COIXAGES OF THE BRAIN. 307 



downstairs, and I was very soon busily at work and absorbed in my 

 occupation. 



"The room in which I was writing is a large one, with a huge fire- 

 place and a grand old chimney ; and it is needless to say that it is 

 furnished with every comfort and luxury. The library opens into 

 this room, and I had to pass out from where I was sitting into this 

 library and get upon a chair to reach the volumes I wanted to ex- 

 amine. There were six small volumes in all. I took them down 

 and placed them at my right hand in a little pile, and set to work 

 sometimes reading, sometimes writing. As I finished with a book I 

 placed it in front of me. There were four silver candlesticks upon 

 the table, the candles all burning, and, as I am a chilly person, I sat 

 myself at one corner of the table with the fire at my left, and at 

 intervals, as I had finished with a book, I rose, knocked the fire 

 together, and stood up to warm my feet. I continued in this way at 

 my task till nearly one o'clock. I had got on better than I expected, 

 and I had only one more book to occupy me. I rose, wound up my 

 watch, and opened a bottle of seltzer water, and I remember thinking 

 to myself that I should get to bed by two after all. I set to work at 

 the last little book. I had been engaged upon it about half an hour, 

 and was just beginning to think that my work was drawing to a close, 

 when, as I was actually writing, I saw a large white hand within a 

 foot of my elbow. Turning my head, there sat a figure of a some- 

 what large man, with his back to the fire, bending slightly over the 

 table, and apparently examining the pile of books that I 'had been 

 at work upon. The man's face was turned away from me, but I saw 

 his closely cut reddish-brown hair, his ear and shaved cheek, the 

 eyebrow, the corner of the right eye, the side of the forehead, and 

 the large high cheek-bone. He was dressed in what I can only 

 describe as a kind of ecclesiastical habit of thick corded silk or some 

 such material, close up to the throat, and a narrow rim or edging, of 

 about an inch broad, of satin or velvet serving as a stand-up collar, 

 and fitting close to the chin. The right hand, which had first at- 

 tracted my attention, was clasping, without any great pressure, the 

 left hand ; both hands were in perfect repose, and the large blue 

 veins of the right hand were conspicuous. I remember thinking that 

 the hand was like the hand of Velasquez's magnificent 'Dead 

 Knight ' in the National Gallery. I looked at my visitor for some 

 seconds, and was perfectly sure that he was not a reality. A thou- 

 sand thoughts came crowding upon me, but not the least feeling of 

 alarm, or even uneasiness ; curiosity and a strong interest were 

 uppermost. For an instant I felt eager to make a sketch of my friend, 

 and I looked at a tray on my right for a pencil ; then I thought, 

 4 Upstairs I have a sketch-bookshall I fetch it ? ' There he sat, 

 and I was fascinated ; afraid, not of his staying, but lest he should go. 



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