The Complete Northanger Horrid Novel Collection (9 Books of Gothic Romance and Horror)

by Eliza Parsons

  "The Lieutenant grew fainter and fainter from the loss of blood, and all my endeavours to stop it were fruitless. At length my servant, whom I had sent to town, arrived with a coach and a surgeon, who declared that the wound was of no consequence, and, having dressed it, we conducted my friend to his apartments.

  "On our arrival we were told that the Baron with his second had been arrested as they had entered the town gate, but nobody could tell us who had been the informer. The auditor of the regiment made his appearance soon after, and examined me strictly, yet he assured me that we had nothing to fear. "It is known," added he, "that your friend has not been the aggressor."

  "When I begged him to tell me the name of that informer, he paused awhile and then replied,

  "Well! I will tell you to whom you owe that kind service, he is no more here; it was Volkert, the noted Serjeant of Colonel R----"s regiment."

  "Volkert!" exclaimed I, the words dying on my lips.

  "The auditor affirmed it and left me. I followed him to the door, inquiring whether Volkert had said anything else.

  "I don't think he has," replied he, "he departed this morning on the recruiting business, and before he left the town has told the governor, that a foreign officer, a notorious wrangler, had challenged Lieutenant C----, and that they were going to fight a duel this morning. The governor ordered a file of soldiers to arrest you, but they were too late. When Baron T---- returned to town, he was arrested along with his second. That is all I know of the matter."

  "I returned to my wounded friend in a pensive mood, not knowing what to think of Volkert's strange proceedings. I was inclined to look upon this step as a proof of his concern for my friend's safety, yet I could not conceive why he had not given earlier notice to the governor, having known the hour when the duel was to be fought.

  "The wound of my friend was not dangerous, and he was able to go abroad after the tenth day, when he went to the governor to make his submission. Having expected to be condemned at least to four weeks" confinement, he was surprised when that gentleman, who was known to be very rigorous, dismissed him with a slight reprimand. Our General took not least notice of the whole transaction, and Baron T---- returned to his garrison after having been arrested four weeks. All our brother officers spoke highly of his noble behaviour, telling us that he had rejected all the proposals of his relations to interfere in his behalf.

  "However," added the Austrian, "I will not abuse your patience any longer, and here conclude my wonderful tale, thinking to have fully proved my paradoxical opinions, by the account I have given you of Volkert's experiment, and I thank you cordially for your kind attention to my long mysterious narrative; you will excuse my prolixity, having been desirous to give you a faithful account of that strange man. Although I am not able to clear up his character in a more satisfactory manner, yet I am convinced that you now will believe that spirits can appear to the eye of mortals."

  "Here he ended, seeming to care little what sensations his odd tale might have produced in the mind of his hearers. The serious tone in which he had been speaking, and the high respect we bore him, prevented us from making our observations on his tale; I, for my part, could not help thinking it very extraordinary and fabulous, yet I could not harbour the least mistrust in the narrator's veracity, in despite of the struggles of reason, being fully convinced of his honesty. My design of relating to him our adventures at the Haunted Castle began now to ripen, and I was determined to catch the first opportunity that should offer to impart to him my secret.

  "The other officers sat in dumb silence, seeming to ponder how to abide by their first opinion without opposing their reverend antagonist: "It is a pity," one of them exclaimed at last, after a long solemn silence, "it is a pity that Volkert is not present, for I am sure he would convince us also, by ocular proofs, of a matter which bears such evident marks of impossibility, in the eye of the impartial friend of truth. I do not in the least suspect your veracity, being fully persuaded that you are convinced by your own experience of a reality of the strange incident you have related; yet you will not take it unkind if I assure you, that my reason will prevent me from becoming a convert to your opinions, until I shall have been an ocular witness of an experiment of that kind."

  "The Austrian replied not a word to that speech, but rose and took up his hat in dumb silence.

  "But, pray sir," resumed another, "have you had no further account of Volkert? did he never return from his recruiting business?"

  "He is dead," replied the Austrian.

  "Dead!" we repeated with one voice.

  "He is," repeated the veteran, coolly, "he met with a sad misfortune in the second year of his employment; ten of his best recruits gave him the slip, and, being called to an account for his negligence, he fell a victim of wild despair, blowing his own brains out."

  "A sad exit for a Necromancer," resumed he who had put the question to the Austrian.

  "But a common one with gentlemen of that line," added another, rather forward.

  "The Austrian gave him a stern, scornful look.

  "I wish Volkert was still alive," said he who lodged at the haunted inn, "I wish he was still alive, he soon would restore tranquillity to the house of my landlord, and put a stop to the disagreeable talk that is rumoured about, and so hurtful to the poor man."

  "The Austrian made a silent bow to the company, and left the room. I followed him with hasty steps, and, coming up with him, accosted him respectfully. "You will excuse the liberty I am going to take to request of you a private hearing, wishing to impart to you something."

  "That I will hear to-morrow," interrupted he drily, and went away.

  "The night being far advanced I went to my lodging. I awoke with the first dawn of day, arose, and, having put on my clothes, waited with impatience till it should strike eight o'clock, at which hour I intended to pay a visit to the Austrian. It was about five o'clock when I got up, and the seeming slow progress of time was very painful to me. At length the wished-for hour arrived, and I went with hasty steps to the veteran's lodging. He received me as he was wont to do, with great kindness, giving me a pipe, and after I had lighted it he asked me what my pleasure was?

  "After some circumlocution I broke the matter to him, giving him a full account of our adventures at the Haunted Castle. He listened with great attention to my tale, and hinting, at the conclusion of it, that I wished he would assist me in unfolding that mysterious matter, he looked seriously at me without uttering a word. Having waited some time for his answer with anxious impatience, he arose, and walked up and down the room in profound meditation.

  "Friend," said he at last, after a long and painful silence, "what reason have you to engage in that dangerous undertaking?"

  "I have no other motive," replied I, "than to chastise the impostors, and to deliver my servant from their clutches."

  "He shook his head: "Are you certain," resumed he at length, after a short pause, "that your servant has not been associated with those nightly sportsmen?"

  "I stared at him and replied, after having meditated awhile, "No, it is impossible, the fellow was too honest; and what motive----" -- "You are right," interrupted he, "it cannot have been a preconcerted plan."

  "He walked again up and down the room in a pensive mood, and then exclaimed suddenly in a determined tone, "Well, I will be one of the party, and, if you like, we will set off instantly."

  "I eagerly accepted his proposal, and having put in readiness everything necessary, we agreed to depart in the evening. He proposed to take one of his serjeants with him, and I resolved to do the same. I returned to my lodging against noon, highly pleased with my success, in order to prepare myself for a speedy departure.

  "We left F---- at eight o'clock in the evening; nobody was privy to our design, and our serjeants fancied we were going on business, wondering very much how recruiting officers in the service of two different princes could act thus in concord. But on the road we undeceived them, and were much rejoiced that our hoary vetera
ns did not dislike our enterprise.

  "Three days after our departure from F---- we arrived within a small distance from the place of our destination, without having met with any sinister accident.

  "We were now on the skirts of the Black Forest, but could see no village; the spot where the houses leading to the castle had began was deeply impressed on my memory. I showed to my fellow traveller the rivulet, on the borders of which the old man had been sitting when we first had met him; we looked about for the houses but we could find none. I did not know what to think of the matter.

  "Pursuing our route, we ascended a rising ground. Gracious heaven! how was I shocked when I at once beheld a heap of ruins on the spot where the village had stood! We could still trace the marks of conflagration. In the background we saw only a few miserable huts left, and a little further distant the castle presented itself to our view. We gazed at each other in dumb astonishment, and the Austrian alighted; I and our two hoary veterans did the same, and we climbed, after much difficulty, over the heap of ruins. As we approached the few remaining houses, the inhabitants came running towards us covered with rags, and exhibiting pale, woe-worn countenances. I never beheld such a horrid picture of wretchedness and misery;--they wrung their hands, crying for alms, and wept bitterly.

  "Having distributed money amongst them, I inquired when that misfortune had happened. "Alas!" groaned they, "who should have thought, when your honour left us, that you ever would see us in such a miserable state? We are all ruined; all our little property has been consumed by the flames. Good heaven! how shall we keep our little helpless babes from starving?"

  "Repeating my question, when that terrible accident had happened, the poor unfortunate people told me their village had been set on fire the day after we had left them.

  "Dreadful apprehensions filled my soul, and the Austrian's looks seemed to confirm them.

  "When I inquired after my former host, I was told that he had lost his life in the flames. "The fire," said the poor people, "broke out suddenly, in different places, in the dead of night; they had not been able to save their property, and a great number of the inhabitants, with their cattle, had perished in the flames." This horrid tale made my blood run chill, being convinced that I had been the primary cause of that dreadful event.

  "As we entered one of the miserable huts, we were met by the lamentations of people half-naked; they all recollected me, receiving me with hideous groans. All my money was not sufficient to comfort the unhappy sufferers, but I divided it willingly amongst them, feeling an inward pleasure in being able to ease at least their sufferings a little. The Austrian, smiling at me, followed my example as far as the expenses of our journey would admit.

  "At last I ventured to inquire after the Haunted Castle; the poor sufferers shuddered at the question, telling me, without reserve, that they did not doubt that the last visit we had paid to that abode of horror had drawn upon them the dreadful ire of the revengeful spirits, which I in vain wished to be able to contradict. Unwilling to behold any longer the marks of sorrow and distress so deeply imprinted on the faces around me, and stung to the heart by the tormenting thought to have partly contributed, by my idle curiosity, to provoke the lurking tempest of woe that had thus cruelly crushed the earthly happiness of the wretched villagers, I hastily inquired for the next village, they showed us the way, and we bade them farewell with a bleeding heart, riding away in full speed.

  "But, alas! I could not escape the hideous spectre of self-reproach, pursuing me with icy fangs. The scene of misery which my eyes had witnessed hovered constantly before my gloomy fancy, the groans of woe which I had heard still vibrated in my ears, the haggard looks of these unhappy people, undone by my heedlessness, stared me in the face ever and anon, and I struggled in vain to shake off the grisly spectre pursuing me with unrelenting resentment. "How comfortless and miserable is the man," said I to myself, "whom conscience accuses of having plunged into the gaping gulph of misery a fellow-creature!"

  "The Austrian saw the painful workings of my soul, kindly striving to dispel the gloomy clouds hovering over my brow. "How can you accuse yourself," spoke the reverend veteran, "of having been, though involuntarily, accessory to the fatal blow that has thus cruelly destroyed the happiness of these people, whose fate you are bemoaning? It was the high decree of a superior power, that rules the fate of man. The ways of the All-wise are ever good and just, though surrounded sometimes with impenetrable darkness. Men are but tools in the hand of Providence, and never ought to murmur against the Father of the universe. It is not you who have destroyed the happiness of these poor sufferers; your heart is good, and you could not foresee the dreadful consequences of your juvenile rashness; cheer up, young man, and trust to the Supreme Ruler of all things, that he knows best what is good and fit; he produces light from the womb of darkness, and leads sometimes his children to greater bliss over the thorny path of misery and woe."

  "I listened with eager attention to the soothing speech of comfort flowing from the reverend lips of my sage companion, and a heavy load was taken from my heart; when he had finished, the clouds of gloominess dispersed by degrees, and a ray of cheerfulness darted through my mind. After half an hour's ride we beheld a large village before us; we agreed to wait there the setting in of night, and then to visit the Haunted Castle secretly.

  "Our host could not, or perhaps would not, answer our inquiries concerning the desolated castle, and we endeavoured in vain to know whether the mighty sportsmen were still housing there or not; my serjeant went abroad to get some information, and was so fortunate as to draw from the schoolmaster of the village as much as we wanted to know; returning after an hour with the corroboration of our suspicion, that the spirits residing at the castle had set fire to the desolated village, and that they since that time had forsaken their former abode.

  "Although the latter part of his intelligence gave us but little hope that we should succeed in our design to unfold the mystery of the ruinous castle, yet we determined to make at least a trial, the Austrian being very desirous to explore the noted building, and we went all four to the Haunted Castle as soon as it was dark.

  "We arrived at the gloomy fabric after a short walk, lighted some torches we had brought with us from F----, entered the court-yard, and ascended the spiral staircase; the Austrian searched every corner, and I found all the rooms in their former condition, the seats and the table we had constructed were still as we had left them, unmoved, untouched.

  "When the Austrian had carefully searched everything, we descended the stairs leading to the cellar, but found the iron door strongly fastened as before. We entered the garden, searching and prying round, till we at length espied the aperture of the cavern through which we had effected our escape from the grisly jaws of a lingering death. The hollow sound of our footsteps re-echoed horribly through the dreary subterraneous abode as we entered, and the light of our torches reflected grisly from the damp mossy walls of the deep and narrow passage.

  "Stepping into the ruinous stable, we espied, with pleasure, the hole in the boards through which the Baron had fallen down, and detected in one of the corners a ladder, and above the place where it was standing a trap-door. Having ascended the ladder, I opened the half-decayed door, with one violent push, and entered with my fellow-adventurers the well-known spacious apartment, leaping over the gaping opening where the boards had given way. Looking around we beheld several small iron doors, one of which flew open at the first push of the Austrian, and presented to our eyes the avenue of a damp arched vault, from which a stone staircase led to that part of the fabric which faced the cellar door.

  "Without stopping there, we pursued our way to the large folding door leading to the great hall under ground, but found it strongly bolted on the inside, and all our hopes of farther discovery were blasted at once. We made the utmost efforts to disengage the massy door from its rusty hinges, but all our labour was lost, its strength proved superior to our united endeavours of forcing it.

  "W
hile we were standing before that door, consulting whether we should go back or not, we heard suddenly a distant noise, as if a lock was opening, and soon after a folding door seemed to fly open, with a hideous creaking, which instantly was followed by a terrible noise of numerous steps as if people in boots were descending. When the noise drew nearer, we could distinguish the clattering of many spurs, and the harsh voices of men; the whole subterraneous cavern was at length filled with a most tremendous noise, and we gazed at each other rather pleased than frightened, being four vigorous men, used to danger, provided with four sabres and as many brace of double-barrelled pistols. The Austrian, standing nearest to the door, retained his equanimity unimpaired and, ere long, a hollow voice, like the distant rolling of thunder, exclaimed, "Come hither with the booty." A confused bustle ensued, the tinkling of money was heard, some quarrelled and some cursed and scolded, but were soon reconciled. At length the bustle ceased, a door was opened close by us, and money locked up in a chest. Meanwhile the following discourse took place in the unknown assembly.

  " To-morrow we will waylay the gentlemen of Norrinberg, and ease them of their golden burthen. I trust you will behave like men, my jolly boys! It would be a pity if they should give us the slip once more.

  " By holy Peter! they shall not escape.

  " They shall not, they shall not.