University of Virginia Library

SELINA SEDILIA.
BY MISS M. E. B--DD--N AND MRS. H--N--Y W--D.

1. CHAPTER I.

The sun was setting over Sloperton Grange, and
reddened the window of the lonely chamber in the
western tower, supposed to be haunted by Sir Edward
Sedilia, the founder of the Grange. In the
dreamy distance arose the gilded mausoleum of Lady
Felicia Sedilia, who haunted that portion of Sedilia
Manor, know as “Stiff-uns Acre.” A little to the
left of the Grange might have been seen a mouldering
ruin, known as “Guy's Keep,” haunted by the
spirit of Sir Guy Sedilia, who was found, one morning,
crushed by one of the fallen battlements. Yet,
as the setting sun gilded these objects, a beautiful
and almost holy calm seemed diffused about the
Grange.

The Lady Selina sat by an oriel window, overlooking
the park. The sun sank gently in the
bosom of the German Ocean, and yet the lady did

not lift her beautiful head from the finely curved
arm and diminutive hand which supported it. When
darkness finally shrouded the landscape, she started,
for the sound of horse-hoofs clattered over the stones
of the avenue. She had scarcely risen before an aristocratic
young man fell on his knees before her.

“My Selina!”

“Edgardo! You here?”

“Yes, dearest.”

“And—you—you—have—seen nothing?” said
the lady in an agitated voice and nervous manner,
turning her face aside to conceal her emotion.

“Nothing—that is nothing of any account,” said
Edgardo. “I passed the ghost of your aunt in the
park, noticed the spectre of your uncle in the ruined
keep, and observed the familiar features of the spirit
of your great-grandfather at his post. But nothing
beyond these trifles, my Selina. Nothing more,
love, absolutely nothing.”

The young man turned his dark liquid orbs fondly
upon the ingenuous face of his betrothed.

“My own Edgardo!—and you still love me? You
still would marry me in spite of this dark mystery
which surrounds me? In spite of the fatal history
of my race? In spite of the ominous predictions of
my aged nurse?”

“I would, Selina;” and the young man passed his
arm around her yielding waist. The two lovers
gazed at each other's faces in unspeakable bliss.
Suddenly Selina started.

“Leave me, Edgardo! leave me! A mysterious

something—a fatal misgiving—a dark ambiguity—
an equivocal mistrust oppresses me. I would be
alone!”

The young man arose, and cast a loving glance on
the lady. “Then we will be married on the seventeenth.”

“The seventeenth,” repeated Selina, with a mysterious
shudder.

They embraced and parted. As the clatter of
hoofs in the court-yard died away, the Lady Selina
sank into the chair she had just quitted.

“The seventeenth,” she repeated slowly, with the
same fatal shudder. “Ah!—what if he should know
that I have another husband living? Dare I reveal
to him that I have two legitimate and three natural
children? Dare I repeat to him the history of my
youth? Dare I confess that at the age of seven I
poisoned my sister, by putting verdigris in her
cream-tarts—that I threw my cousin from a swing at
the age of twelve? That the lady's maid who in
curred the displeasure of my girlhood now lies at the
bottom of the horse-pond? No! no! he is too pure
—too good—too innocent, to hear such improper
conversation!” and her whole body writhed as she
rocked to and fro in a paroxysm of grief.

But she was soon calm. Rising to her feet, she
opened a secret panel in the wall, and revealed a
slow-match ready for lighting.

“This match,” said the Lady Selina, “is connected
with a mine beneath the western tower, where
my three children are confined; another branch of it

lies under the parish church, where the record of my
first marriage is kept. I have only to light this
match and the whole of my past life is swept away!”
She approached the match with a lighted candle.

But a hand was laid upon her arm, and with a
shriek the Lady Selina fell on her knees before the
spectre of Sir Guy.

2. CHAPTER II.

“Forbear, Selina, said the phantom in a hollow
voice.

“Why should I forbear?” responded Selina haughtily,
as she recovered her courage. “You know the
secret of our race?”

“I do. Understand me—I do not object to the
eccentricities of your youth. I know the fearful fate
which, pursuing you, led you to poison your sister
and drown your lady's maid. I know the awful
doom which I have brought upon this house! But
if you make way with these children—”

“Well,” said the Lady Selina, hastily.

“They will haunt you!”

“Well, I fear them not,” said Selina, drawing her
superb figure to its full height.

“But what place are they to haunt? The ruin is
sacred to your uncle's spirit. Your aunt monopolizes
the park, and, I must be allowed to state, not
unfrequently trespasses upon the grounds of others.
The horsepond is requented by the spirit of your
maid, and your murdered sister walks these corridors.

To be plain, there is no room at Sloperton
Grange for another ghost. I cannot have them
in my room—for you know I don't like children.
Think of this, rash girl, and forbear! Would you,
Selina,” said the phantom mournfully, “would you
force your great-grandfather's spirit to take lodgings
elsewhere?”

Lady Selina's hand trembled; the lighted candle
fell from her nerveless fingers.

“No,” she cried passionately; “Never!” and fell
fainting to the floor.

3. CHAPTER III.

Edgardo galloped rapidly towards Sloperton.
When the outline of the Grange had faded away in
the darkness, he reined his magnificent steed beside
the ruins of Guy's Keep.

“It wants but a few minutes of the hour,” he
said, consulting his watch by the light of the moon.
“He dare not break his word. He will come.” He
paused, and peered anxiously into the darkness.
“But come what may, she is mine,” he continued,
as his thoughts reverted fondly to the fair lady he
had quitted. “Yet, if she knew all. If she knew
that I were a disgraced and ruined man—a felon
and an outcast. If she knew that at the age of fourteen
I murdered my Latin tutor and forged my uncle's
will. If she knew that I had three wives
already, and that the fourth victim of misplaced confidence

and my unfortunate peculiarity is expected
to be at Sloperton by to-night's train with her baby.
But no; she must not know it. Constance must not
arrive. Burke the Slogger must attend to that.”

“Ha! here he is! Well?”

These words were addressed to a ruffian in a
slouched hat, who suddenly appeared from Guy's
Keep.

“I be's here, measter,” said the villain, with a
disgracefully low accent and complete disregard of
grammatical rules.

“It is well. Listen: I'm in possession of facts
that will send you to the gallows. I know of the
murder of Bill Smithers, the robbery of the toll-gate
keeper, and the making away of the youngest daughter
of Sir Reginald de Walton. A word from me,
and the officers of justice are on your track.”

Burke the Slogger trembled.

“Hark ye! serve my purpose, and I may yet save
you The 5.30 train from Clapham will be due at
Sloperton at 9.25. It must not arrive!”

The villain's eyes sparkled as he nodded at Edgardo.

“Enough—you understand; leave me!”

4. CHAPTER IV.

About half a mile from Sloperton Station the South
Clapham and Medway line crossed a bridge over

Sloperton-on-Trent. As the shades of evening were
closing, a man in a slouched hat might have been
seen carrying a saw and axe under his arm, hanging
about the bridge. From time to time he disappeared
in the shadow of its abutments, but the sound of a
saw and axe still betrayed his vicinity. At exactly
nine o'clock he re-appeared, and crossing to the Sloperton
side, rested his shoulder against the abutment
and gave a shove. The bridge swayed a moment,
and then fell with a splash into the water, leaving a
space of one hundred feet between the two banks.
This done, Burke the Slogger—for it was he—with a
fiendish chuckle seated himself on the divided
railway track and awaited the coming of the
train.

A shriek from the woods announced its approach.
For an instant Burke the Slogger saw the glaring of
a red lamp. The ground trembled. The train was
going with fearful rapidity. Another second and it
had reached the bank. Burke the Slogger uttered a
fiendish laugh. But the next moment the train
leaped across the chasm, striking the rails exactly
even, and, dashing out the life of Burke the Slogger,
sped away to Sloperton.

The first object that greeted Edgardo as he rode
up to the station on the arrival of the train, was the
body of Burke the Slogger hanging on the cow-catcher;
the second was the face of his deserted wife looking
from the windows of a second-class carriage.

5. CHAPTER V.

A nameless terror seemed to have taken possession
of Clarissa, Lady Selina's maid, as she rushed
into the presence of her mistress.

“Oh, my lady, such news!”

“Explain yourself,” said her mistress, rising.

“An accident has happened on the railway, and a
man has been killed.”

“What—not Edgardo!” almost screamed Selina.

“No, Burke the Slogger!” your ladyship.

“My first husband!” said Lady Selina, sinking on
her knees. “Just heaven, I thank thee!”

6. CHAPTER VI.

The morning of the seventeenth dawned brightly
over Sloperton. “A fine day for the wedding,” said
the sexton to Swipes, the butler of Sloperton Grange.
The aged retainer shook his head sadly. “Alas!
there's no trusting in signs!” he continued. “Seventy-five
years ago, on a day like this, my young mistress—”
but he was cut short by the appearance of a
stranger.

“I would see Sir Edgardo,” said the new-comer,
impatiently.

The bridegroom, who, with the rest of the wedding-train,
was about stepping into the carriage to proceed
to the parish church, drew the stranger aside.

“It's done!” said the stranger, in a hoarse whisper.

“Ah! and you buried her?”

“With the others!”

“Enough. No more at present. Meet me after
the ceremony, and you shall have your reward.

The stranger shuffled away, and Edgardo returned
to his bride. “A trifling matter of business I had
forgotten, my dear Selina; let us proceed,” and the
young man pressed the timid hand of his blushing
bride as he handed her into the carriage. The cavalcade
rode out of the courtyard. At the same
moment, the deep bell on Guy's Keep tolled ominously.

7. CHAPTER VII.

Scarcely had the wedding-train left the Grange,
than Alice Sedilia, youngest daughter of Lady Selina,
made her escape from the western tower, owing to
a lack of watchfulness on the part of Clarissa. The
innocent child, freed from restraint, rambled through
the lonely corridors, and finally, opening a door,
found herself in her mother's boudoir. For some
time she amused herself by examining the various
ornaments and elegant trifles with which it was filled.
Then, in pursuance of a childish freak, she dressed
herself in her mother's laces and ribbons. In this
occupation she chanced to touch a peg which proved
to be a spring that opened a secret panel in the wall.
Alice utered a cry of delight as she noticed what, to

her childish fancy, appeared to be the slow-match of
a fire-work. Taking a lucifer match in her hand she
approached the fuse. She hesitated a moment.
What would her mother and her nurse say?

Suddenly the ringing of the chimes of Sloperton
parish church met her ear. Alice knew that the
sound signified that the marriage party had entered
the church, and that she was secure from interruption.
With a childish smile upon her lips, Alice Sedilia
touched off the slow-match.

8. CHAPTER VIII.

At exactly two o'clock on the seventeenth, Rupert
Sedilia, who had just returned from India, was
thoughtfully descending the hill toward Sloperton
manor. “If I can prove that my aunt Lady Selina
was married before my father died, I can establish
my claim to Sloperton Grange,” he uttered, half aloud.
He paused, for a sudden trembling of the earth beneath
his feet, and a terrific explosion, as of a park of
artillery, arrested his progress. At the same moment
he beheld a dense cloud of smoke envelope the
churchyard of Sloperton, and the western tower of
the Grange seemed to be lifted bodily from its foundation.
The air seemed filled with falling fragments,
and two dark objects struck the earth close at his
feet. Rupert picked them up. One seemed to be a
heavy volume bound in brass.

A cry burst from his lips.

“The Parish Records.” He opened the volume
hastily. It contained the marriage of Lady Selina to
“Burke the Slogger.”

The second object proved to be a piece of parchment.
He tore it open with trembling fingers. It
was the missing will of Sir James Sedilia!

9. CHAPTER IX.

When the bells again rang on the new parish
church of Sloperton it was for the marriage of Sir
Rupert Sedilia and his cousin, the only remaining
members of the family.

Five more ghosts were added to the supernatural
population of Sloperton Grange. Perhaps this was
the reason why Sir Rupert sold the property shortly
afterward, and that for many years a dark shadow
seemed to hang over the ruins of Sloperton Grange.