• Main
  • Catatlog
  • For Authors
  • Contacts



    JULIANA HORATIA EWING




    MISCELLANEA.


    BY

    JULIANA HORATIA EWING.


    SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,
    London: Northumberland Avenue, W.C.
    43, Queen Victoria Street, E.C.
    Brighton: 129, North Street.
    New York: E. & J.B. YOUNG & CO.


    [Published under the direction of the General Literature
    Committee.]




    PREFACE.


    The contents of this volume are republished in order to make the Edition
    a complete collection of Mrs. Ewing's works, rather than because of
    their intrinsic worth. The fact that she did not republish the papers
    during her life shows that she did not estimate them very highly
    herself; but as each one has a special interest connected with it, I
    feel I am not violating her wishes in bringing the collection before the
    public.

    One of Mrs. Ewing's strongest gifts was her power of mimicry; this made
    her an actor above the average of amateurs, and also enabled her to
    imitate any special style of writing that she wished. The first four
    stories in this volume are instances of this power. _The Mystery of the
    Bloody Hand_ was an attempt to vie with some of the early sensational
    novels, such as _Lady Audley's Secret_ and _The Moonstone_;--tales in
    which a glimpse of the supernatural is introduced amongst scenes of
    every-day life.

    During my sister's girlhood we had a family MS. Magazine (as our Mother
    had done in her young days), and two of the stories in Mrs. Gatty's
    "Aunt Judy's Letters," _The Flatlands Fun Gazette_ and _The Black Bag_,
    were founded on this custom, Mrs. Ewing being the typical "Aunt Judy" of
    the book. Mrs. Gatty described how the children were called upon each to
    contribute a tale for _The Black Bag_, and how No. 5 remonstrated by
    saying--"I've been sitting over the fire this evening trying to think,
    but what _could_ come, with only the coals and the fire-place before one
    to look at? I dare say neither Hans Andersen nor Grimm nor any of those
    fellows would have written anything, if they had not gone about into
    caves and forests and those sort of places, or boated in the North
    Seas!" Aunt Judy replied that she also had been looking into the fire,
    and the longer she did so, the more she decided "that Hans Andersen was
    not beholden to caves or forests or any curious things or people for his
    story-telling inspirations"; but as it was difficult for the "little
    ones" to write she enclosed three tales as "jokes, imitations, in fact,
    of the Andersenian power of spinning gold threads out of old tow-ropes."
    So far this was Mrs. Gatty's own writing, but the three tales were the
    work of the real Aunt Judy, Mrs. Ewing herself. These three are (1)
    _The Smut_, (2) _The Crick_, (3) _The Brothers_. The last sentence in
    _The Brothers_ recalls the last entry in Mrs. Ewing's commonplace book,
    which is quoted in her Life--"If we still love those we lose, can we
    altogether lose those we love?"

    _Cousin Peregrine's Wonder Stories_ and _Traveller's Tales_ were written
    after Mrs. Ewing's marriage, with the help of her husband; he supplied
    the facts and descriptions from things which he had seen during his long
    residence abroad. Colonel Ewing also helped my sister in translating the
    _Tales of the Khoja_ from the Turkish. The illustrations now reproduced
    were drawn by our brother, Alfred Scott-Gatty.

    In _Little Woods_ and _May-Day Customs_ Mrs. Ewing showed her ready
    ability to take up any subject of interest that came under her
    notice--botany, horticulture, archæology, folk-lore, or whatever it
    might be. The same readiness was shown in her adaptation of the various
    versions of the _Mumming Play_, or _The Peace Egg_.

    _In Memoriam_ was written under considerable restraint soon after our
    Mother's death. My sister knew that she did not wish her biography to be
    written, but still it was impossible to let the originator and editor of
    _Aunt Judy's Magazine_ pass away without some little record being given
    to the many children who loved her writings. In Ecclesfield Church
    there is a tablet erected to Mrs. Gatty's memory by one thousand
    children, who each contributed sixpence.

    _The Snarling Princess_ and _The Little Parsnip Man_ are adaptations of
    two fairy tales which appeared in a German magazine; and as both the
    tales and their illustrations took Mrs. Ewing's fancy, she made a free
    rendering of them for _Aunt Judy's Magazine_.

    _A Child's Wishes_ and _War and the Dead_ are more accurate
    translations, but it may be said they have not suffered in their
    transmission from one language to another. My sister's selection of the
    last sketch for translation is noticeable, as giving a foretaste of her
    keen sympathy with military interests.




    CONTENTS.


    The Mystery of the Bloody Hand

    The Smut

    The Crick

    The Brothers

    Cousin Peregrine's Wonder Stories:
    1. The Chinese Jugglers, and the Englishman's Hands

    2. Waves of the Great South Seas

    Cousin Peregrine's Traveller's Tales:
    Jack of Pera

    The Princes of Vegetation

    Little Woods

    May-Day, Old Style and New Style

    In Memoriam, Margaret Gatty

    Tales of the Khoja (_from the Turkish_)

    The Snarling Princess (_adapted from the German_)

    The Little Parsnip-Man (_adapted from the German_)

    A Child's Wishes (_from the German of R. Reinick_)

    War and the Dead (_from the French of Jean Macé_)




    THE MYSTERY OF THE BLOODY HAND.


    CHAPTER I.

    A MEMORABLE NEW YEAR'S DAY.


    _Dorothy to Eleanor_,

    Dearest Eleanor,

    You have so often reminded me how rapidly the most startling facts pass
    from the memory of man, and I have so often thereupon promised to write
    down a full account of that mysterious affair in which I was
    providentially called upon to play so prominent a part, that it is with
    shame I reflect that the warning has been unheeded and the promise
    unfulfilled. Do not, dear friend, accuse my affection, but my engrossing
    duties and occupations, for this neglect, and believe that I now take
    advantage of my first quiet evening for many months to fulfil your wish.

    Betty has just brought me a cup of tea, and I have told the girl to be
    within call; for once a heroine is not always a heroine, dear Nell. I am
    full of childish terrors, and I assure you it is with no small mental
    effort that I bring myself to recall the terrible events of the year
    1813.

    Oddly enough, it was on the first day of this year that I made the
    acquaintance of Mr. George Manners; and I think I can do no better than
    begin by giving you an extract from the first page of my journal at that
    time.

    "_Jan. 1, 1813_.--It is mid-day, and very fine, but it was no easy
    matter to be at service this morning after all good Dr. Penn's
    injunctions, as last night's dancing, and the long drive home, made me
    sleepy, and Harriet is still in bed.

    "Though I am not so handsome as Harriet, and boast of no conquests, and
    though the gentlemen do not say the wonderfully pretty things to me that
    they seem to do to her, I have much enjoyed several balls since my
    introduction into society. But for ever first and foremost on my list of
    dances must be Lady Lucy Topham's party on New Year's Eve. Let me say
    New Year's Day, for the latter part of the evening was the happy one to
    me. During the first part I danced a little and watched the others much.
    To sit still is mortifying, and yet I almost think the dancing was the
    greater penance, since I never had much to say to men of whom I know
    nothing: the dances seem interminable, and I am ever haunted by a vague
    feeling that my partner is looking out over my head for some one
    prettier and more lively, which is not inspiring. I must not forget a
    little incident, as we came up the stairs into the ball-room. With my
    customary awkwardness I dropped my fan, and was about to stoop for it,
    when some one who had been following us darted forward and presented it
    to me. I curtsied low, he bowed lower; our eyes met for a moment, and
    then he fell behind. It was by his eyes that I recognized him afterwards
    in the ball-room, for in the momentary glance on the stairs I had not
    had time to observe his prominent height and fine features. How
    strangely one's fancy is sometimes seized upon by a foolish wish! My
    modest desire last night was to dance with this Mr. George Manners, the
    handsomest man and best dancer of the room, to be whose partner even
    Harriet was proud. Though I had not a word for my second-rate partners,
    I fancied that I could talk to _him_. Oh, foolish heart! how I chid
    myself for my folly in watching his tall figure thread the dances, in
    fancying that I had met his eyes many times that evening, and, above
    all, for the throb of jealous disappointment that came with every dance
    when he did not do what I never soberly expected he would--ask me. A
    little before twelve I was sitting out among the turbans, when I saw him
    standing at some distance, and unmistakably looking at me. A sudden
    horror seized me that something was wrong--my hair coming down, my dress
    awry--and I was not comforted by Harriet passing at this moment with--

    "'What! sitting out still? You should be more lively, child! Men don't
    like dancing with dummies.'

    "When her dress had whisked past me I looked up and saw him again, but
    at that moment he sharply turned his back on me and walked into the
    card-room. I was sitting still when he came out again with Mr. Topham.
    The music had just struck up, the couples were gathering; he was going
    to dance then. I looked down at my bouquet with tears in my eyes, and
    was trying hard to subdue my folly and to count the petals of a white
    camellia, when Mr. Topham's voice close by me said--

    "'Miss Dorothy Lascelles, may I introduce Mr. Manners to you?' and in
    two seconds more my hand was in his arm, and he was saying in a voice as
    commonplace as if the world had not turned upside down--

    "'I think it is Sir Roger.'

    "It is a minor satisfaction to me to reflect that, for once in my life,
    I was right. I did talk to Mr. George Manners. The first thing I said
    was--

    "'I am very much obliged to you for picking up my fan.' To which he
    replied (if it can be called a reply)--

    "'I wish I had known sooner that you were Miss Lascelles' sister.'

    "I said, 'Did you not see her with me on the stairs?' and he answered--

    "'I saw no one but you.'

    "Which, as it is the nearest approach to a pretty speech that ever was
    made to me, I confide solemnly to this my fine new diary, which is to be
    my dearest friend and confidante this year. Why the music went so fast,
    and the dance was so short on this particular occasion, I never could
    fathom; both had just ceased, and we were still chatting, when midnight
    struck, deep-toned or shrill, from all the clocks in the house; and, in
    the involuntary impressive pause, we could hear through the open window
    the muffled echo from the village church. Then Mr. Topham ran in with a
    huge loving-cup, and, drinking all our good healths, it was passed
    through the company.

    "When the servant brought it to me, Mr. Manners took it from him, and
    held it for me himself by both handles, saying--

    "'It is too heavy for your hands;' and I drank, he quoting in jest from
    _Hamlet_--

    "'Nymph, in thine orisons be all my sins remembered.'

    "Then he said, '_I_ shall wish in silence,' and paused a full minute
    before putting it to his lips. When the servant had taken it away, he
    heaved so profound a sigh that (we then being very friendly) I said--

    "'What is the matter?'

    "'Do you believe in presentiments, Miss Lascelles?' he said.

    "'I don't think I ever had a presentiment,' I answered.

    "'Don't think me a fool,' he said, 'but I have had the most intense
    dread of the coming of this year. I have a presentiment (for which there
    is no reason) that it will bring me a huge, overwhelming misfortune: and
    yet I have just wished for a blessing of which I am vastly unworthy, but
    which, if it does come, will probably come this year, and which would
    make it the brightest one that I have ever seen. Be a prophet, Miss
    Lascelles, and tell me--which will it be?--the joy or the sorrow?'

    "He gazed so intently that I had some difficulty in answering with
    composure--

    "'Perhaps both. We are taught to believe that life is chequered.'

    "'See,' he went on. 'This is the beginning of the year. We are standing
    here safe and happy. Miss Lascelles, where shall we be when the year
    ends?'

    "The question seemed to me faithless in a Christian, and puerile in a
    brave man: I did not say so; but my face may have expressed it, for he
    changed the subject suddenly, and could not be induced to return to it.
    I danced twice with him afterwards; and when we parted I said,
    emphatically--

    "'A happy new year to you, Mr. Manners.'

    "He forced a smile as he answered, 'Amen!'

    "Mrs. Dallas (who kindly chaperoned us) slept all the way home; and Miss
    Dallas and Harriet chatted about their partners. Once only they appealed
    to me. What first drew my attention was Mr. Manners' name.

    "'Poor Mr. Manners!' Harriet said; 'I am afraid I was very rude to him.
    He had to console himself with you, eh, Dolly?--on the principle of love
    me love my dog, I suppose?'

    "Am I so conceited that this had never struck me? And yet--but here
    comes Harriet, and I must put you away, dear diary. I blush at my
    voluminousness. If every evening is to take up so many pages, my book
    will be full at Midsummer! But was not this a red-letter day?"

    Well may I blush, dear Nell, to re-read this girlish nonsense. And yet
    it contains not the least strange part of this strange story--poor Mr.
    Manners' presentiment of evil. After this he called constantly, and we
    met him often in society; and, blinded by I know not what delusion,
    Harriet believed him to be devoted to herself, up to the period, as I
    fancy, when he asked me to be his wife. I was staying with the Tophams
    at the time. I believe that they had asked me there on purpose, being
    his friends. Ah, George! what a happy time that was! How, in the sweet
    days of the sweetest of summers, I laughed at your "presentiment"! How
    you told me that the joy had come, and, reminding me of my own sermon on
    the chequered nature of life, asked if the sorrow would yet tread it
    down. Too soon, my love! too soon!

    Nelly! forgive me this outburst. I must write more calmly. It is sad to
    speak ill of a sister; but surely it was cruel, that she, who had so
    many lovers, should grudge me my happiness; should pursue George with
    such unreasonable malice; should rouse the senseless but immovable
    obstinacy of our poor brother against him. Oh, Eleanor! think of my
    position! Our father and mother dead; under the care of our only
    brother, who, as you know, dear Nell, was at one time feared to be a
    complete idiot, and had, poor boy! only so much sense as to make him
    sane in the eyes of the law. You know the fatal obstinacy with which he
    pursued an idea once instilled; the occasional fits of rage that were
    not less than insanity. Knowing all this, my dear, imagine what I must
    have suffered when angrily recalled home. I was forbidden to think of
    Mr. Manners again. In vain I asked for reasons. They had none, and yet a
    thousand to give me. When I think of the miserable stories that were
    raked up against him,--the misconstruction of everything he did, or
    said, or left undone,--my own impotent indignation, and my poor
    brother's senseless rage, and the insulting way in which I was watched,
    and taunted, and tortured,--oh, Nelly! it is agony to write. I did the
    only thing left to me--I gave him up, and prayed for peace. I do not say
    that I was right: I say that I did the best I could in a state of things
    that threatened to deprive me of reason.

    My submission did not produce an amount of harmony in the house in any
    way proportionate to the price I paid for it. Harriet was obliged to
    keep the slanders of my lover constantly in view, to quiet the
    self-reproach which I think she must sometimes have experienced. As to
    Edmund, my obedience had somewhat satisfied him, and made way for
    another subject of interest which was then engrossing his mind.

    A man on his estate, renting a farm close to us, who was a Quaker, and
    very "strict" in his religious profession, had been for a long time
    grossly cheating him, relying, no doubt, on my poor brother's deficient
    intellect. But minds that are intellectually and in reason deficient,
    are often endowed with a large share of cunning and caution, especially
    in monetary affairs. Edmund guessed, watched, and discovered; but when
    the proof was in his hands, his proceedings were characteristically
    peculiar. He did not discharge the man, and have done with it; he
    retained him in his place, but seemed to take a--let me say--insane
    delight in exposing him to the religious circle in which he had been a
    star, and from which he was ignominiously expelled; and in heaping every
    possible annoyance and disgrace upon him that the circumstances
    admitted. My dear, I think I should have preferred his wrath upon
    myself, to being the witness of my brother's miserable exultation over
    the wretched man, Parker. His chief gratification lay in the thought
    that, exquisite as were the vexations he heaped upon him, the man was
    obliged to express gratitude for his master's forbearance as regarded
    the law.

    "He said he should never forget my consideration for him till death! Ha!
    ha!"

    "My only puzzle," I said, "is, what can induce him to stay with you."

    And then the storm turned upon me, Eleanor.

    You will ask me, my dear, how, meanwhile, had Mr. Manners taken my
    letter of dismissal. I know now, Nell, and so will not revive the
    mystery that then added weight to my distress. He wrote me many
    letters,--but I never saw one!

    * * * * *

    And now, dear friend, let me pause and gather courage to relate the
    terrible events of that sultry, horrible--that accursed June.




    CHAPTER II.

    THE TERRIBLE JUNE.


    It was about the middle of the month. Harriet was spending some hours
    with a friend, Edmund was out, and I had been left alone all day for the
    first time since I came home. I remember everything that happened with
    the utmost distinctness. I spent the day chiefly in the garden,
    gathering roses for pot-pourri, being disinclined for any more
    reasonable occupation, partly by the thundery oppressiveness of the air,
    partly by a vague, dull feeling of dread that made me restless, and
    which was yet one of those phases of feeling in which, if life depended
    on an energetic movement, one must trifle. In this mood, when the
    foreclouded mind instinctively shrinks from its own great troubles,
    little things assume an extraordinary distinctness. I trode carefully in
    the patterns of the terrace pavement, counted the roses on the white
    bush by the dial (there were twenty-six), and seeing a beetle on the
    path, moved it to a bank at some distance. There it crept into a hole,
    and such a wild, weary desire seized on me to creep after it and hide
    from what was coming, that--I thought it wise to go in.

    As I sat in the drawing-room there was a rose still whole in my lap. I
    had begun to pluck off the petals, when the door-bell rang. Though I
    heard the voice distinctly when the door was opened, I vow to you, dear
    Nell, that my chief desire was to get the rose pulled to pieces before I
    was disturbed. I had flung the last petal into my lap, when the door
    opened and Mr. Manners came into the room.

    He did not speak; he opened his arms, and I ran straight into them,
    roses and all. The petals rained over us and over the floor. He talked
    very fast, and I did nothing but cling to him, and endure in silence the
    weight which his presence could not remove from my mind, while he
    pleaded passionately for our marriage. He said that it was the extreme
    of all that was unreasonable, that our lives' happiness should be
    sacrificed to the insane freak of a hardly responsible mind. He
    complained bitterly (though I could but confess justly!) of the
    insulting and intolerable treatment that he had received. He had come,
    he said, in the first place, to assure himself of my constancy--in the
    second, for a powerful and final remonstrance with my brother--and, if
    that failed, to remind me that I should be of age next month; and to
    convey the entreaty of the Tophams that, as a last resource, I would
    come to them and be married from their house. I made up my mind, and
    promised: then I implored him to be careful in his interview with my
    brother, for my sake--to calm his own natural anger, and to remember
    Edmund's infirmity. He promised, but I saw that he was slightly piqued
    by my dwelling so much on Edmund's feelings rather than on his. Ah!
    Nelly, he had never seen one of the poor boy's rages.

    It may have been half-past six when Mr. Manners arrived; it had just
    struck a quarter to nine when Edmund came in and found us together. He
    paused for a minute, clicking his tongue in his mouth, in a way he had
    when excited; and then he turned upon me, and heaped abuse on insult,
    loading me with accusations and reproaches. George, white with
    suppressed rage, called incessantly upon me to go; and at last I dared
    disobey no longer; but as I went I touched his arm and whispered,
    "Remember! for my sake." His intense "I promise, my darling," comforted
    me then--and afterwards, Nelly. I went into a little room that opened
    into the hall and waited.

    In about twenty minutes the drawing-room door opened, and they came out.
    I heard George's voice saying this or something equivalent (afterwards
    I could not accurately recall the words)--

    "Good-night, Mr. Lascelles; I trust our next meeting may be a different
    one."

    The next sentences on both sides I lost. Edmund seems to have refused to
    shake hands with Mr. Manners.

    [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][Next]