by the Baroness de Calabrella [Catherine Ball][1].
Originally published in Ainsworth's Magazine: A Miscellany of Romance (Chapman and Hall) vol.3 #1 (1843).
Some travellers, attracted by the beauty of the surrounding scenery, and induced by the fatigue attendant on a long tour, decided to rest for awhile at the comfortable hotel to be found at St. Maurice. In their walks they observed notices of a chateau to be let, furnished, in the immediate neighbourhood; and more and more enchanted with the drives and views, abounding in fine landscape scenery, they resolved to make inquiries about it, with a view of possibly becoming its tenants for the remainder of the summer and autumn months.
Their first business was to see the agent referred to by the notices, who gave every encouragement to their project by his florid description of its beauties and local advantages. It was evident that he remarked their surprise at the smallness of the rent required, as he quickly observed—"Monsieur le Marquis is anxious the chateau should be tenanted—the amount of rent is not so much his object."
The next morning they set off to visit this abode; but on directing the driver of the char-a-bane, hired for the occasion, to the Chateau de le Guimandier, they perceived a reluctance in his manner, and were surprised to find him remain stationary and cross himself, as he repeated—"To the Chateau de le Guimandier! Is Monsieur quite sure that it is to the Chateau de le Guimandier he wishes to go?" On being answered in the affirmative, he shrugged his shoulders and proceeded, but at so slow a pace that the agent was impatiently pacing the avenue in front of the chateau, awaiting their arrival. They found the Chateau de le Guimandier a low structure, occupying a large site, its turretted angles giving it a castellated appearance. Its broad terrace, which ran along the whole of the back front, commanded one of the finest views in the country, while, like many French chateaux, its approach was by an avenue of chestnut-trees. The house was but partially furnished, and the articles of furniture were evidently very ancient, but not devoid of comfort; and the party were so well pleased with all they beheld, that on quitting it they directed the agent to call on them the following morning, to conclude the arrangements necessary for giving them possession. They had been frequently forced, on their approach to the chateau, to urge the driver to quicken his pace, but on quitting it, they had to caution him to be careful in the descent, so rapidly did he drive. On entering St. Maurice, they perceived their courier looking wild, and running towards them, as if he had been anxiously expecting them: ere he reached the char-a-bane, he was breathless; and though he fixed a look of terrified inquiry on them, he appeared unable to give utterance to his feelings. At length, on being pressed to tell what ailed him, he said, in a faltering voice, and trembling from head to foot—"Mon Dieu! seigneur! the cat—did it appear" This interrogation, and the man's wildness of manner, excited the curiosity of the party, especially as, on mention being made of the cat, they perceived the driver again signing himself with the cross, and listening intently for their answer; and they became almost alarmed, when, on arriving at the hotel, they found the landlady looking for them with nearly the same appearance of terror as their courier had done—for on seeing them descend from the char-a-bane uninjured, he began to recover himself, and in a short time was able to explain that his terror had been caused by a story the landlady had related to him, on hearing his employers were gone to look at the Chateau de le Guimandier, with an idea of inhabiting it; and being desired to repeat what he had heard, he thus began:—
"In the year 1613, the Chateau de le Guimandier became the property of a young and lovely lady, the only child of the deceased Marquis de —. Her beauty was the theme of the whole neighbourhood; her large possessions rendered her an object for all the great families in that part of the country to seek in marriage, while her gentle manners and faultless conduct ensured the admiration and esteem of all who knew her.
"Numberless suitors presented themselves, but she rejected them all, till the idea became prevalent that the Lady Rosalie would never wed; and proportionably great was the surprise of all when it was announced that she was about to return to her chateau from Paris, whither she had gone to pass her winter, accompanied by the husband of her choice. It was on a beautiful evening in the early spring that the newly married couple entered the rich domain of the bride, where the inhabitants of all the neighouring hamlets were assembled to bid them welcome.
"It was soon bruited about that the bridegroom was not of the same religious faith as his bride, and that their marriage had been solemnized in the Lutheran as well as the Roman-catholic church. Many of the aged in the village saw in this circumstance an omen of future sorrow, but their young lady was still so kind, so benevolent, and such a strict observer of her own religious duties, that every soul of them prayed devoutly that on her head the curse might not fall; while the younger and lighter-hearted saw in his manly beauty, his frankness of demeanour, and his boundless liberality, almost an excuse for her choice of a heretic! To the old father confessor, the friend of her family, the preceptor of her youth, the blow had been severe; but through the mutual affection which appeared to exist between the object of his tenderness (and now of his fears) and the husband she had chosen, he trusted a work would, in time, be wrought, which would bring another soul within the pale of salvation; and from the hour of the Lady Rosalie's return, he used every argument and prayer to induce her to undertake her husband's conversion.
"The young wife's natural timidity, blended with the love she bore her husband, induced her to stay the good father's impatience, though she promised to follow his directions as earnestly and as quickly as her sense of duty would allow; but in the fulfilment of this promise, her own peace was sadly wounded by finding that the being she idolized was without any distinct faith or religious principle; and this discovery, which she carefully concealed, did more to increase her endeavours than the commands of her confessor.
"She at length succeeded in obtaining her husband's promise to accompany her to hear mass celebrated in their parish church; and to her mind, attuned as it was to early piety and trusting faith, this promise seemed almost a pledge of his intention to become a Roman Catholic.
"As each succeeding occasion approached, some pretext was always found by him for ev vading it, W mich er gentleness inclined her to excuse. Not so the priest; who, from the knowledge he had obtained of her likelihood to become a mother, held this to be the moment when her influence over him would be ‘the greatest, and used it with her as an additional obligation for the performances of her duty. By his perpetual urgings, he at last persuaded her to make her husband's attendance at the messe de minuit (a ceremony near at hand) the test of his affection for her. Her entreaties were irresistible, and he solemnly promised to attend her on the occasion mentioned; and it was not till the preparations were nearly concluded for the departure of the whole family, to attend on this solemn rite, that she had any reason to doubt his sincerity. Her distress and mortification were excessive, on hearing him again form some frivolous excuse for not accompanying her; and losing for a moment her gentle tone, she besought him, with an earnestness and vehemence so foreign to her character, that it appeared to his conscience-stricken mind like reproach, and as in most cases where reason is silenced, passion obtained the mastery; he gave way to anger, and turning hastily from her, exclaimed, that now nothing should induce him to go, were he even sure the foul fiend would roast him alive in her absence!
"The unhappy wife would fain have remained, to soothe the troubled spirit she had so unfortunately called forth, but the reflection, that by neglecting her own duties she could not repair his fault, she departed with her confessor and the rest of her household to the parish church. The key of the house was taken by one of the domestics, after carefully locking the door—all the other fastenings of the house having been previously secured.
"The Lady Rosalie walked in silence by the side of her aged friend, who forbore to add to her evident distress by any remark on the failure of their hopes; and on entering the church, many a prayer did the anxious wife pour forth for the soul of that husband whose voice she had fondly hoped would that night have mingled with her own in that sacred service.
"The mass was concluded, and the whole party were slowly returning to the chateau, when their alarm was greatly excited on beholding, as soon as it became in view, that all the windows appeared illuminated, while a dense volume of smoke was proceeding from the kitchen chimney. Some of the domestics ran forward, and on opening the door, which they found still locked, were nearly blinded by the preternatural light which seemed to fill the whole space of the apartments. All was bright, though nothing seemed to be burning, as they ran bewildered from room to room, till, at length, their footsteps were directed to the kitchen by a shriek from their lady, whom they found lifeless on the stones. In the capacious chimney, a raging fire was burning, and on the spit were the fragments and cinders of a human body. The spit was still turning rapidly round—its motion impelled not by the usual canine turnspit, but by that which had the likeness of a cat in form—its coat of the blackest dye, and its eyes glaring with flames of fire!
"The terrified domestics quickly fled from the spot, bearing with them the dead body of the Lady Rosalie, whose tomb may be seen in the parish church, where masses are still said for the repose of her soul.
"Several attempts have been made by the subsequent inheritors to get the chateau inhabited by strangers, but each family have been terrified into leaving it by the appalling appearance of the same black cat."
The courier paused.—How much credence the party on whom he was in attendance might give to the tale is unknown, but they relinquished their intention of renting the Chateau de le Guimandier.
1. A splendid and seasonable little gift-book, entitled the "Prism of Thought," by the accomplished Baroness, has just issued from the press, to which we beg to direct attention.—Ed.