CHAPTER VII.
THE VISIT TO THE VAULT OF THE BANNERWORTHS, AND ITS UNPLEASANTRESULT.--THE MYSTERY.
Henry and his brother roused Flora, and after agreeing together that itwould be highly imprudent to say anything to her of the proceedings ofthe night, they commenced a conversation with her in encouraging andkindly accents.
"Well, Flora," said Henry, "you see you have been quite undisturbedto-night."
"I have slept long, dear Henry."
"You have, and pleasantly too, I hope."
"I have not had any dreams, and I feel much refreshed, now, and quitewell again."
"Thank Heaven!" said George.
"If you will tell dear mother that I am awake, I will get up with herassistance."
The brothers left the room, and they spoke to each other of it as afavourable sign, that Flora did not object to being left alone now, asshe had done on the preceding morning.
"She is fast recovering, now, George," said Henry. "If we could now butpersuade ourselves that all this alarm would pass away, and that weshould hear no more of it, we might return to our old and comparativelyhappy condition."
"Let us believe, Henry, that we shall."
"And yet, George, I shall not be satisfied in my mind, until I have paida visit."
"A visit? Where?"
"To the family vault."
"Indeed, Henry! I thought you had abandoned that idea."
"I had. I have several times abandoned it; but it comes across my mindagain and again."
"I much regret it."
"Look you, George; as yet, everything that has happened has tended toconfirm a belief in this most horrible of all superstitions concerningvampyres."
"It has."
"Now, my great object, George, is to endeavour to disturb such a stateof things, by getting something, however slight, or of a negativecharacter, for the mind to rest upon on the other side of the question."
"I comprehend you, Henry."
"You know that at present we are not only led to believe, almostirresistibly that we have been visited here by a vampyre but that thatvampyre is our ancestor, whose portrait is on the panel of the wall ofthe chamber into which he contrived to make his way."
"True, most true."
"Then let us, by an examination of the family vault, George, put an endto one of the evidences. If we find, as most surely we shall, the coffinof the ancestor of ours, who seems, in dress and appearance, so horriblymixed up in this affair, we shall be at rest on that head."
"But consider how many years have elapsed."
"Yes, a great number."
"What then, do you suppose, could remain of any corpse placed in a vaultso long ago?"
"Decomposition must of course have done its work, but still there mustbe a something to show that a corpse has so undergone the process commonto all nature. Double the lapse of time surely could not obliterate alltraces of that which had been."
"There is reason in that, Henry."
"Besides, the coffins are all of lead, and some of stone, so that theycannot have all gone."
"True, most true."
"If in the one which, from the inscription and the date, we discover tobe that of our ancestor whom we seek, we find the evident remains of acorpse, we shall be satisfied that he has rested in his tomb in peace."
"Brother, you seem bent on this adventure," said George; "if you go, Iwill accompany you."
"I will not engage rashly in it, George. Before I finally decide, I willagain consult with Mr. Marchdale. His opinion will weigh much with me."
"And in good time, here he comes across the garden," said George, as helooked from the window of the room in which they sat.
It was Mr. Marchdale, and the brothers warmly welcomed him as he enteredthe apartment.
"You have been early afoot," said Henry.
"I have," he said. "The fact is, that although at your solicitation Iwent to bed, I could not sleep, and I went out once more to search aboutthe spot where we had seen the--the I don't know what to call it, for Ihave a great dislike to naming it a vampyre."
"There is not much in a name," said George.
"In this instance there is," said Marchdale. "It is a name suggestive ofhorror."
"Made you any discovery?" said Henry.
"None whatever."
"You saw no trace of any one?"
"Not the least."
"Well, Mr. Marchdale, George and I were talking over this projectedvisit to the family vault."
"Yes."
"And we agreed to suspend our judgments until we saw you, and learnedyour opinion."
"Which I will tell you frankly," said Mr. Marchdale, "because I know youdesire it freely."
"Do so."
"It is, that you make the visit."
"Indeed."
"Yes, and for this reason. You have now, as you cannot help having, adisagreeable feeling, that you may find that one coffin is untenanted.Now, if you do find it so, you scarcely make matters worse, by anadditional confirmation of what already amounts to a strong supposition,and one which is likely to grow stronger by time."
"True, most true."
"On the contrary, if you find indubitable proofs that your ancestor hasslept soundly in the tomb, and gone the way of all flesh, you will findyourselves much calmer, and that an attack is made upon the train ofevents which at present all run one way."
"That is precisely the argument I was using to George," said Henry, "afew moments since."
"Then let us go," said George, "by all means."
"It is so decided then," said Henry.
"Let it be done with caution," replied Mr. Marchdale.
"If any one can manage it, of course we can."
"Why should it not be done secretly and at night? Of course we losenothing by making a night visit to a vault into which daylight, Ipresume, cannot penetrate."
"Certainly not."
"Then let it be at night."
"But we shall surely require the concurrence of some of the churchauthorities."
"Nay, I do not see that," interposed Mr. Marchdale. "It is the vaultactually vested in and belonging to yourself you wish to visit, and,therefore, you have right to visit it in any manner or at any time thatmay be most suitable to yourself."
"But detection in a clandestine visit might produce unpleasantconsequences."
"The church is old," said George, "and we could easily find means ofgetting into it. There is only one objection that I see, just now, andthat is, that we leave Flora unprotected."
"We do, indeed," said Henry. "I did not think of that."
"It must be put to herself, as a matter for her own consideration," saidMr. Marchdale, "if she will consider herself sufficiently safe with thecompany and protection of your mother only."
"It would be a pity were we not all three present at the examination ofthe coffin," remarked Henry.
"It would, indeed. There is ample evidence," said Mr. Marchdale, "but wemust not give Flora a night of sleeplessness and uneasiness on thataccount, and the more particularly as we cannot well explain to herwhere we are going, or upon what errand."
"Certainly not."
"Let us talk to her, then, about it," said Henry. "I confess I am muchbent upon the plan, and fain would not forego it; neither should I likeother than that we three should go together."
"If you determine, then, upon it," said Marchdale, "we will go to-night;and, from your acquaintance with the place, doubtless you will be ableto decide what tools are necessary."
"There is a trap-door at the bottom of the pew," said Henry; "it is notonly secured down, but it is locked likewise, and I have the key in mypossession."
"Indeed!"
"Yes; immediately beneath is a short flight of stone steps, whichconduct at once into the vault."
"Is it large?"
"No; about the size of a moderate chamber, and with no intricacies aboutit."
"There can be no difficulties, then."
"None whatever, unless we meet wi
th actual personal interruption, whichI am inclined to think is very far from likely. All we shall requirewill be a screwdriver, with which to remove the screws, and thensomething with which to wrench open the coffin."
"Those we can easily provide, along with lights," remarked Mr.Marchdale.
"I hope to Heaven that this visit to the tomb will have the effect ofeasing your minds, and enabling you to make a successful stand againstthe streaming torrent of evidence that has poured in upon us regardingthis most fearful of apparitions."
"I do, indeed, hope so," added Henry; "and now I will go at once toFlora, and endeavour to convince her she is safe without us to-night."
"By-the-bye, I think," said Marchdale, "that if we can induce Mr.Chillingworth to come with us, it will be a great point gained in theinvestigation."
"He would," said Henry, "be able to come to an accurate decision withrespect to the remains--if any--in the coffin, which we could not."
"Then have him, by all means," said George. "He did not seem averse lastnight to go on such an adventure."
"I will ask him when he makes his visit this morning upon Flora; andshould he not feel disposed to join us, I am quite sure he will keep thesecret of our visit."
All this being arranged, Henry proceeded to Flora, and told her that heand George, and Mr. Marchdale wished to go out for about a couple ofhours in the evening after dark, if she felt sufficiently well to feel asense of security without them.
Flora changed colour, and slightly trembled, and then, as if ashamed ofher fears, she said,--
"Go, go; I will not detain you. Surely no harm can come to me inpresence of my mother."
"We shall not be gone longer than the time I mention to you," saidHenry.
"Oh, I shall be quite content. Besides, am I to be kept thus in fear allmy life? Surely, surely not. I ought, too, to learn to defend myself."
Henry caught at the idea, as he said,--
"If fire-arms were left you, do you think you would have courage to usethem?"
"I do, Henry."
"Then you shall have them; and let me beg of you to shoot any onewithout the least hesitation who shall come into your chamber."
"I will, Henry. If ever human being was justified in the use of deadlyweapons, I am now. Heaven protect me from a repetition of the visit towhich I have now been once subjected. Rather, oh, much rather would Idie a hundred deaths than suffer what I have suffered."
"Do not allow it, dear Flora, to press too heavily upon your mind indwelling upon it in conversation. I still entertain a sanguineexpectation that something may arise to afford a far less dreadfulexplanation of what has occurred than what you have put upon it. Be ofgood cheer, Flora, we shall go one hour after sunset, and return inabout two hours from the time at which we leave here, you may beassured."
Notwithstanding this ready and courageous acquiescence of Flora in thearrangement, Henry was not without his apprehension that when the nightshould come again, her fears would return with it; but he spoke to Mr.Chillingworth upon the subject, and got that gentleman's ready consentto accompany them.
He promised to meet them at the church porch exactly at nine o'clock,and matters were all arranged, and Henry waited with much eagerness andanxiety now for the coming night, which he hoped would dissipate one ofthe fearful deductions which his imagination had drawn from recentcircumstances.
He gave to Flora a pair of pistols of his own, upon which he knew hecould depend, and he took good care to load them well, so that therecould be no likelihood whatever of their missing fire at a criticalmoment.
"Now, Flora," he said, "I have seen you use fire-arms when you were muchyounger than you are now, and therefore I need give you no instructions.If any intruder does come, and you do fire, be sure you take a good aim,and shoot low."
"I will, Henry, I will; and you will be back in two hours?"
"Most assuredly I will."
The day wore on, evening came, and then deepened into night. It turnedout to be a cloudy night, and therefore the moon's brilliance wasnothing near equal to what it had been on the preceding night Still,however, it had sufficient power over the vapours that frequentlycovered it for many minutes together, to produce a considerable lighteffect upon the face of nature, and the night was consequently very far,indeed, from what might be called a dark one.
George, Henry, and Marchdale, met in one of the lower rooms of thehouse, previous to starting upon their expedition; and after satisfyingthemselves that they had with them all the tools that were necessary,inclusive of the same small, but well-tempered iron crow-bar with whichMarchdale had, on the night of the visit of the vampyre, forced open thedoor of Flora's chamber, they left the hall, and proceeded at a rapidpace towards the church.
"And Flora does not seem much alarmed," said Marchdale, "at being leftalone?"
"No," replied Henry, "she has made up her mind with a strong naturalcourage which I knew was in her disposition to resist as much aspossible the depressing effects of the awful visitation she hasendured."
"It would have driven some really mad."
"It would, indeed; and her own reason tottered on its throne, but, thankHeaven, she has recovered."
"And I fervently hope that, through her life," added Marchdale, "she maynever have such another trial."
"We will not for a moment believe that such a thing can occur twice."
"She is one among a thousand. Most young girls would never at all haverecovered the fearful shock to the nerves."
"Not only has she recovered," said Henry, "but a spirit, which I amrejoiced to see, because it is one which will uphold her, of resistancenow possesses her."
"Yes, she actually--I forgot to tell you before--but she actually askedme for arms to resist any second visitation."
"You much surprise me."
"Yes, I was surprised, as well as pleased, myself."
"I would have left her one of my pistols had I been aware of her havingmade such a request. Do you know if she can use fire-arms?"
"Oh, yes; well."
"What a pity. I have them both with me."
"Oh, she is provided."
"Provided?"
"Yes; I found some pistols which I used to take with me on thecontinent, and she has them both well loaded, so that if the vampyremakes his appearance, he is likely to meet with rather a warmreception."
"Good God! was it not dangerous?"
"Not at all, I think."
"Well, you know best, certainly, of course. I hope the vampyre may come,and that we may have the pleasure, when we return, of finding him dead.By-the-bye, I--I--. Bless me, I have forgot to get the materials forlights, which I pledged myself to do."
"How unfortunate."
"Walk on slowly, while I run back and get them."
"Oh, we are too far--"
"Hilloa!" cried a man at this moment, some distance in front of them.
"It is Mr. Chillingworth," said Henry.
"Hilloa," cried the worthy doctor again. "Is that you, my friend, HenryBannerworth?"
"It is," cried Henry.
Mr. Chillingworth now came up to them and said,--
"I was before my time, so rather than wait at the church porch, whichwould have exposed me to observation perhaps, I thought it better towalk on, and chance meeting with you."
"You guessed we should come this way?'
"Yes, and so it turns out, really. It is unquestionably your most directroute to the church."
"I think I will go back," said Mr Marchdale.
"Back!" exclaimed the doctor; "what for?"
"I forgot the means of getting lights. We have candles, but no means oflighting them."
"Make yourselves easy on that score," said Mr. Chillingworth. "I amnever without some chemical matches of my own manufacture, so that asyou have the candles, that can be no bar to our going on a once."
"That is fortunate," said Henry.
"Very," added Marchdale; "for it seems a mile's hard walking for me, orat least half a mile from the hall. Le
t us now push on."
They did push on, all four walking at a brisk pace. The church, althoughit belonged to the village, was not in it. On the contrary, it wassituated at the end of a long lane, which was a mile nearly from thevillage, in the direction of the hall, therefore, in going to it fromthe hall, that amount of distance was saved, although it was alwayscalled and considered the village church.
It stood alone, with the exception of a glebe house and two cottages,that were occupied by persons who held situations about the sacrededifice, and who were supposed, being on the spot, to keep watch andward over it.
It was an ancient building of the early English style of architecture,or rather Norman, with one of those antique, square, short towers, builtof flint stones firmly embedded in cement, which, from time, hadacquired almost the consistency of stone itself. There were numerousarched windows, partaking something of the more florid gothic style,although scarcely ornamental enough to be called such. The edifice stoodin the centre of a grave-yard, which extended over a space of about halfan acre, and altogether it was one of the prettiest and most rural oldchurches within many miles of the spot.
Many a lover of the antique and of the picturesque, for it was both,went out of his way while travelling in the neighbourhood to look at it,and it had an extensive and well-deserved reputation as a fine specimenof its class and style of building.
In Kent, to the present day, are some fine specimens of the old Romanstyle of church, building; and, although they are as rapidly pulled downas the abuse of modern architects, and the cupidity of speculators, andthe vanity of clergymen can possibly encourage, in older to erectflimsy, Italianised structures in their stead, yet sufficient of themremain dotted over England to interest the traveller. At Walesden thereis a church of this description which will well repay a visit. This,then, was the kind of building into which it was the intention of ourfour friends to penetrate, not on an unholy, or an unjustifiable errand,but on one which, proceeding from good and proper motives, it was highlydesirable to conduct in as secret a manner as possible.
The moon was more densely covered by clouds than it had yet been thatevening, when they reached the little wicket-gate which led into thechurchyard, through which was a regularly used thoroughfare.
"We have a favourable night," remarked Henry, "for we are not so likelyto be disturbed."
"And now, the question is, how are we to get in?" said Mr.Chillingworth, as he paused, and glanced up at the ancient building.
"The doors," said George, "would effectually resist us."
"How can it be done, then?"
"The only way I can think of," said Henry, "is to get out one of thesmall diamond-shaped panes of glass from one of the low windows, andthen we can one of us put in our hands, and undo the fastening, which isvery simple, when the window opens like a door, and it is but a stepinto the church."
"A good way," said Marchdale. "We will lose no time."
They walked round the church till they came to a very low window indeed,near to an angle of the wall, where a huge abutment struck far out intothe burial-ground.
"Will you do it, Henry?" said George.
"Yes. I have often noticed the fastenings. Just give me a slight hoistup, and all will be right."
George did so, and Henry with his knife easily bent back some of theleadwork which held in one of the panes of glass, and then got it outwhole. He handed it down to George, saying,--
"Take this, George. We can easily replace it when we leave, so thatthere can be no signs left of any one having been here at all."
George took the piece of thick, dim-coloured glass, and in anothermoment Henry had succeeded in opening the window, and the mode ofingress to the old church was fair and easy before them all, had therebeen ever so many.
"I wonder," said Marchdale, "that a place so inefficiently protected hasnever been robbed."
"No wonder at all," remarked Mr. Chillingworth. "There is nothing totake that I am aware of that would repay anybody the trouble of taking."
"Indeed!"
"Not an article. The pulpit, to be sure, is covered with faded velvet;but beyond that, and an old box, in which I believe nothing is left butsome books, I think there is no temptation."
"And that, Heaven knows, is little enough, then."
"Come on," said Henry. "Be careful; there is nothing beneath the window,and the depth is about two feet."
Thus guided, they all got fairly into the sacred edifice, and then Henryclosed the window, and fastened it on the inside as he said,--
"We have nothing to do now but to set to work opening a way into thevault, and I trust that Heaven will pardon me for thus desecrating thetomb of my ancestors, from a consideration of the object I have in viewby so doing."
"It does seem wrong thus to tamper with the secrets of the tomb,"remarked Mr. Marchdale.
"The secrets of a fiddlestick!" said the doctor. "What secrets has thetomb I wonder?"
"Well, but, my dear sir--"
"Nay, my dear sir, it is high time that death, which is, then, theinevitable fate of us all, should be regarded with more philosophic eyesthan it is. There are no secrets in the tomb but such as may well beendeavoured to be kept secret."
"What do you mean?"
"There is one which very probably we shall find unpleasantly revealed."
"Which is that?"
"The not over pleasant odour of decomposed animal remains--beyond that Iknow of nothing of a secret nature that the tomb can show us."
"Ah, your profession hardens you to such matters."
"And a very good thing that it does, or else, if all men were to lookupon a dead body as something almost too dreadful to look upon, and byfar too horrible to touch, surgery would lose its value, and crime, inmany instances of the most obnoxious character, would go unpunished."
"If we have a light here," said Henry, "we shall run the greatest chancein the world of being seen, for the church has many windows."
"Do not have one, then, by any means," said Mr. Chillingworth. "A matchheld low down in the pew may enable us to open the vault."
"That will be the only plan."
Henry led them to the pew which belonged to his family, and in the floorof which was the trap door.
"When was it last opened?" inquired Marchdale.
"When my father died," said Henry; "some ten months ago now, I shouldthink."
"The screws, then, have had ample time to fix themselves with freshrust."
"Here is one of my chemical matches," said Mr. Chillingworth, as hesuddenly irradiated the pew with a clear and beautiful flame, thatlasted about a minute.
The heads of the screws were easily discernible, and the short time thatthe light lasted had enabled Henry to turn the key he had brought withhim in the lock.
"I think that without a light now," he said, "I can turn the screwswell."
"Can you?"
"Yes; there are but four."
"Try it, then."
Henry did so, and from the screws having very large heads, and beingmade purposely, for the convenience of removal when required, with deepindentations to receive the screw-driver, he found no difficulty infeeling for the proper places, and extracting the screws without anymore light than was afforded to him from the general whitish aspect ofthe heavens.
"Now, Mr. Chillingworth," he said "another of your matches, if youplease. I have all the screws so loose that I can pick them up with myfingers."
"Here," said the doctor.
In another moment the pew was as light as day, and Henry succeeded intaking out the few screws, which he placed in his pocket for theirgreater security, since, of course, the intention was to replaceeverything exactly as it was found, in order that not the least surmiseshould arise in the mind of any person that the vault had been opened,and visited for any purpose whatever, secretly or otherwise.
"Let us descend," said Henry. "There is no further obstacle, my friends.Let us descend."
"If any one," remarked George, in a whisper, as t
hey slowly descendedthe stairs which conducted into the vault--"if any one had told me thatI should be descending into a vault for the purpose of ascertaining if adead body, which had been nearly a century there, was removed or not,and had become a vampyre, I should have denounced the idea as one of themost absurd that ever entered the brain of a human being."
"We are the very slaves of circumstances," said Marchdale, "and we neverknow what we may do, or what we may not. What appears to us soimprobable as to border even upon the impossible at one time, is atanother the only course of action which appears feasibly open to us toattempt to pursue."
They had now reached the vault, the floor of which was composed of flatred tiles, laid in tolerable order the one beside the other. As Henryhad stated, the vault was by no means of large extent. Indeed, severalof the apartments for the living, at the hall, were much larger than wasthat one destined for the dead.
The atmosphere was dump and noisome, but not by any means so bad asmight have been expected, considering the number of months which hadelapsed since last the vault was opened to receive one of its ghastlyand still visitants.
"Now for one of your lights. Mr. Chillingworth. You say you have thecandles, I think, Marchdale, although you forgot the matches."
"I have. They are here."
Marchdale took from his pocket a parcel which contained several waxcandles, and when it was opened, a smaller packet fell to the ground.
"Why, these are instantaneous matches," said Mr. Chillingworth, as helifted the small packet up.
"They are; and what a fruitless journey I should have had back to thehall," said Mr. Marchdale, "if you had not been so well provided as youare with the means of getting a light. These matches, which I thought Ihad not with me, have been, in the hurry of departure, enclosed, yousee, with the candles. Truly, I should have hunted for them at home invain."
Mr. Chillingworth lit the wax candle which was now handed to him byMarchdale, and in another moment the vault from one end of it to theother was quite clearly discernible.