pelled by a
fascination I could not withstand to visit the same quarters. In sickly
anticipation of what my eyes would alight on, I stole to the foot of the
staircase and peeped cautiously up. To my infinite joy there was nothing
there but a bright patch of sunshine, that, in the most unusual fashion,
had forced its way through from one of the slits of windows near at
hand.

"After gazing at it long enough to assure myself it was only sunshine, I
quitted the spot, and proceeded on my way down the vaulted corridor.
Just as I was passing one of the doors, it opened. I stopped--terrified.
What could it be? Bit by bit, inch by inch, I watched the gap slowly
widen. At last, just as I felt I must either go mad or die, something
appeared--and, to my utter astonishment, it was a big, black cat!
Limping painfully, it came towards me with a curious, gliding motion,
and I perceived with a thrill of horror that it had been very cruelly
maltreated. One of its eyes looked as if it had been gouged out--its
ears were lacerated, whilst the paw of one of its hind-legs had either
been torn or hacked off. As I drew back from it, it made a feeble and
pathetic effort to reach me and rub itself against my legs, as is the
way with cats, but in so doing it fell down, and uttering a half purr,
half gurgle, vanished--seeming to sink through the hard oak boards.

"That evening my youngest brother met with an accident in the barn at
the back of the house, and died. Though I did not then associate his
death with the apparition of the cat, the latter shocked me much, for I
was extremely fond of animals. I did not dare venture in the wing again
for nearly two years.

"When next I did so, it was early one June morning--between five and
six, and none of the family, saving my father, who was out in the fields
looking after his men, were as yet up. I explored the dreaded corridor
and staircase, and was crossing the floor of one of the rooms I had
hitherto regarded as immune from ghostly influences, when there was an
icy rush of wind, the door behind me slammed to violently, and a heavy
object struck me with great force in the hollow of my back. With a cry
of surprise and agony I turned sharply round, and there, lying on the
floor, stretched out in the last convulsions of death, was the big black
cat, maimed and bleeding as it had been on the previous occasion. How I
got out of the room I don't recollect. I was too horror-stricken to know
exactly what I