CHAPTER X.
This was Christmas Eve; the snow was falling briskly. After dinnerthey were glad to cluster round the large fire in the greendrawing-room. Dr. Masham had promised to read the evening service inthe chapel, which was now lit up, and the bell was sounding, that thecottagers might have the opportunity of attending.
Plantagenet and Venetia followed the elders to the chapel; they walkedhand-in-hand down the long galleries.
'I should like to go all over this house,' said Plantagenet to hiscompanion. 'Have you ever been?'
'Never,' said Venetia; 'half of it is shut up. Nobody ever goes intoit, except mamma.'
In the night there was a violent snowstorm; not only was the fallextremely heavy, but the wind was so high, that it carried the snowoff the hills, and all the roads were blocked up, in many placesten or twelve feet deep. All communication was stopped. This was anadventure that amused the children, though the rest looked rathergrave. Plantagenet expressed to Venetia his wish that the snow wouldnever melt, and that they might remain at Cherbury for ever.
The children were to have a holiday this week, and they had plannedsome excursions in the park and neighbourhood, but now they were allprisoners to the house. They wandered about, turning the staircaseinto mountains, the great hall into an ocean, and the different roomsinto so many various regions. They amused themselves with theiradventures, and went on endless voyages of discovery. Every momentPlantagenet longed still more for the opportunity of exploring theuninhabited chambers; but Venetia shook her head, because she was sureLady Annabel would not grant them permission.
'Did you ever live at any place before you came to Cherbury?' inquiredLord Cadurcis of Venetia.
'I know I was not born here,' said Venetia; 'but I was so young that Ihave no recollection of any other place.'
'And did any one live here before you came?' said Plantagenet.
'I do not know,' said Venetia; 'I never heard if anybody did. I, I,'she continued, a little constrained, 'I know nothing.'
'Do you remember your papa?' said Plantagenet.
'No,' said Venetia.
'Then he must have died almost as soon as you were born, said LordCadurcis.
'I suppose he must,' said Venetia, and her heart trembled.
'I wonder if he ever lived here!' said Plantagenet.
'Mamma does not like me to ask questions about my papa,' said Venetia,'and I cannot tell you anything.'
'Ah! your papa was different from mine, Venetia,' said Cadurcis; 'mymother talks of him often enough. They did not agree very well; and,when we quarrel, she always says I remind her of him. I dare say LadyAnnabel loved your papa very much.'
'I am sure mamma did,' replied Venetia.
The children returned to the drawing-room, and joined their friends:Mrs. Cadurcis was sitting on the sofa, occasionally dozing over asermon; Dr. Masham was standing with Lady Annabel in the recess ofa distant window. Her ladyship's countenance was averted; she wasreading a newspaper, which the Doctor had given her. As the dooropened, Lady Annabel glanced round; her countenance was agitated; shefolded up the newspaper rather hastily, and gave it to the Doctor.
'And what have you been doing, little folks?' inquired the Doctor ofthe new comers.
'We have been playing at the history of Rome,' said Venetia, 'and nowthat we have conquered every place, we do not know what to do.'
'The usual result of conquest,' said the Doctor, smiling.
'This snowstorm is a great trial for you; I begin to believe that,after all, you would be more pleased to take your holidays at anotheropportunity.'
'We could amuse ourselves very well,' said Plantagenet, 'if LadyAnnabel would be so kind as to permit us to explore the part of thehouse that is shut up.'
'That would be a strange mode of diversion,' said Lady Annabel,quietly, 'and I do not think by any means a suitable one. There cannotbe much amusement in roaming over a number of dusty unfurnishedrooms.'
'And so nicely dressed as you are too!' said Mrs. Cadurcis, rousingherself: 'I wonder how such an idea could enter your head!'
'It snows harder than ever,' said Venetia; 'I think, after all, Ishall learn my French vocabulary.'
'If it snows to-morrow,' said Plantagenet, 'we will do our lessons asusual. Holidays, I find, are not so amusing as I supposed.'
The snow did continue, and the next day the children voluntarilysuggested that they should resume their usual course of life. Withtheir mornings occupied, they found their sources of relaxation ample;and in the evening they acted plays, and Lady Annabel dressed them upin her shawls, and Dr. Masham read Shakspeare to them.
It was about the fourth day of the visit that Plantagenet, loiteringin the hall with Venetia, said to her, 'I saw your mamma go into thelocked-up rooms last night. I do so wish that she would let us gothere.'
'Last night!' said Venetia; 'when could you have seen her last night?'
'Very late: the fact is, I could not sleep, and I took it into my headto walk up and down the gallery. I often do so at the abbey. I like towalk up and down an old gallery alone at night. I do not know why; butI like it very much. Everything is so still, and then you hear theowls. I cannot make out why it is; but nothing gives me more pleasurethan to get up when everybody is asleep. It seems as if one were theonly living person in the world. I sometimes think, when I am a man, Iwill always get up in the night, and go to bed in the daytime. Is notthat odd?'
'But mamma!' said Venetia, 'how came you to see mamma?'
'Oh! I am certain of it,' said the boy; 'for, to tell you the truth, Iwas rather frightened at first; only I thought it would not do for aCadurcis to be afraid, so I stood against the wall, in the shade, andI was determined, whatever happened, not to cry out.'
'Oh! you frighten me so, Plantagenet!' said Venetia.
'Ah! you might well have been frightened if you had been there; pastmidnight, a tall white figure, and a light! However, there is nothingto be alarmed about; it was Lady Annabel, nobody else. I saw her asclearly as I see you now. She walked along the gallery, and went tothe very door you showed me the other morning. I marked the door; Icould not mistake it. She unlocked it, and she went in.'
'And then?' inquired Venetia, eagerly.
'Why, then, like a fool, I went back to bed,' said Plantagenet. 'Ithought it would seem so silly if I were caught, and I might not havehad the good fortune to escape twice. I know no more.'
Venetia could not reply. She heard a laugh, and then her mother'svoice. They were called with a gay summons to see a colossalsnow-ball, that some of the younger servants had made and rolled tothe window of the terrace-room. It was ornamented with a crown ofholly and mistletoe, and the parti-coloured berries looked bright in astraggling sunbeam which had fought its way through the still-loadedsky, and fell upon the terrace.
In the evening, as they sat round the fire, Mrs. Cadurcis begantelling Venetia a long rambling ghost story, which she declared wasa real ghost story, and had happened in her own family. Suchcommunications were not very pleasing to Lady Annabel, but she was toowell bred to interrupt her guest. When, however, the narrative wasfinished, and Venetia, by her observations, evidently indicatedthe effect that it had produced upon her mind, her mother took theoccasion of impressing upon her the little credibility which shouldbe attached to such legends, and the rational process by which manyunquestionable apparitions might be accounted for. Dr. Masham,following this train, recounted a story of a ghost which had beengenerally received in a neighbouring village for a considerableperiod, and attested by the most veracious witnesses, but which wasexplained afterwards by turning out to be an instance of somnambulism.Venetia appeared to be extremely interested in the subject; sheinquired much about sleep-walkers and sleepwalking; and a great manyexamples of the habit were cited. At length she said, 'Mamma, did youever walk in your sleep?'
'Not to my knowledge,' said Lady Annabel, smiling; 'I should hopenot.'
'Well, do you know,' said Plantagenet, who had hitherto listened insilence, 'it is very c
urious, but I once dreamt that you did, LadyAnnabel.'
'Indeed!' said the lady.
'Yes! and I dreamt it last night, too,' continued Cadurcis. 'I thoughtI was sleeping in the uninhabited rooms here, and the door opened, andyou walked in with a light.'
'No! Plantagenet,' said Venetia, who was seated by him, and who spokein a whisper, 'it was not--'
'Hush!' said Cadurcis, in a low voice.
'Well, that was a strange dream,' said Mrs. Cadurcis; 'was it not,Doctor?'
'Now, children, I will tell you a very curious story,' said theDoctor; 'and it is quite a true one, for it happened to myself.'
The Doctor was soon embarked in his tale, and his audience speedilybecame interested in the narrative; but Lady Annabel for some timemaintained complete silence.