Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-07-30

a distinct view of him; his right arm hung
down; his feet were crossed one over the
other, and the way his head dropped, little
to the left of the armchair, showed plainly
enough that he was asleep / asked myself,
Who is it, ANYHOW the light in the room
was not strong enough to see perfectly by. |
put out my hand to touch his shoulder. My
hand touched only the wood of the chart No
body was there! The chair was empty
Mercy! what a Shock it gave me. First
lcaped back rs If some terrible peril had made
itself visible chen l turned round feeling
that somebody was behind me; then, almost
as quickly, an impcrati desire to look at
that chair again made me wheel round Soc
ond time and | stood there painting with fear
SO bewldcrcd as to be incapable of think
ing, on the very point of falling.
But am by nature cool man, and my
self-posscs,ion soon returned | thought to
myself: 81 have just had a haucination-
that is al.' And Immediately began to re-
fleet on the phenomenon. In such moments
the mind operates very rapidly
had had hallucinaton-that was an in
contestable fact. Now my mind had all the
time remained clear, performing its functions
regularly and logically. There was conse-
qucnty no real affection of the brain. The
eyes alone had been deudrd, and had dcluded
my Imagination The eyes had IA vision--one
of those visions that make simple minded
folks believe in miracles. 1t was simply
nervous accident to the optical apparatus
nothing more; perhaps there was a slight
congestion.
And lighted my candle As bent down
over the fire found myself trembling, and
d myself up again with a sudden start,
Us it some one had touched me from behind.
Certainly my nerves were out of order.
| walked to and fro for n little while.
talked aloud TO myself l hummed "a few
airs
Then double-locked the door of my room,
and began to feel somewhat treasured. At
all events, nobody could get in.
Again sat down, and for a long time
thought over my adventure. Then l went to
bed and blew out my light
For few minutes everything seemed all
right. remained lying quietly on my back.
Then l felt an irresistible desire to take
look at my room, and | turned over on my
side.
My fire held only two or three red embers,
which barely lighted the legs of the chair;
and | thought | saw the man sitting there
again.
struck match quickly. But 1 had been
mistaken; l could see nothing.
Nevertheless, | got up took the chair, and
placed it out of SIGHT behind my bed.
Then | made everything dark again, and
tried to 20 to sleep. | could not have sunk
into INCONSISTENCIES for more than five
minutes, when saw in dream, and as dis
tinctly Il, reality Itself, the whole incident of
that evening | woke up in terror and after
making light sat up in bed without daring
to try to 20 to sleep again.
Sleep, notwithstanding, twice seized upon
me for a few moments. in spite of myself.
Twice | saw the same thing. ] thought | had
actually gone mad.
When daylight appeared felt completely
cured, and took a peaceful sleep until mid
day.
1t had passed, entirely passed. had had
fever, Il nightmare, or something of that sort.
Anyhow | had been sick Nevertheless |
thought myself very much of a fool
That day was quite jolly | dmed at the
cabaret went to the theatre, and then started
for home. But 10. rs drew near my house,
a strange sense of uueasiness took possession
of me. wa, afraid of seeing him again
him! Not afraid Of him prccscly-not afraid
of his pros ucc, in which | did not believe;
but afraid Of another optical trouble, afraid
of the hallucinaton, afraid of the fear which
would come upon me.
For more than an hour kept walking up
and down the sidewalk. Then at last | de
cided this was absolute folly, and | went in.
painted so much that | could scarcely climb
the stairs. ! stood for fully ten minutes more
on the landing, in front Of my room. Then,
suddenly, | felt n rush of courage. bracing
up of will plunged my key in the keyhole;
| rushed forward with a lighted candle in my
hand; kicked in the unfnstened door of the
room, and threw one terrified glance at the
fireplace. | saw nothing. All.
What relief! What joy What "A deliv-
erance! | went to and fro with a staggering
air But still did not feel perfectly conf
dent. | would turn round by fits and starts
to look behind me; the darkness in the cor
ners of the room frightened me
| slept badly, being necessarily startled out
of my rest by imaginary noises. But | never
saw him. No. That was all over
Ever since that day have been afraid to
be alone at night. l can feel it there, close to
me-the vision! 1t did not make its appear
ance again-oh, moi And what matter, any
how, since don't believe in it, since | know
that it is nothingl
Still it annoys me, because | keep all the
time thinking about it. One arm was hang
! ing down on the right side; his head dropped
"A little to the left, like that of man asleep.
| Come, that's enough of it, nom de Dieul |
/ don't want to think about it any more,
And still what is this feeling of being
/ haunted Why does it persist in this wayl
His feet were quite close to the fire.
He haunts me; it is madness, but it is so!
| Who is he! | know perfectly well that he
does not eXist-that it is nothing whatever!
He only exists in my apprehension, in my
fear, in my anguish! There! that's enough!
Yes, hut it's no use for me to reason with
myself about it-no use TO try to brace up
against it; | can't remain alone at home any
more, because he is there | know | won't
see him any more; lie won't show himself
again-that's past. But he is there all the
same, in my thought. Because lac remains in
visible, it does not follow that he is not there!
He is behind the doors, and in the armoir and
under the bcd-in all the dark corners, in all
the shadows If | stir the door upon its
hinges, if open my armoir, if | lower my
light TO look under the bed if | throw the
light upon the corners upon the shadows, he
is not there, hut then feel him behind mel l
turn round certain all the while that | am