To the right Hon. the Countess of Gifford, as a token of respect, sympathy, and admiration, this tale is inscribed by the Author....

The writer of this Tale ventures, in his own person, to address a very few words, chiefly of explanation, to his readers. A leading situation in this “Story of Bartram-Haugh” is repeated, with a sligh...

It was winter⁠—that is, about the second week in November⁠—and great gusts were rattling at the windows, and wailing and thundering among our tall trees and ivied chimneys⁠—a very dark night, and a ve...

It was winter⁠—that is, about the second week in November⁠—and great gusts were rattling at the windows, and wailing and thundering among our tall trees and ivied chimneys⁠—a very dark night, and a ve...

When we reached the drawing-room, I resumed my chair, and my father his slow and regular walk to and fro, in the great room. Perhaps it was the uproar of the wind that disturbed the ordinary tenor of ...

I think it was about a fortnight after that conversation in which my father had expressed his opinion, and given me the mysterious charge about the old oak cabinet in his library, as already detailed,...

On a sudden, on the grass before me, stood an odd figure⁠—a very tall woman in grey draperies, nearly white under the moon, courtesying extraordinarily low, and rather fantastically. I stared in somet...

There is not an old house in England of which the servants and young people who live in it do not cherish some traditions of the ghostly. Knowl has its shadows, noises, and marvellous records. Rachel ...

Two little pieces of byplay in which I detected her confirmed my unpleasant suspicion. From the corner of the gallery I one day saw her, when she thought I was out and all quiet, with her ear at the k...

I think all the females of our household, except Mrs. Rusk, who was at open feud with her and had only room for the fiercer emotions, were more or less afraid of this inauspicious foreigner. Mrs. Rusk...

Three years later I learned⁠—in a way she probably little expected, and then did not much care about⁠—what really occurred there. I learned even phrases and looks⁠—for the story was related by one who...

Punctually Lady Knollys arrived. She was accompanied by her nephew, Captain Oakley. They arrived a little before dinner; just in time to get to their rooms and dress. But Mary Quince enlivened my toil...

Lady Knollys pursued her enquiries. “And why does not Madame make your dresses, my dear? I wager a guinea the woman’s a milliner. Did not she engage to make your dresses?” “I⁠—I really don’t know; I r...

Perhaps, if Madame had murmured, “It is quite well⁠—pray permit me to sleep,” she would have escaped an awkwardness. But having adopted the role of the exhausted slumberer, she could not consistently ...

We each had another cup of tea, and were silent for awhile. “We must not talk of ghosts now. You are a superstitious little woman, you know, and you shan’t be frightened.” And now Cousin Monica grew s...

Next morning early I visited my favourite full-length portrait in the chocolate coat and top-boots. Scanty as had been my cousin Monica’s notes upon this dark and eccentric biography, they were everyt...

I was going to my governess, as Lady Knollys said; and so I went. The undefinable sense of danger that smote me whenever I beheld that woman had deepened since last night’s occurrence, and was taken o...

I sat still, listening and wondering, and wondering and listening; but I ought to have known that no sound could reach me where I was from my father’s study. Five minutes passed and they did not retur...

What had I done to excite this ungovernable fury? We had often before had such small differences, and she had contented herself with being sarcastic, teasing, and impertinent. “So, for future you are ...

For many days after our quarrel, Madame hardly spoke to me. As for lessons, I was not much troubled with them. It was plain, too, that my father had spoken to her, for she never after that day propose...

The frightful warnings of Lady Knollys haunted me too. Was there no escape from the dreadful companion whom fate had assigned me? I made up my mind again and again to speak to my father and urge her r...

Mrs. Rusk was fond of assuring me that Madame “did not like a bone in my skin.” Instinctively I knew that she bore me no goodwill, although I really believe it was her wish to make me think quite the ...

The Rev. William Fairfield, Doctor Clay’s somewhat bald curate, a mild, thin man, with a high and thin nose, who was preparing me for confirmation, came next day; and when our catechetical conference ...

My father was dead⁠—as suddenly as if he had been murdered. One of those fearful aneurisms that lie close to the heart, showing no outward sign of giving way in a moment, had been detected a good time...

When we returned, a “young” gentleman had arrived. We saw him in the parlour as we passed the window. It was simply a glance, but such a one as suffices to make a photograph, which we can study afterw...

Doctor Bryerly had, indeed, arrived at half-past twelve o’clock at night. His summons at the hall-door was little heard at our remote side of the old house of Knowl; and when the sleepy, half-dressed ...

Perhaps the terror with which I anticipated the hour of one, and the disclosure of the unknown undertaking to which I had bound myself, was irrational and morbid. But, honestly, I doubt it; my tendenc...

Without saying a word, Cousin Monica accompanied me to the schoolroom, and on entering she shut the door, not with a spirited clang, but quietly and determinedly. “Well, dear,” she said, with the same...

And so it was like the yelling of phantom hounds and hunters, and the thunder of their coursers in the air⁠—a furious, grand and supernatural music, which in my fancy made a suitable accompaniment to ...

So the inquest was held, and Mr. Manwaring, of Wail Forest, was the only juryman who seemed to entertain the idea during the inquiry that Mr. Charke had died by any hand but his own. “And how could he...

So now at last I had heard the story of Uncle Silas’s mysterious disgrace. We sat silent for a while, and I, gazing into vacancy, sent him in a chariot of triumph, chapletted, ringed, and robed throug...

Lady Knollys, I could plainly see, when we got into the brighter lights at the dinner table, was herself a good deal excited; she was relieved and glad, and was garrulous during our meal, and told me ...

All at Knowl was indicative of the breakup that was so near at hand. Doctor Bryerly arrived according to promise. He was in a whirl of business all the time. He and Mr. Danvers conferred about the man...

In a moment a tall, lithe girl, black-haired, black-eyed, and, as I thought, inexpressibly handsome, was smiling, with such beautiful rings of pearly teeth, at the window; and in her peculiar accent, ...

I thought my odd cousin was also impressed with a kind of awe, though different in degree from mine, for a shade overcast her face, and she was silent as we walked side by side along the gallery, acco...

I had not time to explore this noble old house as my curiosity prompted; for Milly was in such a fuss to set out for the “blackberry dell” that I saw little more than just so much as I necessarily tra...

It was all vain my remonstrating. She vowed that by crossing the stepping-stones close by she could, by a shortcut, reach the house, and return with my pencils and block-book in a quarter of an hour. ...

Mr. Carysbroke amused my fancy sufficiently to prevent my observing Milly’s silence, till we had begun our return homeward. “The Grange must be a pretty house, if that little sketch be true; is it far...

I have sometimes been asked why I wear an odd little turquoise ring⁠—which to the uninstructed eye appears quite valueless and altogether an unworthy companion of those jewels which flash insultingly ...

I have sometimes been asked why I wear an odd little turquoise ring⁠—which to the uninstructed eye appears quite valueless and altogether an unworthy companion of those jewels which flash insultingly ...

When Milly joined me at breakfast, her eyes were red and swollen. She was still sniffing with that little sobbing hiccup, which betrays, even were there no other signs, recent violent weeping. She sat...

“I’m going this minute⁠—I⁠—I want to know”⁠—another glance at the door⁠—“are you really quite comfortable here?” “Quite,” I answered promptly. “You have only your cousin’s company?” he continued, glan...

Cousin Monica, with her hands upon Milly’s shoulders, looked amusedly and kindly in her face. “And,” said she, “we must be very good friends⁠—you funny creature, you and I. I’m allowed to be the most ...

My correspondence about this time was not very extensive. About once a fortnight a letter from honest Mrs. Rusk conveyed to me how the dogs and ponies were, in queer English, oddly spelt; some village...

Greatly to my satisfaction, this engaging person did not appear again that day. But next day Milly told me that my uncle had taken him to task for the neglect with which he was treating us. “He did pi...

So Milly and I drove through the gabled high street of Feltram next day. We saw my gracious cousin smoking with a man like a groom, at the door of the Plume of Feathers. I drew myself back as we passe...

Milly and I, thanks to our early Bartram hours, were first down next morning; and so soon as Cousin Monica appeared we attacked her. “So Lady Mary is the fiancée of Mr. Carysbroke,” said I, very cleve...

At the top of the great staircase I was glad to see the friendly face of Mary Quince, who stood, candle in hand, greeting us with many little courtesies, and a very haggard and pallid smile. “Very wel...

We had about this time a pleasant and quite unexpected visit from Lord Ilbury. He had come to pay his respects, understanding that my uncle Silas was sufficiently recovered to see visitors. “And I thi...

All the time that Dudley chose to persecute me with his odious society, I continued to walk at a brisk pace toward home, so that I had nearly reached the house when Milly met me, with a note which had...

No one who has not experienced it can imagine the nervous disgust and horror which such a spectacle as we had been forced in part to witness leaves upon the mind of a young person of my peculiar tempe...

My uncle, after all, was not ill that day, after the strange fashion of his malady, be it what it might. Old Wyat repeated in her sour laconic way that there was “nothing to speak of amiss with him.” ...

“But, after all,” he suddenly resumed, as if a new thought had struck him, “is it quite such folly, after all? It really strikes me, dear Maud, that the subject may be worth a second thought. No, no, ...

A few days’ time saw me much better. Doctor Jolks was so contemptuously sturdy and positive on the point, that I began to have comfortable doubts about the reality of my ghost; and having still a horr...

Some time after this interview, one day as I sat, sad enough, in my room, looking listlessly from the window, with good Mary Quince, whom, whether in the house or in my melancholy rambles, I always ha...

I went down that evening to the sitting-room which had been assigned to Milly and me, in search of a book⁠—my good Mary Quince always attending me. The door was a little open, and I was startled by th...

As I and Mary Quince returned from our walk that day, and had entered the hall, I was surprised most disagreeably by Dudley’s emerging from the vestibule at the foot of the great staircase. He was, I ...

On the whole, however, I was unspeakably relieved. Dudley Ruthyn, Esq., and Mrs. D. Ruthyn, were now skimming the blue waves on the wings of the Seamew, and every morning widened the distance between ...

I stood at the window⁠—still the same leaden sky and feathery sleet before me⁠—trying to estimate the magnitude of the discovery I had just made. Gradually a kind of despair seized me, and I threw mys...

“That’s a bad ’un, he is⁠—oh, Miss, Miss Maud! It’s nout that’s good as keeps him an’ fayther⁠—(mind, lass, ye promised you would not tell no one)⁠—as keeps them two a-talkin’ and a-smokin’ secret-lik...

“Come away, lass,” whispered Beauty, very pale; “he’s here⁠—Tom Brice.” And she led the way, shoving aside the leafless underwood, and we reached Tom. The slender youth, groom or poacher⁠—he might ans...

Next morning⁠—it was Sunday⁠—I lay on my bed in my dressing-gown, dull, apathetic, with all my limbs sore, and, as I thought, rheumatic, and feeling so ill that I did not care to speak or lift my head...

“Mary,” said I, “I am miserably anxious to hear what Madame may have to tell; she knows the state I am in, and she would not like so much trouble as to look in at my door to say a word. Did you hear w...

Waiting for the train, as we stood upon the platform, I looked back again toward the wooded uplands of Bartram; and far behind, the fine range of mountains, azure and soft in the distance, beyond whic...

I had passed a miserable night, and, indeed, for many nights had not had my due proportion of sleep. Still I sometimes fancy that I may have swallowed something in my tea that helped to make me so irr...

You who have never experienced it can have no idea how angry and frightened you become under the sinister insult of being locked into a room, as on trying the door I found I was. The key was in the lo...

I did not lie down; but I despaired. I walked round and round the room, wringing my hands in utter distraction. I threw myself at the bedside on my knees. I could not pray; I could only shiver and moa...

It was a very still night and frosty. My candle had long burnt out. There was still a faint moonlight, which fell in a square of yellow on the floor near the window, leaving the rest of the room in wh...

So it was vain: I was trapped, and all was over. I stood before him on the step, the white moon shining on my face. I was trembling so that I wonder I could stand, my helpless hands raised towards him...

Oh, my beloved cousin Monica! Thank Heaven, you are living still, and younger, I think, than I in all things but in years. And Milly, my dear companion, she is now the happy wife of that good little c...