Year: 1876

ing to sleep. The sound OF an organ,
which was playing in some neighboring
street, came to nae ftfully, at times SEEM
ing TO be almost close to meat times,
again, seeming to proceed from some
great distance. The fire had burned low,
occasionally cracking and ticking ; the
lamp. as have mentioned, was burning
dimly, and large portion OF the room
was in deep shadow. l do not know how
long had slept, when l became con.
scious of my own being. can not say that
1 awakened for though all my mental
faculties were struggling painfully INTO
life, nv vital action seemed suspended,
and / was unable to move hand or foot.
A cold perspiration burst from all my
pores and I made tremendous but vain
efforts to shake off the incubus that was
upon me. My feeling was not one OF
impotence it was as though had been
frozen into q solid block Of ice. en-
deayored to call out had no power
over nv voice, and could not utter a
sound. But as / gasped and painted,
there stole into my nostrils deadly,
terrible, overpowering stencil, unmistak-
able in its penetrating sickness to me,
who had frequented hospitals. 1t was
the dread odor of decomposing mortal
ity that was sutfocating me as l sat. felt
that must break the spell, or die. With
one terrific exertion that strained every
nerve and muscle, l burst from the
chair and fell covering on my knees be-
fore the fire. The lamp had gone out; a
faint CLEAN from the fire afforded the
only light in the room. rehghted the
lamp, and, having swallowed glass of
brandy, endeavored to collect my
thoughts. My first idea was, that dead
body must be somewhere concealed in
the room. The hideous odor still clung
to my nostrils, and the absurdity of sach
supposition did not strike me.
searched the room, but of course found
nothing though, to my astonishment,
the bedroom door, which had carefully
closed, was wide open. As L advanced
toward it with the intention of shutting
it again, my lamp was extinguished in
the same unaccountable manner as be-
fore; locked it, however, securely, and
again struck light.


By this time had sufficiently recov-
cred to endeavcr to reconcile my sensa-
tions to natural causes, or, at any rate, to
formidable attack of nightmare. /
lighted my pipe, in the hope of neutral
izing the terrible stencil that still per-
vaded the room. Leaning on the mantel-
piece, actually smiled, at beholding
my own pale, scared-looking face in the
mirror. As / looked, suddenly every
pulse in my body stood still. 1 beheld
the reflection of the bedroom-door, which
gradually, noiselessly opened of itself.
/ tried to command myself, and turned
toward the door, The same intense
thrill of cold, but not soul was there.
L considered for an instant, and cross
examined myself as to my own condition.
1t was evident that my nerves were COM
pletely unstrung, and L decided, rs /
saw reflected in the looking glass my
own ghastly looking face, that was not
in condition to investigate the matter
any further for that night. A dread was
upon me that could not shake off; SO
hastily putting on my great-coat and ha
l hurried out OF the room, through the
passage, found myself ON the landing
with n sigh of relief, and locking the
outer door, walked to the rooms of a
friend who lived in the neighborhood.


S, who was reading for the civil
service, was glad to see me, and offered
me Il shakedown for the night. L in
formed him at once of the cause of my
ignominious fight from my OVID rooms.
My experiences had been tCo unmistak-
ably real for me to dread ridicule in the
relation of them. So, confessing unre-
servedly that had been almost fright
ened out of my wits, 1 sat patiently
enough as he endeavored to prove salts
factorily that my sensations were entirely
due to nerves or indigestion. Before
retiring to rest, however, we agreed to
spend the following night together in
my chambers. In the morning we each
went to our respective duties, with an
arrangement to meet at dinner in the
evening. / did not call at my rooms
during the day; and what with attending
to lectures and reading tough law, had
not only overcome any idea of super
natural agency in the events of the pre-
ceding night, but, as the evening drew
near, entirely ceased to think of the
matter.


1t was about o'clock as we entered the
rooms together. The old laundress had
evidently been at work, as on the pre-
ceding evening. The fire was burning
brightly, the lamp was lighted, and the
tea-things were set out on the table. We
walked through the rooms, and found
every thing in perfect order. s.
laughingly envied me my comfortable
quarters, showing by his manner that he
was more than ever convinced L had
been the victim of an exceedingly bad
attack OF nightmare. After little while
we agreed to play at chess, and arranged
a small side-table in front of the fire. 1
sat in the armchair, with my back to
the bedroom door, as on the previous
night s., who was seated opposite
to me, consequently facing the door,
which had closed, locked, and bolted,
on completing our tour of inspection;
s., who was in high spirits, joking at
me the while. remembered, however,
the uncomfortable tendency it had to
open on its own account, and determined
that it should be as securely fastened as
good lock and bolt would admit of.
We were both fair chess-players, about
equally matched.


Two hours, perhaps, had elapsed,
when the interest of the game eliminated,
and we were considering it with an in
tentness known only to chess players.