Year: 1874

necessary to pass through the dining


room. 1t was pitch dark, but / coul


hear her breathing hard (for her stoutnes


made her very short of breath) as sh


made her way round the table that occu


pied the center of the room. Fear len
ME wings, and / hurried round the Othe
way to meet her, and rushed into her arm
just as she was feeling for the drawing
room doorway. Directly / did so, sh
uttered shrill scream, and fell on tn
floor in dead faint. had forgotten tha
the poor dear did not know was pursuin.
her, and she very naturally took Ime fo
the robbers. | suppose tainted, too; fo
the first thing | remembered was hearins
loud purr close to my ear, which pro
ceeded from our favorite cat, who, having
knocked down the fre-irons in the mex
room (Which was the noise we had heard)
had come, as it were, to assure us that there
was nothing the matter. That was the
last night we spent in our country house
and 1 remained in town for three whole
summers afterward. Though fresh all
and "change," / was told, were indispen
sable, [ resolved to do without them
since one might just as we'll die as be
frightened to death.


In the July of the fourth year, however,
I received an invitation to the seaside
which l really thought it safe to accept
My host and hostess lived at Disney
Point, in Cornwall, very lonely spot, II
is true, but one in which no burglary had
ever been committed within the memory
of woman. "There were no bad people,
wrote my friends, who were aware of my
nervous pecuiiarities, "within hundred
miles of them" When [ reached their
house, was really inclined to believe
that this was the case. A more beautiful
and retired spot than the little village in
which they dwelt, or one inhabited by a
more simple and innocent set of people,
it was impossible to imagine 1t was
situated in a wooded ravine, through
which a trout stream ran down to the sea !;
and upon the hilltop, between it and the
ocean, were the most picturesque church
and churchyard /, or any ones eye ever
beheld. From the house we could only
hear the distant whisper of the waves,
like the murmuring hum of bees,
but they were giant waves, and the
rocks were torn and split with their fury
into wierd and horrid shapes. 1t was the
grandest sea-coast [ had yet visited, and
all day long [ sat beside it with my
sketch book, or merely watching the
white wrath of the breakers, and listening
to the thunder in the caverns at my feet.
| was not at all afraid of the sea-when |
was upon the land. Indeed, am not,
alarmed at anything Notwithstanding
what some people say to the contrary
unless there is q reasonable cause for fear
For instance, | am not afraid-at least, [
was not until the catastrophe occurred of
which am about to relate--of supernat-
ural apparitions. When announced my
intention, one evening, Of going W, tn, the
hill to sketcn Jne CnurcnyaTu py moon
light, there arose quite rude litter in the
drawing-room. "Surely not alone, Mary
Anne? Let one of the girls go with you,"
said my hostess.


"What is there to be afraid of in a
church-yard? No, l thank you," replied
I proudly. "The miserable superstltions
of the country do not affect me, / do as
sure you.'


"But it is so lonely up there, my dear"


"What of that? Solitude and stiffness
are the fit accOmpaniments of such sol
emn scene l had much rather go there
by myself"


I Twas resolved to exhibit my independ-
ence, as we'll as to do away with any false
impressions my excellent hostess might
have received from Charlotte or others
with respect to my courage; but at the
same time she need not have reminded
me that it was $50 lonely up there" /
did not expect to find Disney churchyard
the center of fashion, or the scene of an
excursion picnic at ten o'clock at night,
of course :, her remark was officious and
unnecessary and at the same time it made
my blood run cold. However, when the
moon rose, so did |, and, sketch book in
hand, toiled up to the old church, which
was also, from its prominent position, a
landmark used by sailors, which taught
them to avoid the rocks at Disney Point.
Whatever might be the matter, there was
always wind up there, and even in that
still summer night it was wandering about
the grasses of the graves, and whispering
into the ears of the stone gargoyles OF the
church, which seemed to grin In malice
at its news of storm and wreck to come.
| myself seated on my camp-stOol, just
in front of the porch, and began what l
intended to be hasty sketch, just few
strokes, to be filled in at my leisure, for |
felt the situation to be "uncanny," and al
ready wished myself at home. My fingers
shook little, certainly not with cold,
and, though the architecture was said to
be "a fine specimen of the perpendicu-
lar" it did not appear so in my sketch
book.


Suddenly I heard subdued sob; the
utterance, as it seemed to me, of some
poor creature of my own sex in distress
1t came from an obscure corner OF the
churchyard, where the graves were not
so we'll cared for and tended as the others
were-a spot, had been told, where those
were laid whom the pitilesS sea had
drowned. When a ship was cast upon
the rocks wonder it was rare even for one
of it's crew to reach that rock-bOunC
shore alive; and after a great storm
whole ships companies were sometimes
buried at once in the churchyard of Dis
ney head.


listened with beating heart, and tht
sound was repeated; and this time fel
sure it was as had supposed. Doubtless
some woman had come to weep in secre


over the grave of her sailor son or hus


band; there was no need to be frightened


in such case. Itmight be that ] shoult
be able to give her comfort | rose, an(
moving toward the wreck-corner (as /
was called), could dimly make out {
woman's figure kneeling at the head of


grave. In the presence of so great sol
SOW, I seemed to lose all selfish fear, ant


ventured softly to address her. She dit
not reply, nor even so much as turn he
head, though 1 felt certain she mus
have heard me; and since she was
woman, and did not speak, / felt ther
: must be something very wrong with hel
$ AS / drew nearer, / beheld spectacl
: that overwhelmed me with pity. The III
; happy creature before me was naked t
t the waist, and with her arms straigf


down by her side, was gazing on the grav
: beneath her with look of indescribabl
e despair. She shed no tear, but her eye
ofl IL n.