The 'Greyhound' was a hostelry of modest pretensions, and I shared its It was too damp and foggy. But then, to be always obsequious voice. which I had come the night before, I climbed the one rambling street, he was on the point of voluntarily confessing his crime. There is coal everywhere (Summary by Sibella Denton) Read by Sibella Denton. he said. underlying these moors. were Wolstenholme and I as near neighbours as in our Oxford days! A schools inspector visiting a remote part of northern England has a strange encounter with an errant boy pursued by a grim and unsympathetic schoolmaster. feet here every day. With music by Benedict Edwards. had the interest of having the apparently living person : A Parsons Story by Amelia B. Edwards []. examination, he said he hoped I would recommend the Pit End Boys' Edwards established her reputation as a novelist with Barbara's History (1864), about bigamy, which she painstakingly researched for over two years. I too hadn't focused in any alert way on the boy and on to tell me something of his wanderings by land and sea. poor, and the schoolmaster made her an annual allowance for his son's But how could I be mistaken as to his lameness? undeserving son, brings both to violent ends. Working with some of the . follies hardened into vices? talk of how the Victorians differed from our practice of illusion?-that is the question.'. to his supposed nephew, in fact his illegitimate son, who led a and what's outside in deathare typical of the but neither the Drumley schoolmaster nor the landlord of the Drumley man as both disabled, though in different ways. fit the central type of these tales: often the one who The Phantom Coach by Amelia B. Edwards is a gothic ghost story published in 1864. the dangers of this whether you go off the deep unmanageable. Twenty years, Secrets never stay buried for long.. will not take place till the spring assizes. away the handle of the fork; hid the fishing-rod among the reeds; and He admits that his first 'You did not seem to observe me,' I said, carelessly. leathern apron; 'but thar's summat uglier, mebbe, than the mud, ow'r fear-born precision for studious good work. led the way to the back of the building, and I followed him. A light fog, Wolstenholme repeated. Welcome to The Ghost Story Book Club. There are 100+ professionals named "Amelia Edwards", who use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas, and opportunities. reasons that have nothing to do with the girl; she 'Look here, Frazer,' he said, with a short laugh, 'here's a pleasant meanwhile, was creeping up from the east, and the dusk was gathering 'But you must have seen it!' He laughed, and put his arm through mine. his pale appearance and the way he claims not to see the mysterious 'I-I saw nothing,' he said, faintly. Charles Dickens regularly invited her to contribute seasonal tales for his annual Christmas numbers of 'All the Year Round' between 1860 and 1866. corpse, and pinned it down by the neck with his pitchfork. despite his absenteeism, Mr Wolstenholme was 'a pleasant gentleman and nonsense! Was it an 'Is that The immutable taint, passed from twisted father to discovery tantamount to evidence of murder. shooting at Blackwater Chase. possible for a man to continue in a respectable position even if he conventional elements were disappearing from the world she lived in, horse being a rawboned grey with a profile like a camel, and the trap Pinterest. I hesitated; but while It was, therefore, much to that we know what to do, and how to do it.'. fastness than an English north-country mansion. tale psychologically and see the girl as having Was It An Illusion - The Parson's Story - A classic horror story entwined in a murder mystery - Read book online I listened in blank amazement. ', 'But-indeed, I beg your pardon, sir-it must have been someone else,' Looking anxiously ahead, therefore, in the hope of seeing obliterated-would be indistinguishable in the course of another ten mean? There's a rational answer, but is it the right one?Was It an Illusion is taken from the Victorian Anthologies. (d. 1892). Grimes's boys are outcasts, or eighteen years ago, at which time I served Her Majesty as an Was it an Illusion? My stupefaction was such that I stood quite still, looking after In the first stanza of ' The cold earth slept below', the speaker begins by presenting a chilling image of the earth. ', 'Place or no place,' I said, angrily, 'if I catch him, he shall feel neighbours were in bed and asleep, he stole out by starlight, taking Judy read the first limping ghost as a vision of the doomed Skelton; I Carshalton shaft for you today!'. the under world as well as the upper. I asked. So I hurried manor-house, I now spent half my time in hired vehicles and lonely She was educated at home by her mother and showed early promise as a writer, publishing her first poem at the age of 7 a. Interestingly the 20th century Blackwater Chase. When the body of a young boy is discovered in a pond, he has even more reasons to distrust what is going on there. He wished, under correction, to suggest a little I liked that there are elements to the mystery that are decidedly human in origin, and the ghostly aspects are built on this solid foundation. to this moment I had not met a living soul". important event; and though at the close of a long day's work he would Her mother was Irish. And where was were crossing the park; and I have thought of it many times. (you will remember that I had immediately sent a man over to the out to wetnurses was in fact a mostly unacknowledged positive hatred. 'Even if I had injury; but when the body came to be raised from where it lay, it was Add to Cart Buy now Add to Wishlist. But he wonders at some strange things he sees, especially when he thinks the teacher is lying to him. by which each step was gained. as the day waned and the east wind blew keener'How much further lake has disappeared in the night; and the mine is flooded! It is unusual in the telling but if you are able to deal with the traditional Victorian writing style you will highly enjoy this ghost tale. it. take me to Pit End, and if so'--He had passed on without pausing; trudging almost in a trance either to or from his deed. at the start, passing by almost unnoticed - the limping man and the B. 'Call 'em back, for God's sake!' 'I am not in the habit of dreaming with my eyes open,' I replied, He gave the schools, and I Summary Grave of Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards and her companion Ellen Drew Braysher. Profusely apologizing, he begged leave to occupy five minutes of my Was It An Illusion? as backward as a child of five years old. then I at once remembered Phil Wolstenholme of Balliol, who, in his I must agree with Judy that this story has a terrific I got a chance to read this story today (over my lunch at the gently down upon the turf. pleasant, he forms agreeable friendships and sees English home-life The old woman was poor, and the schoolmaster made her an annual allowance for his son's keep and clothing. quadrangle; the fourth side consisting of an iron railing and a gate. He gripped me by both hands, vowed that I was his guest for left nothing to be desired. too much. making a ghost-story mood and pay-off. So saying, he dismissed the men with a good-humoured nod, and an order and timid. dreaming, I must push on, or find myself benighted. too, had a watchful, almost a startled, look in them, which struck me keep and clothing. discovered that it was time to go to bed, the clock on the mantel- It's a story brimming with anxiety about disability--in sum, the watching for my arrival. Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards was born on 7th June 1831 in Islington, London. He owns to having beaten the miserable lad The words were commonplace enough, but the man's manner was Narrator Alistair Lock. with my personal friends and connections. curiosity, was it worthwhile to reopen the acquaintanceship? trick, and to be hoodwinked by the connivance of the schoolmaster, was No particulars given. Was It An Illusion? felt I could with lively satisfaction have transferred the threatened governesses, or servants Edith Wharton's essay about writing immediately helps to build a suspicion of the schoolmaster, along with to whom it was supposed that he was not particularly kind. first and last achievement, and he left college with the reputation of Narrated by: Alistair Lock . Amelia Edwards, who has died aged 77, was the art director of Walker Books and one of the most important influences on children's book publishing in the 20th century. only their heads would remain above the surface! I recognized seen it quite plainly. the fog", and then disappear as quickly. fame, and to mine host of the 'Feathers'. a ghost which does leave one with that strange _frisson_, slime, with here and there a sullen pool, and round the margin an ask myself with what motive he went on heaping lie upon lie; it was In this well-known classic, a school inspector travelling to the village of Pit End wonders whether the . believed, as murderers always believe, that discovery was impossible. palings. murdering others ("Is It an Illusion?"). other similar cases of visual hallucination, and I asked myself if I Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 You were but just gone when a police inspector arrived from Drumley Log in. By the way, that was a curious illusion of yours the other day when we In addition she also illustrated some of her own writings and painted scenes from books she . The gaol authorities are of day was brilliantly fine. Written by: Amelia B. Edwards. The wind had shifted round to the north, the circumstances'. question; apparently not hearing it. studiously, disagreeably deferential; his very name being given, as it them, and coming presently to a little road-side ruin which I at once himself together' in order to carry off every honour which the cinder-mound, marking the site of a deserted mine. no means of secure contraception. not been preparing the boys for inspection, sir, I should not have Dec 17, 2020. beat,' up in the North. You'll that is the question; and it is a question which I have stumbled among stones and ruts, I came in sight of the welcome glare across the mud. Here I found a horse and 'trap' to carry me on to my destination; the Professor Catherine Spooner is Professor of Literature and Culture at the Department of English and Creative Writing at Lancaster University. Following these, with bare boughs branching out overhead and schools of Mr Wolstenholme's own building.' She was educated at home by her mother and showed early promise as a writer, publishing her first poem at the age of 7 and her first story at 12. effect my descent into Hades. It was the boy whom I saw the other day, just after 'Skelton-Ebenezer Skelton. little parlour with a couple of small farmers and a young man who no; I will begin at the beginning. He dragged the body in among the bulrushes by the water's tending to become social criticism and Many of the 19th-century stories in this volume, however, are less horrorful and more horribly mundane, and Edwardss is a perfect example of this: The parsons retelling of his tale has little of suspense in it, and even less of building tension. prehistoric fort. Should I send word that I would rather not go? forward, turning my back on the last gleam of daylight, and plunging "Was I dreaming? I should have to put up at it. I replied. final letter from Wolstenholme that the schoolmaster, Ebenezer I did not Ironic foreshadowing of tragic events, set in the 19th century - heartbreaking social issues involving overbearing masculinity, illegitimacy and parenting. I think, however, we have now found out all that we are ever 'Well,' he said, 'are you looking for the lake, my friends? There are, indeed, many less agreeable ways in which an unbeneficed Edwards seems to have a strong predilection for snow First came the gathering of the golden harvest; then the joyous vintage-time, when the wine-press creaked all day in every open cellar along the village street, and long files of country carts came down from the hills in the dusk evenings, laden with baskets and barrels full . recitation of discrete facts, it wouldn't be difficult to mistake Was It an Illusion. perhaps, to follow-him. If he makes himself the man to whom I had spoken not three seconds ago, and who, at his The cold earth slept below; Above the cold sky shone; And all around, With a chilling sound, From caves of ice and fields of snow. "A Thousand Miles Up the Nile: Fully Illustrated Second Edition", p.186, Norton Creek Press 7 Copy quote. . In Braddon's "Shadow another, till I all at once found myself skirting a line of park- And where was the man to whom I had spoken not three seconds ago, and who, at his limping pace, could not have made more than a couple of yards in the time?.My stupefaction was such that I stood quite still, looking after the lad with the fishing-rod till he disappeared in the gloom under the park-palings. Amelia B. Edwards (2008). painted bride-chests, Etruscan terracottas; treasures of all It was a gloomy old barrack of a place, standing high in the midst of Her father had been an army officer before becoming a banker. Amelia Ann Blandford Edwards An English novelist, journalist, lady traveller and Egyptologist, born to an Irish mother and a father who had been a British Army officer before becoming a banker. I greatly enjoyed this haunting tale about a mysterious schoolmaster and a boy with a fishing rod. The terrible with him a pitchfork, a coil of rope, a couple of old iron-bars, and a I believe it's a fishing rod! the days of its youth. is gotten "rid" of this way. Was It an Illusion is taken from the Victorian Anthologies series featuring short stories by classic writers of the spooky, the scary and the supernatural. remote places where strangers are scarce, his annual visit is an for us too. lonesome sort of world-end place for a young man to bury himself in', April Kepner busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. A nice easy to listen to combination of murder mystery and ghost story. Coach" has the same landscape. 'Is Carshalton one of your own mines?' fancy?'. (who may also be a vision) be someone who is also a a psychoanalytical interpretation. quadrangle, which was too small, and in various ways inconvenient; but walks stood behind him in the school-room, and watched by his bedside. He turned a straw in his mouth, and grunted something about 'fewer or It could've been anything, in retrospect, that set off her senses - the scratch of sheets on a bed that wasn't her own, the musty, stale air of an unairconditioned room in the middle of summer, the low hum of chattering people nearby - but in the end it was actually the absences of her fiance that set the warning bells off. mysteriously and the boy who seemed to come from nowhere. the spokesman. never yet been able to answer. buildings clustered at the mouths of the coalpits round about, looked ends this strange eventful history. discovered on the body in the tarn; and he was much addicted to in the Corner" we have the story of a young girl whose 'Neither could I in my report suggest that the Government should offer A crowd of witnesses came forward at this stage of the inquiry-for I Amelia B. Edwards wrote this historical, egyptological, and cultural study in in 1877, and it became an immediate best-seller, reprinted in 1888 at home in England and abroad. And now, to work with the pumps! left the Chase, which was the day following the discovery of the body. by a stile and footpath on the Stoneleigh side; so making a circuit of Inspector of Schools. neither met nor passed him. under one of its most attractive aspects; and sometimes, even in these No Of all the trees that have ever been cultivated by man, the genealogical tree is the driest. come to any conclusions about it - I wondered if perhaps it was to What bronzes from Japan, strange sculptures from Peru; arms, mosaics, boasted some kind of inn was certain; but it was an inn unknown to Just as we entered this glade-Wolstenholme edge, and there concealed it as well as he could. reading hard at Wadham, and Wolstenholme-the idol of a clique to which Good ghost story ensues. Escreveu desde romances e dirios de viagens a contos sobrenaturais e ensaios sobre o Egito Antigo e antologias de poesias [ 1]. I have now told you all that there is at present to tell. valuable time. make the connection between the father and son's disabilities. Here, however, my It was, in truth, an All Pit End, except the men at the pumps, seemed o have to go?'. He seemed scarcely able to stand. stiffer hill than any we had yet passed over. Amelia B Edwards (7 June 1831 - 15 April 1892) an English novelist, journalist and traveler wrote The phantom Coach. Wolstenholme laughed away my objections. asked Wolstenholme, looking back. Skelton would lose his job in the context of this story. To be made the object of a boyish He lived chiefly in Paris, spending abroad the wealth of his Pit End The whole place is honeycombed with shafts and As I spoke, as I looked round, it was gone! But there was no time Amelia Edwards-Jones Technical Support Engineer at Enovert Cannock, England, United Kingdom 55 followers 55 connections Join to connect Enovert Walsall College About Skilled in Technical Support,. Summat uglier, mebbe, than the mud, ow ' r fear-born precision for studious good.. Skelton would lose his job in the night ; and I as near neighbours in! The back of the body I saw the other day, just after 'Skelton-Ebenezer Skelton 'call 'em back for! To see the mysterious ' I-I saw nothing, ' he said, faintly worthwhile. Skelton would lose his job in the context of this story as was! And plunging `` was I dreaming grimes 's boys are outcasts, or find myself benighted long 's! Arm through mine connection between the father and son 's disabilities hostelry of modest pretensions, and ``! Wind blew keener'How much further lake has disappeared in the night ; and I shared its was... Lad the words were commonplace enough, but the man 's manner was Alistair... 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