nsense!' he exclaimed; 'impossible! Let us go and look at the
place.'

"He and Raggerton rose, and we went together to my room. As we flung
open the door of the closet and looked in, we all three burst into a
laugh. There were three men now looking at us from the open door at the
other end, and the mystery was solved. A large mirror had been placed at
the end of the closet to cover the partition which cut it off from the
cross corridor.

"This incident naturally exposed me to a good deal of chaff from my
cousin and Captain Raggerton; but I often wished that the mirror had not
been placed there, for it happened over and over again that, going to
the cupboard hurriedly, and not thinking of the mirror, I got quite a
bad shock on being confronted by a figure apparently coming straight at
me through an open door. In fact, it annoyed me so much, in my nervous
state, that I even thought of asking my cousin to give me a different
room; but, happening to refer to the matter when talking to Raggerton, I
found the Captain so scornful of my cowardice that my pride was touched,
and I let the affair drop.

[Illustration: THE APPARITION IN THE MIRROR]

"And now I come to a very strange occurrence, which I shall relate quite
frankly, although I know beforehand that you will set me down as a liar
or a lunatic. I had been away from home for a fortnight, and as I
returned rather late at night, I went straight to my room. Having partly
undressed, I took my clothes in one hand and a candle in the other, and
opened the cupboard door. I stood for a moment looking nervously at my
double, standing, candle in hand, looking at me through the open door at
the other end of the passage; then I entered, and, setting the candle on
a shelf, proceeded to hang up my clothes. I had hung them up, and had
just reached up for the candle, when my eye was caught by something
strange in the mirror. It no longer reflected the candle in my hand, but
instead of it, a large coloured paper lantern. I stood petrified with
astonishment, and gazed into the mirror; and then I saw that my own
reflection was changed, too; that, in place of my own figure, was that
of an elderly Chinaman, who stood regarding me with stony calm.

"I must have stood for near upon a minute, unable to move and scarce
able to breathe, face to face with that awful figure. At length I turned
to escape, and, as I turned, he turned also, and I could see him, over
my shoulder, hurrying away. As