Doctor Feversham's Story Page #4

"Doctor Feversham's Story" by Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu is a compelling tale that blends elements of mystery and the supernatural. The story follows the experiences of Doctor Feversham, a physician whose unusual and tumultuous life is marked by strange occurrences and tragic events. As Feversham confronts his own past and the specter of death, the narrative delves into themes of love, loyalty, and the boundaries of life and death. Le Fanu's signature gothic style imbues the story with an atmospheric tension, making it a captivating exploration of the human psyche and the mysteries that lie beyond the veil of existence.

• Horror

								

the road? He is bewildered. I tell you it is madness to go on. See, one
of the horses has fallen; he kicks--he will hit you! Oh, how dark it is!
And the snow covers your lantern, and you cannot see the edge. Now the
horse is up again, but he cannot go on. Do not beat him, Luis; it is not
his fault, poor beast; the snow is too thick, and you are on rough
ground. Now he rears--he backs--the other one backs also--the wheel of
the carriage is over the edge--ah!'

"The scream with which these wild, hurried words ended seemed to be
taken up and echoed from a distance. Miss Patricia stared at me with a
ghastly white face of horror, and I felt my blood curdle as that long,
shrill, unearthly shriek pealed through the silent passages. It grew
louder and nearer, and seemed to sweep through the room, dying away in
the opposite direction. Miss Patricia fell forward without a word in a
dead faint.

"I looked at Miss Collingham; she had not moved, or shown any sign of
hearing or heeding that awful sound. In a few seconds the room was
filled with terrified women, roused from their sleep by the weird cry
which rang through the house. Miss Patricia was conveyed by some of them
to her own room, where, after much difficulty, we restored her to
consciousness. Her first act was to grasp me by the arm.

"'Mr. Feversham, for the love of the Holy Virgin do not leave me! I have
seen that which I cannot look upon and live.'

"I soothed her as best I might, and at last persuaded her to allow me to
leave her with her own maid in order to visit my other patient,
promising to return shortly.

"I found no change whatever in Miss Collingham. Sir James was in the
room trying to establish some degree of calmness and order among the
terrified women. We succeeded in persuading most of them to take a
restorative and return to bed, and leaving two of the most
self-possessed to watch beside Miss Collingham, who was still completely
insensible, we went together to Miss Patricia's room.

"'Brother, I have seen her!' she exclaimed on Sir James' entrance.

"'Seen who, my dear Patricia?'

"'The pale lady--the spectre of our house,' she replied, shuddering from
head to foot. 'She passed through the room, her hand upraised, and the
blood-spots on her garment. Oh, James! my time is come, and Father
O'Connor is not here.'

"Sir James did not attempt to combat his sister's superstitious terrors,
but appeared, on the contrary, almost as deeply impressed as herself,
and questioned her closely about the apparition. Her answers led to some
mention of the strange vision which Miss Collingham was describing in
her trance just before the scream was heard. At Sir James' request I put
down in writing, as nearly as I could remember, all she had said, and so
great was the impression it made on my mind that I believe I recalled
her very words. Knowing all we did of her abnormal condition while in a
state of trance, it was impossible not to fear that she might have been
describing a scene that was actually occurring at the time; and Sir
James determined to send out a party, as soon as daylight came, on the
road by which Don Luis must arrive.

"The morning dawned brightly, with a keen frost, and several men were
sent off along the road to ---- with the first rays of light.

"Some hours afterward Father O'Connor arrived, having made his way with
considerable difficulty across the hill. Miss Patricia claimed his first
attention, for my unhappy charge remained senseless and motionless as
ever.

"After a long conference, he came to me with grave looks.

"'She is at the window this day,' he said, shaking his head sorrowfully,
when I had told him my share of the last night's singular experiences.
'The pale lady is there; I saw her as I came by the bridge as plainly as
now I see you. We shall have evil tidings of that poor lad before
nightfall, or I am strangely mistaken.'

"Evil tidings indeed they were that reached us on the return of some of
the exploring-party. They were first attracted from following as nearly
as they could the line of road, blocked as it was with drifts of snow by
hearing the howling of a dog at some little distance, in the direction
of the precipitous ravine which went by the name of 'Armstrong's
Clough.' Following the sound, they came upon traces of wheels in the
hill-side, where no carriage could have gone had it not been for the
deep snow which concealed and smoothed away the inequalities of the
ground. These marks were traced here and there till they led to the
verge of the precipice, where a struggle had evidently taken place, and
masses of snow had been dislodged and fallen into the ravine.

"Looking below, the only thing they could see in the waste of snow was a
little dog, who was known to be in the habit of running with the
post-horses from ----, which was scraping wildly in the snow and filling
the air with its dismal howlings. A considerable circuit had to be made
before the bottom of the clough could be reached, and then the whole
tragedy was revealed. There lay the broken carriage, the dead horses,
and two stiffened corpses under the snow, that had drifted over and
around them.

"I need not pursue the melancholy story; I was an old fool for telling
it to you," said the Doctor.

"But Miss Collingham--what became of her?" asked an eager listener.

"Well, she did not recover," answered the Doctor with a slight trembling
in his voice. "It was a sad matter altogether; and within a short time
she lay beside her betrothed in the family vault below the chapel. Sir
James broke up his establishment and went abroad, and I never saw any of
the family again."

"And what did you do, Doctor?"

"I went to London, to seek my fortune as best I might; and I hope you
may all prosper as well, my young friends."

"And is it all really true?" asked Amy, who had listened with breathless
attention.

"That is the worst of it; it really is," said the Doctor.
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