h a frightful storm. It was as much as the
horses could do to make headway, and when we reached the castle we
found a crowd of anxious faces eagerly awaiting us in the hall.

Chilled! I was chilled to the bone, and thought I never should thaw.
But the huge fires and bright and cosy atmosphere of the rooms--for
the interior of Glamis was modernised throughout--soon set me right,
and by tea time I felt nicely warm and comfortable.

My bedroom was in the oldest part of the castle--the Square Tower--but
although I had been warned by some of the guests that it might be
haunted, I can assure you that when I went to bed no subject was
farther from my thoughts than the subject of ghosts. I returned to my
room at about half-past eleven. The storm was then at its height--all
was babel and confusion--impenetrable darkness mingled with the
wildest roaring and shrieking; and when I peeped through my casement
window I could see nothing--the panes were shrouded in snow--snow
which was incessantly dashed against them with cyclonic fury. I fixed
a comb in the window-frame so as not to be kept awake by the constant
jarring; and with the caution characteristic of my sex looked into
the wardrobe and under the bed for burglars--though Heaven knows what
I should have done had I found one there--placed a candlestick and
matchbox on the table by my bedside, lest the roof or window should be
blown in during the night or any other catastrophe happen, and after
all these preparations got into bed. At this period of my life I was a
sound sleeper, and, being somewhat unusually tired after my journey, I
was soon in a dreamless slumber. What awoke me I cannot say, but I
came to myself with a violent start, such as might have been
occasioned by a loud noise. Indeed, that was, at first, my impression,
and I strained my ears to try and ascertain the cause of it. All was,
however, silent. The storm had abated, and the castle and grounds were
wrapped in an almost preternatural hush. The sky had cleared, and the
room was partially illuminated by a broad stream of silvery light that
filtered softly in through the white and tightly drawn blinds. A
feeling that there was something unnatural in the air, that the
stillness was but the prelude to some strange and startling event,
gradually came over me. I strove to reason with myself, to argue that
the feeling was wholly due to the novelty of my surroundings, but my
efforts were fruitless. And soon there stole