ber my words; I shall not live till the year
is out."

I did not know what to answer, and gazed upon her in astonishment for
some minutes, when suddenly her face grew agonised, and she manifested
symptoms of impatience.

"What is it, Maud?" I asked. "What ails you?" She seemed to have
difficulty in answering, but I fancied that I understood the words, "I
am drawn to the body; let me go."

And rising suddenly from her chair and gasping, she made for the door,
but disappeared from my sight before she had time to reach it.

I remained stupefied at the figure's sudden disappearance, as well as at
the whole occurrence of the evening. I knew not what to think. Had I
been dreaming? No. This was not the first time, either, that I had seen
her. I had been holding converse with no less a being than Maud's ghost;
her own pure and beautiful spirit, drawn by my art from the body while
yet breath remained.

A horrid thought struck me. Perhaps I had detained the spirit too long
away from the body. Perhaps there was no one in the house to wake her
out of her trance. I reproached myself for not foreseeing the mischief
that I might do, and returned home from the theatre that evening with
Maud more than ever in my thoughts.

Next morning when I awoke, whether from the excitement of the previous
evening or from a cold caught by walking home in the rain, or both
combined, perhaps, I found myself in a high fever. I was compelled to
remain in bed, though I was averse to sending for the doctor until some
days later, when I found the fever grew rapidly worse.

A doctor was sent for--not my friend Merrivale, as I knew not where he
lived--and he attributed my illness to over-study and want of proper
exercise. I merely mention my illness to tell you a dream which occurred
to me during a portion of it. I thought that I was transported to realms
of enchantment, and that whilst the most beautiful scenery imaginable
lay before me, I heard in the distance soft strains of music and
singing, which gradually drew nearer and nearer to me.

The atmosphere seemed to fill with a delicious perfume, and looking
upwards, I descried a troop of angels, bearing one with them who seemed
lately of this earth. The angels gradually descended, and left the
figure they carried with them at my feet, whilst they flew upward. I
instantly recognised in the figure before me the features of Maud. She
was dressed in a long robe of white, and, with an expression in her