So dazzling was the effect that for a moment I was persuaded
that the house was on fire, but the steadiness and clearness of the
light soon freed me from that apprehension. It was clearly the result
of many lamps placed systematically all over the building.
It added to the strange effect that all these brilliantly illuminated
rooms were apparently untenanted, and some of them, so far as we could
judge, were not even furnished. Through the whole great house there was
no sign of movement or of life--nothing but the clear, unwinking flood
of yellow light.
I was still lost in wonder at the sight when I heard a short, quick
sob at my side.
"What is it, Esther, dear?" I asked, looking down at my companion.
"I feel so frightened. Oh, John, John, take me home, I feel so
frightened!"
She clung to my arm, and pulled at my coat in a perfect frenzy of fear.
"It's all safe, darling," I said soothingly. "There is nothing to fear.
What has upset you so?"
"I am afraid of them, John; I am afraid of the Heatherstones. Why is
their house lit up like this every night? I have heard from others that
it is always so. And why does the old man run like a frightened hare if
any one comes upon him. There is something wrong about it, John, and it
frightens me."
I pacified her as well as I could, and led her home with me, where I
took care that she should have some hot port negus before going to bed.
I avoided the subject of the Heatherstones for fear of exciting her, and
she did not recur to it of her own accord.
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