstood watching for the appearance of the shape. Nearer and nearer itcame, with soundless steps, and as it reached the sixth window itsoutlines were distinctly visible. A tall, wasted figure, all in black,with a rosary hanging from the girdle, and a dark beard halfconcealing the face.
"The Abbot's ghost, and very well got up," said Annon, trying to laughbut failing decidedly, for again the cold breath swept over them,causing a general shudder.
"Hush!" whispered Treherne, drawing Octavia to his side with aprotecting gesture.
Once more the phantom appeared and disappeared, and as they waited forit to cross the last bar of light that lay between it and them, Mrs.Snowdon stepped forward to the edge of the shadow in which they stood,as if to confront the apparition alone. Out of the darkness it came, andin the full radiance of the light it paused. Mrs. Snowdon, beingnearest, saw the face first, and uttering a faint cry dropped down uponthe stone floor, covering up her eyes. Nothing human ever wore a looklike that of the ghastly, hollow-eyed, pale-lipped countenance below thehood. All saw it and held their breath as it slowly raised a shadowy armand pointed a shriveled finger at Sir Jasper.
"Speak, whatever you are, or I'll quickly prove whether you are man orspirit!" cried Jasper fiercely, stepping forward as if to grasp theextended arm that seemed to menace him alone.
An icy gust swept through the hall, and the phantom slowly receded intothe shadow. Jasper sprang after it, but nothing crossed the secondstream of light, and nothing remained in the shade. Like one possessedby a sudden fancy he rushed down the gallery to find all fast and empty,and to return looking very strangely. Blanche had fainted away and Annonwas bearing her out of the hall. Rose was clinging to Mrs. Snowdon, andOctavia leaned against her cousin, saying in a fervent whisper, "ThankGod it did not point at you!"
"Am I then dearer than your brother?" he whispered back.
There was no audible reply, but one little hand involuntarily pressedhis, though the other was outstretched toward Jasper, who came up whiteand startled but firm and quiet. Affecting to make light of it, he said,forcing a smile as he raised Mrs. Snowdon, "It is some stupid joke ofthe servants. Let us think no more of it. Come, Edith, this is not likeyour usual self."
"It was nothing human, Jasper; you know it as well as I. Oh, why did Ibring you here to meet the warning phantom that haunts your house!"
"Nay, if my time is near the spirit would have found me out whereverI might be. I have no faith in that absurd superstition--I laugh atand defy it. Come down and drink my health in wine from the Abbot'sown cellar."
But no one had heart for further gaiety, and, finding Lady Trehernealready alarmed by Annon, they were forced to tell her all, and findtheir own bewilderment deepened by her unalterable belief in theevil omen.
At her command the house was searched, the servants cross-questioned,and every effort made to discover the identity of the apparition. All invain; the house was as usual, and not a man or maid but turned pale atthe idea of entering the gallery at midnight. At my lady's request, allpromised to say no more upon the mystery, and separated at last to suchsleep as they could enjoy.
Very grave were the faces gathered about the breakfast table nextmorning, and very anxious the glances cast on Sir Jasper as he came in,late as usual, looking uncommonly blithe and well. Nothing serious evermade a deep impression on his mercurial nature. Treherne had more theair of a doomed man, being very pale and worn, in spite of an occasionalgleam of happiness as he looked at Octavia. He haunted Jasper like ashadow all the morning, much to that young gentleman's annoyance, forboth his mother and sister hung about him with faces of ill-dissembledanxiety. By afternoon his patience gave out, and he openly rebelledagainst the tender guard kept over him. Ringing for his horse he saiddecidedly, "I'm bored to death with the solemnity which pervades thehouse today, so I'm off for a brisk gallop, before I lose my temper andspirits altogether."
"Come with me in the pony carriage, Jasper. I've not had a drive withyou for a long while, and should enjoy it so much," said my lady,detaining him.
"Mrs. Snowdon looks as if she needed air to revive her roses, and thepony carriage is just the thing for her, so I will cheerfully resign myseat to her," he answered laughing, as he forced himself from hismother's hand.
"Take the girls in the clarence. We all want a breath of air, and youare the best whip we know. Be gallant and say yes, dear."
"No, thank you, Tavie, that won't do. Rose and Blanche are both asleep,and you are dying to go and do likewise, after your vigils last night.As a man and a brother I beg you'll do so, and let me ride as I like."
"Suppose you ask Annon to join you--" began Treherne with well-assumedindifference; but Sir Jasper frowned and turned sharply on him, saying,half-petulantly, half-jocosely:
"Upon my life I should think I was a boy or a baby, by the manner inwhich you mount guard over me today. If you think I'm going to live indaily fear of some mishap, you are all much mistaken. Ghost or no ghost,I shall make merry while I can; a short life and a jolly one has alwaysbeen my motto, you know, so fare you well till dinnertime."
They watched him gallop down the avenue, and then went their differentways, still burdened with a nameless foreboding. Octavia strolled intothe conservatory, thinking to refresh herself with the balmy silencewhich pervaded the place, but Annon soon joined her, full of a lover'shopes and fears.
"Miss Treherne, I have ventured to come for my answer. Is my New Year tobe a blissful or a sad one?" he asked eagerly.
"Forgive me if I give you an unwelcome reply, but I must be true, and soregretfully refuse the honor you do me," she said sorrowfully.
"May I ask why?"
"Because I do not love you."
"And you do love your cousin," he cried angrily, pausing to watch herhalf-averted face.
She turned it fully toward him and answered, with her native sincerity,"Yes, I do, with all my heart, and now my mother will not thwart me, forMaurice has saved my life, and I am free to devote it all to him."
"Happy man, I wish I had been a cripple!" sighed Annon. Then with amanful effort to be just and generous, he added heartily, "Say no more,he deserves you; I want no sacrifice to duty; I yield, and go away,praying heaven to bless you now and always."
He kissed her hand and left her to seek my lady and make his adieus, forno persuasion could keep him. Leaving a note for Sir Jasper, he hurriedaway, to the great relief of Treherne and the deep regret of Blanche,who, however, lived in hopes of another trial later in the season.
"Here comes Jasper, Mamma, safe and well," cried Octavia an hour or twolater, as she joined her mother on the terrace, where my lady had beenpacing restlessly to and fro nearly ever since her son rode away.
With a smile of intense relief she waved her handkerchief as he cameclattering up the drive, and seeing her he answered with hat and hand.He usually dismounted at the great hall door, but a sudden whim made himride along the wall that lay below the terrace, for he was a finehorseman, and Mrs. Snowdon was looking from her window. As heapproached, the peacocks fled screaming, and one flew up just before thehorse's eyes as his master was in the act of dismounting. The spiritedcreature was startled, sprang partway up the low, broad steps of theterrace, and, being sharply checked, slipped, fell, and man and horserolled down together.
Never did those who heard it forget the cry that left Lady Treherne'slips as she saw the fall. It brought out both guests and servants, tofind Octavia recklessly struggling with the frightened horse, and mylady down upon the stones with her son's bleeding head in her arms.
They bore in the senseless, shattered body, and for hours triedeverything that skill and sciences could devise to save the young man'slife. But every effort was in vain, and as the sun set Sir Jasper laydying. Conscious at last, and able to speak, he looked about him with atroubled glance, and seemed struggling with some desire thatovermastered pain and held death at bay.
"I want Maurice," he feebly said, at length.
"Dear lad, I'm here," answered his cousin's voice from a seat in theshadow of the half-drawn curtains.
"Always near when I need you. Many a scrape have you helped me out of,but this is beyond your power," and a faint smile passed over Jasper'slips as the past flitted before his mind. But the smile died, and agroan of pain escaped him as he cried suddenly, "Quick! Let me tell itbefore it is too late! Maurice never will, but bear the shame all hislife that my dead name may be untarnished. Bring Edith; she must hearthe truth."
She was soon there, and, lying in his mother's arms, one hand in hiscousin's, and one on his sister's bent head, Jasper rapidly told thesecret which had burdened him for a year.
"I did it; I forged my uncle's name when I had lost so heavily at playthat I dared not tell my mother, or squander more of my own fortune. Ideceived Maurice, and let him think the check a genuine one; I made himpresent it and get the money, and when all went well I fancied I wassafe. But my uncle discovered it secretly, said nothing, and, believingMaurice the forger, disinherited him. I never knew this till the old mandied, and then it was too late. I confessed to Maurice, and he forgaveme. He said, 'I am helpless now, shut out from the world, with nothingto lose or gain, and soon to be forgotten by those who once knew me, solet the suspicion of shame, if any such there be, still cling to me, anddo you go your way, rich, happy, honorable, and untouched by any shadowon your fame.' Mother, I let him do it, unconscious as he was that manyknew the secret sin and fancied him the doer of it."
"Hush, Jasper, let it pass. I can bear it; I promised your dear fatherto be your staunch friend through life, and I have only kept my word."
"God knows you have, but now my life ends, and I cannot die till you arecleared. Edith, I told you half the truth, and you would have used itagainst him had not some angel sent this girl to touch your heart. Youhave done your part to atone for the past, now let me do mine. Mother,Tavie loves him, he has risked life and honor for me. Repay himgenerously and give him this."
With feeble touch Sir Jasper tried to lay his sister's hand inTreherne's as he spoke; Mrs. Snowdon helped him, and as my lady bowedher head in silent acquiescence, a joyful smile shone on the dyingman's face.
"One more confession, and then I am ready," he said, looking up into theface of the woman whom he had loved with all the power of a shallownature. "It was a jest to you, Edith, but it was bitter earnest to me,for I loved you, sinful as it was. Ask your husband to forgive me, andtell him it was better I should die than live to mar a good man's peace.Kiss me once, and make him happy for my sake."
She touched his cold lips with remorseful tenderness, and in the samebreath registered a vow to obey that dying prayer.
"Tavie dear, Maurice, my brother, God bless you both. Good-bye, Mother.He will be a better son than I have been to you." Then, the recklessspirit of the man surviving to the last, Sir Jasper laughed faintly, ashe seemed to beckon some invisible shape, and died saying gaily, "Now,Father Abbot, lead on, I'll follow you."
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A year later three weddings were celebrated on the same day and in thesame church. Maurice Treherne, a well man, led up his cousin. FrankAnnon rewarded Blanche's patient siege by an unconditional surrender,and, to the infinite amusement of Mrs. Grundy, Major Royston publiclyconfessed himself outgeneraled by merry Rose. The triple wedding feastwas celebrated at Treherne Abbey, and no uncanny visitor marred itsfestivities, for never again was the north gallery haunted by theghostly Abbot.
THE END.
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