"Have you found her?" Monsieur and Madame Armande cried, catching hold of him in their agitation, and dragging him into the hall.
Alphonse nodded. "Let me sit down a moment first," he gasped. "It will give me time to collect my senses. My nerves are all to pieces!"
He sank into a chair, and, burying his face in his hands, shook convulsively. Monsieur and Madame Armande stood and watched him in agonized silence. After some minutes--to the Armandes it seemed an eternity--spent in this fashion, Alphonse raised his head. "Your servant," he said, "came to my house at nine o"clock and asked if Mademoiselle Constance was with me. I said "No," that I had not seen her all day, and was much alarmed when I was informed that she had left home early in the afternoon and had not yet returned. I said I would join in the search for her, and was in my bedroom putting on my overcoat, when there came a tap at my door, and Jacques, my valet, with a face as white as a sheet, begged me to go with him upstairs. He led me to the door of my mother"s room, where she lay in her coffin, not yet screwed down.
"Hark!" he whispered, touching me on the sleeve, "do you hear that?"
"I listened, and from the interior of the room came a curious noise like munching--a steady gnaw, gnaw, gnaw. "I heard it just now," he whispered, "when I was going to shut the landing window--and other sounds, too. Hush!"
"I held my breath, and heard distinctly the swishing and rustling of a dress.
""Have you been in?" I asked.
"He shook his head. "I daren"t," he whispered. "I wouldn"t go in by myself if you were to offer me a million pounds," and he trembled so violently that he had to lean against me for support.
"A great terror then seized me, and bidding Jacques follow, I crept downstairs and summoned the rest of the servants. Armed with sticks and lights, we then went in a body to my mother"s room, and throwing open the door, rushed in.
"The lid of the coffin was off, the corpse was lying huddled up on the floor, and crouching over it was Constance. For G.o.d"s sake don"t ask me to describe more--the sounds we heard explained everything. When she saw us she emitted a series of savage snarls, sprang at one of the maids, scratched her in the face, and before we could stop her, flew downstairs and out into the street. As soon as our shocked senses had sufficiently recovered we started off in pursuit, but have not been able to find the slightest trace of her."
At the conclusion of Monsieur Mabane"s story the search was continued.
The police were summoned, and a general hue and cry raised, with the result that Constance was eventually found in a cemetery digging frantically at a newly made grave.
At last brought to bay in the chase that ensued, fortunately for her and for all concerned, she plunged into a river, was swept away by the current, and drowned.
This case of Constance Armande seems to me to be clearly a case of ghoulism. What the spiritualist had told her was correct--she had projected herself unconsciously, and the hideous things she imagined were phantoms in a dream were Elementals--ghouls--her projected spirit encountered on the superphysical plane.
After sundry efforts to steal her body when she was thus separated from it, one of them had at length succeeded, and, incarcerated in her beautiful frame, had hastened to satisfy its craving for human carrion.
CHAPTER IX
WERWOLVES IN GERMANY
No country in the world is richer in stories of everything appertaining to the supernatural than Germany. The Rhine is the favourite river of nymphs and sirens, to whose irresistible and fatal fascinations so many men have fallen victims. Along its sh.o.r.es are countless haunted castles, in its woods innumerable terrifying phantoms.
The werwolf, however, seems to have confined itself almost entirely to the Harz Mountains, where it was formerly most common and more dreaded than any other visitant from the Unknown. But of these werwolves many of the best authenticated cases have been told so often, that it is difficult for me to alight on any that is not already well known.
Perhaps the following, though as striking as any, may be new to at least a few of my readers.
THE CASE OF HERR h.e.l.lEN AND THE WERWOLVES OF THE HARZ MOUNTAINS
Two gentlemen, named respectively h.e.l.len and Schiller, were on a walking tour in the Harz Mountains, in the early summer of the year 1840, when Schiller, slipping down, sprained his ankle and was unable to go on.
They were some miles from any village, in the centre of an extensive forest, and it was beginning to get dark.
"Leave me here," cried the injured man to his friend, "while you see if you can discover any habitation. I have been told these woods are full of charcoal-burners" and wood-cutters" huts, so that if you walk straight ahead for a mile or two, you are very likely to come across one. Do go, there"s a good fellow, and if you are too tired to return yourself, send some one to carry me."
h.e.l.len did not like leaving his comrade in such a dreary spot, alone and helpless, but as Schiller was persistent he at length yielded, and stepping briskly out, advanced along the track that had brought them hither. Once or twice he halted, fancying he heard voices, and several times his heart pulsated wildly at what he took to be the cry of a wolf--for neither Schiller nor he had no weapons excepting sheath-knives. At last he came to an open spot hedged in on all sides by gloomy pines, the shadows from which were beginning to fall thick and fast athwart the vivid greensward. It was one of those places--they are to be found in pretty nearly every country--studiously avoided by local woodsmen as the haunt of all manner of evil influences. h.e.l.len recognized it as such the moment he saw it, but as it lay right across his path, and time was pressing, he had no alternative but to keep boldly on. He was half-way across the spot when he was startled by a groan, and looking in the direction of the sound, he saw a man seated on the ground endeavouring to bandage his hand. Wondering why he had not observed him before, but thankful to meet some one at last, h.e.l.len went up to him and asked what was the matter.
"I"ve broken my wrist," the man replied. "I was gathering sticks for my fire to-morrow when I heard the howl of a wolf, and in my anxiety to escape a conflict with the brute I climbed this tree. As I descended one of the branches gave way, and I fell down with all my weight on my right arm. Will you see if you can bind it for me? I"m a bit awkward with my left hand."
"I will do my best," h.e.l.len said, and kneeling beside the man, he took off the bandages and wrapped them round again. "There," he exclaimed, "I think that is better--at least it is the best I can do."
The stranger was now most profuse in his thanks, and when h.e.l.len informed him of Schiller"s condition, at once cried out, "You must both come to my cottage; it is only a short distance from here. Let us hasten thither now, and my daughter, who is very strong, shall go back with you and help you carry your friend. We are not rich, but we can make you both fairly comfortable, and all we have shall be at your disposal. But I wonder if you know what you have incurred by coming to this spot at this hour?"
"Why, no," h.e.l.len said, laughing. "What?"
"The gratification of two wishes--the first two wishes you make! Of course, you will say it is all humbug, but, believe me, very queer things do happen in this forest. I have experienced them myself."
"Well!" h.e.l.len replied, laughing more heartily than before, "if I wish anything at all it is that my wife were here to see how beautifully I have bandaged your wrist."
"Where is your wife?" the stranger inquired.
"At Frankfort, most likely taking a final peep at the children in bed before retiring to rest herself!" h.e.l.len said, still laughing.
"Then you have children!" the stranger e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, evidently interested.
"Yes, three--all girls--and such bonny girls, too. Marcella, Christina, and Fredericka. I wish I had them here for you to see."
"I should much like to see them, certainly," the stranger said. "And now you have told me so much of interest about yourself, let me tell you something of my own history in exchange. My name is Wilfred Gaverstein.
I am an artist by profession, and have come to live here during the summer months in order to paint nature--nature as it really is--in all its varying moods. Nature is my only G.o.d--I adore it. I don"t believe in souls. I love the trees and flowers and shrubs, the rivulets, the fountains, the birds and insects."
"Everything but the wolves!" h.e.l.len remarked jocularly. Hardly, however, had he spoken these words before he had reason to alter his tone. "Great heavens! do you hear that?" he cried. "There is no mistake about it this time. It is a wolf, or may I never live to hear one again."
"You are right, friend," Wilfred said. "It is a wolf, and not very far away, either. Come, we must be quick," and thrusting his arm through that of h.e.l.len, he hurried him along. After some minutes" fast walking they came in sight of a neatly thatched whitewashed cottage, at the entrance to which two women and several children were collected. "That"s my home," Wilfred said.
"And that"s my wife!" h.e.l.len cried, rubbing his eyes to make sure he was not dreaming. "G.o.d in heaven, what"s the meaning of it all? My wife and children--all three of them! Am I mad?"
"It is merely the answer to your wishes," Wilfred rejoined calmly. "See, they recognize you and are waving."
As one in a sleep h.e.l.len now staggered forward, and was soon in the midst of his family, who, rushing up to him, implored him to explain what had happened, and how on earth they came to be there.
"I am just as much at sea as you are," h.e.l.len said, feeling them each in turn to make sure it was really they. "It"s an insoluble mystery to me."
"And to us, too," they all cried. "A few minutes ago we were in our beds in Frankfort, and then suddenly we found ourselves here--here in this dreadful looking forest. Oh, take us away, take us home, do!"
h.e.l.len was in despair. It was all like a hideous nightmare to him. What was he to do?
"You must be my guests for to-night, at all events," Wilfred said; "and in the morning we will discuss what is to be done. Fortunately we have enough room to accommodate you all. There is food in abundance. Let me introduce you to my daughter Marguerite," and the next moment h.e.l.len found himself shaking hands with a girl of about twenty years of age.
She was clad in what appeared to be a travelling dress, deeply bordered with white fur, and wore a most becoming cap of white ermine. Her feet were shod in long, pointed, and very elegant buckskin shoes, adorned with bright silver buckles. Her hair, which was yellow and glossy, was parted down the middle, and waved in a most becoming fashion low over the forehead and ears; and her features--at least so h.e.l.len thought--were very beautiful. Her mouth, though a trifle large, had very daintily cut lips, and was furnished with unusually white and even teeth. But there was a peculiar furtive expression in her eyes, which were of a very pretty shape and colour, that aroused h.e.l.len"s curiosity, and made him scrutinize her carefully. Her hands were noticeably long and slender, with tapering fingers and long, almond-shaped, rosy nails, that glittered each time they caught the rays of the fast fading sunlight. h.e.l.len"s first impression of her was that she was marvellously beautiful, but that there was a something about her that he did not understand--a something he had never seen in anyone before, a something that in an ugly woman might have put him on his guard, but in this face of such surpa.s.sing beauty a something he seemed only too ready to ignore. h.e.l.len was a good, and up to the present, certainly, a faithful husband, but he was only a man after all, and the more he looked at the girl the more he admired her.
At a word from Wilfred, Marguerite smilingly led the way indoors, and showed the guests two bedrooms, small but exquisitely clean. There was a double bed in one, and two single ones in the other. The bed-linen was of the very finest material, and white as snow.
"I think," Wilfred remarked, "two of the girls can squeeze in one bed--they are neither of them very big--though it does my heart good to see them so bonny."
"And mine, too," Marguerite joined in, patting the three children on the cheeks in turn, and drawing them to her and caressing them.
Mrs. h.e.l.len, still dazed, and apparently hardly realizing what was happening, stammered out her thanks, and the party then descended to the kitchen to partake of a substantial supper that was speedily prepared for them.