Tales and Sketches

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5227, 6 April 1895, Page 1

Tales and Sketches

STORIES OF MONTE CARLO. THE MYSTERY OF VILLA FBANCIOSY. [BY JOAN BARRETT.} ' (Pearson's Weekly.) Chapter I. Father Giorgi # walked slowly up and down beneath a trellis covered with vines. At present the vines were very ugly to look at. Thay were brown and knotted and barren, and appeared to be dead. It seemed quite impossible that those dull, apparently lifeless shrubs would produce Invariant green foliage and clusters of luscious fruit later on. The old priest held a book between the thumb and finger of one long lean hand. From time to time he raised hia eyes from the pages before them, and looked up reverently at the cloudless expanse of brilliantly blue sky. Sometimes as they lowered themselves again upon the book they rested in their downward flight upon the vines, and then hia band gently touohed the hard, dried stems, as though L he were conferring a blessing upon them. &.AU round the sombre figure of the man HJloWera were blooming. Fink roses, blue white plumbago, sweet scented tobacco ; HHHkta, and white narciaai raised their j^HHfky heads to look at him, wondering,* ! HH}%e, why he seemed to find his book so more interesting than their charming \ Father Giorgi's akirto were shabby and hia slippers old. He wore no hat, and the i Bun cast little dancing beams upon his j tonsure, bo that it occasionally seemed to be yellow, and again almost red. His hair was very white, and his- face rather unhealthy in colour. But the features and eyes were fine, and Father Giorgi was considered by most women to be extremely handsome. Beyond the priest stood a beautiful villa, half buried in climbing plants and roses. The upper part was built of wood. Two

verandahs ran around it, one beneath the

bedrooms, and the second beneath the x lower windows. The polen that supported the verandah were gay with the blood-red flowers of a crimson pasßion-fiower that moved ever so slightly in the February wind. Boxes of carnations made the ' terrace bright, and the intoxicating smell of orange blosacms from the various tress waa wafted to the priesfs nostrils. In front of the villa lay the sea. It sparkled and quivered like a gigantic mass of emeralds and sapphires massed together, and throwing out tl%ir different lights simultaneously. A small stretch of shore divided the sea from the garden hedge, so that the house stood as near its waters sb any building could well be placed. At' the end of the vine-covered trellis walk rose a, queer, squat-looking bailding of email dimensions, and bearing a black cross upon its roof. The cross was large, and quite out of proportion to the size of the chapel. It attracted and held at tention. The builder's design had been well carried oufc in that respect. Down a wide gravelled path that led through borders .of rose bushes to the high road, came two ladies. Father Giorgi did not appear to see them approaching him. Slightly raising his, unctuous voice; he read from hia, book,

and looked &yen more reverently towards 1 the t«io«s!vf«(6teg*hin^''aha the aky^above' - him. One of the ladies gave a little! ooujfh.

"You speak to him, Duloie/' whispered the lady who had coughed. " I'm sure I shall not. You want the house. You .speak to him yourself, Mamie," retorted the younger *f the two. " I don't like to disturb him. Hasn't he he got a heavenly faoe! Do say some* thing, Duloie, there's a dear. You know that you ought to exercise your French all you can. Bay good morning. Then he'll turn round." Thug exhorted, the younger woman took (i couple of uncertain steps towards Father Giorgi. Sha was a charming looking girl, and as sweet to look upon as the roses near her. J

The priest was so absorbed .in his- devotions that he still failed to see her. The elder woman, a slim, energetic body, showily dressed, and wearing a great many massive gold bracelets upon her small wrists, rushed impetuously to Father Giorgi's side with a loud rustle of silken shirts. "I beg your pardon," Baid she in a brisk, cheery tone. ••■'*• But I Baw by the board outside that a villa is to be let. Is this the house ? " Father Giorgi gave a little jump, brought his fine eyes down from their contemplation of the sky, and rested them in a wondering fashion upon the lady's pretty, pert face. As he still seemed to be up in the olouds, his visitor promptly produced a oard-caae. <• Mrs Chalmers—Mrs Lionel Chalmers," said she. " I am very 6orry to have 1 disturbed you— awfully sorry. But it said upon the board that inquiries were to be made here, and seeing you— —■" .' The priest stopped her flow of apologies by raising- hie hand deprecatingly, and by tasking i Mrs ? Chalraerß a very low and exceedingly stately bow. Then, suddenly observing the handsome girl in the background, he executed a second bow.

"Pray do nob apologise," said he in a

.low. rich voice. "Tea, ibis my humble BfeLdwelling yonder that I am anxious to let. HR Have many poor soala dependent upon Hbe fo&bread. It ia for them that I desire MpNfafn a little money. Will madame HKnepettc the house P The gardens she can j BKee afterwards." ! V "Istiftll be delighted," Mrs Chalmers "The groundß are moat captivating; and then the position of the house ia unique, and so well situated. It ia quite near the Casino and the railway, and yet it seems to be hidden from prying eyes. If your terms are not too higb, I feel sure that I shall take it." Father Giorgi took no seeming notice of Mrs Chalmers' words. In silence he led them into the house, and showed them in | succession a comfortably furnished diningKOom, two sitting-rooms, and a morningroom. Mrs Chalmers grew more and more enraptured. They passed from bedroom to bedroom, and everything still continued to .. charm both women, until entering one bedroom, Mrs Chalmers gave a libtlo gasping cry, and pointed to a niche in the wall facing the bed. A planter status of the "Virgin, decorated with fresh flowers, and wearing a chaplet of white beads around her thin, meagre neck, filled it. Over the head of the statue hung a picture-frame. It was empty, the canvas having been roughly torn away, as clinging shreds of the material testified mutely. ; "Oh, what a horrid thing to have in a, room;! " she cried. " "Why haß the portrait, or whatever the subject was, been torn out ? " > " Hush I " Duloie Ferrara murmured warningly. " You forget that it ia customary in all Boman Catholic households t» have a statue of the virgin in the aleepiog apartments. You will make him angry if you call it • horrid.' " Father Giorgi did not look angry, howover. Meekly folding his hands, he inclined before the statue and then made, the Bign ■it tha cross rapidly over his chest. .. , " The,' picture was the portrait -of a iaint," he" replied. " It was stoleoLfor its 'Treat value by a thief. The^ frame has oeen left in its original position . because ■t was once blessed by the Popo. It must lot be removed if madame hires my house. Sfadame will understand/ ndded the

priest, blandly, "that to us Koman Catholics the blcßsing of our father renders whatever he may deign to bless holy in our sight." "Tea, yes, oH course," Mrs Chalmers muttered hurriedly. "Pray forgiva me. It startled me rather. Thero ia' an uncanny look about the empty frame. And it is in the very best bedroom, too," ahe added in an aggrieved manner, " The views irom these windows 'are muoh finer than those to be seen from. the others/

"It is a lovely room," said Dulcie, walking to the window and out upon the verandah. "Oh, Mamie, do come and look."

"If I do take the house I Bhall move that awfal frame there!" declared Mrs Chalmers, as she joined her friend. She turned round with a start. Father Giorgi had followed her, and was standing at her elbow.

She could not tell if he had overheard her, nor yet if he underotood English. He had spoken to her in French. Mrs Chalmers looked hard at his grave face. It remained impassive. Sbe concluded that he had comprehended nothing whatever of her speech. "I like the house," Bhe said deliberately. "It pleases me very much. What are your terms for the season ?"

Father Giorgi opened hia book of devotions and gazed at its pages* Without raising his eyes he replied, "Twenty pounds." Mrs ChaTmers gasped, looked at Dulcie and then at the prieat.

"I mean for tbe season— four months perhaps," Bhe explained. Father Giorgi nodded.

"Madame will be at liberty to stay as long as she pleases. Should she leave before her term has expired I reserve the right to re-let the houae. I do not, however, anticipate that madame will leave early. The houae is dry and good. Bub last year my poor people being sadly in need of help, and I being very poor," he glanced significant' at his faded, rusty garments and worn shoes, " I let the houae to Miladi Graham. The'season wag wot, and 'Milndi left early. I found another tenant, for, indeed, I have but my dwelling to bring me in money for my children. The weather is favourable this year, as the great abundance of flowers testify. Probably madame will remain nntili the end of June, as bhe position of the house renders it cool and pleasant."

" Doea the garden belong to the tenant, everything' in the garden ?" demanded Mrs Chalmers.

"All that the garden contains is at madame's disposal. It is well Btocked with vegetables, and attended by my own servant."

" And there is plenty of linen, and everything that is necessary ? " "There is an abundance of all that raadame will xequire," replied Father Giorgi, blandly.

Mrs Chalmers hesitated a moment, her eyes sparkling with delight. She belonged to that class of women who frequent drapers' sales and invest in odd lengths of hideous material because they are cheap, and for which they had no use. Her maid profited by this weakness of her mistress

"I should like to seethe garden," Mrs Chalmers said. .

Father Giorgi led the way from the verandah, and Mrs' Chalmers, bending close to Dulcie's ear, murmured.

" Oh, my. dear, what a bargain ! A great house and garden at this time of the year, and in such a place as Monte Carlo, for bo small a sum! How very.luoky we -are!-''/-': •.,■ '\. ,■ - V'^-.V ; .

In the garden, upon the outskirts of the vine-covered tunnel that led to the chapel, Father Giorgi paused. '. "The only thing in my poor house and grounds that does not belong to madame, should she deoide to take Villa Francioßy, ia the chapel yonder and this little walk. These vinos aro dedicated to Our Lady, and I live in the chapel. I shall nob uioleßt madame, nor incommode her in tho slightest way. I never leave my tunnel except to walk down to the sea. It will be as though lam not here. It is understood that madame and her friends will never seek to enter the chapel, any more than I should intrude in the house that is madame'a home for a certain period of time."

" I shall be only too glad to have you near us," ' said Mrs Chalmers ; ■'■• for my friend Miss Ferraxa and I are quite alone until my brother joins us. I hope he will come soon, for, though I am by no means a nervous person, it ia more cheerful to see a man about."

Then they went over the gardens, and Mrs Chalmers, growing more and more delighted, and Daloie sharißß her rapture with everything they saw/ Mm Chaimars became the tenant of Villa Fianoiosy for the moderate sum of .£2O.

Chaptkb 11.

"By Jove, you have got hold of a- .real, genuine out-and-out bargain this time, and no mistake ..about it," exclaims- d Dick Godtnan to his Bister, Mrs Chalmers.

Diok had just come over from England, and having prepared himself to find Villa Franciosy a failure, was most agreeably disappointed 'at finding it seemingly perfect. Mrs Chalmers . sighed, and exchanged a rapid, glance with Dulcie. Misa Ferrarb'ri charming face was paler, and there were blaok circles beneath her pretty eyes. .Dick speedily observed thesa signs of sleeplessness.

"Dulcie looks rather washed out," said he a little anxiously. "Has Bhe been going it a bit too much? " Dulcie flushed rosily. Her fingers made an imperative motion towards Mrs Chalmers behind Dick's back.

".Id's the late hours," explained Mrs Chalmers. "We go to the Casino every night/ and afterwards there is generally a dance somewhere or the other. We are late birda in thiß part of the world, Dick."

"But you were never very early oaea at home," said he. They were standing in the dining-room looking out at the eoa. Dick had arrived that morning in time for lunch.

"It'a the heat," Dulcie murmured, as Dick looked tenderly at her. "It has been very w.ann here ever -since we came. lam quite well, and I have only lost a few pounds at the tables, so it is not my losses that are preying upon my mind." She laughed nervously, and, edging nearer to Mrß Chalmers, whispered : "If you bran the one word to him, Mamie, I'll never forgive you, never."

"I won't say anything," Mrß Chalmers replied.

• "Is that the old man?" Dick asked, indicating with a jerk of his hand the imposing form of Father Giorgi, walking beneath the vines. "He naußt be a dimple minded old fossil to let such a house as this for so insignificant a sum. Haa he no idea of the value of money ? "

"He only needs money for his poor people," Mrs Chalmers replied, craning her neck in order to obtain a better view of the priest, " I really believe that if I had offered him fifteen pounds he would have acoepted it. I wish," she added with a soft sigh, " that he ware not quite bo unapproachable. He never speaks to us, or enters the house. I never knew a man bo diotant as he is."

"He chows shocking bad taste in not seeking to cultivate your acquaintance," Diok said, trying hard to meat Duloie'a eyes. She refused to look at him, and drammed absently with her ulim fin gar a upon the window panos. "I'll take you up to your room," Mra Chalmers said. "-It's the best in the house, and the views from the windows are superb." , ; ; ; "And you've gofc a lovely statue of tho Virgin, and a picture frame that has been

blossed by the Pope," cried Dulcie. "So -you won't feel lonely, you know." She looked atter them with a smilo aa they went from the room. The smile died away when she was alone, and a look of terror crept in her pale face. She wog still looking from the window when Dick came hastily into the room. "Oh, Dulcie!" he cried, reproachfully, " 1 have been lookiag forward bo much to meeting you again. Have you changed, dear, in your feeling for me ? Has a new admirer supplanted the old boy-lover ?" Dulcie turned paler. A gray shadow spread over her cheekß. In the clear light Dick noticed the little fine lines around her lips and eyes.

"You nte worried," he exclaimed. " Something has gone wrong. Have faith in me, Duloio. Tell rce what has made you bo cold and distant. Have you forgotten yonr promise to give me an answer to tbat question I asked you in England ?" "N0, n0," she said, so low tnac he had to bend to catch the words. " I cannot say anything to you now. To-morrow, afterafter—yon have been here a night or two." He tried to take her hand. She drew it away, and ran quickly from the room. Dick looked towards the open door with a puzzled expression in his honest grey eyea., " Whiit on earth ails them both ? " he said to himself. " Mamie does nothing but sigh and groan, and hasn't a word to say in praise of her last wonderful bargain, and Dulcie ia certainly ill and unhappy. I can't get a word of explanation from either of them."

A black shadow suddenly falliag across the sunlit room made him turn his head. Father Giorgi was passing the verandah, book in hand, on his way down to the sea. He made the only sombre spot in the gay picture. Dick drew back with a muttered exclamation.

"I shouldn't ba surprised," said h9, " but what that old fellow has been trying to convert 'em both to the Church of Some. Sailors Hay that priests never fail to bring bad luck with them ! "

Then he laughed, cast » glance at his handsome reflection in the mirror, and jingled the coins in his pooket quite cheerfully.

The inmates of Villa Franeioßy returned home labs from the Casino that evening. Dulciehad bsen very quiet during the day. Bhe avoided pick, and he, seeing that hia society was distasteful to her, was carefal to leave her alone. Dick was thoroughly tired with hia previoaß journey and the long day. It seemed to him that hia head had hardly touched the pillow before he was sound aßloep. He waa awakened by a grating sound, followed by that peculiar sensation of not being alone in the room that is sometimes experienced by nervous people.

Turning quickly over upon his back he uttered a cry, and. then rubbed his eyes. The statue in the niche opposite was bathed in a flood of green-yellow light. The large impassive face, with its pninted eyes, seemed to look at Dick mockingly. He saw the faded brown flowers upon its head, and the rosary around its neck.

Dick drew in hia breath, Btaring Btupidly at the fig are. He thought that the head moved. And then came utter darkness. The light had faded completely away, and the pale outline of the statue alone was visible in the gloom.

" It's all nonsense ! " said Dick -with a gasp. " It'a Mamie playfng some idiotic schoolgirl trick. Mamie, at the respectable age of thirty l" '_ ■ '

He laag^d,> tu^dj^omposediy^yer againi'puliedithe'piirovir into a comfortable' 1 angle, and tried to sleep. Again he hosrd the grating sound, and looked towards the figure, fully expecting to see it once more illumined. It still remained shadowy, but over its head the greei-yellow light was dancing, like some fanciful will-o'-the-wisp. Higher and higher ib wenb, resting at last upon the empty picture-frame. It was empty no longer. From the black frame a horrible, ghastly travesty of a face leered and grinned demoniacally at Dick.

He saw the hollow socket of the eyes, and the leaping flames that flickered from their dark caverns. The distended mouth was awful/and represented nothing human. The sunken, pallid cheeks, with their sharp JRW3, the pinched bluenesa ot the whole face, suggested some inhabitant of a graveyard sent back to re-visit the world that it had once occupied.

Until that night Dick had sever regarded himsalf in the light of a super-, stations or nervous person. His forehead and hancU grew damp. He felt; as though drops of ice-cold water were being slowly trickled down his back, and with this sensation a feeling of almost babyish weakness that glued him to the bed, and that kept his eyes fixed fearfully upon the apparition. Once more the light vanished, plunging the room into utter darkness.

Dick's courage returned now. Springing from the bed he lib a candle, slipped on his dresaing-gown, and approaching the statue, atared curiously into its Bimpering face. He touched it, and satisfied himself that it was actually made of plaster. Pulling down the empty frame with a jerk, ' ho toßaed it angrily unto a corner. A little shoal of dust fell as ho moved it 5 a cobweb hung limply from one of its corners. Dick lit a second candle, and searched for his pipe and tobacco. Both were downstair?, and ■> he went in search of them. .

The honae was very, silent. From one apartment upon the same landing alight gleamed. As Dick passed the door he fancied that a Bound of hal?-stifled sobbing came from the room. Was it Mamie, or waa it Dulcie ? Dick found his tobacco and stole baok softly to his room. A cry of amazement fell, from his lips. The frame that he had far own. into a corner hung now in its original position above the statue! Dick sat oown, filled his pipe, lit it, and puffed away with savage energy! Had he really removed the frame, or had he simply been the victim of a dream P The frame could not have been re-hung without hands. _ Somebody must have been concealed in the room, and had effected an escape during his short absence, unleßa— — ,

Springing to his feet, Dick commenced a thorough investigation of eaoh article of furniture. His own garments hung loosely from the pegs of the one small wardrobe. No person could posßibly creep beneath the French bedstead, and the same tbing held good respecting the chest of drawers. The laca curtains could hide ho liviog form. There was absolutely no place of concealment in the bedroom. " Well, I'm blowed ! " started Dick, He returned for .ccrnforfc to hia pipe, and tried hard to c'p'n'vinos himeali! th&s fch& i ■wholo thing had been hsjlucinntien. But I there was dust upon hiß hftgs3 from, hia contact -with the frame, and j?? fee 69?n.er where he had so contomptnsffely tfep.ov7.nit a cobweb and a little heap o f yell tijr wswdsr bore Bilent witnqss fco $he fact t^t the frame had lain the?g r Looking around him s b© feigagse &ware I for the first time of evidencea of a woman's j presence. A photograph of an old schoolfollow of Dulcift'a etood upon the mantlepiece, a dainty but utterly useless writingdesk held the place of honour upon a table, and a wall pocket filled with letters of varioua tints hung above it. Had Dulcie occupied this room ? Had she been terrified, and was her preaeut nervous, ailing con-, dition the result ? Or was it only Mamie and a practical joke ? He sac up so long thinking the matter over that he was late down in the morning.' Wtien he entered the breakf net-room Kra

Chalmerß woa si&tting near the window reading a pspar. Dulcie wqb absent". "Did you have a good night, dear?" Mrs Chalmerß asked.

There was nothing* extraordinary in the question, but it seemed to Dick that his sister's tone was peculiarly anxious. "Not very," he answered. He came to her side and gently knocked down tho paper she hold like a screen befora her face.

"Why did you turn Dalcie out of her bedroom? " bo asked. " There are others unoccupied, aren't there ? "

"There is only one that hag a good bed," said Mrs Chalmers, hurriedly, *' and Dulcie wanted to change. She thought you would like that bedroom. How did you know it had beon her room P Sheaßked , me not to tall you." I

" There are odd things about the mantlepioca that made me think Dulcie had occupied the room," Dick replied. He took a stride across tbe floor, and returned to the window. " I ear," he said. "Do you happen to have a lumber room in the place ?" Mrs Chalmers opened her eyeß. "No. Why?"

"I ohould like to put that empty picture frame away somewhere. Ic'a an ugly thing to look at, and it causes one to have bad dreams. That's all." J " Did you have bad dreams ?" It was Dulcie who spoke. Entering the room noisdassly she had overheard Dick's last wordg. Her face wag . enftsr, and her eyes ahone with an unnntnral brightness. "Horrid!" Dick declared, emphatically. " I never passed Buch a night in all my Ufa. You don't look well, Dulcia," he said in quite a dicFerontfcone of voice. "Did you have a sleepless night, too ? "

For answer Dulcie sank down into the nearest chair, and covering her face with her h&nds, burst into tears. " Oh, Dick ! " shepsnted,"! am so glad you have seen the face ! I was afraid that I was going insane. You know Chafe Aunt Lottie has always said that Dad died raving mad! It has been preying upon me, and the horror h'a'a made my life a burden. I have been so frightened, oh, bo frightened ! "

Dick went to her, drew her head upon his shoulder, and kissed her.

"Poor little soul ! " suid he, soothingly. "So that was why you treated me ho badly, was it? Your father was not toad, dear. I know all about his death. Juet you toll me what you have seen and heard ia that mysterious room."

When he had heard all that Duleie had to • toll him, he' went out upon the verandah and looked up at the -windows of his bedroom. The passion flower had been torn in several places. But there had bßen no wind during the night. After breakfosb Dick shut himself up in his bedroom, and was invisible nearly all day.

"Thera'a nothing to be afraid of," Baid Dick, genially, to the two trembling women who sab with him and the servants in the darhness of the haunted room about a week later* "we are going to lay the ghost. Nothing more." ' "*,

Mamie crept closer to Dulcia, and did her beßt to still the chattering of her teeth. A clock upon the landing struck two.

Almost at the same moment came the grating sound that Dick had heard onoe before. Then followed a faint cry that seemed to proceed from the statue itself.

In a moment the numerous candles in the room were life, and pushing: aside the Revealing a^gjoYtf^mdijji;') and Fattier Giorgi struggling #0 escape from; the embraces of a tar-barrel. ;

.Ha looked infinitely miserable ond dejected; so much so that- everyone laughed. Dick left him to the- mercy of the indignant servants and took Dulcia and Mrs Chalmers smaji -. . :■:• .. .'.■■■■ '.■■■■ ■■■ ■' ■ '" Put why——? "begin Mra Ohilraers. " Why ? you goose ! Beoause he finds it payß. He lets and rolets the villa. Paople get scared and leave in a hurry, and bo many visitors coma each year who haye never heard of tho bad reputation of/Villa Franciosy that ha fiade no difficulty In' letting his precious bouse. I thbugiit i\xe phosphoric light and the ghastly Jjiyanosa uidsk savoured of Father Gior^ci. Severalhours spent in tho eeolusionof the haunted room soon verified my belief. The outer wall is of wood, aa you know. There'a a eliding panel in it like tha one at the back, of the statue, and a small trap-door behind the picture frame. . The old hypocrite, climbed up the coltunng of th« "lower, j verandah. A bargain, indeed! " exclaimed Dick in an explosion of mirth. "You've j got one thi3 t'me, Mami?."

Mra Dick Godman iq very proud of her husband. In her eyes the laying of the ghost was the most clever performance, and not to be equalled by any ordinary mortal.