"Very strange!" said I meditatively.
"Wery much so, but true for all that. _I_ don"t believe in nothing but sperits of a warming and cheering nature, and them sort ain"t to be found in Clayton tunn"l to my thinking."
There was evidently nothing more to be got out of my friend. I hope that he drank my health that night; if he omitted to do so, it was his fault, not mine.
As I rode home revolving in my mind all that I had heard and seen, I became more and more settled in my determination to thoroughly investigate the matter. The best means that I could adopt for so doing would be to come out from Brighton by the 9.30 train in the very compartment of the second-cla.s.s carriage from which the public were considerately excluded.
Somehow I felt no shrinking from the attempt; my curiosity was so intense that it overcame all apprehension as to the consequences.
My next free day was Thursday, and I hoped then to execute my plan. In this, however, I was disappointed, as I found that a battalion drill was fixed for that very evening, and I was desirous of attending it, being somewhat behindhand in the regulation number of drills. I was consequently obliged to postpone my Brighton trip.
On the Thursday evening about five o"clock I started in regimentals with my rifle over my shoulder, for the drilling ground--a piece of furzy common near the railway station.
I was speedily overtaken by Mr. Ball, a corporal in the rifle corps, a capital shot and most efficient in his drill. Mr. Ball was driving his gig. He stopped on seeing me and offered me a seat beside him. I gladly accepted, as the distance to the station is a mile and three-quarters by the road, and two miles by what is commonly supposed to be the short cut across the fields.
After some conversation on volunteering matters, about which Corporal Ball was an enthusiast, we turned out of the lanes into the station road, and I took the opportunity of adverting to the subject which was uppermost in my mind.
"Ah! I have heard a good deal about that," said the corporal. "My workmen have often told me some c.o.c.k-and-bull stories of that kind, but I can"t say has "ow I believed them. What you tell me is, "owever, very remarkable. I never "ad it on such good authority afore. Still, I can"t believe that there"s hanything supernatural about it."
"I do not yet know what to believe," I replied, "for the whole matter is to me perfectly inexplicable."
"You know, of course, the story which gave rise to the superst.i.tion?"
"Not I. Pray tell it me."
"Just about seven years agone--why, you must remember the circ.u.mstances as well as I do--there was a man druv over from I can"t say where, for that was never exact-ly hascertained,--but from the Henfield direction, in a light cart. He went to the Station Inn, and throwing the reins to John Thomas, the ostler, bade him take the trap and bring it round to meet the 9.30 train, by which he calculated to return from Brighton.
John Thomas said as "ow the stranger was quite unbeknown to him, and that he looked as though he "ad some matter on his mind when he went to the train; he was a queer sort of a man, with thick grey hair and beard, and delicate white "ands, jist like a lady"s. The trap was round to the station door as hordered by the arrival of the 9.30 train. The ostler observed then that the man was ashen pale, and that his "ands trembled as he took the reins, that the stranger stared at him in a wild habstracted way, and that he would have driven off without tendering payment had he not been respectfully reminded that the "orse had been given a feed of hoats. John Thomas made a hobservation to the gent relative to the wheel which was loose, but that hobservation met with no corresponding hanswer. The driver whipped his "orse and went off. He pa.s.sed the turnpike, and was seen to take the Brighton road hinstead of that by which he had come. A workman hobserved the trap next on the downs above Clayton chalk-pits. He didn"t pay much attention to it, but he saw that the driver was on his legs at the "ead of the "orse. Next, morning, when the quarrymen went to the pit, they found a shattered tax-cart at the bottom, and the "orse and driver dead, the latter with his neck broken. What was curious, too, was that an "andkerchief was bound round the brute"s heyes, so that he must have been driven over the edge blindfold. Hodd, wasn"t it? Well, folks say that the gent and his tax-cart pa.s.s along the road every hevening after the arrival of the 9.30 train; but I don"t believe it; I ain"t a bit superst.i.tious--not I!"
Next week I was again disappointed in my expectation of being able to put my scheme in execution; but on the third Sat.u.r.day after my conversation with Corporal Ball, I walked into Brighton in the afternoon, the distance being about nine miles. I spent an hour on the sh.o.r.e watching the boats, and then I sauntered round the Pavilion, ardently longing that fire might break forth and consume that architectural monstrosity. I believe that I afterwards had a cup of coffee at the refreshment-rooms of the station, and capital refreshment-rooms they are, or were--very moderate and very good. I think that I partook of a bun, but if put on my oath I could not swear to the fact; a floating reminiscence of bun lingers in the chambers of memory, but I cannot be positive, and I wish in this paper to advance nothing but reliable facts. I squandered precious time in reading the advertis.e.m.e.nts of baby-jumpers--which no mother should be without--which are indispensable in the nursery and the greatest acquisition in the parlour, the greatest discovery of modern times, etc., etc. I perused a notice of the advantage of metallic brushes, and admired the young lady with her hair white on one side and black on the other; I studied the Chinese letter commendatory of Horniman"s tea and the inferior English translation, and counted up the number of agents in Great Britain and Ireland. At length the ticket-office opened, and I booked for Ha.s.socks Gate, second cla.s.s, fare one shilling.
I ran along the platform till I came to the compartment of the second-cla.s.s carriage which I wanted. The door was locked, so I shouted for a guard.
"Put me in here, please."
"Can"t there, s"r; next, please, nearly empty, one woman and baby."
"I particularly wish to enter _this_ carriage," said I.
"Can"t be, lock"d, orders, comp"ny," replied the guard, turning on his heel.
"What reason is there for the public"s being excluded, may I ask?"
"Dn"ow, "spress ord"rs--c"n"t let you in; next caridge, pl"se; now then, quick, pl"se."
I knew the guard and he knew me--by sight, for I often travelled to and fro on the line, so I thought it best to be candid with him. I briefly told him my reason for making the request, and begged him to a.s.sist me in executing my plan. He then consented, though with reluctance.
""Ave y"r own way," said he; "only if an"thing "appens, don"t blame me!"
"Never fear," laughed I, jumping into the carriage.
The guard left the carriage unlocked, and in two minutes we were off.
I did not feel in the slightest degree nervous. There was no light in the carriage, but that did not matter, as there was twilight. I sat facing the engine on the left side, and every now and then I looked out at the downs with a soft haze of light still hanging over them. We swept into a cutting, and I watched the lines of flint in the chalk, and longed to be geologising among them with my hammer, picking out "shepherds" crowns" and sharks" teeth, the delicate rhynconella and the quaint ventriculite. I remembered a not very distant occasion on which I had actually ventured there, and been chased off by the guard, after having brought down an avalanche of chalk debris in a manner dangerous to traffic whilst endeavouring to extricate a magnificent ammonite which I found, and--alas! left--protruding from the side of the cutting. I wondered whether that ammonite was still there; I looked about to identify the exact spot as we whizzed along; and at that moment we shot into the tunnel.
There are two tunnels, with a bit of chalk cutting between them. We pa.s.sed through the first, which is short, and in another moment plunged into the second.
I cannot explain how it was that _now_, all of a sudden, a feeling of terror came over me; it seemed to drop over me like a wet sheet and wrap me round and round.
I felt that _someone_ was seated opposite me--someone in the darkness with his eyes fixed on me.
Many persons possessed of keen nervous sensibility are well aware when they are in the presence of another, even though they can see no one, and I believe that I possess this power strongly. If I were blindfolded, I think that I should know when anyone was looking fixedly at me, and I am certain that I should instinctively know that I was not alone if I entered a dark room in which another person was seated, even though he made no noise. I remember a college friend of mine, who dabbled in anatomy, telling me that a little Italian violinist once called on him to give a lesson on his instrument. The foreigner--a singularly nervous individual--moved restlessly from the place where he had been standing, casting many a furtive glance over his shoulder at a press which was behind him. At last the little fellow tossed aside his violin, saying--
"I can note give de lesson if someone weel look at me from behind! Dare is somebodee in de cupboard, I know!"
"You are right, there is!" laughed my anatomical friend, flinging open the door of the press and discovering a skeleton.
The horror which oppressed me was numbing. For a few moments I could neither lift my hands nor stir a finger. I was tongue-tied. I seemed paralysed in every member. I fancied that I _felt_ eyes staring at me through the gloom. A cold breath seemed to play over my face. I believed that fingers touched my chest and plucked at my coat. I drew back against the part.i.tion; my heart stood still, my flesh became stiff, my muscles rigid.
I do not know whether I breathed--a blue mist swam before my eyes, and my head span.
The rattle and roar of the train dashing through the tunnel drowned every other sound.
Suddenly we rushed past a light fixed against the wall in the side, and it sent a flash, instantaneous as that of lightning, through the carriage. In that moment I saw what I shall never, never forget. I saw a face opposite me, livid as that of a corpse, hideous with pa.s.sion like that of a gorilla.
I cannot describe it accurately, for I saw it but for a second; yet there rises before me now, as I write, the low broad brow seamed with wrinkles, the s.h.a.ggy, over-hanging grey eyebrows; the wild ashen eyes, which glared as those of a demoniac; the coa.r.s.e mouth, with its fleshy lips compressed till they were white; the profusion of wolf-grey hair about the cheeks and chin; the thin, bloodless hands, raised and half-open, extended towards me as though they would clutch and tear me.
In the madness of terror, I flung myself along the seat to the further window.
Then I felt that _it_ was moving slowly down, and was opposite me again.
I lifted my hand to let down the window, and I touched something: I thought it was a hand--yes, yes! it _was_ a hand, for it folded over mine and began to contract on it. I felt each finger separately; they were cold, dully cold. I wrenched my hand away. I slipped back to my former place in the carriage by the open window, and in frantic horror I opened the door, clinging to it with both my hands round the window-jamb, swung myself out with my feet on the floor and my head turned from the carriage. If the cold fingers had but touched my woven hands, mine would have given way; had I but turned my head and seen that h.e.l.lish countenance peering out at me, I must have lost my hold.
Ah! I saw the light from the tunnel mouth; it smote on my face. The engine rushed out with a piercing whistle. The roaring echoes of the tunnel died away. The cool fresh breeze blew over my face and tossed my hair; the speed of the train was relaxed; the lights of the station became brighter. I heard the bell ringing loudly; I saw people waiting for the train; I felt the vibration as the brake was put on. We stopped; and then my fingers gave way. I dropped as a sack on the platform, and then, then--not till then--I awoke. There now! from beginning to end the whole had been a frightful dream caused by my having too many blankets over my bed. If I must append a moral--Don"t sleep too hot.
ON THE LEADS
Having realised a competence in Australia, and having a hankering after country life for the remainder of my days in the old home, on my return to England I went to an agent with the object of renting a house with shooting attached, over at least three thousand acres, with the option of a purchase should the place suit me. I was no more intending to buy a country seat without having tried what it was like, than is a king disposed to go to war without knowing something of the force that can be brought against him. I was rather taken with photographs of a manor called Fernwood, and I was still further engaged when I saw the place itself on a beautiful October day, when St. Luke"s summer was turning the country into a world of rainbow tints under a warm sun, and a soft vaporous blue haze tinted all shadows cobalt, and gave to the hills a stateliness that made them look like mountains. Fernwood was an old house, built in the shape of the letter H, and therefore, presumably, dating from the time of the early Tudor monarchs. The porch opened into the hall which was on the left of the cross-stroke, and the drawing-room was on the right. There was one inconvenience about the house; it had a staircase at each extremity of the cross-stroke, and there was no upstair communication between the two wings of the mansion. But, as a practical man, I saw how this might be remedied. The front door faced the south, and the hall was windowless on the north. Nothing easier than to run a corridor along at the back, giving communication both upstairs and downstairs, without pa.s.sing through the hall. The whole thing could be done for, at the outside, two hundred pounds, and would be no disfigurement to the place. I agreed to become tenant of Fernwood for a twelvemonth, in which time I should be able to judge whether the place would suit me, the neighbours be pleasant, and the climate agree with my wife. We went down to Fernwood at once, and settled ourselves comfortably in by the first week in November.
The house was furnished; it was the property of an elderly gentleman, a bachelor named Framett, who lived in rooms in town, and spent most of his time at the club. He was supposed to have been jilted by his intended, after which he eschewed female society, and remained unmarried.
I called on him before taking up our residence at Fernwood, and found him a somewhat blase, languid, cold-blooded creature, not at all proud of having a n.o.ble manor-house that had belonged to his family for four centuries; very willing to sell it, so as to spite a cousin who calculated on coming in for the estate, and whom Mr. Framett, with the malignity that is sometimes found in old people, was particularly desirous of disappointing.
"The house has been let before, I suppose?" said I.
"Oh, yes," he replied indifferently, "I believe so, several times."