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THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

BY THB

REV.

P. B.

POWER, M.A.,

Author of "The Oiled Feather," etc.

PUBLISHED

UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE TRACT COMMITTEE,

LONDON:
SOCIETY

FOR

PROMOTING

CHRISTIAN

KNOWLEDGE,

NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C.; 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C.
97, WESTBOURNE GROVE, W.
BRIGHTON:

135, NORTH STREET

NEW YORK: E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO.

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.
done good honest service before they
departed this life.
You must know, then, good reader,
that a certain young

man, named

Walter Cressy, was sitting in his easy
chair in his college at Oxford, when
his letters, six in number, arrived.
There was first a long envelope to be
opened,

which contained a printed

circular of the Pearl Diving Company,
giving a most encouraging account of
the expectations to be formed from the

I

opening of one million oysters; and
if one talks of
dead men at Christmas-time, one

suggesting that the reader should on

is expected to say something about

shareholder in the company, which, at

ghosts; but I am not going to write

the very least, must produce

about a Christmas ghost, or any other

hundred per cent.

SUPPOSE

no account lose the chance of being a
five

kind of ghost, though I am going to

There was a circular from an in-

inform my readers about a dead man's

surance office, warning him of the

spectacles-not their ghosts, but their

uncertainty of life, and the claims of a

very selves;

wife and children;

how they came, after

but as he had

serving their owner some time, to an

neither the one nor the other, he put

untimely end-yet not altogether an

that into the fire, as not concerning

untimely one, seeing that they had

him at the present at least.

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

Two, I am sorry to say, were from

It was plain that, wherever Berting-

duns-i.e., gentlemen who had fre-

ton was, the news that came from it

quently requested payment of their

was of no small interest; indeed the

accounts, and still-kept on despairingly

letter evidently soon proved itself to be

asking for them, in hope that for their

absorbing.

importunity, if for nothing else, they

was one quite out of Margie Cressy's

And last of all was

usual style, and about something quite

should be heard.

And no wonder; for it

out of the ordinary beat of things.

a pink envelope, which was directed

"The Old Grange, Bertington.

in a lady's hand-one not quite formed,

"October 20th, 1830.

but which showed, nevertheless, that
"MrY

the writer was no school-girl.

WALTER,-You will

DEAR

This one alone seemed to have any

open your eyes when you see the above

He kept it

address, and wonder where it is, and

for the last, not because it was the

what brings me here, and you will open

least important in his eyes, but the

them wider when you read this letter.

He wanted to be done with

"In one week our whole life seems

charm for Walter Cressy.

most so.

all the rest, before he entered on

changed.

this.

abandoned; and henceforth, we are to

It was a letter from

his only

live here.

Our old home is to be
Father told us nothing

sister, a girl of seventeen ; and Walter

about it until it was all settled; and

Cressy, anxious as he always was to

now it seems more like some fairy

read her letters, kept examining the

tale than anything else.

envelope for some time before he

"It seems that as long as six months
ago an old gentleman named Rowel

opened it.
"Bertington, Bertington I where is
that ? and what can Margie b, doing
there, wherever it is?
schoolfellow, I suppose.

With some old
Bertington

died here.

Here he had lived for

seventy years,

and here he died.

Father was found out by a young

? lawyer in a neighbouring tbwn, who,

But perhaps the letter will tell all

no doubt expecting to be employed,

about it."

took great trouble in hunting him up,

And the young man at

last tore open the enveiopo

and at last succeeded in finding him.

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

"All the lawyer knew about the

of one kind and another, against the

matter was that, he had often heard

walls.

But all are rusted-all neg-

from his father that long, long ago,

lected.

And as to books, though I

when he managed Mr. Rowel's affairs,

don't suppose you care much about

he heard him say that General Sib-

them, there are plenty of them here,

worth Cressy, of the Bengal Army,

only such huge things, and all dust-

would be his heir-at-law if he died

covered too.

without any children or grandchildren.
"Well,

" It is lucky for us that Mr. Rowel
had that conversation with the lawyer

man

before he quarrelled with him, and

quarrelled with his lawyer years ago,

that he handed it down to his son,

since which time neither the lawyer

otherwise we might never have heard

nor anyone else got a sight of him.

that this place, with its fine estate was

He shut himself up in the Grange

to come to us; or at any rate, no one

some time after that; and no one of

knows how long it would have been

the outside world appears to have got

before we heard of it.

it

seems the old

a glimpse of him for years.

The

"Father knew nothing of it.

He

Grange gates were kept shut until they

did know that there was a Mr. Rowel,

became rusty, the place became over-

a connection of some kind of the family,

grown with weeds, the old house' filled

but as he had spent all his life in

up with dust; and altogether, things

India, he had heard no more of him

were in such a state here that, when

than that; but during the last six

we came, we could scarcely find a place

weeks everything has been made clear,

where we could lie down for the night.

and we came

Not but that there were plenty of

possession.

beautiful rooms and beds.

down here to take

At one

" Father brought me with him, and

time grand folk must have lived here.

when we arrived here I threw my

In spite of the dust, there are splendid

arms round his neck and wished him

velvet hangings to be seen, and some

a life a thousand years long, if he

glorious tapestry, and plenty of old

could have it, to enjoy it all; and now

awords and halberds, and ancient guns,

I have to do my best to keep him up,

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

for he is always saying, ' Oh, Margie,

on a settle there, and fetched away.

my child, if only your dear mother

She was a tall,

were alive and enjoying it all! ' and I

woman, with snow-white hair, and

have to do all I can to cheer him up.

where she now is the woman could

But there will be no end of things to

not tell.

be done, and that will take his mind

had attended at the funeral, and seen

off fretting.

her there; but no one has seen her

"I am going through with it all;
but the strangest part is to come. But

venerable-looking

The parson and the lawyer

since.
"But this was not all she had to

I am determined to tell everything in

tell us.

its place, though I own I am in as

made away with herself, miss; for one

great a hurry to tell you, as you can be

ghost about the place is enough.

Old

to hear; only prepare yourself for

Mr. Rowel will be sure to walk.

He's

a great surprise-as great a surprise

safe to, sooner or later.

to us, as our coming in for all this

live like he, don't always rest quiet in

wealth.

their graves.

'I hope she ain't been and

Folks that

And, miss, he kept an

" Well, father and I got in a woman

imp, a black creature, with him, and

from the nearest cottage to attend to

if a white ghost and a black imp be

us, and from her we found out what

seen going about that old place of a

little was to be known of old Mr.

night, 'twill be too much, miss, for any

Rowel.

mortal man.

He was reported to have had

He'll go off at once,

some dreadful misfortune, or some-

depend upon it; and anyhows, he'll

thing which made him shut himself

have a fit.'

up.

He had no one in the house but

"Well, I asked the good woman

an old woman, who had done for him

about

for years; but she was as silent as the

answered me she began about the 'old

grave, and no one could ever find out

lady,' as she called her, who had

anything from her, when she went to

waited on Mr. Rowel.

the deserted lodge, and fetched from

the imp;

but

before she

"'And suppose, miss, that she's

there the few things which she wanted

gone too.

for their daily life.

of them walking of a night I the old

Things were left

Deary me I to see all three

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

7

man with his long beard, the woman

white, and the black imp by the side

with her high white cap, and the imp,

of it will be awful.

miss, the imp in black.

But maybe,

miss, the imp would be white too if

"' But I forgot; these things makes
one's mind wander.

You were asking

" 0' Margie, my child, if only your mother were alive! '"

she was a ghost; only imps can't die,

about the imp, miss : well, all I know

and so can't become ghosts; and that's

about it is that, my husband, who

a1 the worst, for the ghost will be

made

bold enough one moonlight

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

night in summer time to try a short

"Now,

Watty, you know your

cut in the park, saw old Mr. Rowel--

sister Margie is not a coward, and you

leastwise a man, and who could it be

know father has faced the enemy too

but him P-walking up and down the

often to be afraid of anything; still,

terrace in front of the house, and with

we could not get the white-haired

And

woman with the tall white cap, and

my husband runs for it like mad, and

the black imp out of our heads.

never stops till he comes home ; and it

We had both to confess that we lay

took three basins of tea, miss, and a

awake most of the night; and that

roasted mushroom to bring him round.

every board that creaked, and every

You wouldn't believe it, miss, but

bit of twig that knocked against the

him was something in black.

'twas the mushroom did it.

When I

windows

made us feel queer.

I

found that he did not come to as he

owned to father at breakfast that I

ought, I knew he was that fond of

burned a

mushrooms that, if anything would

though he looked

make him come to himself a roasted

when I said it, he called me over to

mushroom would, so I roasted one on

him and said, 'Margie, I want to

afork, and says "A roasted mushroom,

whisper you a secret,' and when I put

Jimmy," and he opens his eyes half-

my ear down to his mouth, he says,

candle

and

all night;

a little queer

way, and says, "Oh, Mary I" and' ' So did I;' and I kissed him a dozen
opens his mouth, and I puts it in, and

times and said, ' Oh, you coward I"

he swallows it, and I says, "Isn't it

but he didn't laugh as I expected

good P " and he says, " Wonderful !"

him to do, but looked grave, and said,

and opens his eyes, and comes to at

'Margie, where there's smoke there's

once.

often fire; there's a something, de-

"'There's no more, miss, that I

depend on it, here; though I don't

can tell you about that imp, no, not if

say 'tis a ghost, or an imp, or pretend

you were to question metill to-morrow;

to make a guess about it.

only that a couple of poaching lads

has been seen, that I believe, though

believe they see'd it, and we all knows

I don't of course know what.

'tis there.'

wait--it will be sure to turn up.'

Something
Let us

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

"'Ihope not, father,' said I.

had slowly given way, and we saw

"'But I hope it will,' said he, 'for

for the first time that we had never

I don't like any secrets or things

really come to the end of the house at

lurking about; meanwhile we'll keep

all-that there was a long corridor

our eyes about us.'

leading somewhere.

"And, Watty, it did turn up, and
that sooner than we expected; and

"The moonlight shone full in upon
it, so that we could see its length.

I own I shook like an aspen leaf,

"We stood looking down it, half

and 'tis my firm belief that father

wishing to go on-and, if the truth

shook too.

were known, half afraid-when, slowly
tea,

and silently, a door opened, and there

father says to me, 'Margie, are you

glided towards us a tall woman with

"That

very evening

after

and I said, ' No, father-

afraid ?'

white hair, and with a high cap, and by
her side was a smaller figure in black,

are you ? '
"' Not I,' said father.

just as the woman from the cottage

"'Ah, but if you were tried,' said

had described.

father; 'now, Margie, would you go
all over the house by yourself? You

shook from head to foot; and, though

know you wouldn't.'

you must never breathe a word of it

"' Well, father, I'll go, at any rate,
if you'll come with me.'

"I will own to it, Watty, that I

as long as you live, I saw that father
shook too.

"' Done,' said he; and up we got,

"She was a stately woman, and

Well, we

seemed to glide rather than walk; and

went here, and there, and everywhere.
Father, I believe, thought he would

the nearer she came, the more I could

give me a good lesson in courage, and
we had gone, as we thought, to the

it, the more I shook too.

last room in the east wing, when

upon the enemy, could have run with

father leant his back against the wall,
and immediately made a spring for-

any decent excuse, he would have

The panel he had leant against

" On came the tall figure and the

and started for our walk.

ward.

see father shake; and, I will own to
I believe if

father, who never turned his back

done so; I know I should.

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

black one by her side; and, as she

"I could see her face had a touch

came nearer, we could see that she

of sadness in it too-something of

was a woman of about sixty-five years

what was in her old companion's, but

of age;: and by her side was a girl in

there was also a noble look of dignity;

They stood

and hers was such an innocent, trust-

silently before us for I suppose full

ful face that I longed, even if she were

two minutes-and that is a long time

an imp, to take her as a bosom friend

when people are in a fright-and we

for ever.

black, about seventeen.

had time, in spite of our terror, to note
what they were like.

"You know what a polished gentle-

The tall woman

man father is; and he did not forget

was very noble looking, with hair as

his manners, even in the presence of

white as snow.

a ghost, and an imp.

She looked as if she

I laugh heartily

had a great weight of some kind upon

now, and I almost laughed then, when

her mind, and some sadness that had,

I saw him make a bow, and heard

I may almost say, eaten into her.

him say,' Your most obedient, madam.

Both father and I thought she looked

May I ask whom have I the pleasure

on us as intruders, as if really we had

of addressing ? '

no right in the place at all; but she

" She said, 'It

does not matter

never said a word about that, even if

what my name is.

You may call me

she really felt it.

White from this,'--and she pointed to

"But, Watty, how can I tell you
about the girl by her side ?

We

don't know anything about her yet;

her snow-white hair.
"'And the young lady ? '
"' Black.

That is not her name,

but she was a beautiful creature to

but you may call her black from

look at in the moonlight, and the light

that '--and she pointed to the deep

was almost as'bright as by day.

mourning in which the girl was.

"If

she has anything to do with

"' I fear, madam,' said father, ' that

the Rowels, there must have been

the fall of that panel must have dis-

good blood amongst them, for her

turbed you, or perhaps frightened you.'

features are those just such as a sculp-

" Disturbed, sir, but not frightened.

tor would chisel.

We are not so easily frightened; in

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

21

fact, sir, we fear neither any person

the forlorn hope at Bulpore; and it

nor anything-at least, I do not; and

rushed into his mind even then, for

I trust I have succeeded in teaching

you know he is a true soldier.

that child not to do so either.

We

"I think that made him, if possible,
still more deferential to the old lady I

fear God-no one else.'

"They stood silently btefore us."

"Father told me afterwards that he
would

have given anything for a

thousand men as brave, when he led

for he bowed again, much lower than
he generally does, and said:
"'You, no doubt, know, madam,

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

the circumstances under which my

has seen the old lady.

daughter and myself are here.

lives we don't know.

We

How she

Father asked

are not acquainted with all the affairs

her if he could procure anything for

connected with this property, and its

her; but she only smiled, and said

late owner.

their wants were few, and she had all

There may be much we

ought to know-perhaps something
which you can inform us about; so if

she required.
"I

must tell you, however, that

you will permit me, I shall have the

father has gone round the back parts

honour of renewing our acquaintance

of the house since all this has hap-

in the morning, at any hour, and in

pened, where we thought there were

any place you are pleased to name;

some old barns and stables; and now

and I shall receive gratefully any in-

he sees the corridor; and not only that,

formation you may be pleased to com-

but also two. or three rooms beyond;

municate to me.'

but he will not allow me to go round,

"The old lady seemed, I thought,

or the woman from the cottage, so I

struck by father's deferential way of

can tell you no more about this until

speaking, seeing he is master here,

next week.

and suddenly finds people he knew
nothing of in the house.

But she

did not unbend at all.

She said, how-

ever, courteously, in

return, 'To-

"We are like people in a dream,
but

we

shall

"And this is all I can tell you at

out all

by-

and-bye.
"Your loving sister,

morrow week-not to-morrow-in this
corridor, and at this hour.'

find

"

MARGIE."

Here was a help to Master Watty
Cressy's studiesI

Here was a nice

present, for I know no more myself;

preparation for his day's work !

only, Watty, what a girl! There must

news, and the remaining fuddledom of

be a wonderful soul in her, if one is

an entertainment last evening, were

to judge by its outlooking from her

good helps for the work he ought to

eyes.

cram into the day; for he had let

You shall hear from me all

This

that goes on, but there is no use in study run into terrible arrears, and
expecting a letter until after father

was in imminent danger of being

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

=3

plucked with as little mercy as a

this time not the last but the first of

chicken is in Leadenhall Market.

the batch which the post brought.

Here was a property suddenly come

"My

DEAR

WATTY! -

What a

Ah I if only he were

dream we are living in in this place !

the eldest son, then he need not

I have not known what to do with

trouble over logic or anything else;

father all this week-ever since I

but there was an eldest son in the

wrote to you.

army in India.

for half-an-hour together.

into the family.

The property would

I can't keep him still
He has

go to him; and even if Mr. Watty

taken it into his head that, he ought

did come into a little more, he must

not to be here.

still work.

A property, a half-ghost,

a chair, and when he has been there

a wonderful girl -- one white, one

five minutes, he says, 'Perhaps I have

He sits down upon

The syllogisms which Mr.

no business to be here.'

Up he gets

Cressy attempted that day were per-

and lies on the sofa,

and settles

fectly awful--

himself for a nap, and I put his rug

black.

Man is an animal--

Animals eat grass;
Therefore an animal is a man.
An oyster has finsA whale also has fins;
Therefore a whale is an oyster.

He did nothing more sensible than
this, good reader, all .that day; and
made no progress whatever towards
coming out first-class in honours.

over him and say,' There now, there's
a dear ! have just ten winks, for you
know you have not had a proper
night's sleep.'

Well, I think he's off,

but in ten minutes' time up he jumps,
sends the railway rug flying to the
end of the room, and cries out what
seems to have got possession of his
mind-that he has no business there.

Now, good reader, you must pick

Sometimes you'd think he had sat

up the thread of this story as best

down on the point of a pin instead of

you can from letters; and here is the

upon an easy chair, for he jumps up

next that Walter Cressy got from his

the moment he sits down, and tries

sister-it found him in a very feverish

three or four chairs one after another.

state of excitement about the whole

He says there are no ghosts in the

matter, and was eagerly torn open,

house-that

he knows; but some.

iHE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

how he's haunted, and it is with this

the heir-"at-law of the late Mr. Rowel,

idea.

and as, I am informed, heir to this

"This is the way things were all

property; and if there is any mistake

the week, until the evening came for

-any

the interview with the old lady.

I

know-if there is any other heir, and

asked to be allowed to go with father

you know about the matter, pray let

How-

me know all about it, that I may put

to it, but I was not allowed.

secret-anything I ought to

ever, I believe he has told me most of the rightful owner in possession at
what took place; and since then,

once.

though it was only yesterday, I believe

mand,' and father rose and made a

he has been over every room in the

bow.

Madam, I am at your com-

house, except whatever may be at the

"He told me that an awful look

end of the corridor; and he's more

came into the old lady's face when he

than ever muttering here, and there,

said ' he was heir-at-law to the late

and everywhere,
wrong done.'

'There's

a great

It was what he heard

Mr. Rowel '-a

kind of spasm-and

that when he asked her 'if there were
any other heir to let him know,' she

from the old lady.
he went to the

squeezed her lips together as though,

corridor, he found two chairs ready

even if she did know anything, she

placed, one for him and one for her.

would never reveal it.

"It

seems when

He said, for a long time he did not

"Father

says, he's sure there's

know how to begin, but she never

something or other, but he has no

broke the silence by a word, or gave

means at all of finding out.

him the least help.

of advertising in every paper in the

He talks

I pitied him when

world, and nobody knows what; but

At last

I'm sure he'll never be happy here,

father said, ' Madam, I need not say

until he comes to the bottom of things.

your appearance, and that of the

"' Well, father,' I said, ' is that

"Poor father!

I heard of the interview.

young

lady with you, the other

evening has made me very anxious.
I am here, as perhaps you know, as

all ? '
"' That's nearly all,' said he.

'I

made a few more trials to come at the

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

'5

bottom of things, but they might as

laugh, and say it is the moon, as it

well have no bottom, for the good I

was by moonlight we met; but laugh-

The one answer I got to every-

ing or not, my heart has gone out to

thing was, "There's a great wrong

her, and I'll have her for a sister if

done," and I declase I believe it; and

by any means I can.

did.

if only I could find it out, I'd put it
right at any price.'

"Father has taken to muttering
ever so much to himself, as well as

"'And what is going to become of

jumping about from chair to chair, not

them? I wish we could keep that

resting anywhere, and keeps saying,

sweet girl here for ever.'

'I must keep touch of them; I must

"'Well, my child, make your mind

keep touch of them.'

easy on that subject--at least, so far

" I asked him what this meant, and

as I am concerned, for I said to the

he said, "'Tisa phrase we use in war

old lady, "Madam, as long as I am the

about the enemy.

owner of this place, let me assure you

mustn't let them get away so far from

that it will double my pleasure in it,

us that we lose all knowledge of them;'

if you will inhabit such a portion of it

and so he is well pleased they are

as you make use of now.

going to stay.

Whatever

It means we

But it is entirely well

we have here is at your command.

understood that no one goes near

Your privacy will be respected to the

them-that, all is to be as it had been

uttermost." '

before we found them out.

"And, Watty, you will be glad to
hear they are going to stay-at least,
we believe they are.

Anyhow, they

are not going now.

as anything else is known you shall
hear.
"Ever your own sister,

And perhaps

you'll see that sweet child when you

As soon

"

M."

I wish I could give a better account

come: child, or girl, I don't know ex-

of Walter Cressy than I can.

actly what to call her yet; only,

was a fine fellow in many respects.

Watty, I am, so to speak, entirely in

He was brave, and generous, and a

love with her.

faithful friend, and he had very good

of

mesmerism;

I suppose it is a kind
or perhaps you'll

abilities if he chose

He

to use them

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

But he was entangled with a bad set

One good friend Walter Cressy had

at Oxford, and they had led him far,

at Oxford, a fast friend, though much

far away from the path in which his

older than

sister would have had him walk.

named Bursted, a man of perhaps

He

was one of those unhappy men who

a gentleman

himself;

two or three and thirty.

are their own enemy; but with all

Horace Bursted was a solicitor, but

that, he was not an'ingrained man of

his progress having been so marked in

At times he loathed himself,

certain departments of the law, the

and then rushed into the same ex-

firm to which he belonged advised

cess of riot again.

him to go to the bar; and as he

vice.

And now the young man fell to

determined to proceed in all regular

musing very much over this letter.

order if he went at all, he had matri.

The strange things recorded in it had

culated at Oxford, and was now about

had all their due share in his thoughts

to take his degree.

and wonder, but they did not occupy

Horace Bursted had rightly read

Here he was, going in

Walter Cressy's character; he saw the

a short time to that new home, and

good in him, and never deserted him

what if he should meet those eyes

because of the evil.

before which nothing impure or bad

difference

could abide?

A sister's love he had

Cressy made Horace Bursted his chief

cajoled; and put off many a time,

friend; indeed, in his heart of hearts

though it made him uncomfortable,

he looked upon him as the only real

and often resolve with all his might

friend he had.

all his mind.

to change; but what if he should

And despite the
them,

between

Walter

To him, therefore, he went and con.

meet other eyes, which perhaps would

fided the contents

of those recent

make him wither by their goodness ?

letters.

"You're

always thinking,

even though they did not intend it.

thinking,

There was a very serious side to the

"and I wish you'd think something

appearance of this girl in black, as

out of this."

well ag to that o f the old woman in
white,

thinking,':

said Walter,

"Ah, ~and I wish you would be
somtimps thinking, thinking, think.

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

ing," said Mr. Bursted, laying his

certain ideas and speculations began

hand on Watty's shoulder and looking

to evolve in his mind, whether by any

him straight in the face-" and some-

chance the pure and holy influence

thing-something good would come

which

I

out of you."

it

was evident from Miss

ressy's letter this girl could bring

" To him, therefore, he went, and confided the centents of these recent letters."

And Mr. Bursted did think, think,

into exercise, could be brought to bear

and for a long time his thoughts

on the young friend to whom he was

often recurred to this subject, and

so much attached, and whom

he

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

would so joyfully see leading another

and the general had not, and would

and a better life.

not have peace.

But from the state

of things at the new place, it was very

Moreover things were altered in the

doubtful whether this could ever be;

management of the house, for the

evidently the mystery, whatever it

only attendant in the place was still

was, was connected with thoughts of

the woman

great displeasure in the old lady's

general would not hear of any out-

mind, and she would not let her ward,

siders coming to the house; and what

or whatever relation she might be,

did he want of them, when for all he

have any intercourse perhaps With any

knew he may soon have to go, al-

member of the family, who evidently
must be more or less distastful to her.

though there was nothing whatever to
make him think that ? He himself

What could he himself do ?

Just

was an old soldier, and could put up

nothing-he must wait to see what

with anything, and his daughter had

time brought forth, and be helpful if

for the present, at least, such comforts

an opportunity should occur.

as were absolutely necessary. It would

Everything was in favour of Walter
Cressy those Christmas holidays.

Of

from the village; the

be time enough to bring his establishment to the place by-and-bye.

course he was at Bertington Grange;

There was plenty of shooting at

and was himself now on the very

Bertington, and so enough to occupy

scene of all the strange things which

Walter Cressy's time, but his mind

had recently come to pass.

He saw

was not set as much as it ought to

with his own eyes the place where the

have been on pheasants and hares.

panel was.

neral, his

His one thought was to get a glimpse

father, always on the go;he heard

of the girl in black. And to that end,

him muttering;

it

he confined himself chiefly in the

upon himself to tell him that all

shooting expeditions to the vicinity of

was right, and lecture him in a

that part of the house where he knew

mild way as to the necessity of en-

she was.

joying what you had while you had

and he saw nothing.

it; but his homilies were of no effect,

however, it is well never to despair

He saw the

he even took

But day after day passed
In this world,

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

I9

our help is sometimes nearer to us

badly, that she

than we suppose.

What was to be done ! every attempt

It was so with our friend.

could not stand.

It was

to move was vain; to remain where

deep twilight one evening, as he was

she was would be to perish with cold !

strolling with his gun not far from the

dreadful as it undoubtedly seemed to

back part of the Grange, when he

the lady in white, there was nothing

heard a loud cry-the cry of some

for it but to allow the young man to

one that was hurt.

lift the girl in his strong arms, and

The sound did

not come from far off, yet from a
sufficient distance to make it hard to

carry her to the house.
Walter Cressy never felt so strong

find out where the hurt person was;

in his life as he did during the few

and perhaps the young man could not

minutes he was carrying that precious

have found the sufferer, however hard

burden, and he never felt so small, or

he tried, if he had not heard voices

to have done so little for any one, as

which guided him to the spot where

when he laid her down on the sofa in

the injured person was.

the mysterious

Two persons

room,

into

which

were there, and when they discerned

hitherto no one in the house had

him, they cowered quite down as

penetrated.

though to escape observation-but he

Will it be believed that, when

was too close to them now for that-

eagerly questioned by his sister as to

and there before him was the woman

the room, and what was in it, and all

with the white hair, and the girl in

about it, Walter. Cressy could not tell

black; only the latter was wrapped in

her anything?

a cloak which he saw in a moment

hurried off with so many thanks, no

was costly fur, and the former had her

doubt, but also with such speed, by

hair mostly hidden by the tall hood

the woman with the white hair, that

which stood up like a monk's cowl

but little time or chance had been

high over her head.

given him to see anything.

The state of the case was plain
enough.

The young girl had slipped

and sprained her ankle; and that so

Really, he had been

Alas ! for poor Walter

Cressy I

But this sort of thing will always go
awry.

Time was up; the very last

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

day for returning to Oxford had come.
He was in such robust health that it
would be too absurd to pretend he was
ill, and must stay at home to be
nursed. Alma Mater saw him returning to her bosom unwillingly
indeed, still up to time; and if she
only knew it, a more thoughtful young
man than when she saw him last.
Unlike the poet who declared that his
" only books were woman's looks, and
folly all they taught him," this book
of a woman's look-so pure, so sweet,
so gracious, so thankful, so above
what had too often been the low level
of the young man's life-had taught
him much in but a little time. It
takes but a moment to press the seal
upon the hot wax, and it will leave an
image of itself. It was a beautiful
imprescion that was left upon the often
wild young man-quick, sharp-cut,
binding his heart as by a bond and
royal seal to a higher and a better
life.
In this life of shadows and mists,
of complex motives, with hearts sealed
to some influences and open to others,

one laugh will make another weep.
But there is One above ourselves Who
knows what instruments to use, and
how and when to use them. And
many a one in life has been won to
virtue, by the presentation before him
of the human being who was above
vice. The beautiful may be,-nay, can
be, but an instrument; but such it has
often been.
Walter Cressy felt that henceforth
old ways were past for him. He had
managed to laugh off a sister's influence and love, but he had had no
opportunity to laugh off the new influence, which, how, or why, he could
not tell, had bound him hand and foot.
He tried to laugh once, but failed so
lamentably that he but bent beneath
the new power of his life more entirely
than before. Good influences are none
the less from above because they use
human instruments; an influence--an
instrument, and this young man, were
now brought together.

Walter's only chance now was what
he could hear by a letter; and he
soon got one; and from it and one or
we are led by ways which we know two other letters, you, good reader,
not. We open one with one key, and must pick up the thread of this
one with another; what will make story.

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

At last the long-looked-for letter
came, and it ran thus:--

21

"The lady with the white hair
appeared again in the hall, and this

"Who'd have believed it, Watty ?

time with a request which could never

the lady with the white hair appeared

have been expected from her.

in the hall yesterday evening at twi-

that I should go and see-what shall I

light.

call her, her daughter, or what? I don't

She asked to see father: and

after many obeisances had passed

know.

between them, she

company.

said,

evidently

It was

She sees she must have human
I shall keep a journal of

with great reluctance, what she came

all that happens, and let you know-

for.

at least anything which is not a secret;

" The girl in black does not get well
under her doctoring.

She thought

but you know a woman neveir lets out
secrets !"

only a tendon was strained, and that

And thus the journal ran-at least

she could cure her by rest, and some

such parts as we have space for here

simples of her own ; but she says now,

-and

that she fears some small bone must

have stood a better examination in

Father has

that journal, and been more likely to

persuaded her to allow a doctor to be

come off with honours in it, than

called in; but it was tremendous hard

in any of his ordinary college readings.

be broken in the ankle.

I fear Walter Cressy would

"February 3rd.-At 4 o'clock was

work.
"The doctor has been; says it will

met by the 0. L. (old lady, for short-

be weeks before she can get off the

ness' sake) at the beginning of the

sofa-says she has run down very

corridor, and at the other end was

low, and must have some one to cheer

ushered into a good-sized room ; there

The old lady fought hard

I saw the G. B. (girl in black for

her up.

against this idea, the doctor told us,

shortness' sake) lying on a sofa.

but had to give in; but whom they

is as beautiful as an angel; perhaps

will get I don't know-at any rate,

that is why she is hidden away. Her

you shall hear."

hair was all over the pillow in long

The next letter bore more extraordinary tidings still.

She

wavy curls, her. hands were trans.
parent and thin, I

suppose from

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

illness.

The O. L. somehow didn't

have now passed.

I am a regular

half seem as if she liked to see me

visitor.

there, and went into the next room,

to answer every day; and I am repaid

leaving me with the G. B. alone.

by such grateful looks, and such a

No

I have a thousand questions

wonder she did not say much, only let

sweet kiss before I leave.

me hold her hand, and she seemed to

been asked ever so many questions,

think it enough to look at me.

too, about you.

She

I have

I suppose G. B. had

does not seem to remember having seen

so little chance of ever seeing a young

any one, except the 0. L. and old

gentleman that, it never entered into

Mr. Rowel;

we were the first she

0. L.'sheadto caution her that, it would

ever saw in the corridor that night,

be very wrong to ask questions about

and you are the only young man she

a young man at college; but she is

has ever seen.

full of questions.

(I am glad the first

specimen was so good).

She wants to know

what you do, and what you think,
B. sweeter

and supposes you are going to be a

than ever--0. L. still out of the way.

great hero of some kind, such as she

G. B. says it seems so strange to her

has read of in her books.

to see people in flesh and blood:

suppose is from being shut up so long

except 0. L. and Mr. Rowel she has

-at

"February

seen nobody.

4th.-G.

She asks me all sorts

All this I

any rate, her telling me is.

She

wonders if 0. L. will let you come
and see her whenever you return."

of questions.
"February 5th.-O. L. must be a

And so the journal ran, and was

I find G. B.,

kept up, and transmitted to Walter

though she has seen nothing, knows a

Cressy, until it was time for him to

great many things.

Depend upon it,

come home for the long vacation, for

there is a great deal in that O. L.,

until then his father forbad his re-

and whatever G. B. is to her, she has

turning to the Grange.

wonderful old lady.

done all she can to teach her; but she

That vacation he determined not to

is like a person who has never seen

spend with a tutor at the Lakes

any one but in a picture.

reading for honours, but down at the

"February

10th. -

Several

days

Old Grange.

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

And in truth there was much to

Cressy determined

23

that no

other

Time does wonders

woman would he ever wed but that

-a loving heart does many too ; and

girl in black, with or without her

by the time this vacation had arrived

mystery; and as to the mysterious

the invalid was well; and things had

key which she used to wear about her

so crept on, that the girl in black was

neck, but which now hung with her

now allowed to be with her friend

chatelaine by her side, if it were the

about the Grange as much as she

key of a cupboard, where, as a female

And there she was, when

Blue Beard, she had the heads of ten

Walter Cressy came home for his long

former husbands, he would, if need

No doubt the O. L. ought

be, be the eleventh, and contribute

attract him there.

pleased.
vacation.

to have shut her up at once, when

his head to the collection too.

And

the young man returned, or else been

she-her mind was made up too.

She

always herself upon the scene;

but

felt that, so to speak, knowing nothing

she did neither; she herself

was

of who, or whence, she was, she now

ailing now, and though she kept her

had some anchorage in life.

room for the most part, she would not

She entered-thus far, at least-

allow her young companion to be

into the ordinary path of life, and

always with her.

There was a touch

it was a great relief.

of deep human sympathy in her voice,

One does not
feel comfortable at being a mystery,

when she said, " Child, if I need you,

and little else.

I will tell you; but you have lost

The college vacation

ended, and

The General

Walter Cressy had to return to his

has offered to be a father to you, and

work, which he now was determined

his daughter like a sister."

Poor

to go at like a man. He had sloughed

soul I She did not say what Walter

off all the old companions, and if he

was to be.

was to marry the girl in black, it must

enough of life already.

But

that

vacation

settled

the

be to bring her to a home such as he

question-as I dare say you, good

would see her in.

readers, have settled it already in your

brains, that he knew, and that his

own mind-it settled this, that Walter

friend, Horace Bursted, knew; and in

He had plenty of

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

full sympathy with all his younger

All dinner-time it was observed that

friend's hopes, he was directing him

the barrister was more occupied with

to the law as a career in which he felt

looking at the portraits opposite him

sure he would prosper.

than with his dinner, and his attention

" I wish I could help you to unravel

seemed more taken up with them, and

the mystery about this young lady,"

looking at the girl in black, than with

said the barrister, as the Christmas

what he ought to be doing--indeed, so

your father

much so that he once or twice made a

will have me at the Grange for the

trifling mistake between his mouth and

Christmas vacation, I will try and find

his eye, and was very near giving the

We lawyers

latter some soup and cayenne pepper.

holidays came on.

"If

some clue to it if I can.

sometimes pick up a good deal from

Yes!

very little shreds, and we piece things

Mr. Bursted a very unsociable gentle-

together in a wonderful way.

the young ladies pronounced

Any-- man; but they had no cause to make

how, I can think, think, think, and a

this complaint a little farther on, for

great deal, you know,

the young lady in black asked her

comes

from

companion if all gentlemen asked so

thinking."
And so when Christmas came, with

many questions of people, about all

it came Mr. Horace Bursted to the

they knew about themselves, and re-

Had he any objection to sleep-

membered about what they saw, and

hall.

ing in what had been old Mr. Rowel's

heard, when they were children.

nothing would he

"And, would you believe it ? " said

desire so much as an interview with

she, "he actually asked me to let him

old Mr. Rowel himself, if such a thing

look at me, first side face, then front

He should

face, and at last said, 'Young lady,

like to examine him; and cross-ex-

please excuse me, but I am a great

amine him, and re-examine him too.

studier, sometimes, of hands; would

But old Mr. Rowel he was never

you object to

destined to see; however, he came

moment flat on the table and letting

across what answered his purpose quite

me look at your finger tips ?

room?

Not he!

could be brought about.

as well.

laying yours for a

"' Just so,' he said, when he had

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

finished his look ; just so; thank you

for what it is worth, but it will no

-that will do.' "

doubt impress itself upon your lordship
as at least remarkable. It was to be

When Mr. Horace Bursted retired
for the night, and his big fire was made
up, and his candles lit on a little table
thereby, he began to hold a conversation with a large log thereon--at least,
as in a conversation there must be two,
and the log never answered, as may be
expected, it will be more proper to say

found in Admiral Sir Thomas Rowel, in
Lady Jane Vere, his granddaughter,
thirty years after,in GeneralRowel forty
years after that, in Miss Elspeth Rowel
ten years after that, in Doctor Charles
Rowel twenty years after that, and
finally in the portrait of the deceased

Mr. Horace B. addressed the log, and
it was in this fashion:

gentleman, when a young man, whose

"My lord, let me draw your atten-

And then he knocked the judge over

tion to the remarkable likeness of this

with a crack of the poker, and sent his

young girl to the pictures now produced in court. I shall ask you to

lordship to finish his luminous career

observe the extraordinary similarity in
the curve of the mouth immediately

" Yes," said Mr. Bursted, " there's
a mystery here; I'll never let it go

below the nostrils in the young lady,

until I get it clear," and so saying he

to that of several of the family portraits

began to prowl about the room, touch-

of the Rowels.

I should say it was
most remarkable, even if I were not
urging it as a point on behalf of my

ing this and that, as though they could

client.

Again, I shall have to ask
your lordship to note the peculiarity

case, where the deceased gentleman

of the fingers.

use.

Six of the Rowels'

property we now claim."

amid the ashes of the grate.

be nudged into revealing something,
until at last he came to the old bookhad kept his books in most constant

family pictures--happily for us--have

There were some classics, an old

the hands, and it will be found that

Bible, a few mathematical and histo-

they have a peculiar upturn of the

rical books; and, whew ! what's this ?

thumb, which will be found in my

a book of hieroglyphics P

lient.

The evidence may be taken

" Let us have a look at it," said the

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

lawyer, and down he sat by the hfire

The lawyer rubbed his eyes; he

to investigate the fat volume, which

looked bewildered about him; he put

was all hieroglyphics indeed

his hands to his forehead; then he

And they would have remained

do

gathered every bit of glass together,

At the last

hoping to find one piece at least large

page of writing, marking, as it were,

enough to read through, but it was

the book, was a pair of old spectacles,

hopeless.

but for a curious incident.

ever so old-fashioned.

They were just

If the glasses had really told him

as the writer left them, for it will be

anything, he could now never find out.

remembered that he died suddenly.

They and they only, by actual experi-

Mr. Horace Bursted, tired of trying

mhent, could tell, and they could never

to decipher the hieroglyphics, put on

be so tried; they were practically out

the specs at last, more as a piece of

of existence.

amusement than otherwise.

there, a heavy old-fashioned

He was

True, the frame was
silver

half asleep with the overstrain of his

frame, but what could it tell ? People

eyes, in trying to make out the con-

don't read through the shanks of their

tortioihs and twists of the 'strange book.

spectacles.

He never knew, and I suppose never

But whatever Mr. Horace Bursted

will know, how long exactly those spec-

had seen, or fancied he had seen,

tacles were upon his nose, or, to speak

through those glasses, he begged as a

more correctly, how long he was 6ok-

particular favour that he might have

ing through them at the book. Suffice

the loan of that book, which he would

it to say, that he was finally startled

return safely.

by the sound of a smash, and there on

And so the visit ended, and the lawyer

the hearth lay the spectacles, the

went

glasses in fifty pieces; and there was

carefully put up every scrap of the old

he like a crazy man, throwing up his

specs, as if any optician could ever put

arms, and crying out quite loud:---

them together again, or they could,

"I have it all ; a wonderful story;
she shall have her rights, my lord in
this

case.

off to London again, having

by any

good.

possibility,

do

him

any

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

"From Horace Bursted,
"Lincoln's Inn, to
"General Cressy,
"Bertingten Grange.
" MY DEAR SIR,-I should take my

i7

" I have been at great pains to have
that book deciphered, feeling sure that
it must contain something which would
give a clue to this young lady's history.
And at last I have succeeded.

pen in hand with some feelings of re-

"By the help of an officer of the

gret for your sake, se.eing that what it

Government, whose business decipher-

writes must dispossess you of your

ing is-and, indeed, I may say no less

newly acquired property, if it were not

than three other experts-I have come

that I am well assured, from what I

to what is practically the whole history

heard from yourself during the short

of the affairs connected with Berting-

time I enjoyed your kind hospitality at

ton Grange and the young lady, who,

Christmas, that you would give it all

I may as well tell you at once, is the

to unravel the mystery of the charming

heiress to it.

young lady I met under your roof.
"I had strong suspicions, though I

"The book is nothing less than a
journal kept by old Mr. Rowel, the

said nothing about it, that she was a

last proprietor of the Grange.

member of the Rowel family-possibly

in the habit of writing in it his family

the heiress to the estates: though that

affairs, and his own private thoughts;

could only be a surmise.

and though in parts fragmentary, I

He was

"I was confirmed in the certainty

think I can give you an outline of

that she had been a Rowel by my

circumstances as they are to be gathered

examination of the family portraits,

from that book.

and- certain minute peculiarities in

"It

seems that the old gentleman

them, which I had traced in the young

had once a son who was no credit to

lady herself.

him, and after a short career of vice

"But matters might have remained
for ever a mystery had it not been that,

in early manhood, died by his own
hand.

most happily (for I am sure you will

"There was one other child, a girl,

consider it so) the merest accident has

and on her the old man evidently fixed

insured certainty in this matter.

his heart, and made her an idol.

She

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

would never leave him!

She would

" It was the old story of the little

be the light of his life I She would

bird, which leaps down the serpent's

give herself up to him, and never care

throat under the spell.

for any one but himI

The journal

"They were married-married pri-

was blotted evidently here and there

vately.

with tears, hastily rubbed off, it would

But my business is to tell not what I

seem; but enough can be made out to

wish, but what happened.

give you a very fair idea of the general
aspect of things.

I am sorry for it, very sorry.

"Then come the father's curses;
they are horrible.

He seems to have

"All that money could buy appears

put down whatever came into his mind,

to have been got for this girl, but the

sure that no one would ever read them.

old gentleman seems to have been so

but there they are now in the naked

jealous of her whole love, that he would

light.

not allow her to go anywhere except to

" And she went abroad, to Florence;

service on a Sunday-to the small

there her husband supported her wcll

church which is on the edge of the

until he died.

grounds.

secret agent there who kept him in-

"Thus things went on for a long

The old man had a

formed of everything.

time, until at last there came to the

" The wife pined and died too, leav-

little church one day a man unlike all

ing a young child. And then it seems

the village folk.

He appears to have

the old man went himself to Florence

been young, and to have settled down

and brought back the child to England.

at the neighbouring inn for purposes

"To that child he transferred to
some extent the almost frantio love

of art.
" Need I spend much time over the
result?

that he bore to her mother.

But he

He was described in the

was now, I should say from his journal,

journal as 'a snake whose colours are

not altogether of a sound mind. There

beautiful, but whose sting is poisonous ;'

are entries in the journal which show

from this I conceive he must have been

that, he was subject to paroxysms of

a fascinating man, for the journal says,

anger; now he loved, and now he hated.

'his cursed fascinating eye.'

He swore the child should never see

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

ag

anyone; and, probably, if you can get

" The mystery of the key which was

the lady with the white hair to tell

seen round the young lady's neck when

you all she knows, you will find that,

first met is also solved here.

practically that girl has never seen any

"The old man, mad with himself for

one, or scarce anyone, except your-

dooming his grandchild to poverty,

selves.

saved all the Bertington rents for her.

"I gather that that lady was old

The securities which they purchased

Mr. Rowel's sister, and that she has

are at Messrs. Burton and Scott's. He

spent a life of devotion to him, for his

hung that key by a ribbon round her

sake immuring herself in that old

neck when she was a child, with direc-

place, and conforming to all his whims,

tions that she was never to be without

and being a menial to him, and really

it, and the bankers, it would seem, have

a governess too to that child.

directions never to surrender the con-

"It

seems that in his wrath the

tents of the safe to any one but the

old man swore that no child of his

person who can produce that key. They

daughter should ever inherit Berting-

have its fellow. It was kind indeed of

ton; and though he often apparently

your excellent daughter to have it gilt

repented of his oath, and cursed him-

and made into a kind of ornament, for

self for having made it, he neverthe-

it would not have been pleasant for a

less held to it, and purposely died

young lady to go through life with a

without a will.

mystery like this hanging about her.

He threatened to re-

appear to his sister if she ever revealed

"I cannot say what these securities

who that young girl was, so that the

represent, but they must now be a

property might just fall to the heir-at-

large sum.
"Yours faithfully,

law, which has proved to be yourself.
" That lady, I think you will find,

"HORACE BURSTED."

is under the spell of that fear, which

There is much more to tell, but, good

must be broken before her lips can be

reader, there is little space in which to

unsealed, and the secret divulged,

tell it.

which

a great commotion at Messrs. Burton

tell.

I

am full sure she

can

Suffice it to say that there was

and Scott's, the banrs, when, accom-

THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS.

panied by the General and Mr. Bur-

took upon herself to settle how the

sted, the girl in black opened the box

something of one, and the nothing of

with the gilt key, and proved herself

another, were just the thing for two,

the owner of £80,000 in securities;

when they by matrimony had been

that there was great commotion in

made one.

Bertington Grange when the old lady,

commotion in the whole neighbourhood

being persuaded by the clergyman that

when the double wedding took place of

she need have no fear of her brother's

Walter Cressy and the girl in black,

uncanny reappearance on earth, re-

and Mr. Horace Bursted and Margie

vealed the whole story of what was

Cressy.

indeed but a repetition of what was

There was further great

As to the General and the whiteCalmly and peace-

in the hieroglyphic book; and owned

haired old lady.

that the girl in black was the heiress

fully they spent the rest of their days,

to the Bertington estates.

amid many stately courtesies, at the

There was further great commotion

Grange; and both slept at last, side

in the heart of the girl in black, who

by side, near the little old church,

found she had so much to give, and in

from the eventful meeting at which

that of poor Walter Cressy, who found

comes this Christmas story of

he had so little; but the girl in black

London : Printed by Piny GaRn

"THE DEAD MAN'S SPECS."

xa & Co., Farringdon Road.

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