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Chapter II, Part C · The Irtonwood Ghost

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  Section five of The Irtenwood Ghost by Eleanor Glynn. This LibriVox recording is in
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  the public domain. Chapter two, Part C. At last, Ada,
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  almost weeping from grief and fright, subsided upon the sofa, while her husband
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  and Sir George, rigid and gray with anxiety, faced each other to decide
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  what to do. Wake the servants and send for a mason and carpenter.
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  Sir George said, and meanwhile, can't we get an axe and some tools.
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  I will tear the woodwork down myself when I have an implement. Missus
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  Hardress went off to wake the household and send for the required men, and
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  get a doctor too. Sir George called, And when some tools were found
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  by a frightened footman and brought, he set to work with such a will
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  that at last a steel bolt was discovered, and the paneling giving way.
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  By the fireplace, A very small, narrow door was disclosed in the stone
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  work. The bolts in connection with it were stiff and rusted with age,
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  and how a delicate woman could have moved them was a profound mystery. The
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  door gave way without much difficulty, and here, by the light of a
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  lamp held high, the very narrowest passage was revealed, which in three paces
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  developed into a stair. It was so extremely narrow that Sir George was obliged
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  to force his broad shoulders through with great difficulty, until he came to the
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  descent, which seemed to twist and then go along straight once or twice,
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  not a winding turret stair, And suddenly at a sharp turn he could see
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  the steps rising again on the opposite side. But there in the space beneath
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  lay the figure of a woman in white. With an exclamation of anguish,
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  he saw that it was Esther, but was she dead? He handed the
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  lamp to Jack Hardress, who was behind him, and in a second he
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  was beside his love and raising her in his arms, with difficulty in the
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  confined space, and even in the excitement, he noticed that she still clutched
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  in her hand the paper which seemed to have been the cause of all the
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  tragic events of the night. He detached it from her fingers and saw that
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  the blood drops had smeared her hand. As he put the paper in his
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  pocket and lifted her in his arms to carry her back, a bruise marked
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  where her forehead had struck a projecting star in the wall. Perhaps she was
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  only stunned and not dead. This hope gave him the strength of a lion,
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  and he clasped her close. But their exit was no easy task.
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  The space had been narrow enough for one person here and there, and was
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  impossible for a man cumbered with a woman in his arms. Jack Hardress retreated
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  before them, holding the lamp high, and when Sir George came to a
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  turn that he could not pass, he was obliged to lay his precious burden
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  down and to let jack Hardress pull her through by the arms. And then
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  he lifted her up again. And so at last all three were safe in
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  the cedar room, where a thrilled and excited group awaited them, including the
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  doctor, who had now arrived. The room was cleared of all but Ada,
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  Sir George, and Esther's maid, while the doctor bent over the inanimate
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  form. At last, he looked up and announced that no, she was
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  not dead. And never were more grateful words sent up to Heaven than Sir
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  George's fervent Thank God she was not dead, then, his darling, And
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  soon she might open her dear eyes and look into his own. He could
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  afford to wait in the passage now as he told the good news to the
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  rest of the alarmed guests, And presently the doctor and Missus Hardress came out,
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  and he heard that his beloved was conscious and would soon be well.
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  She must have walked in her sleep, the physician said, and her head
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  struck a stone. But it was the stifling air which made her faint,
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  though no doubt she was stunned too by the blow. If you had been
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  an hour later in finding her, I think she could not have lived.
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  And so, after all there were rejoicings on that Christmas morning, which seemed
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  as though it were going to dawn so tragically, and in the excitement of
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  it all, no one thought then to remark upon mister Ambrose Duval's departure by
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  the one and only early train. His note of farewell to his hostess was
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  a masterpiece and caused Sir George to smile as she handed it to him to
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  read. Late in the afternoon, he was allowed to see his loved lady
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  in AIDA's own sitting room, alone and in peace. She was lying upon
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  the sofa with a bandage round her forehead, and her small face looked ghastly
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  pale, against the blue silk cushions. But her eyes shone, and she
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  stretched out her hands as he bent upon his knees to be near her.
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  George, you work good to me, she whispered, and I can't take
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  care of myself. But she could not say any more, because he stooped
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  and kissed her lips. And for some while they were too happy to talk
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  of even a subject so interesting as her dream and the adventure it produced.
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  But at last they became sane enough to examine the parchment which proved to be
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  the certificate of marriage between John Charters Bachelor and Marjorie Wildacre Spinster, celebrated at
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  a little village in Leicestershire in the year seventeen ninety five. So the urtin
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  Wood Ghost had stood esther in good stead, for here was her fortune secured
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  beyond any doubt. But who then was mister Ambrose Duval, and what was
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  his connection with the affair? And why did esther herself resemble the picture of
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  the Irtinwood Ghost. These were questions which it would take time to discover the
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  answers of what does anything matter? Exclaimed Sir George, after a while,
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  since I have enough for us both and since you cannot take care of yourself,
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  you are going to let me try. It was not before the happy
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  pair returned from their honeymoon that all the mystery was unraveled. The lawyers had
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  been busy investigating the while. It appeared that Lady Margery Wildacre had lived at
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  Urtonwood, which was her old home, her father having sold it when they
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  went to Italy. She had had a daughter by her second husband, the
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  Italian count, who eventually married the great grandfather of Esther, thus carrying the
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  likeness into her family, and Esther often loves to weave a romance round her
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  dream and imagine how influenced by this far back ancestress's unquiet spirit she must have
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  been drawn to go to the Urtonwood Christmas party and participate in the events which
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  followed. The poor lady she decided to think, repenting of her heartlessness to
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  her charter's son had brought the dream to her great grandchild and led her through
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  the secret passage to claim her own, so that she, the Lady Marjorie,
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  might rest in peace. You see, George, she probably loved the
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  Italian count, Esther told her husband, and wanted their descendant by him to
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  benefit too, that is why she directed me. But I cannot help being
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  sorry for poor mister Duval loathsome foreigner was all, Sir George said. His
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  real name was Charters, and he was the claimant of the fortune, but
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  he chose to take his mother's name, she had been a frenchwoman, the
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  better to pursue his investigations. Unsuspected, he had got hold of some letter
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  among his branch of the family papers which referred to the certificate being at Urtonwood
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  and Lady Marjorie's residence there, and hearing that his chance acquaintances, the Hardresses
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  had taken this place, he cultivated them in order to have access for his
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  search, determining when he found the certificate he would destroy it and then with
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  certainty prosecute his claim. But fate takes care of things and arranges what she
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  thinks best, and even the thoroughly English Sir George Seafield is obliged to own
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  that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our
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  philosophy. End of Section five and end of The Urtenwood Ghost by Eleanor Glynn.
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