THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
205 
TO-. 
One word ia too often profane 
For me to profane It: 
One feeling: too falsely disdained 
For thee to disdain it; 
One hope is too like deepalr 
For prudence to smother, 
And pity from thee more dear 
Than love from another. 
I may give not what men call love, 
But wilt thou accept not 
The worship the heart lifts above 
And the heavens rejeot not ? 
The desire of the moth for the star. 
Of the night for the morrow, 
The devotion of something: afar. 
From the sphere of our sorrow. 
[Sl\elUy- 
®{j£ Storjj-®f(lfr. 
THE SECRET CHAMBER. 
CHAPTER I. 
Castle Gowkie is one of the most famous and 
Interesting in all Scotland. It is a beautiful old 
house, to start, with—perfect In old feudal gran¬ 
deur, with Its clustered turrets and walls that 
could withstand an army—Its labrynths, its hid¬ 
den stairs, its long mysterious passages—passages 
that seem In many cases to lead to nothing, but 
of which no one can be too sure to wbat they lead. 
The front, with its line gateway and flanking tow¬ 
ers, Is approached now by velvet lawns, and a 
peaceful, beautiful old avenue, with double rows 
of trees, like a cathedral; and the woods out of 
which the gray towers rise, look as soft and rich 
in foliage, if not so lofty in growtn, as the groves 
of the South. But this softness of aspect Is all 
new to the place—that is, new within the century 
or two which count ror but little In the history of 
a dwelling-place, some part of whlcU, at least, 
has been standing since the days when the Saxon 
Athellngs brought such share of arts as belonged 
to them to solidify and regulate the original Celtic 
art which reared Incised stones upon rude burial- 
places, and twined mystic knots on Its crosses, be¬ 
fore historic days. 
Even of this primitive decoration there are re¬ 
lics at Gowrle, where tho twistings and twimngs 
of Runic cords appear on some bits of ancient 
wall, solid as rocks and almost aa everlasting. 
From these to tho graceful French turrets, which 
recall many a gray chateau, what a long Interval 
of years! But these are Oiled with stirring chroni¬ 
cles enough, besides the dim, not always decipher¬ 
able records, which different developments or 
architecture have left on the old bouse. 
The Earls of Gowrte had boon in tho heat of 
every commotion that took place on or about tho 
Highland line for more generations than any but 
a Celtic pen could record. Rebellions, revenges, 
Insurrections, conspiracies — nothing in which 
blood was shed and lands lost, took place in Scot¬ 
land in which they had not a share; and the an¬ 
nals of the house arc very run and not without 
many a stain. They had been a bold and vigorous 
race—with much evil in them, and some good; 
never Insignificant, whatever else they might be. 
It cannot bo said, however, that they are remark¬ 
able nowadays. Since the Brat Stuart rising, 
known In Scotland as the " Fifteen," they have 
not done much that has been worth recording; 
but yet their family history has always been or 
an unusual kind. 
The Randolphs could not be called cccentrlo in 
themselves; on the contrary, when you knew 
them, ihoy were at bottom a respectable race, full 
of all the country gentleman virtues; and yet 
their public career, such as It was, had been mark¬ 
ed by the strangest leaps and Jerks of vicissitude. 
You would have said an impulsive, fanciful fam¬ 
ily—now making a grasp at some visionary ad- 
vantage, now rushing Into some wild speculation, 
now making a sudden sally law public life, but 
soon falling buck Into mediocrity—not able, ap¬ 
parently, even when the Impulse was purely sel¬ 
fish and mercenary, to keep it up. But this would 
not have been at all a true conception of the fam¬ 
ily character; their actual virtues were not of the 
Imaginative order, and their freaks were a mys¬ 
tery to their friends. 
Nevertheless, these freaks were what the gen¬ 
eral world was most aware of Ln the Randolph 
race. The Earl had been a representative peer 
of Scotland (they had no English title), and had 
made quite a wonderful start, and for a year or 
two seemed about to attain a very eminent place 
ln Scotch affairs; but his ambition was found to 
have made use of some very equivocal modes of 
gaining Influence, and he dropped accordingly, at 
once and forever, from the political Armament. 
This was quite a common circumstance in the 
family. An apparently brilliant, beginning, a dis¬ 
covery of evil means adopted for ambitious ends, 
a sudden subsidence, and the curious conclusion 
at the end of everything that this schemer, this 
unscrupulous speculator or politician, was a dull, 
good man after all—unambitious, contented, full 
of domestic kindness and benevolence. 
This family peculiarity made the history of the 
Randolphs a very strange one, broken by the odd¬ 
est interruptions, and with no consistency ln It. 
There was another circumstance, however, which 
attracted still more the wonder and observation 
of the public. For oho who can appreciate such 
a recondite matter as ramlly character, there are 
hundreds who are Interested In u family secret, 
. nd this the house of Randolph possessed In per¬ 
fection. It was a mystery which piqued tho Im¬ 
agination and excited the Interest of the entire 
country. 
The story went that Bomewhere, hid amid the 
massive walls and tortuous passages, there was a 
secret chamber ln Gowrte Castio. Everybody 
knew of Its existence; but savo the Earl, his heir, 
and one other person not of the fumlly, but filling 
a confidential post In their service, no mortal 
knew where this mysterious hiding-place was. 
There had been countless guesses made at it, and 
expedients of all kinds invented to find It out. 
Every visitor who ever entered tho old gateway- 
nay, even passing travelers who saw the turrets 
from the road—searched keenly for some trace of 
this mysterious chamber. But all guesses and 
researches were equally ln vain. 
I was about to say that no ghost story I ever 
heard of has been so steadily and long believed. 
But this would be a mistake, for nobody know 
even with any certainty that there was a ghost 
connected with it. A secret chamber was noth¬ 
ing wonderful ln so old a house. No doubt they 
exist ln many such old houses, and are always 
curious and Interesting -strange relics, more 
moving than nuy history, of the time when a man 
was not safe ln his own house, and when It might 
be necessary to aecuro a refuge beyond the reach 
of spies or traitors at a moment’s notice. Much a 
refuge was a necessity of life to a great medlmval 
noble. The peculiarity about this Hocret, cham¬ 
ber, however, was that some secret connected 
with the very existence of the tainlly was always 
understood to be involved In It. It. was not only 
the secret hiding-place for an emergency, a kind 
of historical possession presupposing the import¬ 
ance of his race, of which a man might be honest¬ 
ly proud; but there was something hidden lu It 
of which assuredly the race could not bo proud. 
It. Is wonderful how easily a family loams to 
pique Itself upon any distinctive possession. A 
ghost Is a sign of Importance not to be despised ; 
a haunted room Is worth as much as a small farm 
to tho complacency of the family that owns It. 
And no doubt tho younger branches of the Gowrte 
family—the Ught-mlndeU portion of the race—relt 
this, and were proud of their unrathoiuublo secret, 
and felt a thrill of agroeuble awe and piquant 
suggestion go through them when they remem¬ 
bered the mysterious something which they did 
not know In their familiar home. That thrill run 
through tho entire circle of visitors nud children 
and servants when the Karl peremptorily forbade 
a projected Improvement, or stopped a reckless 
exploration. They looked at each other with a 
pleasurable shiver. •• Bid you hear ?" they said. 
“ lie will uot let Lady Gowrle huvo that closet 
she wants so much In that bit of wall. He sent 
the workmen about their business before they 
could reach It, though tho wall Is twenty feet 
thick If It is an Inch : ah t" said the visitors, look¬ 
ing at each other; and this lively suggestion 
sent tlngllngs of excitement to their very finger- 
points; but even to hla wife, mourning the com¬ 
modious closet she had Intended, the Earl made 
no explanations. For anything she know, It 
might be there, next to her room—this mysterious 
lurking place; and It may be supposed that this 
suggestion conveyed to Lady Gowrlo's veins a 
thrill more keen and strange, porhaps too vivid to 
be pleasant. But she was not in the favored or 
unfortunate number of those to whom the truth 
could be revealed. 
I need not say what the different theories on 
the subject were. Horne thought there hud been 
a treacherous massacre here, and that the secret 
chamber was blocked by the skeletons or mur¬ 
dered guests—a treachery no doubt covering the 
family with shame In It* day, but so condoned by 
long softening of years aa to have all the Bhame 
taken out of It. 'l’he Randolphs could not have 
relt their character affected by any such Interest¬ 
ing historical record. They were nol so morbidly 
sensitive. Home said, on the other hand, that 
Earl Robert, the wicked Furl, was shut up there 
ln everlasting penance, playing cards with the 
devil ror hla soul. Bui It would huvo been too 
I great a feather ln the family cap to have thus got 
the devil, or even one of his angels, bottled up, aa 
it were, and safely ln hand, to make it possible 
that any lasting stigma could be connected with 
such a Tact as this. What a thing It would be to 
know where to lay one’s hand upon the prince of 
darkness, and prove him, once for all, cloven-foot 
| and everything else, to the confusion of gain¬ 
say era ! 
Ho this was not to be received as a satisfactory 
solution, nor could any other be suggested which 
was more to the purpose. The popular mind gave 
It up, and yet never gave It up; and stilt every¬ 
body who visits Gowrle, be it as a guest, be It aa a 
tourist, be it, only as a gazer from a passing car¬ 
riage, or from the flying railway train wblch Just 
glimpses Its turrets in the distance, dally and 
yearly Bpends a certain amount of curiosity, 
wonderment, and coujecturo about the Secret 
Chamber—the most plquam and undlscoverable 
wonder whlcn has endured unguessed and unde- 
clphered to modern times. 
This was how the matter stood when young 
John Randolph, Lord Lindores, came of age. He 
was a young man of great character and energy, 
not like tho usual Randolph strain—for, as we 
have said, the type of character common ln this 
romantically situated family, notwithstanding 
the erratic Incidents common to them, was that 
of dullness and honesty, especially in their early 
dayB. But young Lindores was not so. He was 
honest, and honorable but not dull. He had gone 
through almost a remarkable course at, school and 
at the university—not, perhaps, in quite the or¬ 
dinary way of scholarship, but enough to attract 
men’s eyes to him. He had made more than one 
great speech at tho Union. He was full of am¬ 
bition, and force, and life, Intending all sorts of 
great things, and meaning to make hla position a I 
stepping-stone to all that was excellent In public 
life. Not for him the country-gentleman exis¬ 
tence which was congenial to his father. The | 
idea of succeeding to the family honors and be¬ 
coming a Scotch peer, either represented or repre¬ 
sentative, filled him with horror; and filial pity In 
hls case was made warm by all the energy of per- 
sonal hopes when he prayed that hls father 
might live, if not forever, yet longer than any 
Lord Gowrle had lived for the last century or 
two. 
Ho was as sure of hls eloctlon for the county 
tho next time there was a chance as anybody can 
be certain of anything; and In tho meantime he 
meant to travel, to go to America, to go no one 
could tell where, seeking tor instruction and ex¬ 
perience, us is the manner of high-spirited young 
men with parliamentary tendencies ln the present 
day. In former times he would have gone “to 
the wars ln the Hie Germanic," or on a crusade 
to the Holy Land; but the days of the crusaders 
and of tho soldiers of fortune )> ing over, Lindores 
followed the fashion or hls ti.,.c. Ho had made 
all hls arrangements for hls tour, which hls father 
did not oppose, on tho contrary, Lord Gowrle 
oucouraged all those plans, though with an «lr of 
melancholy Indulgence which hls son could not 
understand. “ It will do you good," ho said, with 
a sigh. Yes, yes, my boy; the best thing for 
you.” This, no doubt, was true enough; but 
there was an Implied feeling that the young man 
would require something to do him good—that he 
would want, tho soothing of change and the grati¬ 
fication of hls wishes, os one might speak of a 
convalescent or tho victim of some calamity. 
This tono puzzled Lindores, who, though he 
thought It a fine thing to travel and acquire In¬ 
formation, was as scornful of the idea of being 
done good to as Is natural to any fine young fel¬ 
low fresh from Oxford and tho triumphs of the 
Union, But, ho reflected that the old school had 
Its own way of treating things, and was satisfied. 
All was settled accordingly for this Journey be¬ 
fore he came home to go through the ceremonial 
performances of the coming or age, the dinner of 
the tenantry, the speeches, the congratulations, 
hls father’s banquet, hls mother’s ball. It was in 
Hummer, and the country was us gay as all tho 
entertainments that were to be given la Ids 
honor. Ills friend who was going to accompany 
him on hls tour, as he had accompanied him 
through a considerable portion of bis life—Al- 
marte Ffurrlngton, a young man of the same as¬ 
pirations, came up to .Scotland with him for these 
festivities. And as they rushed through the night 
on the Great Northern Railway, In tho Intervals 
of two naps, they had a scrap of conversation as 
to these birthday glories. " It, will be a bore, but 
it, will not last long,” said Lindores. They were 
both or the opinion that anything that did uot 
produce Information or promote culture was a 
bore. 
“ But la there not a revelation to bo made to 
you among all the other things you have to go 
through?" said Ffarrlngton. “Have not you to 
be Introduced to the secrcct chamber, and all that 
sort of thing? I should like to be of tho party 
tbero, Mndores." 
“ Ah," said the heir, “ I had forgotten that part 
of It,” which, however, was not the case. “ in¬ 
deed, I don’t know If I am to he told. Even family 
dogmas are shaken nowadays.” 
“ Oh, I should Insist on that," said Ffarrlngton, 
lightly. “ it Is not many who have the chance or 
paying such a visit—hotter than Itomo and all the 
mediums, I should Insist upon that." 
“ I have no reason to suppose that it has any 
connection with Home or the mediums," said 
Lindores, slightly nettled. He wa 3 himself an 
I'urrrtt Jtrrt; but a mystery In one’s own ramlly Is 
not like vulgar mysteries. He liked It to be re- 
speoted. 
“ Oh, no offense," said hls companion. ** I have 
always thought that a railway train would be 
a great chance for the spirits. If one was to 
show suddenly lu that vacant seat beside you, 
what a triumphant proof of their existence that 
would be 1 But they don’t take advantage of their 
opportunities.” 
t.ludoros could not, tell what It was that made 
him think at that moment of a portrait he had 
seen in a back room at the castle of old Karl Rob¬ 
ert, the wicked Earl. It was a bad portrait—a 
daub—a copy, made by an amateur, or the genu¬ 
ine portrait, which, out or horror of Earl Robert 
and Ids wicked ways, had been removed by some 
Intermediate lord from Its place in the gallery. 
Lindores had never seen the original—nothing 
but this daub of a copy. Yet somehow this face 
occurred to him by some strange link of associa¬ 
tion—seemed to come Into hls eyes as hla friend 
spoke. A slight shiver ran over him. it, was 
strange, lie made no reply to Ffarringtor, hut 
set himself to think how it could be that the 
latent presence in hls mind of some anticipation 
of this approaching disclosure, touched Into life 
by hls friend’s suggestion, should have called out 
of hls momentary realization of tho acknowledged 
magician of the family. This sentence Is full of 
long words; but unfortunately long words are re¬ 
quired ln such a case. And the process was very 
simple when you traced It out. It was the clear¬ 
est case of unconscious cerebration. He shut hts 
eyes by way of securing privacy while he thought 
it out; and being tired, and not at all alarmed by 
hls unconscious cerebration, before he opened 
them again fell fast asleep. 
And hls birthday, which was the day following 
hls arrival at Glenlyon, was a very busy day. Ho 
had not time to think of anything but the imme¬ 
diate occupations of the moment. Public and pri¬ 
vate greetings, congratulations, offerings, poured 
upon him. The Go wiles were popular ln this gen¬ 
eration, which was far from being usual In the 
family. Lady Gowrte was kind and generous, 
with that kindness that comes from the heart, 
aud which Is the only kindness likely to Impress 
the keen-sighted popular Judgment; and Lord 
Gowrle had but little of the equivocal reputation 
of nis predecessors. They could be splendid now 
and then on great, occasions, though ln general 
they were homely enough; all which the public 
likes. It was a bore, Lindores said; but yet the 
young man did not dislike the honors, und the 
adulation, and all the hearty speeches and good 
wishes. It Is sweet to a young man to feel him¬ 
self tho center of all hopes. J t seemed very rea¬ 
sonable to him—very natural—that he should be 
so, and that the fa rmers should feel a pride of an¬ 
ticipation In thinking of hls future speeches in 
Parliament. He promised to them with the sln- 
cereat good faith that he would not disappoint 
their expectations—that, he would feel their In¬ 
terest In him an additional spur. What so natu¬ 
ral as that Interest and these expectations ? ne 
was almost solemnized by hls own position—so 
young, looked up to by so mauy people—so many 
hopes depending ou him; and yet It was quite 
natural. Hls father, however, was still more sol¬ 
emnized than Lindores—and this was strange, to 
say the least, ills face grew graver aud graver 
as the day went on, fill It almost seemed as If ne 
were dissatisfied with bis son’s popularity, or had 
some painful thought weighing on hls mind. He 
was restless and eager tor the termination of tho 
dinner, nud to got rid of hls guests; and as soon 
aa they were gone, showed an equal anxiety that 
hls son should retire too. “ Go to bed at once, as 
a favor to me," Lord Gowrle said. “You will 
have a great deal of fatigue—to-morrow." “ You 
need not bn afraid for me, sir," said Lindores, 
half affronted: but he obeyed, being tired. He 
had not once thought of the secret to be disclosed 
to him, through nil that long day. But when he 
woke suddenly with a start ln the middle of the 
night, to And the candles all lighted In hls room, 
and hls father standing by hla bedside, Lindores 
Instantly thought of It, and in a moment felt that 
the lending cvento-the chief Incident or all that 
had happened—was going to take place now. 
CHAPTER II. 
Loan Gowkik was very grave, and very pale. 
Ho was standing with hls hand on hls son’s shoul¬ 
der to wake him ; hls dress was unchanged from 
the moment they had parted. And the sight of 
this formal costume was very bewildering to the 
young man as he started up In hls bed. But next 
moment he seemed to know exactly how It was, 
and, more than that, to have known It all hla 
life. Explanation seemed unnecessary. At any 
other moment. In any other place, a man would 
be startled to bo suddenly woke up ln the middle 
of the night. But Lindores had no such feeling; 
he did not even ask a question, but sprang up, 
and fixed hls eyes, taking In all the strange cir¬ 
cumstances, on hls father’s face. 
“ Get Op, my boy,"mild Lord Gowrle, “ and dress 
as quickly as you can; it Is full time. I have 
lighted your candles, and your things are all 
ready. You have had a good long aleep." 
Even now he did not ask, What Is It ? as under 
any other circumstances he would have done. 
He got up without a won), with an Impulse of 
nervous speed and rapidity of movement Buch as 
only excitement, can give, and dressed hlniBelf, 
hts father helping him silently. It was a curious 
scene; tho room gleaming with lights, the silence, 
the hurried toilet, the stillness of deep ulght all 
around. Tho house, though so Tull, and with tho 
echoes of festivity but Just, over, was as quiet, as 
If there was not a creature within It—more quiet, 
indeed, for tho stillness of vacari -y Is not half so 
Impressive aa the stillness or hushed and slumber¬ 
ing life. 
Lord Gowrle wont to the table, when this first 
step was over, and poured out a glass of wino 
from a bottle tiiat stood there—a rich, golden- 
colored, perfumy wine. 
" You will want all your strength,” ho said. 
“ Take this before you go. 11 Is the famous Impe¬ 
rial T okay. There Is only a little left, and you 
wilt want all your strength." 
lindores took the wine. He had never drank 
any like it before, and the peculiar fragrance re¬ 
mained ln hls mind, as perfumes so often do, with 
a whole world of association In them. Ills fa¬ 
ther’s eyes dwelt upon him with a melancholy 
sympathy. 
“ You are going to encounter tho greatest trial 
of your life," he said: and taking the young man’s 
hand Into hls, felt Ills pulso. “ It Is quick, but It 
it is qulto firm, and you have had a good long 
sleep.” Then ho did what it needs a grout deal of 
pressure to Induce an Englishman to do—he 
kissed hls son on the cheek. “God bless you I ” 
be said, faltcrlngly. “ Come, now, everything is 
ready, Lindores.” 
Ho took up ln hls hand a small lamp, which ho 
had apparently brought with him, and led the 
way. By this time Lindores began to feel blmselt 
again, and to wake to the consciousness of all hls 
own superiorities and enlightenments. The sim¬ 
ple sense that he was one of tho members of a 
family with a mystery, and that the moment of 
hla personal encounter with this special power of 
darkness had come, had been the first thrilling, 
overwhelming thought. But now, as he followed 
hls father, Lindores began to remember that ho 
himself was not altogether like other men; that 
there was that ln him which would make It natu¬ 
ral that ho should throw some light, hitherto nn- 
thoughtof, upon this carerully-preaerved dark¬ 
ness. What secret even there might be in It— 
secret of hereditary tendency, of psychic force, of 
mental conformation, or of somo curious combina¬ 
tion of circumstances at once more or lees po¬ 
tent tnan tnose—It was for him to find out. He 
gathered all hls forces about him, reminded him¬ 
self of modern enllghteument, ami bade hls 
nerves be steel to all vulgar horrors. He, too, 
felt hls own pulse as he followed Ills father. To 
spend the night perhaps among the skeletons of 
that old-world massacre anil to repent the sins of 
biz ancestors; to be brought within the range of 
