my astonishment began once more
talking about my engagement. He implored me with the utmost earnestness
even now at the eleventh hour to break it off. It was not too late, he
said, and added further that nothing would give him ease in dying but
the knowledge that I would promise him to remain single. Of course I
tried to humour him. He took my hand, looked me in the eyes with an
expression which I shall never forget, and said,--

"'Allen, make me a solemn promise that you will never marry.'

"This I naturally had to refuse, and then he told me that, expecting my
obstinacy, he had written me a letter which I should find in his safe,
but I was not to open it till after his death. I found it this morning.
Bell, it is the most extraordinary communication, and either it is
entirely a figment of his imagination, for his brain powers were failing
very much at the last, or else it is the most awful thing I ever heard
of. Here is the letter; read it for yourself."

I took the paper from his hand and read the following matter in shaky,
almost illegible writing:--

"My dear Boy,--When you read this I shall have passed away. For
the last six months my life has been a living death. The horror
began in the following way. You know what a deep interest I have
always taken in the family history of our house. I have spent the
latter years of my life in verifying each detail, and my
intention was, had health been given me, to publish a great deal
of it in a suitable volume.

"On the special night to which I am about to allude, I sat up
late in my study reading the book which I saw you show to Bell a
short time ago. In particular, I was much attracted by the
terrible curse which the old abbot in the fourteenth century had
bestowed upon the family. I read the awful words again and again.
I knew that all the other details in the volume had been
verified, but that the vault with the coffin had never yet been
found. Presently I grew drowsy, and I suppose I must have fallen
asleep. In my sleep I had a dream; I thought that some one came
into the room, touched me on the shoulder, and said 'Come.' I
looked up; a tall figure beckoned to me. The voice and the figure
belonged to my late father. In my dream I rose immediately,
although I did not know why I went nor where I was going. The
figure went on in front, it entered the hall. I took one of the
candle