front of the house I have spoken of, will startle you young folks, and
perhaps it is foolish to relate it, as you seem already quite excited
enough; but I will premise by saying, that I will only tell you what I
saw myself, or heard from those upon whose word I could implicitly rely;
and, moreover, that I do not believe in ghosts, however singular the
facts in question may appear. Of course, you know, sister," addressing my
mother, "my calls at your house were sometimes in the evening, after
attending the market or to other business during the day. It was during
one of your husband's absences at sea, that we were sitting around the
fire of a wintry night, when a lively neighbor, a lady who took much
interest in whatever was going on, came in evidently in a state of
agitation, and taking her seat, with very brief greeting, broke out with
the exclamation, 'There he is again!' I did not understand what this
meant, but it was soon explained to us that, for a week or ten days past,
some person, or figure, or whatever it might be, had been observed
walking fore and aft, in front of the house opposite the meeting-house,
at a certain hour of the evening, and though many had passed, no one had
recognized him, nor did he take any notice whatever of any one whom he
met. He was said to wear a pea-jacket buttoned to the chin, and a glazed
hat, as if prepared for any kind of weather; or, as the gossips
afterwards said, indicating the fact that he was the forerunner of the
loss of not a few masters of vessels residing in the neighborhood, who
perished at sea during the storms of that season. I took my hat and went
out to see if I could discover anything uncommon. It was a moonlight
night, with a light fall of snow upon the ground. As I passed up the
short street to the square, Aunt Foggison's chamber window was thrown
open, and her daughter's voice was plainly heard berating the supposed
spectral night-walker. 'What are you doing there, you good-for-nothing
scamp, you?' cried she, in a voice that must have reached any mortal
ears; 'why don't you go home to your family, if you've got any family, or
wherever else you belong, instead of stalking up and down here,
frightening honest folks out of their senses?' Overcome perhaps by the
vigor of her expostulation, the window was shut down with a slam. As I
advanced, though I certainly had a full view of a human-looking figure
upon its round and at no great distance either, and my senses had be