ng aloud, with a view to reassure myself. I rang the
bell, and, attended by old Martha, I retired to settle for the night.
While the servant was, as was her custom, arranging the lamp which I
have already stated always burned during the night in my chamber,
I was employed in undressing, and, in doing so, I had recourse to a
large looking-glass which occupied a considerable portion of the wall
in which it was fixed, rising from the ground to a height of about
six feet; this mirror filled the space of a large pannel in the
wainscoting opposite the foot of the bed. I had hardly been before it
for the lapse of a minute, when something like a black pall was slowly
waved between me and it.

"Oh, God! there it is," I exclaimed wildly. "I have seen it again,
Martha--the black cloth."

"God be merciful to us, then!" answered she, tremulously crossing
herself. "Some misfortune is over us."

"No, no, Martha," said I, almost instantly recovering my
collectedness; for, although of a nervous temperament, I had never
been superstitious. "I do not believe in omens. You know, I saw, or
fancied I saw, this thing before, and nothing followed."

"The Dutch lady came the next morning," replied she.

"Methinks, such an occurrence scarcely deserved a supernatural
announcement," I replied.

"She is a strange woman, my lady," said Martha, "and she is not _gone_
yet--mark my words."

"Well, well, Martha," said I, "I have not wit enough to change your
opinions, nor inclination to alter mine; so I will talk no more of the
matter. Good night," and so I was left to my reflections. After lying
for about an hour awake, I at length fell into a kind of doze; but my
imagination was still busy, for I was startled from this unrefreshing
sleep by fancying that I heard a voice close to my face exclaim as
before, "There is blood upon your ladyship's throat." The words were
instantly followed by a loud burst of laughter. Quaking with horror, I
awakened, and heard my husband enter the room. Even this was a relief.
Scared as I was, however, by the tricks which my imagination had
played me, I preferred remaining silent, and pretending to sleep, to
attempting to engage my husband in conversation, for I well knew
that his mood was such, that his words would not, in all probability,
convey anything that had not better be unsaid and unheard. Lord
Glenfallen went into his dressing-room, which lay upon the right-hand
side of the bed. The door lying open, I cou