“John Charrington’s Wedding” is a ghost story by the English writer and poet Edith Nesbit (1858–1924), first published in the September 1891 edition of Temple Bar,[1] and included in her Grim TalesCollection of short stories by Edith Nesbit, first published in 1893. (1893) collection of short stories.
The story, told as a first-person narrative by a friend of the eponymous John Charrington, identified only as Geoffrey, is a reframing of the folklore motif of a corpse returning to claim his bride.
Synopsis
The story is set in the village of Brixham, in southeast England. May Foster is generally considered to be the most beautiful young woman in the village, and Geoffrey’s friend John Charrington has proposed to her three times, but each time she has refused. But John is the sort of man who always seems to get what he wants; on asking May for a fourth time, she accepts. The wedding is set for early September.
At sunset one day in August Geoffrey is passing through the churchyard when he sees May sitting on a flat tombstone, with John lying at her feet. Geoffrey hears him say to May “my dear, I believe I should come back from the dead if you wanted me!”.
Two days before the wedding is due to take place, Geoffrey has to travel to London on business. He sees John and May at the station, saying their goodbyes. John is travelling to see his godfather, Mr Branbridge, who is seriously ill. May entreats John not to leave, but he promises to be back in time for their wedding. John gets into the same carriage as Geoffrey, who asks what John will do if Mr Branbridge dies. John replies, “Alive or dead I mean to be married on Thursday!”.
When Geoffrey returns home to Brixham the following afternoon, his sister tells him that John has not yet returned. The following morning, the day of the wedding, Geoffrey receives a note asking him to meet John at the train station at three o’clock that afternoon, when they would go straight on to the church.
John is not on the three o’clock train, or the next one. Tired of waiting, Geoffrey goes to the church, where he finds a crowd standing outside. Geoffrey thinks that they are still waiting for the wedding to start, but Byles the gardener tells him that the wedding is probably over by now. John had arrived precisely on time, but Byles adds that something about John’s appearance and behaviour seemed very wrong.
John and May emerge from the church in silence. John’s coat is dusty, his hair is unkempt, there is a black mark above his eyebrow and his face is deathly pale. As the bell ringers stoop to ring the wedding peal, instead comes the slow tolling of the funeral bell, which so alarms the ringers that they flee in terror.
John and May get into a carriage to go to May’s father’s house for the reception. May’s father tells Geoffrey that if he had seen John’s condition before the wedding, he would not have allowed to marriage to take place. He and Geoffrey get into another carriage, instructing the driver to “Drive like hell”. They overtake the bridal carriage, which they meet in front of May’s father’s house. When the carriage door is opened, John has disappeared and May is found in a faint. When her veil is lifted, she is seen to have a look of absolute horror on her face, and her hair has turned white. The coachman swears that he never stopped, and that no one had got out of the carriage.
Shortly afterwards a telegram arrives at May’s father’s house, stating that John Charrington had been thrown from a dogcart at half-past one and “killed on the spot”, two hours before his marriage at half-past three. May never speaks about what happened in the bridal carriage. Less than a week later she too is dead, and is buried beside her husband in the village churchyard.
Adaptations
An abridged version of “John Charrington’s Wedding” was read by Tobias Menzies in the second episode of the radio series Ghost Stories of E Nesbit, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 30 October 2012.[2]
References
Works cited
External links
- Full text of “John Charrington’s Wedding” at Project Gutenberg