The Haunting

by Raymond M Hall

  Inside the courthouse, the air was thick with chatter as the villagers discussed the case. They loved a good show and jeered Hugh as he was brought in manacled at wrists and ankles. He made for a miserable sight as he shuffled into the dock. The magistrate read out the charge and looked balefully at Hugh.

  ‘Guilty or not guilty?’ He roared across the room.

  Hugh jumped at the loud voice and stammered that he was most certainly not guilty.

  Rose was called as the only witness and took the stand, grateful that Lilly and Luke were unable to be summoned. The magistrate looked at her kindly, noting her condition which Rose made sure she accentuated for the proceedings. She went on to detail meticulously the attack on her by Hugh and maintained he was in a jealous rage at the time.

  ‘Jealous of what, young lady?’ Asked the magistrate in a soft voice.

  Rose put on her little girl voice and explained that Hugh had found out about the affair between her father and Hugh’s wife.

  Hugh roused at this news.

  ‘What! I never knew that, and I don’t believe it anyway.’

  The magistrate banged his gavel and told him to keep quiet; he would have his chance later.

  ‘How do you know that?’ He asked, in a soft, soothing voice once again.

  I saw them together, Sir, on more than one occasion, in the bedroom.’ Rose said, almost lisping.

  Hugh jumped up again, ‘More than once you say!’ He exclaimed.

  ‘Sit down!’ Shouted the magistrate. Then added in a softer tone, ‘Carry on, young lady.’

  Rose went on to describe in graphic detail the occasions when Hugh had assaulted her, embellishing as she went according to the bounds of her imagination which were limitless. She forced tears to cascade down her cheeks as she described how he had forced her to accede to his demands, sobbing uncontrollably at the end of her evidence.

  Hugh, sitting in the dock turned pale as the apparent facts built against him. He squirmed with frustration at not being able to defend himself, each time he made to stand he was met with the baleful glare of the bewigged magistrate who was clearly much affected by Rose’s tearful evidence.

  The courtroom descended into a hushed silence as Rose, at last, left the witness box, a few polite coughs the only sound. Both judge and audience had been suitably convinced of Hugh’s guilt before he even had a chance to take the stand.

  Rose went to the rear of the small courtroom and sat down, eyes cast to the floor.

  The Justice could barely speak as the emotion engendered by Rose threatened to choke him.

  ‘The court will adjourn for an hour.’ He managed to say, bringing his gavel down on the bench with a crash, startling everyone.

  The courtroom emptied out into the yard, people gathering in small groups to discuss the case and give vent to their own judgements.

  Hugh was led away to the cells in chains, slowly shaking his head from side to side, wondering what he had done to deserve this treatment.

  Exactly one hour later the trial resumed. Hugh was taken directly to the witness box and sat down, the rattle of his chains adding to the noise in the room.

  The gavel crashed down once again, and the room became hushed.

  ‘The accused will stand!’ Roared the magistrate.

  Hugh stood up, accompanied by the clanking of his chains and faced the magistrate, now fully recovered from the harrowing tale delivered by Rose.

  Without any preamble, he spoke,

  ‘You are under oath, sir, to tell the truth, have you ever had sex with this girl?’

  Hugh, startled, began to explain the interlude in the room behind the oven, but the magistrate shouted him down,

  ‘Enough, sir, I have now heard with my own ears that you admit to having sex with this young girl. On more than one occasion by her appearance today!’

  This comment brought jeers and catcalls from the onlookers who had already prejudged poor Hugh. His shoulders slumped in defeat; Rose had done for him. She had described every detail of his alleged attacks including a lurid description of his anatomy. How else could she have described him so candidly if he had not done the deed for which he was now standing accused? Hugh recognised now why she had thrown herself on him in that miserable little room at the bakery.

  Rose sat with her head bowed, sobbing. If nothing else she was a supreme actress. The magistrate called for silence once again, bringing the courtroom to order with yet another loud crash of the gavel.

  He addressed Hugh directly,

  ‘I need to hear no more; you are by your own words as guilty as sin. You will be taken to a place of execution where you will be hanged by the neck until you are dead, and may God have mercy on your soul.’

  He brought the gavel down, and Hugh’s fate was sealed. His head dropped dramatically as he realised the penalty was to be carried out immediately; there was no hope for him.

  Rose watched as he was led away, without a hint of sorrow or compassion on her face,

  Hugh was escorted through the crowd of onlookers to the local gallows, secured with a rope as a tether. However, they never reached it because some wag in the crowd suggested that a Lower Marston felon should be hanged in his own village. The crowd all cheered in agreement, and the men in charge of the execution had no alternative but to move with the swirling mob. Hugh was made to suffer the indignity of being led down the road, walking the three miles in chains amongst the laughing crowd to Lower Marston.

  He looked sadly at his house as the crowd steered him to the gallows standing opposite. A rope was produced and a slip knot placed around his neck. There was no ceremony or preacher in attendance to afford him any comfort. Hugh was hoisted up by several men on the end of the rope. Once his feet were clear of the ground it was made fast, and he was left dangling only inches from the ground, able to stare straight into the faces of the jeering mob. His feet made cycling movements in a futile effort to stay alive but soon became still.

  The people watching became sombre as his body relaxed into death and slowly wandered off heading back to Upper Marston. One of the last to leave wrestled the boots off the dead man’s feet and tying the laces together strung them around his neck, whistling as he strode to catch up with the crowd. As the penalty demanded, Hugh would be left on the gallows until his body fell to the ground from natural decay, as a warning to others.

  Rose made her way home later, wanting to avoid the macabre scene of Hugh’s execution, believing that he had met his end on the gallows behind the courthouse. The path was now clear for her, Hugh would be dead by now on the gallows behind her in the town and Luke would almost certainly be crippled if not dead already. Only Lilly remained to mar her happiness. Rose already thought of herself as the owner of the bakery and with the small fortune she had hidden away her life would be complete. Robin was an oaf but robust and manageable. If only she could marry him, then her plans would be complete.

  She approached the bakery as dusk was turning to night and stopped at the entrance. There, across the road, the gallows bore testimony to Hugh’s end. She was shocked to see him, believing him to have been dispatched in the village behind her, but she stared up into his unseeing eyes with not one ounce of sadness; to Rose, men were a means to an end, she didn’t like men, any of them.

  Robin was waiting in the kitchen,

  ‘I suppose you saw him then?’ He announced.

  ‘Your father? Yes, I saw him.’

  ‘He wasn’t my father as you well know. Mine was Seth Bishop, the original owner here.’ Robin stated matter of factly.

  ‘Yes, well it would have been simpler if he had been your real father then we could be married.’ She retorted.

  Robin put his head on one side deep in thought, still trying to come to terms with his lineage and why he was not able to marry Rose. She shrugged her shoulders not bothering to go through it all again; it was a useless exercise with him. Instead, she pointed in the direction of the bakery.

  ‘Come on we have work to do if we are to meet
tomorrow’s orders.’

  Robin put his hand on the front of her dress,

  ‘Couldn’t we go upstairs first, just for a while?’

  She pushed his hand roughly away,

  ‘When I say and only when I say, now get over to the oven and make sure it’s well fed!' As an afterthought, she added, ‘I hope you raked all the old fire out, we don’t want another explosion.’

  He deferred to her superiority,

  ‘Well, yes, I have, but there was more than ash in there.’

  Rose looked at him sideways,

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘There were bones, lots of bones and the remnants of a skull, an old belt buckle too.’

  ‘Probably a dog, maybe one of the owners disposed of his dead animals by burning them?’ She said.

  Robin put his head to one side, a habit which never ceased to annoy her, he looked like a dog himself whenever he struck that pose,

  ‘Not unless they had a dog with a human head.’ He said, satisfied with the look of consternation he had caused her. One up for him and he didn’t get to score very often.

  She went to say something, but he forestalled her,

  ‘Buried them all behind the bakery.’ He said, mentally counting up to two in the points war.

  Two weeks later to the day Lilly arrived home with Luke. She had been obliged to hire a man with a cart to bring them both home and asked Rose for money to pay him off. Rose gave over the coins begrudgingly and casually asked after her father.

  ‘He is still very ill.’ Lilly said, ‘I shall need Robin’s help to get him upstairs. The physician gave me ointment and bandages aplenty, so I shall care for him.’

  She had been so intent on Luke and his comfort or the lack thereof she hadn’t taken any notice of the new occupant on the gallows.

  ‘What happened over the road?’ Lilly asked.

  ‘It’s Hugh. The magistrate ordered him hanged.’ Said Rose, impassionately.

  Lilly put her hand to her mouth in disbelief,

  ‘Hugh, no, surely not?’

  ‘Well, he did rape me!’ She exclaimed.

  ‘Never, never would he have laid a finger on you!’ Exclaimed Lilly; feeling guilty herself as she recalled her vociferous condemnation of Hugh in the heat of the moment when Luke had been burnt.

  Rose became more animated as she sensed things were not going her way,

  ‘He had me in that little room at the back of the oven after you and Robin had taken Luke away. I only went in to see if he was alright and he screamed at me about you and Luke having an affair behind his back. He said the least he could do was to have Luke’s daughter and grabbed me. He was far too strong and had me there and then even though Robin had shackled him.’

  Her tirade had the ring of truth to it even though Lilly knew her to be a scheming little bitch and capable of anything, any lie to get her way.

  Lilly made her way over the road and looked up at her husband, poor, kindly Hugh. The birds had already made a meal of his eyes, and he looked down at her through sightless sockets, the gore still staining his cheeks. She cried gently at the injustice of it all. Looking up at him she knew for certain in her own heart that he would never have raped Rose, he was a kindly man, and she felt remorse over having deceived him with Luke for so long. Both men in her world had suffered, one at the end of a rope while the other would wear his disfigurement for the rest of his life if he survived at all.

  She wished with all he heart that she could have been at the trial to defend Hugh, but it was not to be.

  Luke stirred as both women looked down at him. Lilly spoke first, might as well get it over with now,

  ‘Hugh is dead, they hanged him.’

  Luke looked up at them,

  ‘He was a good man.’ He managed to say.

  Rose couldn't stand the piousness any longer.

  ‘A good man you say? Good enough for you to sleep with his wife behind his back for all these past years.’

  Lilly recoiled at this blatant attack,

  ‘Rose, for heaven’s sake, your father is a sick man, leave him be.’

  Luke looked up into Rose’s face as he spoke,

  ‘I am not your father; your real father raped your mother, my sweet Mary and I brought you up as I promised her I would. Your father was a villain, a vicious killer and user of young girls. Mary died giving birth to you so he in effect killed her through you, his own daughter. I have watched you every day from the time you were a baby. You have his ways, not mine or your mother’s. Now you resemble him in both thought and deed. You are not my daughter!’

  With that Luke collapsed back and fell into an exhausted sleep.

  Lilly looked disparagingly at Rose.

  ‘So, you and my son are the perfect match after all, both offspring of evil men.’

  Rose said nothing, thinking instead that all that had occurred, all that she had brought about had been entirely unnecessary. She and Robin could have married without impediment. Still could, in fact.

  Rose went to find Robin; she would tell him of the change of circumstances although she doubted he would be able to comprehend any of it.

  Lilly went back to the scaffold and looked at the body of Hugh once more; his death had been entirely unnecessary, brought about by that sick girl Rose who would now become her daughter in law. She sobbed gently as she begged him for forgiveness for her sinful relationship with Luke.

  She was not entirely alone with Hugh. As his body swayed gently in the evening breeze, a small figure stood beside her. She couldn’t see him. Otherwise, she would have wondered how his neck had become so deformed, and his head lay over to one side.

  Lilly knew she would be unable to stay on at the bakery. Sooner or later both her and Luke’s life would be considered a hindrance, and she would always have to look out for Rose and Robin, especially her son, who would do anything Rose asked of him, including, she suspected murder.

  She would nurse Luke until he could be moved safely and without too much pain, then they could both flee, to where or indeed how she didn’t yet know.

  As the weeks passed, Luke did become stronger. His face was a mask of burned skin out of which his eyes shone brightly. Inside his strength had returned and with it, his spirit but his looks were gone forever. He showed himself to no one outside the bakery fearing their pitying looks, staying upstairs in the bedroom or sitting in a wing backed chair in the kitchen with the back facing towards the door in case any unexpected visitors should arrive. All that could be seen was the soft blue smoke from his pipe spiralling up to the low ceiling.

  Lilly’s opportunity came as her son and Rose planned their wedding. The pregnancy was evident for all to see but she was determined to give the child a name and save it from the disgrace of being a bastard. They were to be married in Upper Marston in a simple civil ceremony, and neither Luke nor Lilly were invited. Luke would never have shown his face anyway, and Lilly would not leave him alone in the house, so they didn’t even say goodbye when the happy couple made their way out to the road to begin their new life together. A marriage forged in hell thought Lilly as the pair disappeared around the corner.

  Quickly she made her way to the bakery and into the small room at the rear. She had been spying on Rose and knew exactly where the tin trunk was kept containing all their hard-earned money, made mostly by the diligence of Luke and Hugh. Now the bakery barely covered costs as the quality and amount of the loaves produced had fallen to an all time low. She prised up the loose bricks which made up the floor underneath the bed and opened the trunk. It was never locked for which she was eternally grateful. The trunk was two thirds full of coin, almost all in gold. She placed half of the contents into a leather bag and replaced the trunk and the covering bricks. Luke had been prepared since early morning and now stood ready in the kitchen. He wore a loose dark blanket around his shoulders which he could pull over his face to hide the disfigurement. Together, they hurried out of the house and onto the road leading South. They would be well
on their way before the bride and groom returned. They knew full well Robin would insist on drinking in the inn afterwards and even Rose could not control him after that. They would have time to get clear, and although they were on foot, the bakery still did not possess a horse on which Robin could pursue them.

  The walk to the next town was necessarily slow and arduous, but on arriving, they were able to board a coach heading for London almost immediately. Luke sank into the padded upholstery gratefully, his face shielded from the other travellers with the blanket. There were a few curious stares from the other passengers, but they soon began to doze, lulled by the constant motion of the coach.

  Arriving in London, they felt safe. They both knew the pair left behind would be furious at their sudden departure, but Rose’s ire would be extreme when she discovered the missing money. Lilly hoped she wouldn’t have cause to look into the trunk until Luke and herself were hidden away somewhere. They spent a week in a cheap inn on the Western outskirts of the city, realising that they could not make a life there. The money simply wouldn’t last, and Luke had no way of working. There was even less chance of Lilly finding gainful employment, washing other people's clothes was her only avenue, and it was hard work and paid very little. The more Luke thought about their predicament, the more attractive Virginia, in the colonies became. He knew the folks there, Ben and the others, would take pity on them and would provide some accommodation and food, however, meagre.

  They set out one rainy and cold morning on the road to Bristol. The coach began the journey fast enough but soon slowed dramatically as the road turned to mud. The horses struggled to pull the big coach finding it ever harder to keep their footing.

  There was only one other passenger in the coach, a middle aged man who was skinny of stature and drawn in the face. While Luke dozed, hidden by the blanket, Lilly became uncomfortably aware of the man opposite staring at her. She tried to look away, but each time her eyes returned to the front he was there, looking at her. She thought to engage him in conversation, maybe that would stop the uncomfortable feeling but far from helping it merely exacerbated the problem. He now began talking freely and smiling, but it wasn’t a friendly smile. He reminded her of Seth, a man only interested in what pleased himself and with the morals of a dog. She gently jabbed Luke in the ribs to wake him and was rewarded by a sigh from within the blanket. With his face in darkness from the cover, Luke looked out blearily at the passenger opposite.