"Stella Fregelius"
This is a tale of obsession, and of madness - of is it spiritual insight? (the reader is left to decide).
Morris Monk is the 30 year old son of Colonel Monk, CB, of Monksland Abbey. He is an inventor, or rather a would-be inventor, having spent tens years working on a form of communications which he calls the aerophone. He was assisted in his work by his young cousin, Mary Porson, though she became a little more distant after turning 16 - she has been secretly in love with him, but he is too obsessed with his work to see. The Colonel is heavily in debt to Mary's father, John Porson, of Seaview, who is rich but of relatively humble origins. He is in awe of his formidable brother-in-law, but dedicated to helping the ancient family, of which he is very proud.
Neighbouring ladies, including Jane Rose, and Eliza Layard, try to attract Morris' attention, but without success. Following a conversation with his father Morris decides to propose to the indolent Mary, wo is delighted to accept. But then John Porson, whose heart is weak, becomes unwell, and must travel to Beaulieu in France to recover. He is accompanied by Morris, Mary and the Colonel. John Porson is delighted that his daughter will marry Morris, and changes his will to forgive the debt owed by the Colonel.
The Colonel's interest is attracted to a lady whom once he was engaged to, Lady Rawlins. She rejected him for a wealthy Jew, but now Sir Julius has suffered a stroke - from a domestic tyrant he has become a harmless infant. The Colonel keeps her company. But Morris must return to the Abbey to take care of estate metteres - normally the sole responsibility of the Colonel, who didn't altogether understand or trust his intellectual son.
When living alone in the Abbey Morris hears that a ship, the Trondheim, has foundered off the coast. The crew have come ashore, bearing the unconscious body of the new vicar, Peter Fregelius, who was coming with his daughter to their new parish. He has a broken leg, and is taken to the Abbey. Morris learns from the delirious Reverend Mr Fregelius that his daughter Stella is still on the ship. There being no time to waste if she is to be saved Morris rows out to the wreck himself. He finds a young woman, clad in a red dress hastily put on, but nothing else, clinging to the rigging and singing a strange chant. It is the family death song, inherited from their pagan Danish ancestors, and sung by the women at their deaths. Stella breaks off when she sees Morris, and goes below, despite the risk, to dress properly and recover a few valuables. Morris takes Stella into his small boat, but the fierce weather mean that they are at sea for a day and a night before making it ashore.
Stella takes up residence at the Abbey with her father, who is too badly injured to be moved. She helps Morris with his work, often sitting in the abandoned half-ruined "Dead Church" on the shoreline, while Morris tried - usually in vain - to communicate with her from his laboratory in the Abbey chapel. They have some success, partly due to Stella's suggestions. They also grow to be very intimate, though Stella knows Morris is engaged. Neither realise that they are on dangerous ground.
The Colonel returns, but Mary cannot yet, as Mr Porson has died, and she will spend a month in a monastery to recover. The Colonel hears from the jealous Eliza Layard that Morris kissed Stella in the road - it is not true, but it forced Morris to consider his feelings for Stella. Stella herself, confronted by the Colonel, admitted that she did love Morris, though she hadn't realised it until that moment. She decides to go to London, where she can make a living as a musician, due to her ability as a violinist and singer - a contralto.
But fate intervenes.
Morris and Stella bid each other farewell in the Dead Church. They vow perpetual love - beyond death - but separation for this life. Morris leaves the distraught but resolute Stella before the ruined altar. That night there is a raging storm. Morris cannot sleep, and goes down to his laboratory to work. To his intense surprise the alarm bell on his aerophone rings. This can only mean that someone is using the second instrument, in the Dead Church, but who would that be at 3 in the morning - and on such a morning. It is Stella. She had fallen asleep (more likely into a faint) in the Church, and has only just woken. She is trapped. The sea is raging around the church, which is now cut off, and about fall into the sea to join the other houses, churches and lands which have gradually been lost to the sea. The water is rising around her. There is no hope of her surviving. They say farewell, and Stella promises to wait for him in the place where she is going.
Morris is distraught, and as the waters rise he hears Stella singing her old Norse death song. Then with a crash the transmission ends. The ruined church has fallen into the sea, taking Stella with it. Morris is found next morning gazing out to sea where the Dead Church had stood. Peter Fregelius is distressed at the aweful end of his daughter, but he was resigned to it after he had heard that she had sung on the wrecked ship. Once the offering was made to the gods of death the singer was doomed. Although intellectually opposed to such superstition, Fregelius had enough Danish blood to instinctively believe.
Mary now returns. Morris admits to her that he was closer to Stella than he should have been - though they had never even kissed. She, being sensible and kind-hearted, forgave him. They marry, and have children. Several years later Morris, becoming bored because the success of his aerophone means that he no longer has to work incessantly, begins to experiment with contacting Stella. He starves himself, and becomes even more spiritual and indeed ethereal. Stella doesn't notice at first because she is concerned with their sick child.
Morris has success at last. Stella appears to him in the laboratory. But she doesn't say anything. After repeated attempts he gets her back. Although she still does not speak, she conveys to him certain messages - concerned with the afterlife. All this takes a toll on Morris mentally and physically. Mary discovers him addressing the spirit of Stella, though whether she can see anything supernatural is uncertain - it might all be Morris' imagination. He collapses, and some time later recovers his senses to find himself being nursed back to health by the forgiving Mary. He promises to have no further communication with spirits.
But six months later, on the forth anniversary of Stella's death, Mary misses Morris from their bed, and finds him lying dead in the laboratory. It is suggested that perhaps Stella has finally deigned to answer Morris, and her word was "Come".
This is a tragic tale. As with most Haggard stories the women are the strong characters - though the Colonel is a strong man he is not a strong character. Morris is weak, and basically selfish. He has the love of Mary in this world, yet he yearns for that of Stella in the next. Mary is said to be indolent, but she is patient and devoted - too good for Morris. Stella is determined, of a very independent frame of mind, but rather unworldly - as Morris is, rather. They both have a strong sense of what is right and wrong, but Morris cannot carry this through to its logical conclusion. He sought Stella before the proper time - whether he found her or not is uncertain.