Chapter XXVIII: The Breaking of the Storm

by Bram Stoker

　　When Lady Arabella had crept away in her usual noiseless fashion,the two others remained for a while in their places on the turretroof: Caswall because he had nothing to say, Mimi because she hadmuch to say and wished to put her thoughts in order. For quite awhile--which seemed interminable--silence reigned between them. Atlast Mimi made a beginning--she had made up her mind how to act."Mr. Caswall," she said loudly, so as to make sure of being heardthrough the blustering of the wind and the perpetual cracking of theelectricity.Caswall said something in reply, but his words were carried away onthe storm. However, one of her objects was effected: she knew nowexactly whereabout on the roof he was. So she moved close to thespot before she spoke again, raising her voice almost to a shout."The wicket is shut. Please to open it. I can't get out."As she spoke, she was quietly fingering a revolver which Adam hadgiven to her in case of emergency and which now lay in her breast.She felt that she was caged like a rat in a trap, but did not meanto be taken at a disadvantage, whatever happened. Caswall also felttrapped, and all the brute in him rose to the emergency. In a voicewhich was raucous and brutal--much like that which is heard when awife is being beaten by her husband in a slum--he hissed out, hissyllables cutting through the roaring of the storm:"You came of your own accord--without permission, or even asking it.Now you can stay or go as you choose. But you must manage it foryourself; I'll have nothing to do with it."Her answer was spoken with dangerous suavity"I am going. Blame yourself if you do not like the time and mannerof it. I daresay Adam--my husband--will have a word to say to youabout it!""Let him say, and be damned to him, and to you too! I'll show you alight. You shan't be able to say that you could not see what youwere doing."As he spoke, he was lighting another piece of the magnesium ribbon,which made a blinding glare in which everything was plainlydiscernible, down to the smallest detail. This exactly suited Mimi.She took accurate note of the wicket and its fastening before theglare had died away. She took her revolver out and fired into thelock, which was shivered on the instant, the pieces flying round inall directions, but happily without causing hurt to anyone. Thenshe pushed the wicket open and ran down the narrow stair, and so tothe hall door. Opening this also, she ran down the avenue, neverlessening her speed till she stood outside the door of Lesser Hill.The door was opened at once on her ringing."Is Mr. Adam Salton in?" she asked."He has just come in, a few minutes ago. He has gone up to thestudy," replied a servant.She ran upstairs at once and joined him. He seemed relieved when hesaw her, but scrutinised her face keenly. He saw that she had beenin some concern, so led her over to the sofa in the window and satdown beside her."Now, dear, tell me all about it!" he said.She rushed breathlessly through all the details of her adventure onthe turret roof. Adam listened attentively, helping her all hecould, and not embarrassing her by any questioning. His thoughtfulsilence was a great help to her, for it allowed her to collect andorganise her thoughts."I must go and see Caswall to-morrow, to hear what he has to say onthe subject.""But, dear, for my sake, don't have any quarrel with Mr. Caswall. Ihave had too much trial and pain lately to wish it increased by anyanxiety regarding you.""You shall not, dear--if I can help it--please God," he saidsolemnly, and he kissed her.Then, in order to keep her interested so that she might forget thefears and anxieties that had disturbed her, he began to talk overthe details of her adventure, making shrewd comments which attractedand held her attention. Presently, inter alia, he said:"That's a dangerous game Caswall is up to. It seems to me that thatyoung man--though he doesn't appear to know it--is riding for afall!""How, dear? I don't understand.""Kite flying on a night like this from a place like the tower ofCastra Regis is, to say the least of it, dangerous. It is notmerely courting death or other accident from lightning, but it isbringing the lightning into where he lives. Every cloud that isblowing up here--and they all make for the highest point--is boundto develop into a flash of lightning. That kite is up in the airand is bound to attract the lightning. Its cord makes a road for iton which to travel to earth. When it does come, it will strike thetop of the tower with a weight a hundred times greater than a wholepark of artillery, and will knock Castra Regis into pieces. Whereit will go after that, no one can tell. If there should be anymetal by which it can travel, such will not only point the road, butbe the road itself.""Would it be dangerous to be out in the open air when such a thingis taking place?" she asked."No, little woman. It would be the safest possible place--so longas one was not in the line of the electric current.""Then, do let us go outside. I don't want to run into any foolishdanger--or, far more, to ask you to do so. But surely if the openis safest, that is the place for us."Without another word, she put on again the cloak she had thrown off,and a small, tight-fitting cap. Adam too put on his cap, and, afterseeing that his revolver was all right, gave her his hand, and theyleft the house together."I think the best thing we can do will be to go round all the placeswhich are mixed up in this affair.""All right, dear, I am ready. But, if you don't mind, we might gofirst to Mercy. I am anxious about grandfather, and we might seethat--as yet, at all events--nothing has happened there."So they went on the high-hung road along the top of the Brow. Thewind here was of great force, and made a strange booming noise as itswept high overhead; though not the sound of cracking and tearing asit passed through the woods of high slender trees which grew oneither side of the road. Mimi could hardly keep her feet. She wasnot afraid; but the force to which she was opposed gave her a goodexcuse to hold on to her husband extra tight.At Mercy there was no one up--at least, all the lights were out.But to Mimi, accustomed to the nightly routine of the house, therewere manifest signs that all was well, except in the little room onthe first floor, where the blinds were down. Mimi could not bear tolook at that, to think of it. Adam understood her pain, for he hadbeen keenly interested in poor Lilla. He bent over and kissed her,and then took her hand and held it hard. Thus they passed ontogether, returning to the high road towards Castra Regis.At the gate of Castra Regis they were extra careful. When drawingnear, Adam stumbled upon the wire that Lady Arabella had lefttrailing on the ground.Adam drew his breath at this, and spoke in a low, earnest whisper:"I don't want to frighten you, Mimi dear, but wherever that wire isthere is danger.""Danger! How?""That is the track where the lightning will go; at any moment, evennow whilst we are speaking and searching, a fearful force may beloosed upon us. Run on, dear; you know the way to where the avenuejoins the highroad. If you see any sign of the wire, keep away fromit, for God's sake. I shall join you at the gateway.""Are you going to follow that wire alone?""Yes, dear. One is sufficient for that work. I shall not lose amoment till I am with you.""Adam, when I came with you into the open, my main wish was that weshould be together if anything serious happened. You wouldn't denyme that right, would you, dear?""No, dear, not that or any right. Thank God that my wife has such awish. Come; we will go together. We are in the hands of God. IfHe wishes, we shall be together at the end, whenever or whereverthat may be."They picked up the trail of the wire on the steps and followed itdown the avenue, taking care not to touch it with their feet. Itwas easy enough to follow, for the wire, if not bright, was self-coloured, and showed clearly. They followed it out of the gatewayand into the avenue of Diana's Grove.Here a new gravity clouded Adam's face, though Mimi saw no cause forfresh concern. This was easily enough explained. Adam knew of theexplosive works in progress regarding the well-hole, but the matterhad been kept from his wife. As they stood near the house, Adamasked Mimi to return to the road, ostensibly to watch the course ofthe wire, telling her that there might be a branch wire leadingsomewhere else. She was to search the undergrowth, and if she foundit, was to warn him by the Australian native "Coo-ee!"Whilst they were standing together, there came a blinding flash oflightning, which lit up for several seconds the whole area of earthand sky. It was only the first note of the celestial prelude, forit was followed in quick succession by numerous flashes, whilst thecrash and roll of thunder seemed continuous.Adam, appalled, drew his wife to him and held her close. As far ashe could estimate by the interval between lightning and thunder-clap, the heart of the storm was still some distance off, so he feltno present concern for their safety. Still, it was apparent thatthe course of the storm was moving swiftly in their direction. Thelightning flashes came faster and faster and closer together; thethunder-roll was almost continuous, not stopping for a moment--a newcrash beginning before the old one had ceased. Adam kept looking upin the direction where the kite strained and struggled at itsdetaining cord, but, of course, the dull evening light prevented anydistinct scrutiny.At length there came a flash so appallingly bright that in its glareNature seemed to be standing still. So long did it last, that therewas time to distinguish its configuration. It seemed like a mightytree inverted, pendent from the sky. The whole country aroundwithin the angle of vision was lit up till it seemed to glow. Thena broad ribbon of fire seemed to drop on to the tower of CastraRegis just as the thunder crashed. By the glare, Adam could see thetower shake and tremble, and finally fall to pieces like a house ofcards. The passing of the lightning left the sky again dark, but ablue flame fell downward from the tower, and, with inconceivablerapidity, running along the ground in the direction of Diana'sGrove, reached the dark silent house, which in the instant burstinto flame at a hundred different points.At the same moment there rose from the house a rending, crashingsound of woodwork, broken or thrown about, mixed with a quick screamso appalling that Adam, stout of heart as he undoubtedly was, felthis blood turn into ice. Instinctively, despite the danger andtheir consciousness of it, husband and wife took hands and listened,trembling. Something was going on close to them, mysterious,terrible, deadly! The shrieks continued, though less sharp insound, as though muffled. In the midst of them was a terrificexplosion, seemingly from deep in the earth.The flames from Castra Regis and from Diana's Grove made all aroundalmost as light as day, and now that the lightning had ceased toflash, their eyes, unblinded, were able to judge both perspectiveand detail. The heat of the burning house caused the iron doors towarp and collapse. Seemingly of their own accord, they fell open,and exposed the interior. The Saltons could now look through to theroom beyond, where the well-hole yawned, a deep narrow circularchasm. From this the agonised shrieks were rising, growing evermore terrible with each second that passed.But it was not only the heart-rending sound that almost paralysedpoor Mimi with terror. What she saw was sufficient to fill her withevil dreams for the remainder of her life. The whole place lookedas if a sea of blood had been beating against it. Each of theexplosions from below had thrown out from the well-hole, as if ithad been the mouth of a cannon, a mass of fine sand mixed withblood, and a horrible repulsive slime in which were great red massesof rent and torn flesh and fat. As the explosions kept on, more andmore of this repulsive mass was shot up, the great bulk of itfalling back again. Many of the awful fragments were of somethingwhich had lately been alive. They quivered and trembled and writhedas though they were still in torment, a supposition to which theunending scream gave a horrible credence. At moments somemountainous mass of flesh surged up through the narrow orifice, asthough forced by a measureless power through an opening infinitelysmaller than itself. Some of these fragments were partially coveredwith white skin as of a human being, and others--the largest andmost numerous--with scaled skin as of a gigantic lizard or serpent.Once, in a sort of lull or pause, the seething contents of the holerose, after the manner of a bubbling spring, and Adam saw part ofthe thin form of Lady Arabella, forced up to the top amid a mass ofblood and slime, and what looked as if it had been the entrails of amonster torn into shreds. Several times some masses of enormousbulk were forced up through the well-hole with inconceivableviolence, and, suddenly expanding as they came into larger space,disclosed sections of the White Worm which Adam and Sir Nathanielhad seen looking over the trees with its enormous eyes of emerald-green flickering like great lamps in a gale.At last the explosive power, which was not yet exhausted, evidentlyreached the main store of dynamite which had been lowered into theworm hole. The result was appalling. The ground for far aroundquivered and opened in long deep chasms, whose edges shook and fellin, throwing up clouds of sand which fell back and hissed amongstthe rising water. The heavily built house shook to its foundations.Great stones were thrown up as from a volcano, some of them, greatmasses of hard stone, squared and grooved with implements wrought byhuman hands, breaking up and splitting in mid air as though riven bysome infernal power. Trees near the house--and therefore presumablyin some way above the hole, which sent up clouds of dust and steamand fine sand mingled, and which carried an appalling stench whichsickened the spectators--were torn up by the roots and hurled intothe air. By now, flames were bursting violently from all over theruins, so dangerously that Adam caught up his wife in his arms, andran with her from the proximity of the flames.Then almost as quickly as it had begun, the whole cataclysm ceased,though a deep-down rumbling continued intermittently for some time.Then silence brooded over all--silence so complete that it seemed initself a sentient thing--silence which seemed like incarnatedarkness, and conveyed the same idea to all who came within itsradius. To the young people who had suffered the long horror ofthat awful night, it brought relief--relief from the presence or thefear of all that was horrible--relief which seemed perfected whenthe red rays of sunrise shot up over the far eastern sea, bringing apromise of a new order of things with the coming day.His bed saw little of Adam Salton for the remainder of that night.He and Mimi walked hand in hand in the brightening dawn round by theBrow to Castra Regis and on to Lesser Hill. They did sodeliberately, in an attempt to think as little as possible of theterrible experiences of the night. The morning was bright andcheerful, as a morning sometimes is after a devastating storm. Theclouds, of which there were plenty in evidence, brought no lingeringidea of gloom. All nature was bright and joyous, being in strikingcontrast to the scenes of wreck and devastation, the effects ofobliterating fire and lasting ruin.The only evidence of the once stately pile of Castra Regis and itsinhabitants was a shapeless huddle of shattered architecture, dimlyseen as the keen breeze swept aside the cloud of acrid smoke whichmarked the site of the once lordly castle. As for Diana's Grove,they looked in vain for a sign which had a suggestion of permanence.The oak trees of the Grove were still to be seen--some of them--emerging from a haze of smoke, the great trunks solid and erect asever, but the larger branches broken and twisted and rent, with barkstripped and chipped, and the smaller branches broken anddishevelled looking from the constant stress and threshing of thestorm.Of the house as such, there was, even at the short distance fromwhich they looked, no trace. Adam resolutely turned his back on thedevastation and hurried on. Mimi was not only upset and shocked inmany ways, but she was physically "dog tired," and falling asleep onher feet. Adam took her to her room and made her undress and getinto bed, taking care that the room was well lighted both bysunshine and lamps. The only obstruction was from a silk curtain,drawn across the window to keep out the glare. He sat beside her,holding her hand, well knowing that the comfort of his presence wasthe best restorative for her. He stayed with her till sleep hadovermastered her wearied body. Then he went softly away. He foundhis uncle and Sir Nathaniel in the study, having an early cup oftea, amplified to the dimensions of a possible breakfast. Adamexplained that he had not told his wife that he was going over thehorrible places again, lest it should frighten her, for the rest andsleep in ignorance would help her and make a gap of peacefulnessbetween the horrors.Sir Nathaniel agreed."We know, my boy," he said, "that the unfortunate Lady Arabella isdead, and that the foul carcase of the Worm has been torn to pieces--pray God that its evil soul will never more escape from thenethermost hell."They visited Diana's Grove first, not only because it was nearer,but also because it was the place where most description wasrequired, and Adam felt that he could tell his story best on thespot. The absolute destruction of the place and everything in itseen in the broad daylight was almost inconceivable. To SirNathaniel, it was as a story of horror full and complete. But toAdam it was, as it were, only on the fringes. He knew what wasstill to be seen when his friends had got over the knowledge ofexternals. As yet, they had only seen the outside of the house--orrather, where the outside of the house once had been. The greathorror lay within. However, age--and the experience of age--counts.A strange, almost elemental, change in the aspect had taken place inthe time which had elapsed since the dawn. It would almost seem asif Nature herself had tried to obliterate the evil signs of what hadoccurred. True, the utter ruin of the house was made even moremanifest in the searching daylight; but the more appallingdestruction which lay beneath was not visible. The rent, torn, anddislocated stonework looked worse than before; the upheavedfoundations, the piled-up fragments of masonry, the fissures in thetorn earth--all were at the worst. The Worm's hole was stillevident, a round fissure seemingly leading down into the very bowelsof the earth. But all the horrid mass of blood and slime, of torn,evil-smelling flesh and the sickening remnants of violent death,were gone. Either some of the later explosions had thrown up fromthe deep quantities of water which, though foul and corrupt itself,had still some cleansing power left, or else the writhing mass whichstirred from far below had helped to drag down and obliterate theitems of horror. A grey dust, partly of fine sand, partly of thewaste of the falling ruin, covered everything, and, though ghastlyitself, helped to mask something still worse.After a few minutes of watching, it became apparent to the three menthat the turmoil far below had not yet ceased. At short irregularintervals the hell-broth in the hole seemed as if boiling up. Itrose and fell again and turned over, showing in fresh form much ofthe nauseous detail which had been visible earlier. The worst partswere the great masses of the flesh of the monstrous Worm, in all itsred and sickening aspect. Such fragments had been bad enoughbefore, but now they were infinitely worse. Corruption comes withstartling rapidity to beings whose destruction has been due whollyor in part to lightning--the whole mass seemed to have become all atonce corrupt! The whole surface of the fragments, once alive, wascovered with insects, worms, and vermin of all kinds. The sight washorrible enough, but, with the awful smell added, was simplyunbearable. The Worm's hole appeared to breathe forth death in itsmost repulsive forms. The friends, with one impulse, moved to thetop of the Brow, where a fresh breeze from the sea was blowing up.At the top of the Brow, beneath them as they looked down, they saw ashining mass of white, which looked strangely out of place amongstsuch wreckage as they had been viewing. It appeared so strange thatAdam suggested trying to find a way down, so that they might see itmore closely."We need not go down; I know what it is," Sir Nathaniel said. "Theexplosions of last night have blown off the outside of the cliffs--that which we see is the vast bed of china clay through which theWorm originally found its way down to its lair. I can catch theglint of the water of the deep quags far down below. Well, herladyship didn't deserve such a funeral--or such a monument."The horrors of the last few hours had played such havoc with Mimi'snerves, that a change of scene was imperative--if a permanentbreakdown was to be avoided."I think," said old Mr. Salton, "it is quite time you young peopledeparted for that honeymoon of yours!" There was a twinkle in hiseye as he spoke.Mimi's soft shy glance at her stalwart husband, was sufficientanswer.