Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1886-07-21

"That was the feeling l had when ]
suddenly woke from sound sleep to full
consciousness with chilling shudder of
horror. was sitting before the fire.
place, with my back to the door that led
from the office to the shop. l had pur-
posely left the door ajar. The fire had
died down to dull glow, and it seemed
to me that breath from the Arctic zone
had penetrated the room. cannot dcs.
cribc the kind of cold it was. My very
bones seemed to be ice. And then
felt that presence"
The undertaken seemed terribly affected
even now by his rccollcctions of that
night. 1t was impossible to resist the
infection, and my own flesh was creep
ing in a very uncomfortable way. lie
made strong effort to recover himself
and steady his voice, but, in spite
of all, it trembled with an ever
deepening terror as he went on,
curdling my very blood in sympathy.
81 had turned the gas out when ] sat
down in my chair to sleep, so that the
only light in the room came from the
dying fire. became aware of that pres
cncc the very instant | awol1c. Mind,
sir, this is not dream. was as fully
awake as | am at this moment. The
thing was there! 1t was at the back of
nc. 1t was between me and the door.
| had got to turn my head to see it. But
knew it was there! Who it was, or
what it was, didn't know; but | was
sure that some living thing was Standing
behind me motioncSs in the dim,
ghost,y light, and was looking at me.
My God, sir! it was awful to sit still and
feel this thing, and try to make up my
mind to turn my head toward It'll am
pretty well accustomed to corpses, but I
can tell you that did not feel just then
that the corpse out in the other room
was any company for me.
"Wcll, there sat-fccling that holri-
BILE gaze fixed upon Inc in utter silence,
and the dcath-likc cold creeping through
my vcins-striving struggling to nerve
myself to look around and to face the
thing, whatever it was.
"Wcrc you ever locked up in tomb
at nightln the undertaken suddenly
asked me. l could only shake my head
in response; | could not speak.
81 have bcen," he said, "but it was
nothing-nothing to those few minutes,
while | sat paIscd with terror, with that
thing behind me? At last in kind of
nervous spasm, sprang to my feet and
turned toward the door, The sight frozc
me! There is no other word for it--I
was rigid. could no more stir than l
could arrest the motion of this train now
and instantly. My very heart stopped
its beating. wonder | did not drop
dead myself, for thcrc-not six feet from
me-with the Iivid pallor of death on its
face, and its CLASSY eyes glued to mine,
stood the corpse!
"Thcn it began to approach me. It
did not seem to walk-it glided; and
not till it reached me did it make a
single apparent movement Then-iust
stand up, will you' can illustrate bet
ter what occurred" did so, and he
rose at the same time, and we stood
facing each other in the compartment.
was dimly conscious at the moment that
we were crossing Battcrsca bridge. The
undertaken, as he went on, repeated upon
me the actions he described.
"Then this dead thing he said to
me, "sowly lifted its arms and laid its
icy fingers on my checks and moved
them gently downwards to my shoulders,
pressing hard against me all the time on
either side, as do now on you, and
wherever the hands lay they seemed to
draw the very life out of the flesh be-
meath them. Slowly-oh, how slowly
they glidcd on downward from my
shoulders to my breast, beneath my coat,
like this. Try to conceive it-try, if you
can. Wherever they touched they drew
away from mc--some virtue
seemed to go out of me. And then the
fright(ul thought came to me that | was
dying by piecemeal that I was parting
with something dear to me as life-bt
by bit | could feel it ebbing-ebbing,
and at last the horror grew to q convic-
ton. This ghoul was drawing my life's
blood into his own veins! was sucking
my substance! What l lost he gaincd9
lie enriched himself by making me poor,
and it would end"
"Victoria!" shouted guard, opening
the carriage door.
'Bless my soul " exclaimed the under
takcr "are we in? must hurry to catch
my train out" He seized his satchel, and
was on the step before l could get my
breath to say: "But the story! want to
hear the end of it."
lie was on the platform now. "Ohl
there isn't much more" he called back. I
"The ghoul ucceeded-that's all w-
and he was gone before l could say an
other word.
As followed a porter to a cab, and
all the way home, | tried to conceive
what the undertaken could mean How
could the dead man have succeeded |
Here the undertaken was, alive and well,
and telling me the story. 1t was very
and disappointing to be so
banked after being so wrought upon.
The undertaken had left me no address,
so that was, apparently, doomed never
to know the solution.
Only apparently" however. When l
got out of the cab at my own door,