"No one has ever done that," replied Polly, "but when there is moonlight they say the shadows can be seen pa.s.sing over the gra.s.s, and any New-Year"s night you may hear the huntsman"s horn."
"I should like amazingly to hear it," replied the young man. "Have you ever heard this horn?"
"I have heard A horn," the girl answered, with some reluctance.
"On New-Year"s night between twelve and one?" he pursued.
"Of course--but I can"t swear it was blown by a ghost. My brothers or some one may have been playing tricks. You can sit up to-night and listen for yourself if you want."
"Nothing I should like better," exclaimed Harold. "Will you sit up too?"
"Oh yes. We always wait to see the Old Year out and the New Year in. Come, Mr. Hayes, it"s almost luncheon-time," she added, glancing at her watch; and they turned back toward the house, which was just visible through the leafless trees.
Harold walked at her side in silence. He had heard a ghost-story, but the words he had hoped to speak that day were still unuttered.
Loud were the pleadings, when the little ones" bedtime came, that they might be allowed to sit up to see the Old Year die; but Mrs.
Connolly was inexorable. The very young ones were sent off to bed at their usual hour.
Cards and music pa.s.sed the time pleasantly till the clock was almost on the stroke of twelve. Then wine was brought in, and healths were drunk, and warm, cheerful wishes were uttered, invoking all the blessings that the New Year might have in store. Hands were clasped and kisses were exchanged. Harold would willingly have been included in this last ceremony, but that might not be. However, he could and did press Polly"s hand very warmly, and the earnestness of the wishes he breathed in her ear called a bright colour to her cheek. Then came good-night, and the young American"s heart grew strangely soft when he found himself included in Mrs. Connolly"s motherly blessing. He thought he had never seen a happier, a more united family.
The party was breaking up; some had retired; others were standing, bedroom candlesticks in their hands, exchanging a last word, when suddenly, out of the silence of the night, the melodious notes of a huntsman"s horn echoed through the room. Harold recalled the legend, and paused at the door, mute and wondering.
Jack and his father exchanged glances.
"Now which of you"s tryin" to humbug us this year?" asked the old man, laughing, while Jack looked round and proceeded, as he said, to "count noses."
This was a useless attempt, for half the party that had sat up to wait for the New Year had already disappeared.
d.i.c.k sprang to the window and threw it open, but the night was cloudy and dark.
Again came the notes of the horn, floating in through the open window, and almost at the same moment there was a sound of hoofs crunching the gravel of the drive as a dozen or more animals swept past at wild gallop.
"This is past a joke," cried Jack. "I never heard of the old hunt materializing in any such way as this."
They rushed to the front door--Jack, Mr. Connolly, all of them.
Harold reached it first. Wrenching it open, he stood on the step, while the others crowded about him and peered out into the night.
Only darkness, rendered mirker by the lights in the hall; and from the distance, fainter now, came the measured beat of the galloping hoofs.
No other sound? Yes, a long-drawn, quivering, piteous sigh; and as their eyes grew more accustomed to the night, out of the darkness something white shaped itself--something p.r.o.ne and helpless, lying on the gravel beneath the lowest step. They did not stop to speculate as to what it might be. With a single impulse, Jack and Harold sprang down, and between them they carried back into the hall the inanimate body of Polly Connolly.
Her eyes were closed and her face was as white as the muslin dress she wore. Clutched in her right hand was a hunting-horn belonging to d.i.c.k. It was evident that the girl had stolen out un.o.bserved to reproduce--perhaps for the visitor"s benefit--the legendary notes of the phantom huntsman. This was a favorite joke among the young Connollys, and scarcely a New-Year"s night pa.s.sed that it was not practised by one or other of the large family; but what had occurred to-night? Whence came those galloping hoofs, and what was the explanation of Polly"s condition?
The swoon quickly yielded to the usual remedies, but even when she revived it was some time before the girl could speak intelligibly.
Her voice was broken by hysterical sobs; she trembled in every limb. It was evident that her nerves had received a severe shock.
While the others were occupied with Polly, d.i.c.k had stepped out on the gravel sweep, where he was endeavouring, by close examination, to discover some clue to the puzzle. Suddenly he ran back into the house.
"Something"s on fire!" he cried. "I believe it"s the yard."
They all pressed to the open door--all except Mrs. Connolly, who still busied herself with her daughter, and Harold, whose sole interest was centred in the girl he loved.
Above a fringe of shrubbery which masked the farm-yard, a red glow lit up the sky. It was evident the buildings were on fire. And even while they looked a man, half dressed, panting, smoke-stained, dashed up the steps. It was Tom Neil, one of the Emergency men.
These men slept in the yard, in the quarters vacated by the deserting coachman. In a few breathless words the big, raw-boned Ulsterman told the story of the last half-hour.
He and his comrade Fergus had been awakened by suspicious sounds in the yard. Descending, they had found the cattle-shed in flames.
Neil had forced his way in and had liberated and driven out the terrified bullocks. The poor animals, wild with terror, had burst from the yard and galloped off in the direction of the house. This accounted for the trampling hoofs that had swept across the lawn, but scarcely for Polly"s terrified condition. A country-bred girl like Miss Connolly would not lose her wits over the spectacle of a dozen fat oxen broken loose from their stalls. Had the barn purposely burned, and had the girl fallen in with the retreating incendiaries?
It seemed likely. No one there doubted the origin of the fire, and Mr. Connolly expressed the general feeling as he shook his head and murmered:
"I mistrusted that they wouldn"t let us get them cattle out o" the country without some trouble."
"But where is Fergus?" demanded Jack, suddenly.
"Isn"t he here?" asked the Ulsterman. "When we seen the fire he started up to the big house to give the alarm, while I turned to to save the bullocks."
"No, he never came to the house," answered Jack, and there was an added gravity in his manner as he turned to his brother.
"Get a lantern, d.i.c.k. This thing must be looked into at once."
While the boy went in search of a light, Mr. Connolly attempted to obtain from his daughter a connected statement of what had happened and how much she had seen; but she was in no condition to answer questions. The poor girl could only sob and moan and cover her face with her hands, while convulsive tremblings shook her slight figure.
"Oh, don"t ask me, papa; don"t speak to me about it. It was dreadful--dreadful. I saw it all."
This was all they could gain from her.
"Don"t thrubble the poor young lady," interposed old Peter, compa.s.sionately. "Sure, the heart"s put acra.s.s in her wid the fright. Lave her be till mornin"."
There seemed nothing else to be done, so Polly was left in charge of her mother and sister, while the men, headed by d.i.c.k, who carried a lantern, set out to examine the grounds.
There was no trace of Fergus between the house and the farm-yard.
The lawn was much cut up by the cattle, for the frost had turned to rain early in the evening, and a rapid thaw was in progress. The ground was quite soft on the surface, and it was carefully scrutinised for traces of footsteps, but nothing could be distinguished among the hoof-prints of the bullocks.
In the yard all was quiet. The fire had died down; the roof of the cattle-shed had fallen in and smothered the last embers. The barn was a ruin, but no other damage had been done, and there were no signs of the missing man.
They turned back, this time making a wider circle. Almost under the kitchen window grew a dense thicket of laurel and other evergreen shrubs. d.i.c.k stooped and let the light of the lantern penetrate beneath the overhanging branches.
There, within three steps of the house, lay Fergus, pale and blood-stained, with a sickening dent in his temple--a murdered man.
Old Peter Dwyer was the first to break the silence: "The Lord be good to him! They"ve done for him this time, an" no mistake."
The lifeless body was lifted gently and borne toward the house.
Harold hastened in advance to make sure that none of the ladies were astir to be shocked by the grisly sight. The hall was deserted.
Doubtless Polly"s condition demanded all their attention.
"The girl saw him murdered," muttered Mr. Connolly. "I thought it must have been something out of the common to upset her so."
"D" ye think did she, sir?" asked old Peter, eagerly.