Crawfordsville Review, Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, 29 October 1859 — Page 1

'NEW SERIES--VOL. XI, NO. 15.

THE HAUNTED ANDTHE HAUNTERS.

-A friend of mine, who ia a man of letters and a philosopher, said to me one day, as if between jest and earnest, "Fancy! since wc last met, I have discovered a haunted house in the midst of London." "Really haunted and by what ghosts?" "Well, I can't answer these questions ii all I know is this: Six weeks ago, I and my wifo were in search of a furnished apartment. Passing a quiet street, we •aw on the window of one of the houses a bill, 'Apartments Furnished.' The situation suited us we entered the houseliked the rooms—engaged them by the week—and left them the third day. No pojpgf on earth could have reconciled my wife to stay longer and I don't wonder at it." "What did you see?" "Excuse me—I have no desire to bo ridiculed as a superstitious dreamer—nor, on the other hand, could I ask you to accept on my affirmation what you would hold to be incredible without the evidence of your own senses. Let me only say this: it was not so much what we saw or heard (in which you might fairly suppose that wc were the dupes of our own excited fancy, or the victims of imposture in others) that drove us away, as it was an undcfmable terror which seized both of us whenever wc parsed by the door of a certain unfurnished room, in which we neither siw nor heard anything. And the strangest marvol of all was, that for once in my life I agreed with my wife, silly woman though

SQO be, and allowed, after the third night, that it was impossible to stay a fourth in that house. Accordingly, on the fourth morning, I summoned the woman who kept the house and attended on us, and told her that the rooms did not quite suit us, and

we would not stay out our week. She said dryly, 'I know why you have staid longer than any other lodger. Few ever staid a second night none, before you, a third. But I take it they have been very kind to you,' "They—who?" Iasked, affecting a smile. "Why, they who haunt the house, whoever they arc. I don't mind them I remember them many years ago, when I lived in this house, not as a servant but I know thej* wjll be the death of me some day. I don't care—I am old, and must die soon, anyhow and then I shall be with them, and in this house still. Hie woman spoke with .so drear}' a calmness, that real)v it was a sort of awe that prevented my conversing with her further. I paid fur m\ week, and too happy were and my wife to get oil" SO cheaply." "You excite my curiosity," said I "nothing I should like better than to sleep in a haunted house. Pray give me the address df the one you left so ignominiously."

Mv friend gave nie the address and when wc parted, I walked straight toward the house-thus indicated.

It is situated on the north side of Ox-ford-street, in a dull but respectable thoroughfare. found the liou.se shut up—no hifi at the window, and no response to my knock. As 1 was turning awny, a beerboy. collecting pewter pots at the neighboring areas, said to me: "Do you want any one at that house, sir?" "Yes: I heard it was to be let." •••hot!—whv, the woman who kept it is dead has been dead these three weeks, and no one can be found to stay there, though Mr. J. offered ever so much. He offered mother, who ehars for him. X*1 a week just to open and shut the windows, and she would not." "Would not?—and why.'" "The house is haunted, and the old Woman who kept it was found dead in her bed, with her eyes wide open. They say the devil strangled her." "I'ooh!—you speak of Mr. .1. Is lie the owner of the house'.'" "Yes." "Where does lie live?" "Tn (5 street, No. —." "What is lie?—in any business?" "No, sir—-nothing particular—a single gentleman." gave the pot-boy the gratuity earned by his liberal information, and proceeded to Mr. J., in street, which was close by the street that boasted the haunted house.. I was lucky enough to find Mr. J. at home—an elderly man, with intelligent countenance and prepossessing manners. communicated my name and business frankly. I said I heard the house was considered to be haunted—that I had a strong desire to examine a house with so equivocal a reputation—that I should be greatly obliged if lie would allow me to hire it, though only for a night. I was willing to pay for that privilege whatever he might be inclined to ask. "Sir," said Mr. J., with great courtesy, "the house is at your service for as short or as long a time as you please. Rent is out of the.question—the obligation will be on my side should you be able to discover the cause of the strange phenomena which at present deprives it of all value. I can not let it, for I can not even get a servant to keep it in order or answer the door.— Unluckily the house is haunted, if I may use tho expression, not only by night but by day though at night the disturbances are of a more unpleasant and sometimes of a more alarming character. The poor old woman who died in it three weeks ago was a pauper whom I took out of a work-house, for in her childhood she had been known to sonic of my family, and had once been in such good circumstances that she had rented that houso from my uncle. She was a woman of superior education and strong min'd, and was the only person I could ever induce to remain in tho house. Indeed, since her death, which was sudden, and the coroner's inquest, which gave it notoriety in the neighborhood, I have so detpaired of finding any person to take charge of it, much more a tenant, that I would willingly let it, rent-free, for a year to 'any one who would pay its rates and taxes." "How long ia it sinoe tho house acquired this sinister character?" "That I can scarcely tell you, br.t very many years since. The old woman I spoke of said it was haunted when she rente4 it between thirty and forty years ago, ITie faot if, that my lift fata been spent in the

East Indies, and in the civil service of the company. I returned to England last year, on inheriting the fortune of aii uncle, amongst whose possessions was the house in question. I found it shut up and uninhabited. I was told that it was haunted, that no one would inhabit it. I smiled at what seemed to me so idle a story. I spent- some money in repainting and roofing it—-added to its old-fashioned furniture go mo modern articles—advertised it, and obtained a lodger for a year. He was a colonel retired on half-pay. He came in with his famaly, a son and a daughter, and four or five servants: they all left the house the next day, and although they deposed that they had all seen something different, that something was equally terrible to all. I really could not in conscience sue, or even blame the colonel for breach of agreement. Then I put in the old woman I have spoken of. and she was empowered to let the house in apartments. I never had one lodger who stayed more than three days. I do not tell you their stories—to no two lodgers have there been exactly the same phenomena repeated. It is better that you should judge for yourself, than enter the house with an imagination influenced by previous narratives only be prepared to see and to hear something or other, and take whatever precautious you yourself please." "Have you never had a curiosity yourself to pass a night in that house?" "Yes. I passed not a night, but three hours in broad daylight alone in that house. My curiosity is not satisfied, but it is quenched. I have no desire to renew the experiment. You can not complain, you see, sir, that I am not sufficiently candid and unless your interest be exceedingly eager, and your nerves unusually strong, I honestly add, that I advise you not to pass anight in that house." "My interest is exceedingly keen," said I, "and though only a coward will boast of his nerves in situations wholly unfamiliar to him, yet my nerves have been seasoned in such variety of danger, that I have the right to rely on them, even in a haunted house."

Mr. J. said very little more he took the keys of the house out of his bureau, gave the in to me, and thanking him cordially for his frankness, and his urbane concession to my wish, I carried off my prize.

Impatient for the experiment, as soon as I reached home, I summoned my confidential servant—a young man of gay spirits, fearless temper, and as free from superstitious prejudice as any one I could think of. "F said I, "you remember in Germany how disappointed we were at. not I finding a ghost in that old castle, which was said to be haunted by a headless apIparition? Well, I have heard of a house in London which, I have reason to hope, is decidedly haunted. I mean to sleep there to-night. From what I hear, there is no I doubt that something will allow itself to be seen or to be heard—something, perhaps, excessively horrible. Do you think, if 1 take you with me, I may rclv on your pres.-. Jencc of mind, whatever may happen?"^ I "Oh, sir, pray trust me,'' answered F—, grinning with delight. "Very well—then here arc the keys of. ithc house. This is the address. Go now select for me any bedroom you please and, since the house has not been inhabitjed for weeks, make me a good fire—air the bed well—see, of eour.se, that there arc candles, as well as fuel. Take with you mv revolver and my dagger: so much for my weapons. Ann yourself equally well: and if we are not a match for a dozen ghosts, we shall be but s- sorry couple of

Englishmen." I was cng'iged for the rest of the day on business so urgent that I had not leisure to think much on the nocturnal adventure to which I had plighted my honor. dined alone, and very late, and while dining, read, as is my habit. The volume I selected was one" of Macaulay's Essays. I thought to myself that I would take the book with me there was so much of healthfulness in the style, and practical life in the subjects, that it would serve as an antidote against the influences of superstitious fancy.

Accordingly, about half-past nine, I put the book into my pockct, and strolled leisurely toward the haunted house. I took with me a favorite dog—an exceedingly sharp, bold and vigilant bull-terrier—a dog fond of prowling about strange ghostly corners and passages at night in search of

rats—a

dog of dogs for a ghost.

It was a summer night, but chilly, the sky somewhat gloomy and overcast. Still there was a moon—faint and sickly, but still a moon—and if the clouds permitted, after midnight it would be brighter.

I readied the house, knocked, and my servant opened with a cheerful smile. "All right, sir, and very comfortable." "Oh!" said I, rather disappointed "have you not seen nor heard any thiug remarkable?" "Well, sir, I must own I have heard something queer." "What?—what?" "The sound of feet pattering behind me and once or twice small noises, like whispers close at my car—nothing more "You are not at all frighteucd?" "I! not a bit of it, sir," and the man's bold look reassured me on one point—viz., that,, happen what might, he would not desert me.

Wc were in the hall, the street-door closed, and my attention was now drawn to my dog. lie had at first run in eagerly enough, but had sneaked back to the door, and was scratching and whining to get out. After patting him on the head, and encouraging him gently, the dog seemed to reconcile himself to the situation, and followed me and through the house, but keeping close at my heels, instead of hurrying inquisitively in advance, which was his usual and normal habit in all strange places. Wc first visited the subterranean apartments, the kitchen and other offices, and especially the cellars, in which last there were two or three bottbs of wine still left in a bin, covered with cobwebs, and evidently, by their appearance, undisturbed for many years. It was clear that tho ghosts wer« nat wine«bibbers. For the rest we discovered nothing of interest.— There was a gloomy little hack yard, with very high walla. The stones of this yard

were very damp—and what with the damp, and what with the dust and smoke-grime on the pavement, our feet left a slight impression where we passed.

And now appeared the first strange phenomenon witnessed by myself in this strange abode. I saw, just before me, the print of a foot suddenly form itself, as it were. I stopped, caught hold of my servant and pointed to it. In advance of that footprint, as suddenly dropped another. We both saw it. I advanced quickly to the place the footprint kept advancing before me, a small footprint—-the foot of a child the impression was too faint thoroughly to distinguish the shape, but it seemed to us both that it was the print of a naked foot. This phenomenon ceased when wc arrived at the opposite wall, nor did it repeat itself on returning. We remounted the stairs and entered the rooms on the ground floor, a dining-parlor, a small back parlor and a still smaller third room, that had been probably appropriated to a footman—all still as death. We then visited the drawing-rooms, which seemed fresh and new. In the front room I seated myself in an arm-chair. placed on the table the candlestick with which he had lighted us. I told him to shut the door. As he turned to do so, a chair opposite to me moved from the wall quickly and noiselessly, and dropped itself about a yard from my own chair immediately fronting it. "Why, this is better than the turningtables," said I, with a half laugh, and as I laughed my dog put back his head and howled. coming back, had not observed the movement of the chair. He employed himself now in stilling the dog. I continued to gaze on the chair, and fancied I saw on it a pale-blue misty outline of a human figure, but an outline so indistinct that I could only distrust my own vision. The dog now was quiet. "Put back that chair opposite to me," said I to F—— "put it back to the wall." obeyed. "Was that you, sir said he, turning abruptly. "I—what?" "Whv, something struck me. I felt it sharplyon the shoulder—just here." "No," said I. But wc have jugglers present, and though we may not discover their tricks, we shall catch them before they frighten us."

We did not stay long in the drawingrooms—in fact they felt so damp and chilly that I was glad to get to the fire up stairs. We locked the doors of the draw-ing-room—a precaution which, I should observe, we had taken with all the rooms we had searched below. The bed-room my servant had selected for me was the best on the floor—a large one, with two windows fronting the street. The fourposted bed, which took up no inconsiderable space, was opposite to the fire, which burnt clear and bright a door in the wall to the left, between the bed and the window, communicated with the room which my servant appropriated to himself. This last was a small join with a sofa-bed, and had no communication with the landingplace—no other door but that which conducted to the bed-room I was to occupy. On cither side of my fireplace was a cupboard, without locks, flushed with the wall, ami covered with the same dull-brown paper. Wc examined these cupboards—only hooks to suspend female dresses—nothing else wc sounded the walls—evidently solid—the outer walls of the building.— Having finished the survey of these apartments, warmed myself a few monicnts and lighted my cigar, I then, still 'accompanied by went forth to complete my rcconnoiter. In the laudingplace there was another door it was closed firmly. Sir," said my servant in surprise, "I unlocked this door with all the others when I first came it can not have got. loeked from the inside, for it is a—"

Ucfore he had finished his sentence, the door, which neither of us then was touching, opened quietly of itself. Wc looked at each other a single instant. The same thought seized both—some human agency might be detected here. I rushed in first, my servant followed. A small blank, dreary room without furniture—a few empty boxes and hampers in a corner—a small window—the shutters closed—not even a fire-place—no other door than that by which we entered—no carpet on the floor, and the floor seemed very old, uneven, worm-eaten, mended here and there, as was shown by the whiter patches on the wood but no living being, and no visible place in which a living being could have hidden. As we stood gazing round, the door by which we had entered closed as quietly as it had before opened we were imprisoned.

For the first time I felt a creep of undcfiuable horror. Not so my servant. "Why, they don't think to trap us, sir I could break that trumpery door with a kick of my foot." "Try first if it will open to your hand," said I, shaking off the vague apprehension that had seized me, "while I open the shutters and see what is without."

I unbarred the shutters—the window looked on the little back yard I have before described there was no ledge without —nothing but sheer descent. No man getting out of that window would have found any footing till he had fallen on the stones below. meanwhile, was vainly attempting to open the door. He now turned round to me, and asked my permission to use force. And I should here state, in justice to the servant, that^far from evincing any superstitious terrors, his nerve, composure, and oven gayety amidst circumstances so extraordinary, compelled my admiration, and :nade me congratulate myself on having secured a companion in every way fitted to the occasion. I willingly gave him the permission he required. But though he was a remarkably strong man, bis force was as idle as his milder efforts the door did not even shake to his stoutest kick. Breathless and panting he desisted. I then tried the door myself, equally in vain. As I ceased from the effort, again that creep of horror came over me but this time it was more cold and stubborn. I felt as if some strange and ghastly exhalation were rising np from the of that rugged floor, and filling the atmosphere with a venomous influence,

I followed the light and my servant not even a seam in the dull brown paper followed me. It entered, to the right of with which the room was hung. IIow. the landing, a small garret of which the door stood open. I entered in the same instant. The light then collapsed into a small globule, exceedingly brilliant and vivid, rested a moment on a bed in the corner, quivered and vanished. We ap-

We found nothing else in the room worth noticing, nor did the light reappear but wc distinctly heard, as we turned to go, a pattering footfall ou the floor just before us. We went through the other attics (in all four,) the footfall still preceding us. Nothing to be seen—nothing but the footfall heard. I had the letters in my hand just as I was descending the stairs I distinctly fclt uiywrist seized and a faint, soft effort made to draw the letters from my grasp. I only held them the more tightly, and the effort ceased.

We regained the bedchambcr appropriated to myself, and I then remarked that my dog had not followed us when we had left it. He was thrusting himself close to the fire, and trembling. I was impatient to examine the letters and while I read them my servant opened a little box, in which he had deposited the weapons I had ordered him to bring took them out, placed them on a table close at my bed-head, and then occupied himself in soothing the dog, who, however, seemed to liced him very little.

The letters were short—they were dated, the dates exactly thirty-five years ago. They were, evidently, from a lover to his mistress, or a husband to some young wife. Not only the terms of expression, but a distinct refereucc to a former voyage indicated the writer to have been a sca-farcr. The spelling and handwriting were those of a man imperfectly educated, but still the language itself was forcible. In the expressions of endearment there was a kind of rough, wild love but here and there were dark, unintelligible hints at some secret, not. of love— some secret that seemed of crime. "We ought to love each oth-r," was one of the sentences I remember, "for how every one else would execrate us if all was known." Again: "Don't let any one be in the same room with you at night—you talk in your sleep." And again "What's done can't be undone and I toll you there's nothing against us, unless the dead could come to life." Here there was underlined, in a better handwriting, (a female's,) "They do!" At the end of the letter latest in date the same female had written these words: "Lost at sea on tho 4th of June, the same day as 1 put down the letters and began to muse over their contents.

Fearing, however, that the train of thought into which I fell might unsteady my nerves, I fully determined to keep my mind in a fit state to cope with whatever of marvelous the advancing night might bring forth. I roused myself—laid the letters on the table—stirred up the fire. which was still bright and cheerful— and opened my volume of Macaulay. I read quietly enough till about half-past eleven. I then threw myself dressed upon the bed, and told my servant he might retire to his own room, but must keep himself awake. I bade him leave open the doors between the two rooms. Thus alone, I kept two candles burning on the table by my bedhead. I placed my watch beside the weapons, and calmly resumed my Macaulay.— Opposite to me the fire burned clear and on the hearth-rug, seemingly asleep, lay the dog. In about twenty minutes I felt an exceedingly cold air pass by my cheek, like a sudden draught. I faticied the door to my right communicating with the lan-ding-place, must have got open but no—it was closed. I then turned my glance to my left, and saw the flame of the candlcs violently swayed as by a wind. At the same moment the watch beside the revolver softly slide from the table—softly, softly—no visible hand—it was gone sprang up, seized the revolver with one hand, the dagger with the other: I was not willing that my weapons should share the fate of the watch. Thus armed, I looked round the floor—no sign of the watch.— Three slow, loud, distinct knocks were now heard at the bed-head my servant called out: "Is that you sir?" "No be on your guard."

The dog now roused himself and sat on his haunches, his cars moving quickly backward and forward. He kept bis eyes fixed on me with a look so strange that he concentrated all my attention on himself. Slowly be rose up, all his hair bristling, and stood perfectly rigid, and with the same wild stare. 1 had no time, however, to examine the dog. Presently my servant emerged from his room and if I ever saw horror in the human face, it was then. I should not have recognized him had we met in the streets, so altered was every lineament. He passed by me quickly, saying in a whisper that scem scarcely to come from his lips—"Run—run! it is the whole after me!" He gained the door to the landing, pulled it open and rushed forth. I

followed him to the landing involuntarily, calling on him to stop but, without heeding me, he bounded down the stairs, clinging to the balusters, and taking several steps at a time. I heard, where 1 stood, the street door open—heard it again clap too. I was left alone in the haunted house.

It was hot for a moment that I remainunderided whether or Mfc to follow my

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f*srM I 'KM

CRAWF0RDSV1LLE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, INDIANA, OCTOBER 29, 1859. "WHOLE! NUMBER f(07

servant pride and curiosity alike forbade so dastardly a flight. I re-entered my room, closing the door after me, proceeded

hoatile to human life. The door now very llovly and quietly opened of its own accord. Wc precipitated ourselves into the landing-place.* «We both saw a large pale cautiously into the interior chamber. I light as large as the human figure, but [encountered nothing to justify my sershapeless and unsubstantial, move before vant's terror. I again carefully examined us, and ascend the stairs that led from the the walls to see if there were any conceallanding into the attic. ed door. I could find no trace of one—

then, bad the THING, whatever it was, which had so scared him, obtained ingress cxccpt through my own chamber.

I returned to my room, shut, and locked the door that opened upon the interior one, and stood on the hearth, expectant and

proacbed the bed and examined it—a half- prepared. I now perccired that the dog 1 1 .11? L.J tliA wnll nnil tester, such as is commonly found in attics devoted to servants. On the drawers that stood near it we pcrceived an old faded silk kerchief, with the needle still left in the rent half repaired. The kcrchief was covered with dnst probably it had belonged to the old woman who had last died in that house and this might have been her sleep-ing-room. I had sufficient curiosity to open the drawers there were a few odds and ends of female dress, and two letters tied round with a narrow ribbon of faded yellow. I took the liberty to posses? myself of the letters.

had slunk into an angle of the wall, and was pressing himself close against it, as if literally striving to force hiB way into it. I approached the animal and spoke to it the poor brute was evidently beside itself with terror. It showed all its teeth, the slaver dropping from its jaws, and would certainly have bitten inc if I had touched it. It did not seem to recognize me. Whoever has seen at the Zoological Gardens a rabbit fascinated by a serpent, cowering into a corner, may for some idea of the anguish which the dog exhibited.— Finding all efforts to soothe the animal in vain, and fearing that his bite might be as venomous in that state as if in the madness of hydrophobia, 1 left him alone, placed my weapons on the table beside the fire, seated myself and recommenced my Macaulay.

I now became aware that something intersposed between the page and the light —the page was overshadowed. I looked up, and I saw what I shall find it very difficult, perhaps impossible, to describe.

It was a darkness shaping itself out of the air in very undefined outline. I can not say it was a human form, and yet it had more resemblance to a human form, or rather shadow, than anj-thing else. As it stood, wholly apart and distinct from the air and light around it, its dimensions seemed gigantic, the summit nearly touched the ceiling. While I gazjd, a feeling of intense cold seized me. An icebcrg before me could not have more chilled mc nor could the cold of an iceberg have been more purely physical. I feel convinccd that it was not the cold caused by fear.— As I continued to gaze, I thought—but this I can not say with precision—that I distinguished two eyes looking down on mc from the bight. One moment I seemed to distinguish them clearly, the next they seemed gone but still two rays of a paleblue light frequently shot through the darkness, as from the hight on which I halfbelieved, half-doubted that I had encountered the eyes.

I strove to speak—my voice utterly failed me I could only think to myself, "Is this fear? it is not fear!" I strove to rise —in vain I felt as if weighed down by nn irresistable forcc. Indeed, my impression was that of an immense and overwhelming power opposed to my volition that sense of utter inadequacy to cope with a force beyond man's, which one ma}' feel physically in a storm at sea, in a conflagration, or when confronting some terrible wild beast, or rather, perhaps, the shark of the ocean, I felt morally. Opposed to my will was another will, as far superior to its strength as storm, fire and shark arc su-j pcrior in material force to the force of men.

Aud now, as thN impression grew on me, now came, at last, horror—horror to a degree that no words can convey. Still 1 retained pride, if not courage and in my own mind I said, "This is horror, but it is not fear." With a violent effort I succeedcd at last in stretching out my hand ioward the weapon on the table as I did so, on the arm and shoulder I received a strange shock, and my arm fell to my side powerless.

And now, to add to my horror the light began slowly to wane from the candles— they were not, as it were, extinguished,! but their flame seemed very gradually withdrawn it was the same with the fire—the light was extracted from the fuel in a few minutes the room was in utter darkness.— The dread that came over mc, to be thus in the dark with that dark thing, whose power was so intensely felt, brought a reaction of nerve. In fact, terror had reach-! ed that climax, that either my senses must have deserted me or I must have burst through the spell. I did burst through it. I found voicc though the voicc was a shriek. I remember that I broke forth with the words like these—"I do not fear, my soul does not fear and at the same

time I found the strength to rise. Still in that profound gloom I rushed to one of the windows—tore aside the curtain—flung! open the shutters my first thought was— light. And when I saw the moon high clear and calm, I felt a joy that almost) I compensated for the previous terror.—

There was the moon, there was also the light from the gas-lamps in the deserted slumberous street. I turned to look back into the room the moon penetrated its shadow very palely and partially, but still there was light. The dark thing, whatever it might be, was gone—except that I could yet sec a dim shadow, which seemed the shadow of that shade, against the opposite wall.

My eye now rested on the table, and from"under the tabic (which was without cloth or cover—an old mahogany round table) there rose a hand, seemingly, asj much of flesh and blood as my own, but the hand of an aged person—lean, wrin-j kled, small too—a woman's band. That hand very softly closed on the two letters that, lay on the table: hand and letters both vanished. There then came the same three loud-measured knocks I had heard at the bed-head before this extraordinary drama had commenced.

As those sounds slowly ceased. I felt vibrate sensibly, and at

the far end there rose, as from the floor, sparks or globule, like bubbles of light, many colored—green, yellow, fire-red, azure. Up and down, to and fro, hither, thither, as tiny WUl-o'-the-whisps, the sparks moved, slow or swift, each at its own caprice. A chair (as in the drawingroom blow) was now advanced from the wall without apparent agancy, and placed at the opposite side of the table. Suddenly, aa forth from the chair, there grow a shape—a woman's shapo^ It was distinct

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as a shape of life—ghastly as a shape of blind-room which my servant a:uf iny&rlf death. The face was that of youth, with a had been for a time imprisoned. I had a strange mournful beauty the throat and strong impression—for which I rouhl r/ot shoulders were bare, the rest of the form account—that from that room had orignwin a loose robe of cloudy white. It began ted the mechanism of the phenoiu •:ia. it"

sleeking its lone vcllow hair, which fell may u«e the term, which had boon experiovcr its shoulder its eyes were not turned enecd in my chamber and thong!i 1 enfertoward me, but to the door: it seemed list- ed it now in the clear day. with the srm cning, watching, waiting. The shadow of peering through 'he filmy window, I ti 11 the shade in the background grew darker felt, as I st »od on iis flour, the creep of tins and again I thought 1 beheld the eyes gleam-' horror which I had first there e\perier/ceil ing out from the summit of the shadow—j the night before, and which bad b*n-n eyes fixed upon that shape. aggravated by what id assed ii my own

As from the door, though it did not open. I chamber. I could not. indeed, boar t" there grew out another shape, equally dis- i.stav more than half a minute within those tinct, equally ghastly—a man's shape—:: walls. I descended the s'airs, and agnin I young man's. It was in the dress of the jhe :rd tho footfall before inc. and when last century, or rather in alikeness of such opened the street door I thought. could dress for both the male shape and female, distinguish a very low laugh. I gained though defined, were evidently unsubstan- my own home, expecting to find my rii'itial impalpable simulacra phantasms away servant there. Hut he had not preand there was something incongruous, gro- se:ited himself, nor did 1 hoar more of him tesque, yet fearful in the contrast between for three days, when 1 received a letter the elaborate finery, the courtly precision jfroin him, dated from Liverpool, to this efof that old-fashioned garb, with its rutlles, feci: and lace, and buckles, and the corpse-like I HONORr.i .Sir.: I humbly entreat your aspect and ghost-like stillness of the flit-j pardon, though you will hardly think I deting wearer. Just as the male shape ap-, serve it, unless—which Heaven forbid!— proacbed the female, the dark Shadow jyou saw what I did. I feel that it will bo started from the wall, all three for a mo- years before I can recover myself and as ment wrapped in darkness. When the to being fit for service, it is out of tho pale light returned, the two phantoms were question. 1 am therefore going to my as if in the grasp of the Shadow that tow- brother-in-law at Melbourne. The slip ered between them, and there was a blond-! sails to-morrow. Perhaps the long voyage stain on the breast of the female: and the may set me up. 1 do nothing now but phantom male was leaning on its phantom (.start and tremble, and fancy it is behind sword, and blood seemed trickling fast from mc. I humbly beg you, honored sir, to the ruffles, from the lace and the darkness order 1113" clothes, and whatever wages are of the intermediate Shadow swallowed them due me, to be sent to my mother's at alup—they were gone. And again the bubbles of light shot, and sailed, undulated, growing thicker and thicker and more wildly confused in their movements.

The closet door to the right of the fireplace now opened, and from the aperture there came the form of a woman, aged.— In her hand she had letters—the very letters over which I ban seen the hand close, and behind her I heard a foot-step. She turned round as if to listen, and then she opened the letters and seemed to read: and

Nothing now was left but the Shadow,

fil*

again eyes grew out of the shadow—malignant, serpent eyes. And the bubbles of light again lose and fell, and in their disordered, irregular, turbulent maze, mill-

«i

worth—John knows her address." The letter ended with additional apologies, somewhat incoherent, aud explanatory details as to effects that bad been under the writer's charge.

This flight may pc.haps warrant a suspicion that, the man wanted to go to Australia, and bad been somewhat, or other fraudulently mixed up with the events of the night. I say nothing in refutation of that conjecturc rather, 1 suggest it as ono that would seem to many persons the most

opened Hie leuers itllll svuim-u It.m. WI.IU w.m mauj i.-wi.o over her shoulder I saw a man long drown-1 probable solution of improbable oecurrencd—bloated, bleached—seaweed tangled ices. My own theory remained unshaken. in its dripping hair, and at her feet lay a form, as of a corpse, and beside the corpse there cowered a child, a miserable, squal id child, with famine in its checks and fear in its eyes and as I looked in the old woman's face, the wrinkles and lines vanished, and it became a face of youth—hardeyed, stony, but still youth, and the Shadow darted forth and darkened over these phantoms, as it had darkened over the iast.

I rcturucd in the evening

the house to

bring away in a cab the things had left there, with my poor dog's body. In this tasl I was not disturbed, nor did any incident worth note befall mc, except that still, on ascending ar.d descending llio stairs, I heard the same foot-fall in advance. On leaving the house 1 went to Mr. 's. He was at home. I returned him the keys, told him that ray curiosity was sufficiently gratified, and was about to relate quickly what had passed, when he stopped 1110.

liOHJIIIg Iiuw XSili* IVII LMIC till ihiu »uiv» n- •••*. and on that my eyes were intently fixed, till and said, though with much politeness

r. ,1 i\l« tll/l 1 I. .. A I. A 1. ft

V"* A If* VS

t~'

#1 V* I A 1

that he had no longer any interest lti nivstcry which none ha 1 ever solved. I determined at least to tell him of tho two letters I had read, as well as of tho

OraCrCCl, lITCgUliir, iTiruuiUiiL ui.itu, mm- i\\u iuuci? n.iu u, .i.i gled with the wan moonlight. And now extraordinary manner in which they had from these globules themselves as from the disappeared, fnd I then inquired if ho shell of an egg, monstrous things burst out: thought they had been addressed to tho the air grew filled with them larv so woman who had died in the house, and if bloodless and so hideous that I can in now here were any thing in her early hintory wav describe them, except to remind the which could possibly confirm the dark su.sreadcr of the swarming life which the solar picions to which the letters gave rise.— microscope brings before his eyes in a Mr. seemed startled, and after mudropof water—things transparent, supple, sing a few moments answered: "I know affile, chasing each other, devouring each but. little of the woman's earlier history, oflier—forms like naught ever beheld by except, as I before told you, that her fatnithe naked eye. As the shapes were with-1 ly were known to mine. J3ut you rcvivo out symmetry, so their movements were some vague reminiscences to her prejudice, without order. In their very vagrancies will make inquiries and inform you of there was 110 sport they came round ine their result." and round, thicker and faster, and swifter, 1 About ten days afterward I received a swarming over my head, crawling over my

letter from Mr. J. telling me that. hj

right arm, which was outstretched in in-] had visited the house since 1 had seen him voluntary command against all evil beings, that he had found the two letters I had deSomctimcs 1 felt myself touched, but not scribed, replaced in the drawer from which by them: invisible hands touched me.— I had taken them that he. had read them O'nce I felt the clutch as of cold, soft fin-! with misgivings like my own that he had gers at mv throat. I was still equally con-! instituted a cautious iuquiry about the woscious that if 1 gave way to fear 1 should man to whom I rightly conjectured they be in bodily peril and 1 concentrated all

had been written. Jt seemed that tliirty-

inv faculties in the single focus of resist- six years ago (a year before the date of tho intr. stubborn will. And I turned my letters) she had married against the wish of si"ht from the Shadow—above, all from her relatives, an American of very susp:those strange serpent eyes—eyes that had eious character in fact, I10 was generally now become distinctly visible. For there,! believed to have been a pirate. She hor-thou-'h in naught else around me, I was! self was the daughter of very respectable aware that there was a will, and a will of' tradc's-pcoplc, ami had serve! in the caintense, creative, working evil, which pacify of a nursery governess before her might crush down my own. marriage. Sh- had a brother, a widower,

The pale atmosphere i:i the room be- who was considered wealthy, and who laid gan now to redden as if flic air of some one child of about six years obi. A ::onfh near conflagration. The larvarc grew lurid Rafter the marriage the body of this brotln as things that live in fire. Agaiu the room was found in the Thame:-, near the London vibrated again were heard the three mea- Bridge there seemed some marks of v:osured knocks and again all things were Icnce about the throat, hut fhey were not swallowed up in the darkness of the dark deemed sufTieient to warrant tin- inrjuestin Shadow, as if out of that darkness all re- any other verdict than. that of /'found, turned. drowned."

As the gloom receded, the Shadow was The American and hi- wife t"ok chargc# wholly gone. Slowly as it had been with-! of the lit'le boy, tlie deceased brother drawn, the flame grew again into the can- having, by his will, le!t h:s .lister the guardies on the table, again into the fuel in the dian of his only child, and in the event of grate. The whole room came or.ee more

the child's death the sister inh^ritrd.—

calmly, healthfully into sight. The child died abo it six month.-' afterward The two doors were still closed, the door —it was supposed to have been negl'.etod communicating with the servant's room

and ill-treated. The neighbors deposed to

still locked. In the corner of the room, have heard it shriek at night. I he surinto which lie had FO convulsively niched geon who had examined it after death .'aid himself, lay the dog. I called to him— that it v. s? emaciate-d a" if fi"rn want of no movement I approached—the animal

no!iri«hir.e-it,

was dead his eyes portruded his tongue with livid bruises. It seined that one out of his mouth the froth gathered round winter night the child had 5origin toescapo his jaws. I took him in my arms I bro't —crept out in» the back yard, tried to him to the fire I felt acute grief at the I scale the wall, fallen back exhausted, and loss of mv poor favorite—acute self-re-! been found at morning, on the "'.ones, in a pro?ch l'accuscd myself of his death I: dying state. Bu', though there was «omo imagined he had died of fright. Hut evidence of cruelty, there was none of what was my surprise on finding that his murder: and the aunt and

neck was actually broken—actually twist-, sought to palliate cruelty by alleging 'he cd out of the vertcbr.-e. Had this been exceeding stubbornne-0 and perversity of done in the dark?—must it not have been the child, who was declared to halfby a hand human as mine?—must there rrittcd. Be that as it may, at the orphan not have been a human agency all the'death the aunt inherited her brother forwhile in that room? »ood cause to sus- tune. Before the first \vedJed year was pcct it. lean not tell. I can not do out, the American quitted Kngland abmore than state the fact fairly the reader ruptiy. and never returned to it. lj(' mav druiv his own inference. iia ned a cruising vessel, wu eh wa-

Another surprising circumstance—my the Atlantic two yars aff'Tw-iri watch was restored to the table from which widow was left in affluence but re\crscot it had been so mysteriously withdrawn but. various kinds bad befallen In 1—a I .an* it bad stopped at the

very

and the body w.i« covered

her

husband had

moment it was broke: an investment failed she went into

so withdrawn nor despite all the skill of a small business, and became m.-olvent the watchmaker, has it ever gone since— then she entered into service, sinking ...wthatis it will go in a strange, erratic way er and lower, from housekeeper uyw:i to for a few hours, and then come to a dead inaid-of-ull-worl —never long retain.ru a stop. It is worthless. place, though nothing peculiar aga.n,t tier

Nothing more chanced for the rest of. character was ever alleged. Miu w.n» 10 ili^iiv 'p

the ni.'ht- nor, indeed, had I long to wait j-idored sober, honest and before°the dawn broke. Not till broad in her ways still nothing pm-perci dav light did I quit the hauntml house.— her. And so she had «lrop e-l •.' Before I did so I rc-visltcd tho litt" work-hons", frojii w.".-1 Ir

,os

...