The new Northwest. [volume], September 23, 1880, Image 6

About The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887

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THE STEW NORTHWEST, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1880.
A LETTER.
by join a. 6AXE.
I send this lottor, O my sweet! to tell
The old, old story of my heart's deep woalth
Of tenderness, and of my body's health,
And how In all things worldly I am well;
Wnloh thou wilt gladly hear. It holds not much,
Besides, too pleasure thee. It bears no word
Of fond aflection, which thou hast not heard
Loap from my living lips. Well I will touch
My month nnto the leaves, caressingly;
And so wilt thou. Thus, from these lips of mine,
My message will go kissingly to thine,
With more than Fancy's load of luxury.
And prove a true love-letter, warm and sweet
As ever yet a loving spouse did greet !
THE COLD HAND OF MORBECK.
BY B. M. RANKING.
I
I tell this tale as nearly as possible in the words
of my old friend, the Hev. John Chalmors, some
time rector of Gilthwaite, in the county of Dur
ham. Did I never tell you the history of Lucy Gedge?
Ahj well, it is a sad one, but strangely interesting
for all that; so stir the fire, my boy the nighjs
are getting cold, I think and light' your pipe, and
you sIihII hear it.
Poor Lucy ! If you had seen her even as I last
saw her, you would have said that she was just the
girl to make an honest man happy, and to live out
a placid, honored life of wife and motherhood
without any great trouble or even excitement to
disturb it ; she was such an innocent, pretty lass.
It was not at all the sort of a face that a man
would dream of as being connected with a tragedy,
but I doubt if you ever heard of a bitterer tragedy
than that I have to tell you.
Do you remember Morbeck Hall, the great
house you exclaimed at when we were driving
yesterday, though you could only get a glimpse of
it in the distance through the trees ? That was
Lucy's home, and it has been on my mind to tell
you about her ever since. She was my niece on
the mother's side, for the last of the Gedges of
Morbeck, as old a family as any between Tweed
and Trent, married my youngest sister; it was a
love-match, to be sure, for she had not a stiver,
though you know, lad, the Chalmers are as good a
line as any in the country-side, and they were a
happy couple, God rest them ! But there was
never but one child, my niece and goddaughter,
Lucy, and her dear mother was taken when she
was a little bit of a thing; so she grew up her
lathers pet and plaything, and his chief compan
ion; for he would not put any other woman in mv
dead sister Marian's place and the older she
grew the bonnier she became, till, what with her
beauty, and what with the tales of her fathers
wealth, the heads of half the young men in the
county were turned by the heiress of Morbeck.
"Well, so it fell out that, iust before she trrew to
nineteen, old John Gedge died, and when his will
came to be read, it was found that Lucy, as was
just, would inherit everything when she came of
ace, saving a few legacies to old servant and the
like; but meanwhile she was left under the joint
guardianship of myself and her father's . sister,
Mrs. Postlethwayte, and could not marry without
our joint consent. Of course the poor child could
not come to the rectory here, with no companion
but an old bachelor like me; besides, it seemed
wrong that the hall should be shut up so long as
there was one of the race to live in it; so it was ar
ranged that this aunt of hers should come and li ve
there with her, as chaperon and what not. She
made a great talk, did Aunt Postlethwayte, about
the sacrifice she was making for the sake of her
family, in burying herself in such an out-of-the-way
corner of the world; but, for my' port, I
thought she was in luck, to be living at rack and
manger at Morbeck Hall, with such a companion
as my dear lassie, instead of eking out her wid
ow's jointure amongst a lot of old tabbies in some
etulFy London street. But. to do her justice, I
think the woman meant well, and she was kind to
Lucy after a fashion of her own, for I do believe
she loved the poor child as much as she could love
any one but herself. After all, she was a Gedge of
Morbeck, and noblesse oblige, you know, my boy.
She was just one of those women I daresay you
have seen many of them in London who can't
forget at fifty that they were beauties at half the
age, and who have managed by hook and by
crook to get their own way all their lives. I sup
pose her poor husband knocked under for peace
and quietness' sake, and she never had any chil
dren to worry, so she came to domineer over Lucy
with all the delight of having found a new pas
time. I remember one time when she was ill,
and, like the obstinate fool she was, wouldn't obey
the doctor; she said that she hail had her own way
all her life, and was not going to be contradicted
at her time of life ! I thought I should have
Ohoked when that slipped out; but it was no
laughing matter, lad, the mischief she made
through that "way" of hers!
Well, to make a long story short, the aunt had
firmly determined that her niece should marry
some scapegrace of a fellow whose name I don't
remember, and don't want to I never saw him ;
his chief recommendations were a broken consti
tution, an empty purse, a distant relationship to
the late Tom Postlethwayte, and an old title. So
madam had settled that bonnie Lucy Gedge should
be my lady, and bolster up my lord's falling for
tunes with the broad lands and full coil'ers of
Morbeck Hall. TJnfortunatelv for her sehemps. it
takes two to make a bargain, and my niece was as
sensible a girl as ever stepped in shoe leather, so
It was open war noiween them, or rather passive
resistance on Lucy's part, and a course of alter
nate nagging and wheedling on her aunt's.
I knew the main reason of the cirl's steadfast
ness well enough she would tell anything to her
pd Uncle John, bless her ! There was true love
' jfctad faithful troth between her and young Hugh
Nelson, of Gilthwaite; and he was of my own
blood, too, though not so near as Lucv, and I had
watched him grow up from a bright, mischief
lovfng boy to the handsome, brave young squire,
for whom every one had a smile and a good word
just the man, I thought, to make my darling
happy. But, as I told you, thoy could do nothing
independent till Lucy was of age, so' there was
jiotning for it hub' to wait, and thoy did wait; pa
tiently, whilst we three kept the secret ; and how
the poor cirl nut ur with all that old woman's i
vagaries all the time will always be a wonder to
me!
However, time slipped away, and the twenty
first birthday came, and then, by my advice.
Hugh appeared at Morbeck Hall, to greet his
cousin and make a formal offer of his hand and
heart, and I need not tell you that she took him
then and there.
You should have seen Aunt Postlethwayte's face!
I thought she was going to have a fit, but she
thought better ol it, and auera torrent 01 abuse
directed at Hugh, some flowers of speech specially
devoted to me, and a general peroration relating
to ingratitude, conspiracy and the like, she an
nounced her intention of washing her hands of
the whole affair and going back to London as soon
as her boxes were packed and precious glad we
all were, I can tell you, when they were brought
down into the great hall ready corded ! I fancy
she managed to feather her nest pretty well dur
ing those two years !
So, madam having taken herself off in dudgeon,
there was nothing left to hinder, and arrange
ments for the wedding were set on foot at once.
It was to be a very quiet affair at my own little
church at Gilthwaite, and of course I was to
marry them. So, as it was too far for Lucy to
drive in the morning, and, besides that, she could
not well be married from her own great lonely
house, we settled that I should fetch her over on
the previous evening to sleep at the rectory, and
that the wedding should take place from thence.
And now conies the sad and strange part of the
story.
It was early in February just a week after Can
dlemas, as I remember only too well when I ar
rived, late in the gray afternoon, at Morbeck,
Avhere I was to dine with my ward before we
started for Gilthwaite rector'. The Winter had
been an unusually severe one,"even for these parte;
but in the last days of .Tanuarv the frost had
broken up, and it seemed as if outsold north-country
saying as to a wet Candlemas were to be liter
ally carried out; for ever since the second, when it
had been one constant downpour, there had been
a succession of mild, muggy days, with an over
cast sky and an incessant drizzle. As thecarriage
that had been sent to fetch me drove up the ave
nue in the failing light of the afternoon, there was
something in the air that seemed to weigh one's
heart down; a cold, dank smell rose up from the
soaked earth where last veas leaves lay rotting
under the bare branches that dripped slowly as the
thick mist clung and crept round them, hut the
feeling of depression passed away as we drew up
at the open hall door, from which the ruddv glow
of a great fire streamed out into the dim air, and
Lucy, looking lovelier than ever, with a nlaid
thrown over her golden hair, came running down
the steps to open the carriage door herself, and, as
she Hung her arms around my neck, her kiss
seemed to charm away all fear.
So we went in together, and before long were
sitting opposite each other at as good a dinner as
a man need wish to see. How bright and cheery
she was, my poor dear lassie, how happy in the
thought of the morrow ! Her spirits were almost
wild at times. Did you ever hear of what our
Scots neighbors call being fey ? that sudden How
of spirits, from no particular cause, which they
hold to be a presage of mishap to the person in
whom it is seen? I think Lucy Gedge was fey
that evening.
The dinner came to an end at last, and it began
to lie time to think of moving; we had some way
to go, and the road was none of the lest after the
weather we had been having. Lucy arose to pre
pare for the journey, leavinfr me to finish my glass
of port by the lire, when, as she reached the door
of the room, she turned and said :
"Oh, uncle, I forgot to telPvou; it is such horrid
weather, and the roads are so bad, that Tarn going
to have the carriage brought round to the garden
door that opens off the Broad Terrace. It will save
us half a mile."
Then she went to put on her hat and cloak ; it
was nothing to me which door we went from, and
in fact J felt rather glad at the progpeet of shorten
ing our journey, even b half a mile. So in due
time Lucy came back and we started out for the
carriage.
I must tell you that in order to get out by way
of the Broad Terrace, we lmd to traverse a little-
used art 01 tne out nouee, and came out at last
through a long passage by a small postern door,
with a flight of several steps outside. The unused
rooms and the passage smelt damp and fusty, and
I was glad to feel even the clinging outside air
when the little door creaked open at last to let
us out.
As I went down the steps, they were so slippery
w
ith the wet mist that it was all I could do to
keen on mv loirs, but Lucv trinned down after me
like a nymph and we reached the carriage safely.
We had not gone far before she stretched out her
hand caressingly to me and said :
"Uncle John, are you sure you are wrapped up
... 1 1. o l l r 1 i 1 1 ....
wuriui uiiouu i i iiur waiiii ieu suciuii jusi now
as you helped me down the steps."
"I help you, my dear !" said I. "I never helped
you; Iliad quite enough ado to keep my own legs!"
"Oh, yes, uncle, don't you remember? As I
came through the postern, you stretched out your
hand and led me down the steps and it made me
shiver all through your hand was like Ice ! Are
you quite sure you are wrapped up enough ?"
i would nave taken my oath in any court of law
inai j nad nothlntr to do with the inn's safe exit.
and she would have sworn on the other side ; so I
neui my tongue, and allowed her fancy. You
know what Sir Samuel Tuke says
"If she will, Hhe will, you may dcix-nd nn't:
ivim u tir wiiii'i, Mie won't, and tlierfs an md nn't I"
So we rolled on, chatting of this and on that,
mini we reacned what was the only serious obsta
cle to our drive.
There is a dip in the road, at the bottom of
winch runs a brook, witli broad, level meadows on
the other sid. Tn Summer time, or even in ordi
nary weather, it is just a bit of a beck that a child
might jump over; but when the floods are out, it
will be a roaring torrent in half an hour's time,
with the moss-water coming down from the moors.
I felt just a little uneasy about it, but nothing to
speak of. We had to cross by a wooden bridge
that had done dutvforairood mmiwonK i ur,
and sunshine, only it did come into mv head what
a bother it Mould be if the bridge should have
ueen cjirneo away, and we should have to go back
to Morbeck after all. Just,
the horses shied and stopped, in spite of all the
coachman could do to soothe or urge them. So at
uifti niiya ne to ine lad who was beside him :
"Jump down, Jem, and see if the bridge is all
ntrhL" b
Down got Jem, and hunted around for a while
in the darkness: but all of a suddon the mist lifted
on the other side of the b.eok, which was roaring
down in speat.by then, and, there was a woman
all in Avhite beckoning under a b?g oak-tree; so he
cried out:
"I say, missus !"
She made no answer, but kept on that waving
of her hand, and Jem cried out again :
"I say, missus, can we cross the bridge V"
In another moment he was up beside the coach
man, saying:
"Go on. Georce: I can't hear what she says, but
she nods and beckons to say it's all right." And
we drove on.
I can't tell you how it happened exactly, my
dear boy; but just as we got to the middle of the
bridge, there was a horrible crash and crackle,
and we were all struggling for dear life in that
hill-torrent. I managed to get one of the doors
open, and dragged Lucy, drenched and insensible,
on to the wreck of the carriage, and between us
we got her to shore. Both the horses were killed,
partly by drowning m their tracesj partly oy
kicking each other to death in their agony, E
fancy; out George, Jem and I managed to rig up a
sort of litter, and made the best of our way back,
with Lucy on it, to Morbeck Hall. We got her
in, and the womenkind put her to bed, and the
doctor was brought; but it was too late. Apart
from the shock and the cold, she had some injur'
to the spine, l believe, and she died just at mid
night, without ever a moment of consciousness.
I leave you to imagine what I sullered that
next day, which was to have been my darling's
wedding morning and now they were streaking
her ior ncr grave : i couiu do nounng out sn
dazed in the library, thinking of what might have
been and what was; but my reverie was inter
rupted by old Mrs. Partridge, the housekeeper,
who came in for some instructions. After I had
said all that I thought necessary, I notjeed that
she lingered as if loth to go, but I thought little
of it, till she half muttered as she reluctantly
turned the handle of the door
"All. poor lamb. I knew how it would be when
I heard lier speak of the Broad Terrace !"
This roused me to curiosity. "What do you
mean, Mrs. Partridge?" I said. "What is there
against the Broad Terrace?"
She turned and looked at me with a gaze half
skeptical, half-apologetic, as she said
"Do you mean to tell ine, sir and you half a
Gcdge,as a body may say that you never heard
of the Cold Hand of Morbeck? Did you never
hear of Mistress Alicia, then, her whose portrait
hangs over the mantel-piece in the oak drawing
room ?"
There rose before my mind's eye a picture at
which I had often gazed with a strange, unde
fined feeling of pleasure, pain and pity combined.
The face was that of a proud and lovely woman :
but it bore the expression of one who had passed
through some terrible agony, which had hardened
instead of softening her nature. I answered that
I knew it well, but not of any story specially con
nected witli it.
"And what has that to do with what did you
call it? the Cold Hand of Morbeck?" said 1, as
there came over me, with a rush of unexplained
apprehension, that strange assertion of poor
Lucy's just after we had started on our ill-omened
drive.
"Well. sir. it's a loncish storv. but I'll tell it
you as I had it from those who had the right
to know ; though the family didn't much care to
have it talked about but they're all dead and
gone now, all dead and gone! And you were
nearest to my young lady, for I don't count that
Mrs. Postlethwayte, with her haughty pryingways.
as n i didn't Know how the house ought to be
managed 1 who had lived here, girl and woman'
for better than forty years !
"it was in the old troubles, sir, before the '4o,
and then, as yesterday, there was naught but an
heiress to Morbeck, Mistress Alicia. She was a
great beauty, they tell me, ami her father's idol,
and half the young gentlemen in the country
were ready to cross swords for her smile. Amongst
all hersuitors, the only two whom she ever seemed
to favor were her cousin, Mr. Arthur Gedge,
and a Captain Van Loom, an ollicer in the King's
Guards, who had seen her first at the county
ball, ami danced with her half the evenings they.
were both handsome young fellows, and folks
said they had fought about her the next morning,
but nothing serious had come of it, and nobody
could say which she favored; or, if she had a fancy,
it was thought to be for her cousin.
"You know, sir, there were a great many of the
gentry hereabouts who would nave liked to see
the old Stuarts get their Own again, but the
Gedges had always kept to themselves, and had
never been suspected of plotting or the like. You
know all about the retreat from Derby, .sir? It
was just afler that, when Mr. Arthur came sud
denly to Morbeck, just for a visit, every one
thought, and to court Mistress Alicia, and for a
whole week everything seemed to go swimmingly
between them.
"But one evening there came news to the Hall
that there was a messenger in the village, come
down from the court, with a silver greyhound on
his sleeve; and then Mr. Arthur took Mistress
Alicia into a side room, and he fell on his knees
before her, and prayed her. for their love's sake,
that she would help him, for he had been mixed up,
it seems, in a plot for Prince Charles,-and it was
death if he were taken. So she agreed with him
that he should hide till night in a secret room in
the west wing that by the Broad Terrace, sir
and then she would come and guide him out by
the postern that lie might escape.
"The night came, and she came too, without a
light, for she said that would be dangerous, and
iruided him through the passages, until she ononed
Lthe little door; and as he grasped her hand and
kissed It, it was cold as death. And as he stepped
out on the steps, there was a gleam of steel out
side, and Mr. Arthur was in the clutches of a
troop of the Guard with Captain Van Loom at
their head. He was executed, sir, like many
another brave lad at that time; and before a year
was over Mistress Alicia was married to Captain
Van Loom, who got his Colonelcy 'for his services.
"They say it was a wretched life they led ; ho
turned out a drunken, gambling brute, and broke
her heart ; but none ever knew whether it was
true, what folk whispered in the country-side,
that she sold her cousin to her lover. Anyway
sheMied a miserable, childless woman rest her
soul ! But, sir, they say that ever since that day
any Gedge who passes the postern by night will
feel an ice-cold hand leading them down the steps
as if to destruction, and that there is alNvays harm
tomes of it. If Miss Lucy should have felt the
Cold Hand of Morbeck, for so the country folk call
it, sir, saving your presence!"
What could I say? What could I think, ex
cept that "there are more' things -in heaven and
earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philos
ophy." We buried my child, and Morbeck went to a
distant cousin.
As for Hugh Nelson, he went abroad for a year
Or t.WO. nrwl tllnn nn-ml 1- . . -
honest gWttrr
transmitter of an old name. BuUhoSghTe wal
a good and tender husband, and a wise ami I nrhl
father. I know full woll ti i ?P..an(i ?entI.e
with all Its store of lovtaried1
grave with Lucy Gedge. same
So now, my boy, you will laugh at me, I dare
say, for you wise young fellows do laugh at all
that you call superstition, hut it gives me a shud
der still when I think of that Winter night when
my child grasped the Cold Hand of Morbeck
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