1804-24 A FREEZING HORROR 19 



above me a figure, at first indistinct, then in clear 

 outline, tall and thin, leaning against or clasping 

 the central stone pillar of the staircase. My first 

 alarm grew into a creeping and freezing horror, 

 as, staring intently upwards, I thought I dis- 

 tinguished the pale collapsed features, and those 

 half-opened glassy eyes that had haunted me 

 through the day, and now looked coldly down 

 and met my own. I would have called for help, 

 but I knew that would be in vain ; and I began 

 a precipitate descent, but had hardly made one 

 turn down and passed the closed door of the dead- 

 chamber, when a second figure in white appeared 

 below me, as if to intercept my passage ; that 

 figure, too, appeared to lean against or clasp the 

 central column, and surely it bore the features of 

 the other corpse ! For an instant I grasped the 

 pillar for support, and gazed upon the spectre in 

 speechless terror (I was but young). I had gone 

 by the very spot but a few moments before, and 

 no human being could possibly have stood and 

 been passed unconsciously by me, where now the 

 apparition, thin, pale, and motionless, glared so 

 clear and bright. An unusually articulate howl 

 above, and a clattering like some one in chains 

 rapidly rushing down the staircase below me, 

 made me start off in desperation. As I passed 

 the lower ghost, feeling more dead than alive, I 

 felt something move — and found I had dragged 

 a sheet after me ! This evidence of materiality 



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