A Laodicean : A Story of To-day
Page 62
V.
The castle to-night was as gloomy as the meads. As Havill had explained,the habitable rooms were just now undergoing a scour, and the main blockof buildings was empty even of the few servants who had been retained,they having for comfort's sake taken up their quarters in the detachedrooms adjoining the entrance archway. Hence not a single light shonefrom the lonely windows, at which ivy leaves tapped like woodpeckers,moved by gusts that were numerous and contrary rather than violent.Within the walls all was silence, chaos, and obscurity, till towardseleven o'clock, when the thick immovable cloud that had dulled thedaytime broke into a scudding fleece, through which the moon forded herway as a nebulous spot of watery white, sending light enough, thoughof a rayless kind, into the castle chambers to show the confusion thatreigned there.
At this time an eye might have noticed a figure flitting in and aboutthose draughty apartments, and making no more noise in so doing than apuff of wind. Its motion hither and thither was rapid, but methodical,its bearing absorbed, yet cautious. Though it ran more or less throughall the principal rooms, the chief scene of its operations was the LongGallery overlooking the Pleasance, which was covered by an ornamentalwood-and-plaster roof, and contained a whole throng of family portraits,besides heavy old cabinets and the like. The portraits which were ofvalue as works of art were smaller than these, and hung in adjoiningrooms.
The manifest occupation of the figure was that of removing these smalland valuable pictures from other chambers to the gallery in which therest were hung, and piling them in a heap in the midst. Included in thegroup were nine by Sir Peter Lely, five by Vandyck, four by CorneliusJansen, one by Salvator Rosa (remarkable as being among the few Englishportraits ever painted by that master), many by Kneller, and twoby Romney. Apparently by accident, the light being insufficient todistinguish them from portraits, the figure also brought a RaffaelleVirgin-and-Child, a magnificent Tintoretto, a Titian, and a Giorgione.
On these was laid a large collection of enamelled miniature portraitsof the same illustrious line; afterwards tapestries and cushionsembroidered with the initials 'De S.'; and next the cradle presented byCharles the First to the contemporary De Stancy mother, till at lengththere arose in the middle of the floor a huge heap containing most ofwhat had been personal and peculiar to members of the De Stancy familyas distinct from general furniture.
Then the figure went from door to door, and threw open each that wasunfastened. It next proceeded to a room on the ground floor, at presentfitted up as a carpenter's shop, and knee-deep in shavings. An armful ofthese was added to the pile of objects in the gallery; a window at eachend of the gallery was opened, causing a brisk draught along the walls;and then the activity of the figure ceased, and it was seen no more.
Five minutes afterwards a light shone upon the lawn from the windows ofthe Long Gallery, which glowed with more brilliancy than it had known inthe meridian of its Caroline splendours. Thereupon the framed gentlemanin the lace collar seemed to open his eyes more widely; he with theflowing locks and turn-up mustachios to part his lips; he in the armour,who was so much like Captain De Stancy, to shake the plates of hismail with suppressed laughter; the lady with the three-stringed pearlnecklace, and vast expanse of neck, to nod with satisfaction andtriumphantly signify to her adjoining husband that this was a meet andglorious end.
The flame increased, and blown upon by the wind roared round thepictures, the tapestries, and the cradle, up to the plaster ceiling andthrough it into the forest of oak timbers above.