A SPECTRE 7 



opened the door when I saw the tall figure of a woman standing 

 on the other side of the long kitchen table, which runs the 

 whole length of the apartment, and as the door opened her 

 head turned slowly to look at me. She was in the dress of a 

 servant, even to her shawl and bonnet ; the latter, rather poke- 

 wise, shading her features, as she moved noiselessly along the 

 table, as if going towards the fireplace. The light by which I 

 saw her arose from a steadfast red glare of embers left in the 

 spacious grate, and as she faced it to look at and move from me, 

 the direct ray from the fire enabled me to remark a more than 

 common indistinctness of feature. Door in hand, the instant I 

 saw her I addressed to my brother the word " Look ! " His 

 reply was, " I see her ; there she goes. 11 He, therefore, saw what 

 I saw, as his rejoinder proved. At the moment the chief feel- 

 ing in my mind was fun, for I took her to be one of the maid- 

 servants, or a friend of theirs, up long beyond the usual hour of 

 my mother's house for rest. So I locked the kitchen door 

 behind us, put the key in my pocket, and exclaimed, " Come 

 along, we will see who she is ! " By the old fireplace stood the 

 great kitchen screen, towards which she seemed so noiselessly to 

 glide, and thither my brother and myself proceeded, dashing 

 round either corner of it, expecting to catch her ; but when we 

 did so we met face to face, and not the vestige of a woman to 

 be seen. Speechless with astonishment as to where she could be 

 gone, we searched every nook and corner, but there was no one 

 in the kitchen but ourselves ; our wonder still more increased 

 when, on going out by the door into the scullery, we found that 

 locked fast, and the key on the inside. The windows were too 

 high, as well as fast, to admit of an escape by such means ; and 

 believe it or not, as you like, reader, whatever it was that had 

 been seen by us had vanished. The apparition personated no 

 one that I know, and why it appeared to us is a mystery, for 

 neither treasure was indicated nor warnings given; so what 

 business the ghost was on, if ghost it was, remains a secret to 

 this day. 



My reminiscences of other matters must not carry me 



