HORROR IN THE AYLESHIRE UPLANDS . . .
To all appearances the room was unoccupied.
Moments later a feeling as of doom impending swept over me with a chill. Whose house was this, I wondered? And how had I come to be here?
Hanging from a peg was a tiny silver call, such as might be used to summon a domestic. It was a curious little thing, of a peculiar and antique workmanship. I saw at once that it was valuable. Much intrigued I was about to apply it to my lips, to test the sound, when I became aware of a stealthy movement in the room.
A figure -- that of an elderly man with grave features, craggy and deep-seamed -- sprang up from behind one of the wing-chairs on the hearthrug. He eyed me uneasily. "What do you mean to do?" he asked.
As I raised the call to my lips he flung a warning hand at me. "No, sir, no! Do not sound the call!" he cried, in a tone of stifled horror. "Take heed, sir -- lest the devils be unchained!"
CHARACTERS
Boggle
A clean-limbed, fine-pointed gelding from the Red Top stables
Briony
A homely wisp of a maidservant, and niece to Mrs. Shudders
Mr. Roderick Capel Grange
A lively, intelligent gentleman of a cheerful good humor, and master of the Firs
Miss Chipchase
Barmaid at the Jolly Vintner; a pretty, well-made lass with a merry eye
Bully Cowpepper
The head gardener of Red Top
Derwent
Staid servant (butler cum steward) at Red Top, with a weighty gravity of exterior
The Rev. Mr. Nicodemus Dumps
The vicar of Hoole; a morose and discontented clergyman
Dr. Fels
A medical man and the town physician
Gallop
A chocolate bay gelding, who had been Sir Henry Clement's prized hunter and favorite riding horse
Godwin
Chief attendant of the household at Clement's Mill
Griff
Freckle-faced young stable-boy at Red Top
Frank Jarvey
A mastodon man, one of the three sons of old John Jarvey
Judy
Squire Turnthirsty's cream-colored mare
Mr. Jervas Lawry
Young solicitor and attorney, who had been Sir Henry Clement's trusted legal adviser
Mr. Malmsey
The verger of Hoole, rather too fond of the vicar's wine
Mr. Mogens Maunder
The town clerk of Hoole, and something of a humorist
Much
A ginger tabby cat, on the dainty, diminutive side
Mr. John Mulbery
The old sexton and gravedigger of Hoole, now semi-retired
Nobs
A well-marked pointer dog, and chief adjutant to Griff and Jim True
Nougat
Miss Petra's dappled mare
Ruthelen
Godwin's daughter, acting as housemaid at Clement's Mill
Mrs. Shudders
Cook and housekeeper to Mr. Somervell at the Mill
"Snuffy Jamie"
(James Archibald MacConachar)
A stonemason; a great mountain of a man
Miss Petra Solsgrace
A young woman left an orphan, made ward and heir of Sir Henry Clement
Mr. Ingram Somervell
Partner in a firm of ship-brokers at Crow's-end; the narrator of this story
Jim True
Chief groom at Red Top
Squire Turnthirsty
A celebrated dairyman and local milk roundsman
Featured image: Detail from A Country Cottage and Church (w/c on paper) by F.H. Tyndale (19th century)
(Private collection / The Bridgeman Art Library)
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