highwaymen and their horses, when 'ale was ale,' as he used to
say, and 'was good for man and beast'. We knew that on the night in
question he would not be home till very late; so we offered to sit up for
him in lieu of the servant, who was glad enough in such weather, and
after a hard day's work, to escape to her bed. My mother was indisposed
and had retired to rest early. Well do I remember that night; it was the
beginning of December, and the weather for some time past had been
piercingly cold. The wind howled through the leafless boughs, and there
was every appearance of an early and severe winter, as indeed befel. Long
before eleven o'clock all was hushed and quiet within the house, and
indeed without (nothing was heard), except the cold wind which howled
mournfully in gusts. The house was an old farm-house, and we sat in the
large kitchen with its stone floor, awaiting the first stroke of the
eleventh hour. It struck at last, and then all pale and trembling we
hung the garment to dry before the fire which we had piled up with wood,
and set the door ajar, for that was an essential point. The door was
lofty and opened upon the farmyard, through which there was a kind of
thoroughfare, very seldom used, it is true, and at each end of it there
was a gate by which wayfarers occasionally passed to shorten the way.
There we sat without speaking a word, shivering with cold and fear,
listening to the clock which went slowly, tick, tick, and occasionally
starting as the door creaked on its hinges, or a half-burnt billet fell
upon the hearth. My sister was ghastly white, as white as the garment
which was drying before the fire. And now half an hour had elapsed and
it was time to turn. . . . This we did, I and my sister, without saying a
word, and then we again sank on our chairs on either side of the fire. I
was tired, and as the clock went tick-a-tick, I began to feel myself
dozing. I did doze, I believe. All of a sudden I sprang up. The clock
was striking one, two, but ere it could give the third chime, mercy upon
us! we heard the gate slam to with a tremendous noise. . ."

"Well, and what happened then?"

"Happened! before I could recover myself, my sister had sprung to the
door and both locked and bolted it. The next moment she was in
convulsions. I scarcely knew what happened; and yet it appeared to me
for a moment that something pressed against the door with a low moaning
sound. Whether it was the wind