rilliant burst of moonlight. About a mile or so further on the coach
halted, and, to my uncle's surprise, he found himself in front of a
house he had no recollection of seeing before. He got out, and to his
horror saw that instead of riding in a coach he had been riding in a
hearse, and that the horses had on their heads gigantic sable plumes.

"While he was standing gazing at the extraordinary equipage, the door of
the house slowly opened, and two figures came out carrying a small
coffin, which they placed inside the vehicle. He then heard loud peals
of mad, hilarious laughter, and coach and horses immediately vanished.
My uncle arrived home safely, but the shock of what he had experienced
kept him in bed for some days. He learned that a phantom coach similar
to the one he had ridden in had been seen in the forest twenty years
previously, and that it was supposed to be a prognostication of some
great misfortune, which supposition, in my uncle's case at least, proved
true, as his wife died of apoplexy a few days after this adventure."

Yet another case of haunting by the phantasms of a horse comes to me
from a gentleman in Marseilles, who told it me thus:--

"It was 9 p.m. when I left my friend Maitland's hotel in Chateauborne,
and, facing north, set out on my way to Liffre, where my headquarters
had been for the past fortnight. Liffre is in the hills, and the road
which separated it from Chateauborne, wild and lonely enough in daylight
and when the weather is fair, is almost untraversable in winter. The
night in question was Christmas Eve; the snow had fallen heavily during
the day, and with the wind blowing in icy draughts from the north-east,
there was every prospect of another downfall. Maitland pressed me to
stay in his hotel. 'It is sheer folly,' he said, 'for you to attempt to
get home in weather like this. It is pitch dark, you are not familiar
with the route, and if you don't wander off the track and tumble over a
precipice, you will walk into a snowdrift. Be sensible--sleep here!'

"Much, however, as I should have liked to follow his counsel, I did not
feel justified in doing so, as I had a lot of correspondence to attend
to, and I realized it was most necessary for me to get back to Liffre
without any further delay.

"It was true the night was inky black; but, with the aid of a lamp, I
hadn't the slightest doubt I could find my way. Maitland bartered for a
candle lantern with his host, and armed with this,