vective, which is seldom met with.
And what would happen if he were to see me, and find out, as I am
sure he would, how long and why I had inhabited his house, I can
scarcely conceive. I have seen him in his bursts of passion; and,
although he did not hurt the people he stormed at any more than he
would hurt me, they seemed to shrink before him."

All this I knew to be very true. Had it not been for this
peculiarity of Mr. Hinckman I might have been more willing to talk
to him about his niece.

"I feel sorry for you," I said, for I really began to have a
sympathetic feeling toward this unfortunate apparition. "Your case
is indeed a hard one. It reminds me of those persons who have had
doubles, and I suppose a man would often be very angry indeed when
he found that there was another being who was personating himself."

"Oh, the cases are not similar at all," said the ghost. "A double or
doppelgaenger lives on the earth with a man, and, being exactly like
him, he makes all sorts of trouble, of course. It is very different
with me. I am not here to live with Mr. Hinckman. I am here to take
his place. Now, it would make John Hinckman very angry if he knew
that. Don't you know it would?"

I assented promptly.

"Now that he is away I can be easy for a little while," continued
the ghost; "and I am so glad to have an opportunity of talking to
you. I have frequently come into your room and watched you while you
slept, but did not dare to speak to you for fear that if you talked
with me Mr. Hinckman would hear you and come into the room to know
why you were talking to yourself."

"But would he not hear you?" I asked.

"Oh no!" said the other; "there are times when any one may see me,
but no one hears me except the person to whom I address myself."

"But why did you wish to speak to me?" I asked.

"Because," replied the ghost, "I like occasionally to talk to
people, and especially to some one like yourself, whose mind is so
troubled and perturbed that you are not likely to be frightened by a
visit from one of us. But I particularly wanted to ask you to do me
a favor. There is every probability, so far as I can see, that John
Hinckman will live a long time, and my situation is becoming
insupportable. My great object at present is to get myself
transferred, and I think that you may, perhaps, be of use to me."

"Transferred!" I exclaimed. "What do you mean by that?"

"What I mean," said the other, "is this: now that I h