Impelled by some new fantasy of his crazed intellect, he snatched the fatal mantle and rushed from the chamber and the house. That night, a procession passed, by torchlight, through the streets, bearing in the midst the figure of a woman, enveloped with a richly embroidered mantle; while in advance stalked Jervase Helwyse, waving the red flag of the pestilence. Arriving opposite the Province House, the mob burned the effigy, and a strong wind came and swept away the ashes. It was said that, from that very hour, the pestilence abated, as if its sway had some mysterious connection, from the first plague-stroke to the last, with Lady Eleanore's Mantle. A remarkable uncertainty broods over that unhappy lady's fate. There is a belief, however, that, in a certain chamber of this mansion, a female form may sometimes be duskily discerned, shrinking into the darkest corner, and muffling her face within an embroidered mantle. Supposing the legend true, can this be other than the once proud Lady Eleanore?
Mine host, and the old loyalist, and I bestowed no little
warmth of applause upon this narrative, in which we had all
been deeply interested; for the reader can scarcely conceive how
unspeakably the effect of such a tale is heightened when, as in
the present case, we may repose perfect confidence in the veracity
of him who tells it. For my own part, knowing how scrupulous
is Mr. Tiffany to settle the foundation of his facts, I could
not have believed him one whit the more faithfully had he professed
himself an eye-witness of the doings and sufferings of
poor Lady Eleanore. Some sceptics, it is true, might demand
documentary evidence, or even require him to produce the embroidered
mantle, forgetting that—Heaven be praised—it was