Dorothy Vernon of
Haddon Hall
page: [ii][View Page [ii]]
page: [iii][View Page [iii]]DOROTHY VERNON
page: [iv][View Page [iv]]Dorothy Vernon of
Haddon Hall
BYCHARLES MAJOR
AUTHOR OF "WHEN KNIGHTHOOD WAS IN FLOWER," "THE BEARS
OF BLUE RIVER," ETC.WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
HOWARD CHANDLER CHRISTY
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
LONDON:
MACMILLAN & CO., LTD.
1902
All rights reserved
COPYRIGHT, 1902,
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped April, 1902.
Norwood Press
J. S. Cusbing & Co.—Berwick & Smith
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
TO MY WIFE
page: vii[View Page vii]CONTENTS
- A TOUCH OF BLACK MAGIC 1
- I RIDE DOWN TO HADDON 3
- THE IRON, THE SEED, THE CLOUD, AND THE RAIN 19
- III. THE PITCHER GOES TO THE WELL 35
- IV. THE GOLDEN HEART 62
- V. MINE ENEMY'S ROOF-TREE 91
- VI. A DANGEROUS TRIP TO DERBY-TOWN 108
- VII. TRIBULATION IN HADDON 130
- VIII. MALCOLM NO. 2 163
- IX. A TRYST AT BOWLING GREEN GATE 181
- X. THOMAS THE MAN-SERVANT 211
- XI. THE COST MARK OF JOY 239
- XII. THE LEICESTER POSSIBILITY 260
- XIII. PROUD DAYS FOR THE OLD HALL 281
- XIV. MARY STUART 302
- XV. LIGHT 333
- XVI. LEICESTER WAITS AT THE STILE 360
ILLUSTRATIONS
- Dorothy Vernon Frontispiece
- "'He must be some famous, dashing highwayman'" 28
- "'I will open the veins in this arm'" 136
- "Her father's oath had hardly been spoken till the girl tore her bodice from her shoulders" 156
- "She stood in passive silence" 172
- "'If you kill him, John, it will break my heart'" 200
- "'Ah,' thought I, . . . 'Doll is a miserable coquette'" 296
- "She sank to her knees on the dungeon floor" 352
A TOUCH OF BLACK MAGIC
I DRAW the wizard's circle upon the sands, and blue flames spring from its circumference. I describe an inner circle, and green flames come responsive to my words of magic. I touch the common centre of both with my wand, and red flames, like adders' tongues, leap from the earth. Over these flames I place my caldron filled with the blood of a new-killed doe, and as it boils I speak my incantations and make my mystic signs and passes, watching the blood-red mist as it rises to meet the Spirits of Air. I chant my conjurations as I learned them from the Great Key of Solomon, and while I speak, the ruddy fumes take human forms. Out of the dark, fathomless Past—the Past of near four hundred years ago—comes a goodly company of simple, pompous folk all having a touch of childish savagery which shows itself in the fierceness of their love and of their hate.
The fairest castle-château in all England's great domain, the walls and halls of which were builded in the depths of time, takes on again its olden form quick with quivering life, and from the gates of Eagle Tower issues my quaint and radiant company. Some are clad in gold lace, silks, and taffetas; some wear leather, buckram and clanking steel. While the caldron boils, their cloud-forms grow ever more distinct and definite, till at length I can trace their every feature. I see the color of their eyes. I discern the shades of their hair. Some heads are streaked with gray; others are glossy with the sheen of youth. page: 2[View Page 2] As a climax to my conjurations I speak the word of all words magical, "Dorothy," and lo! as though God had said, "Let there be light," a fair, radiant girl steps from the portals of Haddon Hall and illumines all my ancient company so that I may see even the workings of their hearts.
They, and the events of their lives, their joys and sorrows, their virtues and sins, their hatreds, jealousies, and loves—the seven numbers in the total sum of life—pass before me as in a panorama, moving when I bid them move, pausing when I bid them pause, speaking when I bid them speak, and alas! fading back into the dim gray limbo of the past long, long ere I would have them go.
But hark! my radiant shades are about to speak. The play is about to begin.
