182i).] The Dark Figure; a CamUc-Ught Sluri/. 621 



whether suicide did not run in the family. At any rate it was neces- 

 sary to take possession ; and I was put into a coach, and dragged down 

 into Cumberland by four horses. 



It is surprising to me that people will build their dwellings among 

 woods and hills, like the ravens and foxes. There could not be any 

 thing conceived more disheartening to an invalid than the aspect of my 

 deceased uncle's house. It was connected, it is true, by an avenue, 

 with a considerable village ; but the avenue was very long, and the 

 trees which bordered it were very lofty and umbrageous ; while, in the 

 immediate neighbourhood of the mansion, there was not a single vestige 

 of a human habitation. Hills and woods were scattered around, as if by 

 chance ; and I scarcely knew which was the more dismal — the impei'- 

 vious gloom of some trees, which still resisted the attacks of avitumn, or 

 the skeleton thinness of others, which held up their death-like limbs, 

 already stripped and anatomised. The house was distinguished by a 

 small turret, which looked like a large nutmeg-grater, stuck out at each 

 corner, but, in other respects, presented no remarkable evidence of the 

 architect's ambition. It was a high-roofed, small- windowed, rough-cast 

 piece of masonry ; and to these participled adjectives might have been 

 added, some score of years ago, white- washed. 



As I descended the steps of the carriage, a cold inhospitable blast 

 swept through the hall, as if to warn me from the gloomy abode. The 

 servants, dressed in black, stood around, with their features fastened, as 

 if with the screw-nails of a coffin, into the melancholy decorum befitting 

 the occasion ; and when I raised my face to take a farewell glance at the 

 gusty heavens, a hatchment hanging above the door met my eyes, on 

 which I recognized, with a shudder, the portentous word Resurgam. 



The parlour was large, and the fire small ; the floor creaked ; the 

 casement shivered ; the wind moaned in the chimney, and sighed under 

 the door. A pause of the blast was filled up by a rustling sound which 

 I detected in the hall ; it approached slowly, and was succeeded by, or 

 rather mingled with, a shaking of the door-handle. " Come in," cried 

 I, faintly ; while, through the whirls of smoke which this assault pro- 

 duced from the chimney, I beheld the tall figure of an ancient gentle- 

 woman, dressed in black silk, that looked like oilcloth, standing upright 

 on the threshold. She advanced about half way into the room ; and 

 then standing still, shook slowly from its folds a cambric handkerchief, 

 which, on being applied to her eyes, had the effect of drawing forth a 

 succession of sharp and tuneless sobs as ever set human teeth on edge. 

 She then wiped her dry eyes, arrayed her features in a smile, and, 

 sweeping the floor with a curtesy, informed me, that, as the housekeeper 

 of this ancient and honourable family, she had considered it her duty to 

 wait upon me, and welcome its representative to his inheritance. 



She then recited the particulars of my uncle's death : — how he had 

 looked melancholious, as it war, for a week before — how he had sat for 

 days together on the very chair I now occupied, leaning his head on his 

 hand — how he had ascended the stairs on the fatal night with a hin-ried 

 and broken step — how he had stood on the landing place (she would 

 shew me the spot wiien I was going to bed,) as if unwilling to enter his 

 room — how he had placed the candle in the corner of the toilet-table, 

 (just where I would find my night-cap, aired by her own hands,) and 

 gazed for some seconds on its quivering flame — how he had suddenly 

 ordered the chambermaid out of the room, and bolted himself in — how, 



