Year: 1879

deed close to the head of my bed. could
even fancy that l felt the air vibrate, aud
thrust out my hands in the darkness to feel
whether any living object were near me from
which such terrible sounds could emanate.
After n short time the groaus and exclama-
tions ceased, or nearly so, and then l called
out, first in French and afterwards in Eng
lish "Who is there What is the matter ~
But | could obtain no answer, and presently
the alarming sounds began again, and were
louder and more narrowing than before


l had some matches in the room, but they
were not within reach as l lay--or rather sat
up-in my bed, and did not like the idea of
leaving it but presently mustered courage,
and stepped on tiptoe towards the table, feel
ing anxiously before me till reached it,
found my matches, struck at least half doz-
en-, which would only Just flash up and go
out, and growing more and more nervous
every moment, at length succeeded in procur-
ing light As the match burned up, illu-
minating the whole chamber, it enabled me
to see distinctly that there was nothing unus-
al to be seen, nothing, at all events, that
could account for the mysterious and painful
sounds which had alarmed me.


lighted my candle, and after careful
survey Of the apartment, observed that in the
wall by my bedside was door commuuicat-
ing with another room. / came to the CON
clusion that there must be bed on the other
side Of this door, touching it, perhaps, as
minc did, and that it was occupied by some
one who was in great pain, arising, it might
be- from sudden attack of illness The
groans and cries for help. which continued to
break forth while was thus considering left
me no alternative but to try and afford relief,
so | at once tapped at the door and asked if
any one were ILL., Knock as | would how
I l..
dressed myself, and went forth in search of a
night porter. or some one or other who might
be walking in the hotel, to whom l might
communicate my anxiety.


On the staircase | met tall, thin figure,
clad all in white, in point of fact cook, can
die in hand, and yawnng fearfully, mount
ing slowly towards his bedroom. | had some
difficulty in making him understand what it
was that | wa, wanted, he was SO very sleepy.
At length h seemed to appr.hond n little Of
my meaning, and with Il gesture and "ttHez
m'1eTr, turned away suddenly aud left me.
After about ten minutes hc returned bring
ing with him another sleepy person, proba-
bly, waiter who had Just risen from lis bed,
to whom | repeated my story he also said
'tHcs H,'asur," and retired. In course Of
time he returned with third who said and
did likewise. Finally, about dozen Of the
straugest, most fantastic, weird looking OBJ.
jects you could imagine found themselves
grouped around me in the corridor listening
to my account Of what had happened in or
near my b. droom The proprietor of the
hotel. stout as feather-bed, wrapped in
lowered dressing gown, the walters IN their
drawers and slippers, "A houseinaid or two,
cook or two, in fact nearly the entire ,stab-
lhhmeut in every possible variety of undress,
were present, and expressed, by all sorts Of
90 l..
ion of my story. At length led the way to
the bedchamber. where | pictured to myself
the subject of my solicitude lying upon his
bed, or perhaps upon the floor, dying. if not
already dead. The door was locked, but the
landlord, by some process known to himself,
opened it quite easily. There was bed, as
| had cOnjectured, near the door which CON-
nunicated with my room, and on the pillow
could see from the distance gray head and
a pale face lying perfectly still and quiet.
The whole party entered the room in single
hie, forming procession which reached
from the door to the bedside while l. be-
ginning to feel uneasy on my own account, at
having raised and introduced into another
mans room such spectral array as this, kept
in the background, or, to be plain with you,
i'll the corridor, reconnoitring over the shoul-
ders Of the rest. The old gentleman, for
such lac evidently was though was not near
enough to see his features, remained for
sometime unconscious Of the intrusion, till
the landlord, finding that he could not rouse
him with his voice, laid his hand upon him
and shook him. He then woke up with a
start and a sob and appeared for minute or
two to be in great terror; he spoke English
and began to protest that he could explain
everything, and that he was the victim Of cir
cumstances, with other such expressions
and it was long time before the landlord
could satisfy him Cfor he was rather deaf
that no other motive had brought him to his
room but fear that he was ill.,


NO" said the old gentleman, apparently
much relieved, no; | am not i'll | have
slept soundly there is nothing the matter;
| have not complained nor uttered a sound
why have you disturbed me-"


As soon rs heard this, | retreated at once
to my own room. and closed and locked the
door it was a cOwnrdly thing to do, but |
confess | dared not face that regiment of cx-
cited men and women, who were beginning
alretdy to abuse each other, and who | felt
sure would presently turn upon me, with the
conviction that | had been playing silly
practical joke upon them.


''Ou eL dOHc ce NOaaeur p heard them
eXclaim, and the word "Betise Bttise :"
was repeated often III variety of voices
then there We're snarling sounds, as if, like
Demosthenes, they had been taking lessons
from the dogs in the pronunciation of the let
ter 'r-r-r-r," and mutual recriminations
Somebody was called a great turkey" and
told to go to bed, which | have no doubt
he would be very glad to do, | suspect it
was the tall white cook who had been, next
to myself, the chief agent in the disturbance
however, hard words break no bones, and as
no one seemed to know who | was, from
whence | had issued. or to what ''aumtrO |
had retired, | did not think it necessary to
betray myself, and after time they all with
drew, still chattering aud complaining to
their beds, and / also went to mine.


In the corridor, or it might be just inside
my neighbor's room, I am not sure which, -
| had taken up from the floor an envelope on
which my name was written. did not think
much of it at the moment, supposing | had
dropped it from the pocket Of my coat, which
| had flung hastily over my shoulder when l
left my room but the next morning, when l
was dressing, it attracted my attention as it
lay upon the table where | had placed it. l
took out the enclosure (the envelope had
been opened previously, and to my great
surprise discovered nothing but copy of the
English alphabet, with the same letters re-
peated in different order or rather disor-
der, under it, | did not recognize the hand
writing, nor did | remember ever having
seen the paper before but my name was up
on the envelope plainly enough, 80 | thought
it might possibly belong to some other meIn-
Der of my family, and have come into my
possession by mistake. When descended to
the cotfee-room | asked the waiter whether
there was any other person by the name of
Dickens in the hotel and, after he had made
inquiry, he answered, Mo- but a gentle
man who was sitting near me looked up so
quickly and so anXiously Mt the moment that
l was on the point of speaking to him, when
he rose up suddenly and left the room. InO-
ticed the same gentleman, man of about
sixty years, perhaps, with a sad, depressed
look and manner, reading the Times newspa-
per in the afternoon, or rather the first page
of it, and signing dismally, as if he were in
some great trouble. More than once / should
have spoken to him, but every time that he
caughtny eyahe seemed confused andanxious
to avoid me; and, of course, | did not wish
to intrude upon him, though l would gladly
have cheered him up a little if l could have
done so, as he seemed to be quite alone.


The following night was again disturbed,