Tales of terror
She sighed in response to my appeal. Then pressing her soft, fair cheek
against mine, she tightened her arms around my neck and murmured low
and sweetly:
‘Yes, beloved, you are right. I will put the foolish, superstitious
fear behind me. Old Joanna has long been dead, and I ought never to
have allowed her empty, spiteful words to have influenced me. Take me,
dear, when you will. I am yours only. I will be your wife! I will be
faithful unto death!’
Scarcely had she uttered the words when she broke from me, and uttering
a shrill scream of terror, sank into her chair, and, pointing to the
far end of the veranda like one distraught, cried:
‘There she is, there she is! Take her away, take her away, for I am
horrified!’
Naturally my eyes turned to where she pointed, and though I was
neither a nervous nor a superstitious man, I started with a feeling of
horror, for I beheld the shadowy form of an old negress. The moonlight
fell full upon her repulsive face, which was filled with a look of
hatred, while her eyes, glowing like a wild cat’s, glared at me with a
spite that would be difficult to describe. In a few moments her lips
parted, revealing the white teeth that glistened in the pale light, and
distinctly and unmistakably I heard these words: ‘Shun her, the curse
is on her! She will die as I foretold.’
Juliette heard this too, and with a pitiable scream of fright she fell
in a swoon on the floor. The scream brought the servants and her father
rushing from the house, and as they raised the prostrate lady up, they
directed angry glances at me, as though they thought that I had done
some wrong.
I was confused and trembling. I glanced towards the end of the veranda
to where I had seen the vision, but there was nothing in sight, and I
was recalled to my senses by the voice of Senhor Souza, who somewhat
peremptorily demanded to know what had caused his daughter’s illness.
‘Senhor Souza,’ I answered, thinking it was better to be perfectly
frank with him, ‘as you know, Juliette and I love each other. To-night
I have asked her to be my wife. She consented. Immediately afterwards
we heard a sigh, and turning beheld a vision which so alarmed your
daughter that she screamed and fainted.’
‘This is a strange story, very strange,’ he muttered; ‘and it is
ominous. Tell me more about it?’ The Brazilians are all more or less
superstitious, and Senhor Souza was no exception. Having seen his
daughter borne into the house and attended to by her maid and the
female servants, he returned to me and made me relate minutely all that
had passed.
As I felt that I ought not to conceal anything I gave him a plain,
straightforward statement of the facts. He was much impressed and
evidently uneasy. Again and again he asked me if I had seen the vision.
Of course I had no alternative but to assure him that I could not have
been mistaken, although I had no explanation to offer. I told him I was
not given to seeing visions, that up to that night I had always been
very sceptical; but now I was either a victim of a trick of the brain
or I had seen what I had described. Moreover, I was certain, I said,
that Juliette had seen it too. Otherwise, why did she scream and faint?
Senhor Souza showed decided reluctance to discuss the subject further
that night, for he was evidently deeply affected, and much concerned
about his daughter. So when I had been assured that Juliette was
recovering, and would probably be all right in the morning, I returned
to the town. As I drove along in the moonlight, I recalled all that had
transpired, and I confess to a feeling of decided uneasiness. The fact
is, I was unnerved a little. I had received a shock and its effects
were not easily shaken off.
I did not sleep very well that night, but with the coming day my fears
dispelled, and I quite recovered my wonted buoyancy when a special
messenger brought me a little note from my Juliette to say that she was
much better. That cheered me, and I was inclined to rate myself for
having been so weak. But, of course, we are always brave in the day.
Darkness makes cowards of us.
As soon as my duties permitted I rode out to Senhor Souza’s villa and
was pleased at being met on the threshold by Juliette. She looked pale
and anxious, and a trace of fear still lingered in her beautiful eyes.
We wandered into the garden together, and when the psychological moment
had arrived, as I thought, I renewed my love-vows, and again urged
her to consent to become my wife. Something of the previous night’s
agitation affected her, and as she clung to my arm as though she was
afraid an unseen force might attempt to pluck her from my side, she
said:
‘Are we justified, think you, in defying fate, and in linking our lives
together in spite of the curse?’
‘Yes, undoubtedly,’ I answered. ‘The curse is nonsense. We can afford
to laugh at the curse of a human being.’
‘You saw the vision last night?’ she asked.
‘Yes.’
‘And heard it speak?’
‘I did.’
‘You know then that I am not the victim of a delusion. At least, if I
am so are you.’
‘Beloved,’ I cried, ‘we are both victims of a delusion. It is well that
we should think so. Curses avail not, neither can the dead harm us.
Our happiness is in each other’s keeping. Why should we throw it away?
Surely we are strong-minded enough to be indifferent to the meaningless
croakings of a spiteful and imbecile old woman. Hesitate, therefore, no
longer; say that you will be my wife.’
Although my argument evidently told with her, she could not quite
make up her mind, and she murmured, like one who was still under the
influence of a great fear:
‘I should like to, I should like to, dear one; but supposing that
dreadful prophecy _should_ come true?’
‘It won’t, my own love,’ I answered. ‘We have nothing to fear from the
living, and the dead--well, the dead are done with.’
‘Ah, you don’t know. Perhaps, perhaps not. Who knows, who can tell?
It may be that those who have passed away may still have the power to
injure us. The old nurse hated me, and I fear that she has carried her
hate beyond the grave.’
I used every argument I could to comfort and calm her. I urged her
again and again to speak the word that would make my happiness
complete. I told her that I was then suffering in health as a result
of the climate, and weakened as I was, her refusal to comply with my
request would probably have a fatal effect.
This latter argument appealed so forcibly to her that even her
superstitious fears were overcome, and she said at last that if her
father offered no objection she would not. Speaking for myself,
although the night previous I had been much impressed, I was no longer
so; nor was I inclined to attach any importance to the supernatural
incident which had so alarmed us, consequently I felt perfectly
justified in leaving nothing undone to overcome Juliette’s scruples and
fears. And now, as I had gained her consent, I suggested that we should
go at once to her father and get his sanction, for the time had come
when the state of my health demanded imperatively that I should seek a
change; that I should go away into the highlands to recoup. But I was
resolved not to go alone.
By this time I had completely won her, and so we went to Senhor Souza
and told him of our wishes and desires. I noticed that his olive cheeks
blanched a little, and a look of ineffable love and tenderness filled
his eyes as he gazed on his child, whose beauty at that moment seemed
to me the beauty of heaven, not of earth. The Senhor appealed to her to
speak her mind freely and candidly, holding nothing in reserve. So she
turned to me, and laid both her soft white hands in mine, saying:
‘Father, this man has my heart. My body, therefore, belongs to him.
Give me to him with your blessing, for I love him.’
The Senhor was deeply affected, and his voice was broken by emotion as
he spoke. He stepped towards us and placed one hand on my head and the
other on hers, and looking at me with misty eyes, said:
‘I give her to you; take her. Guard her, watch over her, for she is my
life; she is the core of my heart, the apple of my eye. Be good to each
other, be true, loyal, and upright; and may God in His infinite mercy
and wisdom bless and prosper you, and give you long years of peace,
joy, and contentment. God bless you, God bless you,’ he repeated with
great fervency.
The old man ceased. He could say no more, emotion choked him. Juliette
and I muttered a fervent ‘Amen, amen!’ and then we were alone; the
Senhor had hurried from the room. I took my affianced wife in my arms,
and kissing her passionately, told her that every dark cloud had gone.
She sighed a sigh of joy, and nestled to me; but instantly the joy was
turned to a cry of horror and alarm, for a mocking, bitter, fiendish
laugh broke on our ears, and turning from whence the sound came, we saw
a nebulous form defined against a background of velvet curtain that
hung as a portière before a door. It was impossible to recognise the
figure, and it faded in a few moments like a passing shadow. The laugh,
however, was unmistakable. We both heard it. It struck against our
hearts; it beat in on our brains.
‘My love, my love!’ I whispered in Juliette’s ear, as she seemed as if
she would swoon in my arms; ‘be strong, be brave. God will smile upon
us. The saints will watch over us.’
‘Ah, dear one,’ she exclaimed; ‘let me go from you for ever, for it is
destined I shall bring you woe and life-long sorrow.’
‘Juliette, not all the fiends in the nether world shall part me from
you,’ I answered firmly. ‘We are pledged to each other, and your father
has blessed us. We will have no fear, but go on our way with light
hearts, and put our trust in God.’
She seemed comforted, and I remained there until late. The morrow was
to see the commencement of the preparations for our nuptials.
During the ensuing weeks Juliette quite recovered her spirits. Or, at
any rate, whatever her feelings and thoughts were, she was at pains to
conceal them. It was arranged that our honeymoon was to be spent in the
highlands, at the Senhor’s orchid station. I was looking forward to
the time of my departure from Rio with intense joy, as I was terribly
enervated, and yearned to breathe the pure and bracing air of the
mountain lands.
At length our marriage morning came, as bright and brilliant a day as
ever broke on the fair earth. A few fleecy clouds flecked the deep blue
sky, and a fresh wind blowing in from the sea tempered the great heat
of the sun. Surely no woman ever looked more divinely beautiful than
did my sweet wife on that her bridal morn. It seemed to me that she was
touched with a spiritual beauty that was not of the earth. The pure
white lilies that lay upon her heaving bosom were not more wondrous
fair than she. When the ceremony had ended, she expressed a wish to
retire with me to a little chapel. There for a brief space we might
offer up silent prayer, and commune with our hearts. Devoutly did she
cross herself, and fervently did she pray that she might make me happy.
Ah, sweet Juliette, as I think, even at this far-off time, of that
morning, my heart turns to lead, and my brain would give way, were it
not that your sweet and gentle spirit is ever near me, and bids me be
of good cheer.
When we had done justice to the sumptuous repast provided for us by my
father-in-law at the principal Rio hotel, we left by the railway known
as the _Estrada de Ferro Dom Pedro_, and travelled for many hours to
the extreme northern limit of the line, a place called Carandahy. My
father-in-law was to follow us in a few days. He would have started
with us, but was compelled to remain behind to settle up certain
business matters. My love and I remained that night at Carandahy, at