J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 5 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 99 pages of information about J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 5.

J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 5 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 99 pages of information about J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 5.

This aerial music both she and her sister, Miss Susan Baily, avowed that they distinctly heard, and for a long time.  Of the fact she was clear, and she spoke of it with great awe.

The Governess’s Dream

This lady, one morning, with a grave countenance that indicated something weighty upon her mind, told her pupils that she had, on the night before, had a very remarkable dream.

The first room you enter in the old castle, having reached the foot of the spiral stone stair, is a large hall, dim and lofty, having only a small window or two, set high in deep recesses in the wall.  When I saw the castle many years ago, a portion of this capacious chamber was used as a store for the turf laid in to last the year.

Her dream placed her, alone, in this room, and there entered a grave-looking man, having something very remarkable in his countenance:  which impressed her, as a fine portrait sometimes will, with a haunting sense of character and individuality.

In his hand this man carried a wand, about the length of an ordinary walking cane.  He told her to observe and remember its length, and to mark well the measurements he was about to make, the result of which she was to communicate to Mr. Baily of Lough Guir.

From a certain point in the wall, with this wand, he measured along the floor, at right angles with the wall, a certain number of its lengths, which he counted aloud; and then, in the same way, from the adjoining wall he measured a certain number of its lengths, which he also counted distinctly.  He then told her that at the point where these two lines met, at a depth of a certain number of feet which he also told her, treasure lay buried.  And so the dream broke up, and her remarkable visitant vanished.

She took the girls with her to the old castle, where, having cut a switch to the length represented to her in her dream, she measured the distances, and ascertained, as she supposed, the point on the floor beneath which the treasure lay.  The same day she related her dream to Mr. Baily.  But he treated it laughingly, and took no step in consequence.

Some time after this, she again saw, in a dream, the same remarkable-looking man, who repeated his message, and appeared displeased.  But the dream was treated by Mr. Baily as before.

The same dream occurred again, and the children became so clamorous to have the castle floor explored, with pick and shovel, at the point indicated by the thrice-seen messenger, that at length Mr. Baily consented, and the floor was opened, and a trench was sunk at the spot which the governess had pointed out.

Miss Anne Baily, and nearly all the members of the family, her father included, were present at this operation.  As the workmen approached the depth described in the vision, the interest and suspense of all increased; and when the iron implements met the solid resistance of a broad flagstone, which returned a cavernous sound to the stroke, the excitement of all present rose to its acme.

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J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 5 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.