214 Shadowings 



sleep ; and at once I began to imagine some 

 dreadful affinity between goblins and Gothic 

 churches. Presently, in the tall doorways, in the 

 archings of the aisles, in the ribbings and groin- 

 ings of the roof, I discovered other and wilder 

 suggestions of fear. Even the facade of the 

 organ, peaking high into the shadow above its 

 gallery, seemed to me a frightful thing. . . . 

 Had 1 been then suddenly obliged to answer the 

 question, " What are you afraid of ? " 1 should 

 have whispered, " Those points ! " I could not 

 have otherwise explained the matter: I only 

 knew that I was afraid of the "points." 



Of course the real enigma of what I felt in 

 that church could not present itself to my mind 

 while I continued to believe in goblins. But long 

 after the age of superstitious terrors, other Gothic 

 experiences severally revived the childish emotion 

 in so startling a way as to convince me that 

 childish fancy could not account for the feeling. 

 Then my curiosity was aroused ; and I tried to 

 discover some rational cause for the horror. 1 

 read many books, and asked many questions; 

 but the mystery seemed only to deepen. 



Books about architecture were very disappoint- 

 ing. I was much less impressed by what I could 



