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Updated: May 15, 2025
The bright flowers, the singing birds in their ornamented cages, and the adjoining study with its well-filled shelves, all reminded me of the past. Tears came to my eyes as I recalled the bitter changes I had seen since leaving that sunny home! I had not been long in the conservatory when I heard the wheels of a carriage. Mr. Bristed had returned.
Bristed," said I, covering my eyes with my hand, for I could not endure his eager gaze, "I must first tell you I am married to your brother Richard." "Married to Richard!" he exclaimed, starting up violently agitated; and seizing my shoulder with nervous gripe he set me off from him at arm's length "You married to Richard! why, Agnes, that cannot be; has he not a wife now living in France?
I liked the little Frenchman; his gaiety served to divert my mind from reflections on the past, which like spectres would sometimes stalk grimly before me when unoccupied, I sought the quiet of my own chamber. With my increasing success, my pupils' interest fully occupied every moment of my time. Meantime, not a line or word reached me from Bristed Hall.
In Yale alone have been more than 120 graduates. Among these are nearly twenty Dwights, nearly as many Edwards, seven Woolseys, eight Porters, five Johnsons, four Ingersolls, and several of most of the following names: Chapin, Winthrop, Shoemaker, Hoadley, Lewis, Mathers, Reeve, Rowland, Carmalt, Devereaux, Weston, Heermance, Whitney, Blake, Collier, Scarborough, Yardley, Gilman, Raymond, Wood, Morgan, Bacon, Ward, Foote, Cornelius, Shepards, Bristed, Wickerham, Doubleday, Van Volkenberg, Robbins, Tyler, Miller, Lyman, Pierpont, and Churchill, the author of "Richard Carvel," is a recent graduate.
Taking his small hand, I asked him a few questions about his studies. I found him intelligent, but grave beyond his years; very docile and obedient, and ere the end of the day we became excellent friends. I had lived six weeks at Bristed Hall, and, excepting on my first arrival, had not interchanged a word with its master.
Bristed showed his sympathy for my lonely situation by many little attentions; sending up to the school-room, now and then, choice fruit from his hot-house, or a bouquet of conservatory flowers, and, several times in the early evening, he sent for me to read aloud to him.
But now a strange, irrepressible desire to see the child filled my mind. Yielding to this intense feeling, I arranged my affairs, and taking a coach, set off early in the morning for the train which would convey me to Bristed Hall. To my astonishment I met Richard at the depot.
Even Richard, whose cruel grasp he had eluded, seemed awed as the little spirit burst from its tenement, and a transcendent smile settled on the thin, waxen face, and the white hands folded themselves across the breast with an air of unutterable peace. Early the next morning Mr. Bristed accompanied the lifeless body of little Herbert to Bristed Hall.
As I passed down the aisle, a white, fluttering, impalpable, and yet clearly-defined form arose from one of the empty seats, and unobstructed by carved wood or heavy upholstery, passed out through frame and plaster! The slight figure, the golden hair, I remembered too well it was that of the ghost of Bristed Hall!
Other grandsons were to have twenty-five thousand dollars on reaching the age of twenty-five, and the same sum when they were thirty. His favorite grandson, Charles Astor Bristed, since well known to the public as an author and poet, was left amply provided for.
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