entirely
unknown. Outside, there was not a sound, for the whole town was buried in
profound sleep, and our own household was in the same state of repose. It
was just on the stroke of twelve. Our house was a very ancient one,
though I never heard that there was anything peculiarly remarkable in its
history. Sitting thus, and thus engaged in serious, solitary
contemplation, the sudden fall of something heavy in the garret overhead
gave me a momentary start. I could compare it to nothing but to the
effect likely to be produced by something as solid as a smaller
description of cannon-ball, though it afterwards appeared to have
attracted the attention of no one else in the family. Supposing that
some article of furniture had accidentally fallen, the noise of which had
been rendered more noticeable by the perfect stillness of the night, I
pursued my occupation, until I felt disposed for sleep. On the following
night, while engaged in the same way, and at the same midnight hour, came
the same heavy, sharp, distinct thud upon the floor directly above my
head. I was disposed to philosophize on the subject, and, though the
coincidence was certainly peculiar, I still conceived that this unusual
sound, at such an unusual hour, might be attributed to some natural
cause. Perhaps, a heavy cat might have jumped down from beams above, on
both occasions, and the noise was magnified by the otherwise unbroken
stillness, though so far as I remember we kept no such cat of our own. I
am sure that the idea of anything supernatural scarcely occurred to me,
or was dismissed with derision. Nevertheless, the circumstances were
peculiar enough to induce me to make a thorough examination of the garret
on the following morning, and I was struck by the fact, that it was
perfectly bare of any article of furniture above my chamber, or in the
neighborhood of that part of the attic, which could have fallen. I was
naturally a good deal perplexed at an occurrence for which there seemed
no rational means of accounting, but I kept my own counsel. On the third
night, at the same hour, when the clear bell from the steeple of a
meeting-house not far distant had just tolled twelve, came the same
sudden, single, distinct sound of a fall on the floor, directly over my
head. I will not say as Marmion did, on the occasion above referred
to,--

"'I care not though the truth I show,--
I trembled with affright.'

"On the contrary, thou