The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1880-03-02
An Antiquarinn'S Ghost Story.

The Rev. DR.. Augustus Jessopp, who is
known in England as an eminent antigua
rian, publishes an account of an cxtraordi-
! nary apparition of which he afflrms that he
was the witness in Lord Orfords library, at
Mannington Hall, Norfolk, last October.
He had dined at Huntington Hall on II Ger
tain day in that month, and when the party
broke up ut half-past ten he went into the
library to take notes Of some of the rare
books which it contained His experience
while there is related as follows: BY /
o'clock was the only person down stairs,
and l. was very soon busily at work and
absorbed in my occupation. The room in
which l was writing is u large one, with n
huge fireplace and grand old chimney !;
and it is needless TO say that it is furnished
with every comfort and luxury. The lib
rary opens into this room, and had to pass
out from where l was sitting into this lib
rary and get upon Il chair to reach the VOL
umcs l wanted to examine. There were
six small volumes in all. Itook them down,
and placed them at my right hand in lit
| tie pile, and set to work--somctimes read
ing sometimes writing. AS / finished with
Il book placed it in front of ne. There
were four silver candlcsticks upon the table,
the candles all burning, and, as | am a chill
| ly person, sat myself at one corner Of the
table with the fire at my left, and at inter
walls, as l had finished with Il book, l rose,
knocked the fire together, and stood up to
warm my feet. I continued in this way
at my task till nearly o'clock. had got
on better than | expected and had only
one more book to occupy me. l rose,
wound up my watch, and opened bottle
of seller water, and [ remember thinking
to myself that should get to bed by Q after
all. set to work ut the last little book.
| had been engaged upon it about half an
hour and was just beginning to think that
my work was drawing 10 close when, as
l was actually writing, l saw large white
hand within foot of my elbow. Turning
my head there sat figure of Il somewhat
large man, with his back to the fire, bend
| lug slightly over the table, and apparently
examining the pile of books that had been
at work upon. The mans face was turned
away from nc, h"t l saw his closely cut
reddish brown hair, his eur and shaved
check, the eye brow, the corner of the right
| eye, the side OF the forehead, and the large
high chcek-bone. He was dressed in what
| can only describe as n kind Of ccclcsiasti.
| cal habit of thick corded silk Or some such
material, close up to the throat, and a mar
row rim of cdging, of about an inch broad,
Of satin or velvet, serving as a stand-up
collar, and fitting close to the chin. The
| right hand, which had first attracted my at
| tcntion, was casping, without any great
| pressure, the left hand; both hands were III
perfect rcpose, and the large blue veins of
| the right hand were conspicuous. l re-
member thinking that the hand was like the
hand Of FelasqueZ's magnificent "Dcad
Knight" in the National Gallery. looked
at my visitor for some seconds, and was
perfectly sure that he was not reality. A
thousand thoughts came crowding upon me,
but not the least feeling of alarm, or even
uneasincss; curiosity and Il strong interest
were uppermost. For an instant felt eager
to make a sketch of my friend and look
ed at a tray on my right for pencil; then
l thought, Cup stairs have sketch-book.
Shall fetch it2 There he sat, and was
fascinated; afraid, not of his staying, but
lest he should 60 Stopping in my writ
ing, lifted my left hand from the paper,
stretched it out to the pile of books and
moved the top one. l cannot explain why
l did this-my arm passed in front of the
figure and it vanished. l was simply dis
appointed and nothing more. l went on
with my writing, as if nothing had happen.
ed, perhaps for another five minutes, and |
had actually got to the last few words of
what had determined to extract, when tho
figure appeared again exactly in the same
place and attitude as before. l saw the
hands close to my own; l turned my head
| again to examine him more closely, and l
was framing sentence to address to him
| when discovered that did not dare to
speak. was afraid of the sound of my
own voice. There he sat, and there sat /.
turned my head again to my work, and
| finished writing the two or three words I
still had to writo. The paper and my notes
| are at this moment before me, and exhibit
! not the slightest trcmor or nervousness.
could point out the words I was writing
| when the phantom came and when lie dis
appeared. Having finished my task, shut
the book and threw 1t on the table; it made
a slight noise as it fcll-the figure vanished.
Throwing myself back in my chair, I sat
for some seconds looking at the fire with
curious mixture Of feeling, and l remem-
Der wondering whether my friend would
come again, and if he did whether he would
hide the fire from me. Then first there
stole upon nc dread and a suspicion that
was beginning to lose my nerve. re-
member yawning; then I rose, lit my bed
| room candle, took my books into the inner
library, mounted the chair as before and
replaced five of the volumes; the sixth
brought back and laid upon the table where
| had been writing when the phantom did
me the honor to appear to mo. BY this
time had lost all my sense of uneasiness.
l blew out the four candles and marched
off to bed, where I slept the sleep of the
just or the guilty. know not whicll-but
l slept very soundly. This is simple and
unvarnished narrative of facts. Explana-
ton, theory or inference leave to others.