A Thin Ghost | Page 8

seen, their number--three or four, perhaps, only
guessed. I suppose they were on the whole more like dogs than
anything else, but dogs such as we have seen they assuredly were not.
Could I have closed my eyes to this horror, I would have done so at
once, but I was helpless. The last I saw was the victim darting beneath
an arch and clutching at some object to which he clung: and those that
were pursuing him overtook him, and I seemed to hear the echo of a cry
of despair. It may be that I became unconscious: certainly I had the
sensation of awaking to the light of day after an interval of darkness.
Such, in literal truth, Emily, was my vision--I can call it by no other
name--of this afternoon. Tell me, have I not been the unwilling witness
of some episode of a tragedy connected with this very house?"
The letter is continued next day. "The tale of yesterday was not
completed when I laid down my pen. I said nothing of my experiences
to my uncle--you know, yourself, how little his robust common-sense
would be prepared to allow of them, and how in his eyes the specific
remedy would be a black draught or a glass of port. After a silent
evening, then--silent, not sullen--I retired to rest. Judge of my terror,
when, not yet in bed, I heard what I can only describe as a distant
bellow, and knew it for my uncle's voice, though never in my hearing
so exerted before. His sleeping-room is at the further extremity of this
large house, and to gain access to it one must traverse an antique hall

some eighty feet long and a lofty panelled chamber, and two
unoccupied bedrooms. In the second of these--a room almost devoid of
furniture--I found him, in the dark, his candle lying smashed on the
floor. As I ran in, bearing a light, he clasped me in arms that trembled
for the first time since I have known him, thanked God, and hurried me
out of the room. He would say nothing of what had alarmed him.
'To-morrow, to-morrow,' was all I could get from him. A bed was
hastily improvised for him in the room next to my own. I doubt if his
night was more restful than mine. I could only get to sleep in the small
hours, when daylight was already strong, and then my dreams were of
the grimmest--particularly one which stamped itself on my brain, and
which I must set down on the chance of dispersing the impression it has
made. It was that I came up to my room with a heavy foreboding of evil
oppressing me, and went with a hesitation and reluctance I could not
explain to my chest of drawers. I opened the top drawer, in which was
nothing but ribbons and handkerchiefs, and then the second, where was
as little to alarm, and then, O heavens, the third and last: and there was
a mass of linen neatly folded: upon which, as I looked with curiosity
that began to be tinged with horror, I perceived a movement in it, and a
pink hand was thrust out of the folds and began to grope feebly in the
air. I could bear it no more, and rushed from the room, clapping the
door after me, and strove with all my force to lock it. But the key
would not turn in the wards, and from within the room came a sound of
rustling and bumping, drawing nearer and nearer to the door. Why I did
not flee down the stairs I know not. I continued grasping the handle,
and mercifully, as the door was plucked from my hand with an
irresistible force, I awoke. You may not think this very alarming, but I
assure you it was so to me.
"At breakfast to-day my uncle was very uncommunicative, and I think
ashamed of the fright he had given us; but afterwards he inquired of me
whether Mr. Spearman was still in town, adding that he thought that
was a young man who had some sense left in his head. I think you
know, my dear Emily, that I am not inclined to disagree with him there,
and also that I was not unlikely to be able to answer his question. To
Mr. Spearman he accordingly went, and I have not seen him since. I
must send this strange budget of news to you now, or it may have to

wait over more than one post."
The reader will not be far out if he guesses that Miss Mary and Mr.
Spearman made a match of it not very long after this month of June. Mr.
Spearman was a young spark, who had a good