pace
into mathematical sections. He brandished the sword with a sort of
cold fury and calculation; the blade gave out flashes of light, the
shadow remained unmoved. Mrs. Brigham, watching, felt herself cold
with horror.
Finally Henry ceased and stood with the sword in hand and raised as if
to strike, surveying the shadow on the wall threateningly. Mrs.
Brigham toddled back across the hall and shut the south room door
behind her before she related what she had seen.
"He looked like a demon!" she said again. "Have you got any of that
old wine in the house, Caroline? I don't feel as if I could stand much
more."
Indeed, she looked overcome. Her handsome placid face was worn and
strained and pale.
"Yes, there's plenty," said Caroline; "you can have some when you go to
bed."
"I think we had all better take some," said Mrs. Brigham.
"Oh, my God, Caroline, what----"
"Don't ask and don't speak," said Caroline.
"No, I am not going to," replied Mrs. Brigham; "but----"
Rebecca moaned aloud.
"What are you doing that for?" asked Caroline harshly.
"Poor Edward," returned Rebecca.
"That is all you have to groan for," said Caroline. "There is nothing
else."
"I am going to bed," said Mrs. Brigham. "I sha'n't be able to be at
the funeral if I don't."
Soon the three sisters went to their chambers and the south parlour was
deserted. Caroline called to Henry in the study to put out the light
before he came upstairs. They had been gone about an hour when he came
into the room bringing the lamp which had stood in the study. He set
it on the table and waited a few minutes, pacing up and down. His face
was terrible, his fair complexion showed livid; his blue eyes seemed
dark blanks of awful reflections.
Then he took the lamp up and returned to the library. He set the lamp
on the centre table, and the shadow sprang out on the wall. Again he
studied the furniture and moved it about, but deliberately, with none
of his former frenzy. Nothing affected the shadow. Then he returned
to the south room with the lamp and again waited. Again he returned to
the study and placed the lamp on the table, and the shadow sprang out
upon the wall. It was midnight before he went upstairs. Mrs. Brigham
and the other sisters, who could not sleep, heard him.
The next day was the funeral. That evening the family sat in the south
room. Some relatives were with them. Nobody entered the study until
Henry carried
|