VARNEY, THE VAMPYRE; OR, THE FEAST OF BLOOD. CHAPTER CLXXXI. [sic] [Chapter 198] A FAMILY SCENE. -- THE SISTERS. -- THE HORRIBLE ALARM. In the course of two hours more, the young men were so close in shore that they could see the lights flashing along the coast, and they even fancied they could catch a glimpse of human forms moving along with torches; and if such were the case, they doubted not but that these people were sent to serve as a guide to them should they with their little bark be hovering near the coast. "Look, Edwin," said Charles, "we are expected, are we not?" "Yes, yes." "I am certain that those lights are meant as guides for us." "They may spare themselves the trouble, for do you not see that the clouds are wearing away, and that in a few minutes more we shall have the undimmed lustre of a full moon looking down upon us." "It will be so." The boat had now got so far within a large natural inlet of the ocean that but very little wind caught its gently flapping sail, so that the brothers bent manfully to their oars, and got the boat through the water at a rapid rate. Oh, how very different their sensations were now to what they had been when they were beating about at the mercy of the winds and waves, but a few short hours since, and when it certainly was but an even chance with death whether they would ever see their home again. If a gale had sprung up, accompanied by anything in the shape of a very heavy sea, they must have been lost. Soon they saw that their boat was descried, and at a particular portion of the coast there stood a complete cluster of men with torches, inviting them there to land, and they knew that such landing place was upon their father's property, and that in a few minutes they would be safe on shore. Neither of them spoke, but reflection was busy in the hearts of both. There was a loud and thoroughly English shout, as the boat grated upon the sandy beach, and Edwin and Charles jumped on shore. They were in another moment pressed in their father's arms. "Why, why, boys," he said, "what a fright you have given us all; there's Clara and Emma have been forced-- I say forced, for nothing but force would do it-- to go home, and the whole country has been in an uproar. You were blown out to sea, I suppose?" "Yes, father, but we have not been in any danger." "Not in any danger with such a cockleshell of a boat fairly out into the German Ocean. But we will say no more about it, lads. Not another word, come home at once, and make all hearts glad at the old Grange-house." "There's something in the boat," cried one of the men who held a light. "Good God, yes!" exclaimed Charles. "We had forgotten," said Edwin, "we met with a little adventure at sea, and picked up a dead body." "A dead body?" "Yes, father, we could not find it in our hearts to let it be, so we brought it on shore that it might have the rites of Christian burial in the village church-yard. Somebody who loved the man may yet thank us for it, and feel a consolation to know that such had been done." "You are right boys, you are right," said the father, "you have done in that matter just as I would wish you; I will give orders for the body to be taken to the dead house by Will Stephens, and to-morrow it shall be decently interred." This being settled, the father, accompanied by his two sons, who were not a little pleased to be safe upon _terra firma_ again, walked together up a sloping pathway, which led to the Grange-house, as it was called. The joy that the return of the brothers caused in the family, our readers may well imagine. The sisters Clara and Emma wept abundantly, and the mother, who had let her fears go further than any one else, was deeply affected. But it is time that we should inform the reader who these people were, whom we have introduced upon the scene of our eventful history. Sir George Crofton, for such was the name of the father of Edwin and Charles, was a wealthy warm-hearted country gentleman, and constantly resided upon his own estate all the year round, being a good landlord to his tenantry, and a good father to his four children, who have already been to some extent presented to the reader. The mother was a kind-hearted, but rather weak woman, with an evangelical bias that at times was rather annoying to the family. This, however, was perhaps the good lady's only fault, for with that one exception, she was fond of her children to excess, notwithstanding, as Sir George sometimes jestingly said he verily believed, she in her heart considered they were all on the high road to a nameless abode. The night was so far advanced when the young men got home that, of course, not much was said or done, and among other things that were put off until the following morning, was the story of the finding of the body. "There is no occasion," whispered Sir George, "to say anything to your mother about it." "Certainly not, father." "At least not till to-morrow, for if you do, I shall not get a wink of sleep for her reflections on the subject." The two young men knew very well that this was no exaggeration, and that their mother would, like any divine, eagerly seize the opportunity of what is called "improving the occasion" by indulging in a long discourse upon the most dismal of all subjects that the mind of any human being can conceive, namely, the probability of everybody going to eternal perdition unless they believe in a particular set of doctrines that to her seem orthodox. The consequence of this was that the dead body was quietly taken out of the boat by men who did not possess the most refined feelings in the world, and carried to the bone house. "He seems a decent sort of chap," said one, as he looked at the very respectable habiliments of the corpse. "Ah! look at the gould rings." "Yes, you may, look, Abel, but eyes on, hands off." "Why?" "Why, you gowk, do you think as young Master Charles and Edwin don't know of 'em, and more besides, who would touch dead man's gold off of his fingers?" "Is it unlucky?" "Horrid!" "Then I'll have nought to do with un." The body was placed on the ground, for there was no coffin of any sort to put it in, and the door was shut upon it in the dead house, and then the party who had brought it there thought it a part of their duty to wake up Will Stephens the sexton, to tell him that there was such a thing as a dead body placed in his custody, as it were, by being put into the dead house, which was not above a hundred yards from the cottage occupied by Will. They hammered away rather furiously at his door, and no wonder that he felt a little, or perhaps not a little, alarmed upon the occasion. In a few moments a casement was opened and out popped a head. "Hilloa! you ragamuffins, what do you mean by hammering away at an honest man's door at this rate, eh? Am I to have any sleep?" "Ragamuffin yourself," cried one; "there's a dead body of a drowned man in the bonehouse. All you have got to do is to look after it, and there's a lot of gold rings on its fingers with diamonds in them, for all we know, worth God knows how much. You may make the most of it now that you know it." "A dead man! Who is he?" "Ah, that's more than we can tell. Good night, or rather good morning, old crusty." "Stop! stop! -- tell me----" The men only laughted, for they had no desire to protract a conversation with the sexton, and he called in vain after them to give him some further information upon the subject of this rather mysterious information. "A drowned man," he pondered to himself, "a drowned man, and with fingers loaded with gems, and brought to the bonehouse! Oh, pho! pho! It's a hoax, that's what it is, and I won't believe it. It's done to get me up in the cold, that's all, and then there will be some trick played off upon me safe, and I shall be only laughed at for my pains." Full of this idea, the sexton turned into his bed again, and hoped that by speedily going to sleep, he should get the laugh of his tormentors, instead of they getting it of him, as well as lose the shivering that had come on him through standing at the open window, exposed to the night air so very indifferently clad. -+- Next Time: The Sexton's Avarice. -- The Dead and the Living. -- The Ring. +=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+ | This Varney the Vampyre e-text was entered by members of the | | Science Fiction Round Table #1 (SFRT1) on the Genie online | | service. | | The Varney Project, a reincarnation of this "penny dreadful" bit | | of fiction, was begun in November of 1993 by James Macdonald and | | should take about four years for re-serialization. | | These chapters are being posted once a week to the Round Table | | Bulletin Board and are also being placed in the Round Table File | | Library. | | For further information concerning Varney e-texts, please send | | email to: | | h.liu@juno.com | +=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+ ============================================================================== The Varney Project Chapter 198 Ver 1.00 10/13/1997 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ General notes on this chapter Source: H.Liu entry from the Arno edition, 1970, text is reprint of 1847 edition Drop capital: No Figures in source: 1 Page numbers in source: 777-779 Sections: 1 Approximate number of characters: Number of paragraphs: Comments: Chapter appears mis-numbered as CLXXXI. With the weather now favoring their return, the two young men make their way back to the coast, and are welcomed by parties of men with torches on the beach of their father's property. They are also greeted by their father, Sir George Crofton, who is relieved they have returned safely. The dead body, once discovered, causes a bit of a stir, but after the circumstances of its recovery are known, the father of the young men praises their decision and directs that the body be taken to the bone-house so that the sexton, living near there, can deal with it in the morning. While the two brothers are welcomed back to their family home, the Grange House, two workers are dispatched to take the body to the bone house and inform the sexton of its existence. This the two workers do, and they note the copious amounts of gold jewelery on the body. They awaken the sexton and tell him of the situation, which he immediately dismisses as a hoax, and goes back to bed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Modification History Version Date Who What changes made -------- -------- ------------- ---------------------------------- 1.00 10/07/1997 H.Liu Initial gold version, rough proof read. ==================================End of File=================================