s give you, as it has me, much ground for
thought and speculation about those mysterious laws which rule the
spirit world.

"How true it is that Thought and Feeling annihilate Time and Space!
Since last night, I seem to have lived through half a lifetime, such an
effect have its events had upon my inner life. But before I begin to
relate the strange circumstances I have to tell you, I must describe to
you more particularly this house in which they happened.

"I think I told you that 'The Priory'--where I am now lodging--is an
old mansion, belonging to the Carbury family. For some years past, it
has been let to the present occupiers who make the rent by letting
lodgings. Some ancient pieces of furniture remain, and a great many
portraits, none of the earliest date, but a handsome and respectable
collection--soldiers, bishops, and judges, in their uniforms, robes,
and wigs, and ladies with powdered hair, hoops, and trains.

"Of these portraits, _two have engaged my attention, especially, from
the first moment of seeing them_, but I am not going to speak of them
yet; my first object is to give you an idea of the house, or rather that
part of it with which my story is connected.

"I think I have told you that the grand staircase goes up from the inner
hall, and that round the staircase runs a gallery; in this gallery and
in the hall below, are hung most of the portraits.

"On the first turn and landing of the staircase, there is a door opening
into a trellised walk which leads into the garden. On a level with this
door is a large window which looks on to sweeps of soft turf, shaded by
fine trees.

"Standing often to look from this window, as I passed up and down the
staircase, one tree has always riveted my attention. It is a large old
plane-tree, standing by itself, and having a strange, melancholy,
decayed look about it. I noticed--why, I cannot imagine--that on one
side of it the ground was bare and black, though everywhere else the
grass was green and fresh. I mention this, because it had struck me
_before_ the strange events occurred which I am going to tell you.

"You must now go with me to the top of the staircase. Just at the top,
on your right hand, hangs one of the portraits I mentioned. It is a
life-sized painting of Captain Richard Carbury, who landed, on the 19th
September 1738, in the Colony of Georgia, with General Oglethorpe's
regiment.

"Opposite to this, on the other side of the gallery, is the po