VARNEY, THE VAMPYRE; OR, THE FEAST OF BLOOD. CHAPTER CXCIII. [sic] [Chapter 210] THE STRANGE VISITOR TO THE OLD CHURCH AT NIGHT. The request of Will Stephens to be allowed to put some sawdust in the vault of the Croftons, was one of those regular things that he always propounded to any one who had a vault opened beneath the old church, and he generally made a very good thing of it. People were always too much taken up with thinking of the loss of the relation who had just been placed in that dismal repository, to think much of a guinea to Will for a shilling's worth of sawdust, and if they did ever intimate that they thought it rather too much, he always had his answer ready at the tip of his tongue. "How should you like, sir, or madam, as the case may be, to go into a vault among the dead, to lay the sawdust for 'em." That argument was generally conclusive, and Will would get his guinea. With Sir George Crofton he was quite sure and safe, so he had no scruples upon the subject, and the little bit of sawdust he meant to carry in when he had time, was more for the say of the thing, than for any utility it was at all likely to be of, but then as he said, -- "Where's the odds, the dead 'uns can't see it, and living 'uns won't go to see it, so it does very well, and I pockets my guinea, which does better still, for after all a sexton's aint the most agreeable life in the world, and he ought to be paid well; not that I care much about it, being used to it, but there was a time when I had my qualms, and I've had to get over 'em the best way I could, somehow, if I am now all right." These were Will's arguments and reflections to himself before night, when he meant to go and place the little bag of saw-dust in the Croftons' family vault. But, before we follow Will Stephens on his saw-dust expedition, as we intend to do, we wish first to draw the attention of the reader to another circumstance, the relation of which to Will Stephen's proceedings will very shortly appear indeed. As the night came on there was some appearance of stormy weather. The wind blew in a strange, gusty and uncertain manner, shifting about from point to point of the compass in an odd way, as though it had not made up its mind from whence to blow. The most weather-wise personages of the neighbourhood were puzzled, for just as they prognosticated one species of weather from the particular direction whence the wind came, it shifted and came from some other quarter very nearly directly opposite. This was extremely provoking, but at all events it was generally agreed that the moon would not on that night, shed its soft light upon the earth. How far they were mistaken in this surmise we shall presently see. Will Stephens had an opinion, from certain admonitory symptoms arising from his corns, that it would rain; so he delayed going to the church until he should see what sort of weather it was going to be, inwardly deciding that it would be a capital excuse not to go at all that night if the rain should come down pretty sharply. This period of indecision he passed at a public house, known as the Blue Lion, the charms of the excellent ale of that establishment materially assisting him in coming to the conclusion that if it should rain ever so little it would be better to put off his job until the morning. Now it was not that Will was afraid that he hesitated. He was too used to death to feel now any terrors of fear. It was nothing but the ale. Why then was the hurry? Simply that the flat stone which was over the vault of the Croftons was left unfastened until the aforesaid saw-dust was placed within the receptacle of the dead, and the next day was Sunday, so that the job must be finished before the service should commence. At night, therefore, or very early the following morning, Will must seem to earn his guinea by going to the vault. He did not like to venture saying he had been and yet neglect going, for he knew there were too many gossips about the village to make that safe. While he is however regaling himself at the ale house, another person totally, to all appearance, heedless of wind and threatening rain, is abroad in the neighbourhood of the church. A tall figure enveloped in a large murky looking cloak, is moving slowly past the few cottages in the immediate vicinage of the church, and so noiselessly that it looks like a spirit of the dead rather than a living person. It was unseen by any one, for it was a time of the night -- half-past eleven -- now at which few persons in that little quiet place were abroad, and as we have said, Will Stephens, perhaps the only inhabitant who had any real business to be abroad at such an hour, was still solacing himself at the Blue Lion with the ale that seemed to get better every glass he took. The figure moved on at a slow and steady pace among the old tomb stones that lay so think [sic] around in the circuit of the church-yard, until it reached the church itself, and then it walked slowly around the sacred edifice, looking with a curious eye at the windows that presented themselves to observation, and apparently scanning the height from the ground. Finally he paused at a rugged-looking part of the wall, and commenced, with great muscular power and most wonderful agility, climing [sic] up to one of the windows. To look at that wall it would have seemed that nothing human could possibly have succeeded in ascending it, and yet this stranger, catching at asperities which scarcely seemed to be such, did, with a wonderful power and strength, drag himself up until he grasped an iron bar, close to the window immediately above him, and then he had a firm hold. After this his progress was easy, assuming that his object was merely to get up to the window of the old church, for he stood upon the narrow ledge without in a few moments. There was a slight noise, it was of the breaking of a pane of glass, and then the stranger introduced his hand into the church, and succeeded in removing a rude primitive looking fastening which held the window in its place. In another moment he disappeared from external observation within the sacred building. What could he want there at such an hour, and who was he? Did he contemplate disturbing the repose of the dead with some unhallowed purpose? Was robbery his aim? Let us be patient, and probably we shall soon enough perceive that some affairs are in progress that require the closest attention, and which in the vaults are calculated to fill the reflecting mind with the most painful images, and awake sensations of horror at the idea that such things can really be, and are permitted tacitly by Heaven to take place on the beautiful earth destined for the dwelling place of man. -+- Next Time: Will Stephen's Visit to the Family Vault with the Saw-dust, and What He Saw There. +=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+ | 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 210 Ver 1.00 01/03/1998 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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: 0 Page numbers in source: 806-807 Sections: 1 Approximate number of characters: Number of paragraphs: Comments: Chapter appears mis-numbered as CXCIII. The regular scheme of Will Stephens in offering to spread some sawdust in a family's vault for a gratuity was discussed in the opening of this chapter. It seems that he usually gets a guinea (21 shillings) for a shilling's worth of sawdust, so the avaricious sexton is eager to offer this service. The weather, we are told, is quite unsettled tonight, and it is unclear whether there is to be rain or not. Although it is incumbent upon Will to perform his sawdust duty tonight so that the vault may be closed properly before the church services the next day, Will is hesitant, at first due to the possible bad weather, and secondly due to the quantities of ale he has consumed at the Blue Lion pub. While he consumes the ale and ponders the question, our attention is turned to a mysterious and murky-looking cloaked figure prowling about the church. We see that this figure makes a difficult climb up the wall of the church to a window, and then he breaks the window and enters the sacred structure. Just who this mysterious stranger is, and what he intends to do are left as questions to be answered in the future. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Modification History Version Date Who What changes made -------- -------- ------------- ---------------------------------- 1.00 01/03/1998 H.Liu Initial gold version, rough proof read. ==================================End of File=================================