第16章 Volume 1(16)

As soon as Miss F--d was tolerably recovered,she declared her determination to proceed directly,and without further loss of time,to Castle Ardagh.It was not without much difficulty that Lady D--at length prevailed upon her to consent to remain where they then were,until morning should arrive,when it was to be expected that the young lady would be much refreshed by at least remaining quiet for the night,even though sleep were out of the question.Lady D--was convinced,from the nervous and feverish symptoms which her sister exhibited,that she had already done too much,and was more than ever satisfied of the necessity of prosecuting the journey no further upon that day.After some time she persuaded her sister to return to her room,where she remained with her until she had gone to bed,and appeared comparatively composed.Lady D--then returned to the parlour,and not finding herself sleepy,she remained sitting by the fire.Her solitude was a second time broken in upon,by the entrance of her sister,who now appeared,if possible,more agitated than before.She said that Lady D--had not long left the room,when she was roused by a repetition of the same wailing and lamentations,accom-panied by the wildest and most agonized supplications that no time should be lost in coming to Castle Ardagh,and all in her sister's voice,and uttered at the same proximity as before.This time the voice had followed her to the very door of the sitting-room,and until she closed it,seemed to pour forth its cries and sobs at the very threshold.

Miss F--d now most positively declared that nothing should prevent her proceeding instantly to the castle,adding that if Lady D--would not accompany her,she would go on by herself.

Superstitious feelings are at all times more or less contagious,and the last century afforded a soil much more congenial to their growth than the present.Lady D--was so far affected by her sister's terrors,that she became,at least,uneasy;and seeing that her sister was immovably determined upon setting forward immediately,she consented to accompany her forthwith.After a slight delay,fresh horses were procured,and the two ladies and their attendants renewed their journey,with strong injunctions to the driver to quicken their rate of travelling as much as possible,and promises of reward in case of his doing so.

Roads were then in much worse condition throughout the south,even than they now are;and the fifteen miles which modern posting would have passed in little more than an hour and a half,were not completed even with every possible exertion in twice the time.Miss F--d had been nervously restless during the journey.

Her head had been constantly out of the carriage window;and as they ap-proached the entrance to the castle demesne,which lay about a mile from the building,her anxiety began to communicate itself to her sister.The postillion had just dismounted,and was endeavouring to open the gate--at that time a necessary trouble;for in the middle of the last century porter's lodges were not common in the south of Ireland,and locks and keys almost unknown.He had just succeeded in rolling back the heavy oaken gate so as to admit the vehicle,when a mounted servant rode rapidly down the avenue,and drawing up at the carriage,asked of the postillion who the party were;and on hearing,he rode round to the carriage window and handed in a note,which Lady D--received.By the assistance of one of the coach-lamps they succeeded in deciphering it.It was scrawled in great agitation,and ran thus:

'MY DEAR SISTER--MY DEAR SISTERS BOTH,--In God's name lose no time,I am frightened and miserable;I cannot explain all till you come.I am too much terrified to write coherently;but understand me--hasten--do not waste a minute.Iam afraid you will come too late.

'E.A.'

The servant could tell nothing more than that the castle was in great confusion,and that Lady Ardagh had been crying bitterly all the night.Sir Robert was perfectly well.Altogether at a loss as to the cause of Lady Ardagh's great distress,they urged their way up the steep and broken avenue which wound through the crowding trees,whose wild and grotesque branches,now left stripped and naked by the blasts of winter,stretched drearily across the road.As the carriage drew up in the area before the door,the anxiety of the ladies almost amounted to agony;and scarcely waiting for the assistance of their attendant,they sprang to the ground,and in an instant stood at the castle door.

From within were distinctly audible the sounds of lamentation and weeping,and the suppressed hum of voices as if of those endeavouring to soothe the mourner.

The door was speedily opened,and when the ladies entered,the first object which met their view was their sister,Lady Ardagh,sitting on a form in the hall,weeping and wringing her hands in deep agony.Beside her stood two old,withered crones,who were each endeavouring in their own way to administer consolation,without even knowing or caring what the subject of her grief might be.

Immediately on Lady Ardagh's seeing her sisters,she started up,fell on their necks,and kissed them again and again without speaking,and then taking them each by a hand,still weeping bitterly,she led them into a small room adjoining the hall,in which burned a light,and,having closed the door,she sat down between them.After thanking them for the haste they had made,she proceeded to tell them,in words incoherent from agitation,that Sir Robert had in private,and in the most solemn manner,told her that he should die upon that night,and that he had occupied himself during the evening in giving minute directions respecting the arrangements of his funeral.