The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-03-17

] doubtless YOU nave many OA0 AC7NANAS
/ in connection with it, and if you have
real ghost it will complete the charm"
/ I smiled as | spoke, but the next in
slant the smile died on my lips. A
sudden flame of color had rushed into
/ Miss Sherwood's face, leaving it far
paler than was natural. She dropped
/ her napkin. and stopped to pick 1t up
/ AS she did so, l observed that the rec
tor was looking at her anxiOusly. He
| Immediately burst into conversation,
completely turning the subject into
what l considered a trivial channel
A few minutes later the young girl
rose and left us to our wine.
! As soon as we We're alone, Sherwood
asked us to draw our chairs to the fire
and began to speak
L heard what you said to Rosaly,
/ Mr.. Head" he began; land l am sorry
now that I did not warn you. There is
a painful legend connected with this
old house. and the ghost whom you so
laughingly alluded to exists, as far as
my child is concerned, to a painful de-
gree"
Indeed" I answered.
q don't believe in the ghost myself"
he continued; but I do believe in the
influence of a very strong. nervous ter
you the story"
Nothing could please me better" I
answered.
The rector opened a fresh box of
cigars, handed them to us, and began:
The man who was my predecessor
here had a scapegrace son, who got
into serious trouble with a peasant girl
in this forest. He took the girl to Lon
don, and then deserted her. She
drowned herself. The boys father
vowed he would never see the lad
again, but the mother pleaded for him,
and there vas a sort of patched-up re-
/ Cancellation. He came down to spend
/ Christmas in the house, having faith
| fully promised TO turn over new leaf.
| There were festivities and high mirth.
"On Christmas night the whole fam
| lily retired to bed as usual, but soon
afterward a scream was heard issuing
| from the room where the young man
slept-the West Room it is called. By
/ the way il is the one you are TO occu-
py Dufrayer. The rector rushed into
the room and. to his horror and sur
prise, found the unfortunate young
man dead, stabbed to the heart. There
was, naturally, great excitement and
alarm. more particularly when it was
/ discovered that a well known herb wO-
man, the mother of the girl whom the
Young man had decoyed to London, had
/ been seen haunting the place. RumOr
went so far as to say that she had en-
/ tered the house by a secret passage
/ known only to herself Her name was
Mother Heriot. and she was regarded
| by the villagers as a sort of witch. This
1 woman was arrested on suspicion; but
nothing was definitely proved against
/ her, and no trial took place. Six weeks
/ later she was found dead in her hut,
on Grey Tor. and since then the rumor
/ is that she haunts the IectoTy on each
/ Christmas night-entering the house
| through the secret passage, which we
none of US can discover. This story is
rife in the house. and 1 suppose ROsaly
4 heard ii from her old nurse. Certain it
is that when she was about s years
old, she was found on Christmas night
screaming violently, and declaring that
/ she had seen the heTb-wOman. who en-
| tered her room and bent down over
/ her. Since then her nerves have never
been the same. Each Christmas as it
| comes around is a time of mental terror
to her. although she tries hard to strug
/ gle against her fears. On her account
/ I shall be glad when Christmas is over.
/ I do my best to make it cheerful. but 1
| can see that she breads ii terribly"
What about the secret passage?" 1
| interrupted.
"Ahi 1 have something curious to
| tell you about that" said the old rec
( tor. rising as he spoke. There is not
/ the least doubt that ii exists. 1t is
/ said TO have been made at the time of
the Monmouth rebellion. and is sup
posed to be connected with the church.
yard, about 200 yards away; but al
/ though we have searched and have
even had experts down to look into the
matter, we have never been able to get
the slightest clue to its whereabouts.
Ny impression is that it was bricked up
/ long ago. and that whoever committed
- 10. h.
other means Be that as it may, the
passage cannot be found, and we have
long ceased to trouble ourselves about
it"
But have you no clue whatever to
its whereabouts" l asked.
Nothing which can call clue. My
| belief is that we shall have to pull
down the old pile before we find the
passage
Il should like to search for it, said
| impulsively; these sort of things in
terest me immensely"
Il could give you a sort of key
! Head, if that would be any use" said
| Sherwood; 1T is in an old black-letter
book" As he spoke, crossed the ROOM
took book bound in vellum, with sill
yer clasps, from a locked bookcase, and
opening it, laid it before me.
This book contains a history of
Rokesby," he continued. Can you read
/ black-letter?"
| I replied that l could.
He then turned a page, and pointed
| to some rhymed words. More than
one expert has puzzled over these lines"
he continued Read for yourself"
read aloud. slowly:
When the Yew and Star combine,
Draw it twenty cubits line:
Wait until the sanity lips
Shall the belfry spire eclipse.
Cubits eight across the first,
| There shall lie the tomb accurst.
And you have never succeeded in
! solving thiS?" / continued.
1--WE have often tried, but never with
success. The legend runs that the pass
| age goes into the churchyard and has
| a connection with one of the old vaults
but / know nothing more. Shall we
| join ROsaly in the drawing room?''
MAY l copy this old rhyme first?" 1
| asked.
My host looked at me curiously; then
he nodded. took a memorandum book
from my pocket and scrubbed down the
words. Mr.. Sherwood then locked up
the book in its accustomed place, and