Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

fellow has been found asleep among the graves ; and, I must
SB, -we have delighted in tweaking his nose, and pinching
his shins, and have given him some marks of our frolics, -which
he has been unable to account for the next day. But, in
general, we ghosts are very civil; especially to those who wish,
like you, BO soon to join our company."
Andrew shuddered, a little his wishes in that respect were
undergoing a change, but he said nothing about it at present,
for policy and curiosity, too, counselled a different mode of
tactics. So again mustering up his courage, he resumed his
attack upon the ci-devant fop.
"
Why can't I see all these fine folk yon tell me of ? If I am
so soon to take up my abode in the churchyard, it is but fair
that I should suit myself with lodgings. Can't I have the
opportunity of asking a few others what they have to say for
their tenements?"
The disappointment of the ghost grew deeper ; but he said,
"As you have asked me, I can't refuse," and he stretched forth
his hand towards the old man. He shrunk back from his
touch, but after repeated assurance that no harm was intended,
allowed his mysterious companion to lay his finger on his eye-
lids.
In an instant what a change came over the scene. Although
the sky above was murky black, yet was the churchyard most
brilliantly illuminated. It was not the light of the sun, it was
not the light of the moon, it was not possible to see whence it
windows ; and Andrew was obliged to shade his eyes with his
hand, to be able to look at them. They were filled with the
effigies of saintly bishops, and priests, and statesmen, and war-
THE VISION OF OLD ANDREW THE WEA VER.
riors, and queens and virgins and the old man could scarcely
tear away his eyes from the glorious vision. He thought that
heaven itself could not show anything more beautiful. But he
was at length disturbed from his contemplation of it, by the
rout which was growing wild around him. He turned to look
everything for a moment seemed dark in contrast with the
brilliancy he had been gazing upon, but soon his vision grew
clearer, and he could see it all.
Men and women of all ranks and ages, and of every variety
of dress and manner that fancy could depict, were engaged in
the wildest tumult of pleasure. The churchyard seemed indefinitely
enlarged to hold the motley multitude, yet still its
belt of gigantic limes encircled it. The most extravagant
pictures of fairy or hobgoblin revels, Tam-o-Shanter's dance of
witches, or the midnight orgies witnessed by Faust in the
Hartz mountains, were nothing compared to what now
met Andrew's astonished eyes. Nine-pins, and bowls, and
skittles, and hockey, and a thousand other games that he had
never dreamt of, were going on with an ardor and eagerness
such as had never entered into the hardest struggles of his
vouth. Now a party at football swept past him, regardless of
dashed over
grave-stones, or rails, or monuments ; madly they
every obstacle in pursuit of their headlong game ; anon ho
was enveloped in ft whirl of dancers, who circled round him
with a rapidity that would put to shame the giddiest waltz ;
and as the sport went on it grew wilder and madder, tfll In
their efforts to outdo each other in their freaks and gambols,
A 'ulrew thought that some of them must have gone clean
over the tops of the lime-trees, and come tumbling through the
roofs of the cottages at the bottom of the hill. Yet, withal,
whenever he could catch a glimpse of any of their counten-
ances, he could not help remarking in them the same expression
of eager anxiety which had struck him in his first ghostly ac-
quaintance. And frequently, too, in the midst of their boisterous
mirth, he saw them look fearfully upwards, and in-
had met some most unwel-
stantly avert their eyes as if they
come object. He too looked up ; ar.d the cause of their apprehension
was at once apparent. The clock dial, high up on
the steeple, seemed swelled out to proportions quite gigantic.
The figures on the disc glowed like living coals, and the huge
fingers streamed from the centre like jets of livid flame, as they
pointed to the passing hours. It looked to Andrew like the
face of some huge monster, the presiding demon of these unholy
revels, grinning on the scenes below, and mocking with
malignant delight at the chagrin of the revellers, as they saw the
hours of their joy fly so swiftly away. His countenance too
grew troubled at the sight, and he turned away
with a shud-
der. Hitherto none of the boisterous crew around him had
seemed to notice Andrew, so he turned to his spruce companion
who was still at his side, his face growing longer and more
melancholy as he watched the progress of the glowing index
over the fiery dial-plate, and begged of him to introduce him to
proceeded, or how it was produced; but it pervaded every part,
and was everywhere equally diffused, so that every grave-stone
was distinctly visible, and even the inscriptions legible to a
considerable distance.
The church, too, stood forth more majestically than Andrew
had ever seen it. The pinnacles and battlements which had
been sadly dilapidated, were all perfect; the carved work that
had seemed so time-eaten, was restored in all its sharpness and
beauty the ; sculptured monsters in the string courses looked
truly hideous, in fact, almost endowed with life; the niches
were filled with saintly statues, and the tracery of the windows,
which had been quite removed from some, and in others hidden
by brick-work and plaster, was all renewed and the interstices
of their varied patterns were filled up with colored glass of the
richest dyes, through which there streamed a light, far
surpassing in brilliancy even that which illuminated the churchyard,
and decking the turf and the trees within its reach with
all the colors of the rainbow.
But the chancel it was scarcely possible to gaze upon its
eome of the company.
He did so, stating the wishes of the old man, aa he understood
them, to exchange places with one or other of them, it
he could suit himself. He was immediately overwhelmed with
offers. One would have him to go here, to see what a lovely
view was commanded from the spot where hiB grave was situated,
but he remarked how it was trodden completely bare by
the numerous visitors, who had made use of it to help them to
enjoy the prospect. Then he was dragged away by another to
see his beautiful monument : but he had that very day seen
the lads jumping across it ; aye, he had himself when a boy,
danced on the slab that covered it. Now he was pulled here,
now there, till his old limbs seemed to partake of something of
the agility of the goblins that surrounded him, and his blood
ran young again through his veins, as he was carried over the
top of the highest grave-stones without an effort. But he had
some fault to find with every locality so in succession ; they
left him in despair to join again the mad revel.
At length an imposing old gentleman, in a flowing wig and
richly embroidered coat, saluted him with the greatest politeness,
requesting that he might have the honor of offering him
"
a truly comfortable bed inside the church. We cannot go to
gee it just now," said he, "but.no doubt, you recollect the
beautiful marble tomb at the end of the south aisle, where the
disconsolate widow, surrounded by her lovely children, is
weeping over the urn of her dear departed husband. I am that
husband and he covered his face with his hands, as if to hide
;
his tears.
But Andrew doubted whether there were any tears to be hidden,
for he well recollected the tomb. In his boyish days he
had many a time followed parties of sight-seers into the
church, and had heard the sexton descant on the merits of this
identical tomb, which covered the remains of one of the possessors
of the manor house, where, as has been said, he had
seen the old pictures. In fact, he thought he recognized the
old gentleman, as the original of one of the portraits, though,
if it were a correct effigy, he must have been much more stiff
and formal in life than now.
But Andrew recollected, also, a little bye anecdote connected
with this some monument, to the effect, that the disconsolate
widow, who looked so sorrow-Stricken in marble, had so much
flesh and blood in her real constitution, that almost before the
cement of the tomb was dry, aye, in less than six months from
tlio death of her first, she hnd cast herself into the arms of a
! husband, nnd had afterwards combined with him to
strip the very children, who, in the marble, were seen to cling