登陆注册
5384900000002

第2章

If this should meet the eye of the gentleman who favored me with these disclosures, I trust he will excuse my confessing that the sight of the rising sun, and the contemplation of the magnificent Order of the vast Universe, made me impatient of them. In a word, I was so impatient of them, that I was mightily glad to get out at the next station, and to exchange these clouds and vapors for the free air of Heaven.

By that time it was a beautiful morning. As I walked away among such leaves as had already fallen from the golden, brown, and russet trees; and as I looked around me on the wonders of Creation, and thought of the steady, unchanging, and harmonious laws by which they are sustained; the gentleman's spiritual intercourse seemed to me as poor a piece of journey-work as ever this world saw. In which heathen state of mind, I came within view of the house, and stopped to examine it attentively.

It was a solitary house, standing in a sadly neglected garden: a pretty even square of some two acres. It was a house of about the time of George the Second; as stiff, as cold, as formal, and in as bad taste, as could possibly be desired by the most loyal admirer of the whole quartet of Georges. It was uninhabited, but had, within a year or two, been cheaply repaired to render it habitable; I say cheaply, because the work had been done in a surface manner, and was already decaying as to the paint and plaster, though the colors were fresh. A lop-sided board drooped over the garden wall, announcing that it was "to let on very reasonable terms, well furnished." It was much too closely and heavily shadowed by trees, and, in particular, there were six tall poplars before the front windows, which were excessively melancholy, and the site of which had been extremely ill chosen.

It was easy to see that it was an avoided house--a house that was shunned by the village, to which my eye was guided by a church spire some half a mile off--a house that nobody would take. And the natural inference was, that it had the reputation of being a haunted house.

No period within the four-and-twenty hours of day and night is so solemn to me, as the early morning. In the summer-time, I often rise very early, and repair to my room to do a day's work before breakfast, and I am always on those occasions deeply impressed by the stillness and solitude around me. Besides that there is something awful in the being surrounded by familiar faces asleep--in the knowledge that those who are dearest to us and to whom we are dearest, are profoundly unconscious of us, in an impassive state, anticipative of that mysterious condition to which we are all tending--the stopped life, the broken threads of yesterday, the deserted seat, the closed book, the unfinished but abandoned occupation, all are images of Death. The tranquillity of the hour is the tranquillity of Death. The color and the chill have the same association. Even a certain air that familiar household objects take upon them when they first emerge from the shadows of the night into the morning, of being newer, and as they used to be long ago, has its counterpart in the subsidence of the worn face of maturity or age, in death, into the old youthful look. Moreover, I once saw the apparition of my father, at this hour. He was alive and well, and nothing ever came of it, but I saw him in the daylight, sitting with his back towards me, on a seat that stood beside my bed. His head was resting on his hand, and whether he was slumbering or grieving, I could not discern. Amazed to see him there, I sat up, moved my position, leaned out of bed, and watched him. As he did not move, I spoke to him more than once. As he did not move then, I became alarmed and laid my hand upon his shoulder, as I thought--and there was no such thing.

For all these reasons, and for others less easily and briefly statable, I find the early morning to be my most ghostly time. Any house would be more or less haunted, to me, in the early morning; and a haunted house could scarcely address me to greater advantage than then.

I walked on into the village, with the desertion of this house upon my mind, and I found the landlord of the little inn, sanding his door-step. I bespoke breakfast, and broached the subject of the house.

"Is it haunted?" I asked.

The landlord looked at me, shook his head, and answered, "I say nothing."

"Then it IS haunted?"

"Well!" cried the landlord, in an outburst of frankness that had the appearance of desperation--"I wouldn't sleep in it."

"Why not?"

"If I wanted to have all the bells in a house ring, with nobody to ring 'em; and all the doors in a house bang, with nobody to bang 'em; and all sorts of feet treading about, with no feet there; why, then," said the landlord, "I'd sleep in that house."

"Is anything seen there?"

The landlord looked at me again, and then, with his former appearance of desperation, called down his stable-yard for "Ikey!"

The call produced a high-shouldered young fellow, with a round red face, a short crop of sandy hair, a very broad humorous mouth, a turned-up nose, and a great sleeved waistcoat of purple bars, with mother-of-pearl buttons, that seemed to be growing upon him, and to be in a fair way--if it were not pruned--of covering his head and overrunning his boots.

"This gentleman wants to know," said the landlord, "if anything's seen at the Poplars."

"'Ooded woman with a howl," said Ikey, in a state of great freshness.

"Do you mean a cry?"

"I mean a bird, sir."

"A hooded woman with an owl. Dear me! Did you ever see her?"

"I seen the howl."

"Never the woman?"

"Not so plain as the howl, but they always keeps together."

"Has anybody ever seen the woman as plainly as the owl?"

"Lord bless you, sir! Lots."

"Who?"

"Lord bless you, sir! Lots."

"The general-dealer opposite, for instance, who is opening his shop?"

"Perkins? Bless you, Perkins wouldn't go a-nigh the place. No!" observed the young man, with considerable feeling; "he an't overwise, an't Perkins, but he an't such a fool as THAT."

(Here, the landlord murmured his confidence in Perkins's knowing better.)

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 吝啬爷太腹黑:捡个逗比屌妃

    吝啬爷太腹黑:捡个逗比屌妃

    。简介:【当逗比女屌遇上吝啬男神,她在古代叼霸天,他则宠她宠上天。】一岁时,把他手指当奶瓶咬,三岁时,把他宝贝瓶子摔碎,还能瞪着萌大大无辜的眼睛看着他,五岁,把他宝贝银票当白纸撕,八岁,杀了他未婚妻,霸道对所有人宣言,他是她的!十岁,不仅烧山,还烧他金库,十五岁,带着男朋友来见他,某男终于发飙了,所有见过她的只要是雄性,都神秘失踪,某女继续刷新他极限,半路拜师,云游四海,某男霸气将她扑之,“宠儿,知恩图报知不知道!”(新书发布,绝对萌萌哒宠文,日更四章,时间允许日更一万!)
  • 在夹缝中生存

    在夹缝中生存

    本书阐述了适者生存、生存智慧、处事与做人、生存与尊严、在逆境中崛起、突出重围、永不言败、在夹缝中求生存等生存哲理和指导方法。
  • 穿越之芦花美

    穿越之芦花美

    从爷爷辈开始就生活在城市里的芦米穿越了,这一世芦米生活在从祖宗辈开始就是面朝黄土背朝天的农村家庭。远离城市污染,芦花觉得生活的还挺惬意的。不过人往高处走,总是要有所奋斗的。酒楼当厨子,入股当股东,发家致富不是梦啊!
  • 晨露

    晨露

    有一种情感轻轻撩拨我,像羽毛飘拂,又似音乐缠绕。这种情感是从十多年前的那一天开始的,慢慢地,它由陌生变得熟悉,由轻微变得强烈,甚至在我每天由忙忙碌碌烦烦杂杂走向一丝宁静时,它也会从我身边的任何一个地方悄然出现。当我凝眸面对什么时,它犹如一股轻烟似地氤氲而起,游丝般飘出,又杳无声息地消失。而我竟不由自主地被这种情丝牵扯着,有时莫名其妙地失望,莫名其妙地默哀,莫名其妙地忧愁,甚至莫名其妙地陷入一种长久的孤独之中。这是一种复杂的情感。我现在这样认为。那时我十岁,想一想该是一九七四年的那个夏天了。
  • 九灵问道

    九灵问道

    “浩然....!”一似仙一般的女子满身沾满了鲜血,手中颤抖的搭在一炳黑金色长剑上。“月儿别哭了,生于剑死于剑是我最好的结局”黑色长衣男子用苍白的手刮去女子脸上的泪水。“我死了以后把这对剑封印丢进洛河,照顾好自己…咳…咳”女子抱起黑色长衣男子玉手一挥三把剑冲天而起突然转折颤抖鸣响了一会儿还是飞刺过去“噗..噗..噗”三把剑贯穿了两具躯体!“浩然!你要去哪我陪着你”血红色的衣裙迎风而起“这样也好……”说完温柔的亲吻着怀中人的红唇,两人化作光雨直上九天……三把剑轰鸣似乎在述说某种悲伤突然三柄剑剑身一横相撞在一起,天地失色电闪雷鸣黑、金、红、紫四色包裹着三柄残剑划破虚空一直穿梭这不知度过了多少年…………
  • 写意周流

    写意周流

    好古以成文,但求片安之地,至于旁人眼光,谁顾?
  • 换种方式与孩子沟通

    换种方式与孩子沟通

    很多父母与孩子的沟通是失败的、无效的,就是因为他们运用的方式是消极的,他们习惯用命令、教训、呵斥、指责、责骂的方式去沟通。今后一定要彻底改掉以前那种家长作风式的无效沟通方式,换种方式与孩子沟通,充分考虑到与孩子思想观念的差异,多站在孩子的角度上考虑问题。
  • 为啥男二总想和我抢老婆

    为啥男二总想和我抢老婆

    前名《快穿:boss别病娇》『我存了一些稿,不知道现在还有没有人看,有人看的话留言一下,我会发的。』免费文/文渣/不看可以但别恶意差评。不是1:1!不是身心干净文!不接受反驳!不爱看请点击删除!脾气超差的作者,谨慎入坑(不接受差评)。不定时更新,欢迎催更。/这一世,以后的生生世世都有我。漠七无语的翻了个白眼:“果然一开始就不该遇见你!”男人亲昵的抱起她,磁性的声音在耳边响起:“那以后就多有打扰了……”无论生死,我都不会再放过你了。
  • 凡人修真

    凡人修真

    一个资质差的与修道几乎无缘的男孩,一次偶然的机会,拜一个奇能异士为师,被这位高人改变了体质,又通过自身的努力修炼,开始了自己的逆天旅途,为后世留下了无数的传奇神话!
  • 积极心态引领成功(学生心理健康悦读)

    积极心态引领成功(学生心理健康悦读)

    积极的心态会促进你的心理健康和生理健康,延长你的寿命,而消极的心态会逐渐破坏你的心理健康和生理健康,缩短你的寿命。拥有积极心态的人像太阳,走到哪里哪里亮,拥有消极心态的人像月亮,初一十五不一样。这说明只有和积极牵手,成为它的朋友,你才能通向成功的站点。