LUCUBRATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 225, 22 September 1928, Page 2 (Supplement)

LUCUBRATION.

(By DOLIN'A HUEY, 12. Ardmore Road, Heme Bay; age 16.)

I closed my book with a resounding J slam. Oh, the hair-raising, blood-curd-I ling chapters! I felt the blood draining I from my face and the cold perspiration j gathering on u>\ forehead. I looked I towards the window where the wind j made the blind boards rattle forebodI ingly and the curtains wave horribly, j fully expecting them to part and the j pule faco of the mad woman in "Jane j Eyre" to peer through at me. The door of ray bedroom stood partly , open. I jumped out of bod and banged lit bhut. Wheii the echo died, the dreadful silence "surged softly backward," but I was the sole '"listener." No one was home but I. and I had retired to bed to read my dear "Charlotte Bronte," as I called her famous book. I walked boldly across the floor, intending to investigate my wardrobe for a stray "Mrs. Rochester," when a tall white-clad ligure, with black hair and staring eyes, suddenly planted itself before me. A queer sensation at once seemed to arise from my feet, and. like an electric current, rose to my head, "leaving my body as light as a feather. This took place in about half a second, and at the same time a scream rose from somewhere within me and stuck chokingly in my throat. Then, as suddenly as it had arisen, the senI nation floated down from my head like j a varm stream, back to my" feet. The ! blood rushed to my face, and the tingling of my sralp ceased. What a glorious relief! I looked at the figure, now Hushed in the face, and smiled —it smiled in return. I had had fright enough, so, instead of investigating further, I switched off the electric light and returned to bed, covering my throbbing head with the , blankets. But I could not sleep. Silence seemed to vibrate through my ears, and I pushed back the clothes from my head and inhaled the cool air. What a fool I was. -Fancy the idiocv of being frightened at my "own reflection! How absurd it seemed nowl Then suddenly I lay still—my breath drawn—my heart throbbing wildly. What—whatever was that sound? Again I heard it. Someone breathing I distinctly heard a sigh. Oh, my poor rucked nerves! 1 listened —my whole body stiff and strained. For a second or two I heard nothing but the heavy throb, throb of my heart, pulsating in every part of my body. Then, quite close to my head it seemed I heard a sigh—lonedrawn—deep. 6 I did not more—l could not—dared not. I lay thus for (it seemed to me) an hour, ready to distrust my ears, for the sigh had not been repeated. Alas! Again it came—again, long-drawn, deep, in my sensitive ears. I was paralysed with fear. The silence and stillness were awful. I longed to hear any familiar sound and listened vainly; even the bark of a dog would break the epell. At last—it seemed an age—l heard a clatter of boots, faint and very far away, but oh, so very, verv welcome, Someone was coming. Now I could hear whistling. It was mv brother Jackreturning from a club meeting. I heard the click of the gate, although our «ate is a long way from the house. I heard my brother coming up the path, entering the door. I coughed. Oh, what a relief. I heard him moving about. Then I remembered that dreadful sighing. "Jack! Jack!" I screamed wildly. He came, running, and switched on the light. "Good gracious!" he said, "whatever 5 * up? \ou send a fellow off his rockers with a scream like that. What's old Rags doing here? Keeping the bogies off? ° I looked at my brother. Then, and ouly then did I realise how great was my affection for him. But what was he saying about Ra^s?

Well! Oh, of all the fools that «*r were, I think I was the maddest. Why ever couldn't I have thought of that before? I laughed tremulously. v« brother stared. " "You've got something up tout alecm* he said slyly. *Tm off. "You didst half scare me by that jell, and now you laugh as though it was funny mil lnji me tear like mad to lay your Borderer. Good-night. Come "on, Bags!" He strode from the room, my dog trotting obediently behind him. My dog! Yes, it was he that was breathing and sighing—beneath my bed He, who had nearly maddened nic with fright, my own dear <iog. Anyhow I tSBt have thought of looking "under the asm for anything spooky. It was generally the first place in which I searched far aj>f»aritions. However, it was all over now, so I turned over and was soon deep in a dreamless sleep.