My Ghost.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 184, 25 December 1886, Page 2

My Ghost.

*• My ghoßt j" —well, now I have settled the title, I begin to be conscious of a litole ambiguity in it. Certainly I can lay no claim to any ability to settle the vexed question of supernatural appearances from personal knowledge — as of one who has himself passed into the stage of a mere "appearance." .On the other hand, no amount ot philosophical argument will ever alter the foot that 1 have seen a ghost; and as thisexperienceisnotone vouchsafed to everybody, I must maintain that 1 have acquired a sufficient right of ownership in the mattor to justify me in p peaking of "my ghost." But let my tale tell itß own story. I had received an invitation from the groat man of my family to join a large party at his shooting-box in Sutherlandshire, As I took my seat at Eußton, in the carriage which was tj be my home for a weary number ©f hours, I looked round to flee if among my companions there might chance to be anyone I knew. •' Yes, to be sure," thought I with a kind of internal scowl, as my vis-a-vis laid down the evening paper which he had been studying, "here is » good big metal-pot to begin with.'" No lees indeed than the Honourable Travers, head of the Wafer and Pounce Box office ; — and, worst luck of all, a man whom I had so often had occasion to see upon official business that I dared not pretend not to know him, and I did not think it likely he would pretend not [to know me. The Honourable Archi- | bald was just a round, portly, pleasant-look-I ing sort of man ; somewhat rubicund face, as one who had never felt called upon to despise the more material pleasures of this life and not at all remarkable, as I know, either for undue devotion to duty on his own part or for strictness with respect to his subordinates. I need not have regarded him with any apprehension. He saluted me with perfect cordiality, seemed really glad to have met) with someone he lcnevT(although so terrible a number of rungs beneath him on the official ladder), and we became the best friends in the world long before we wore able at Carlisle to snatch a hasty but moat welcome breakfast. By this time, too, we bad become acquainted with each other's plans and projects. Mr Travers had been summoned to London on business, and was hurrying back to rejoin hie party at Kingussil. This place lay at no great distance from the main line, and he hoped to reach it in time for a fair day's sport, in which he invited me to join. I could epend the night at his place, he said, and get on the next day to my cousin's ; and as I had no reason to suppose that my relative would be heart-broken at the delay in our meeting, I accepted the invitation as frankly as it wag offered. A good day's sport, with plenty of hard walking among the wiry moorland grasp, followed by an excellent dinner and a little music ; and when, after the ladie3 had retired, we of the sterner sex drew round the fire for a tumbler of toddy and a farewell cigar, it would have been hard to find a pleasanter or a merrier party in all Scotland. But every pleasure has its end, and every merry party its breaking-up. Our genial host prefaced the signal of departure by some sage references to early country hours, and prepared himself to conduct me to my room which I had not yet seen. Kingussil Tower was a house in two parts, as dissimilar as might well be, and only slenderly connected together. The house proper "\vaa quite modern, and had been conßtructed with a laudable regard to comfort, but with very little concern for architectural appearance ; but attached to it by a short corridor was a low tower, from which the place took its name — a remnant of the original mansion, and evidently of great antiquity. In this tower one room, the middle one, was still habitable ; the lower apartment being a mere store for lumber, and the upper room partly ruinous. The only habitable chamber was to be my abode for the night ; and I mu«*t confess to a somewhat " gruesome" feeling as my host, lamp in hand, preceded me along the cold bare corridor, and up the narrow winding stairs to my lonely room. Yefc surely there was little for romance to feed u pou in its aspect. All trace of antiquity had vanished trom its interior, the walla of which rud been plastered and painted a fiat tint in diatempar, the conscience of the decorator having apparently shrunk from the abomination of paper-hangings under the circumptancea. The furniture was quite modern and commonplace, tho usual furniture indeed of an extra bed-room in a country house. Nothing, in fact, save the massive thickness of the door and the emallness of the window, testified to the real age of the room : and everything was matter-of-fact and comfortable My ho<»t j apologisrd for the absence of a fire on the very pufficient ground that there was no fireplace, and tor the small size of the chamber on the equally valid plea that no other in the houke was unoccupied. I assured him that no apology was naoded ; we I wished each other a cordial good night ; — in five minutee more I was snugly curled up in bed, and, as I think, in another five minutes fast asleep. This ia a strange prologuetoaghoststory, is it not? Yet so much was necessary to show that I had no unearthly fancies in my mind ; — and now I will simply tell what followed. How long I had tlopt I cannot sa}', but I awoke from a profound slumber, suddenly, instantly, and with an altogether indescribable thrill in every nerve of my body. Except for the ticking of my watch, there was the most absolute silence. The massive mullions of the narrow window stood faintly relieved against a moonless sky, in which not a star was visible ; not a sound broke the intense, oppressive ntillnep9 ; the very world seemed to tleep What was it tbat had roused me so suddenly so, imporiously :— ah ! what ? I etrained my eyes, my ears, in vain ; not a eight, not a sound. Only the dim, changless light from the window on which my gaze waR fixed : only that vague, mysterious, suffocating silence which I would so gladly have heard broken by the rush of the wind, by the pattering of the rain, by tho bark of a wakeful watch dog ; by anything. Silence, and solitude, and yet the cold sweat stood in beads upon my forehead as I strove to collect my thoughts. Solitude ? Was Iso sure of that'l Not so — for by Heaven ! I wap not alone. The room wag dark as ever, and yet I seemed gradually to become able to see. I cannot explain, or even describe, how the power came, which seemed dependent rather upon some change in my own faculties than upon any outward aid ; but come it did, and by degrees all that was in the room became visible. And bo growing imper ceptibly out of the darkness, like come dim mist-wreath upon a mountain side, touched by a abort ray of yet invisible dawn, slowly stole into distinctness the figure of a woman. Although as plainly visible to me as the paper 1 write upon, I hesitate, when I try to recall the details of my strange experience, to say that I actually saw anything, as we understand seeing. I can only describe my feelings by saying that the impression seemed to be made directly upon my mind rather than upon my eyea ;— to which, indeed, all peemed shadowy, shifting, and vague. Be that oa it may, there she waa ; pacing, -with slow monotonous regularity, to and fro— to and fro; her head bowed down as if in deep thought, one hand pressed upon her

bosom, the other hanging rigid and clenched by her side. My own first feeling was one of relief. I knew then, I have never doubted since, and I am well assured now, that my visitant waB nothing earthly ;—but anything waß preferable to the awful suspense of terror in impenetrable darkness ; and then it was some comfort to see that the apparation was utterly indifferent to my presence. Still to and fro, to and fro ;—; — the right hand now and then raised and pressed to the brow as if in bewilderment, but no other change in the endless, reetlese, weary walk. 1 es, a change at length. After watching the figure so long as to begin to wonder iv my own mind whether I were not dreaming, I saw it at last stop, and standing by the window, draw from its breast a paper, over which the head seemed to bend still lower, in deeper thought. And now I became aware, with a shock which I remember too well to greatly care to recall, that another form was entering the room, Tho ponderous door, which evidently dated trom the building of the tower, was close to the head of the bed upon which I was lying, and through this doo* glided the figure of a man. I have often heard in ghost stories of strange noipes, of opening door?, of mysterious foottails, and. even of audible clanking of impalpable feti ters. I confess that I understand nu such. incongruous mixture of the spiritual and th© material, nor does it tally with my experience, which, although small in amount, amply supplies all my desires. The forms I saw were manifestly no more affected by material circumstaucea than they were themselves material; and for whatever purpose of retributory psnanco, or with whatever re-awakening of past crime tbey revisited the world —it -was clearly no longer the same world to tnem. I saw the man glide by my bedside* and I thought, from hip af.<i*ude t that his step must have been as stealthy and as silent in life as then He «»t'>l<? bej hind the female figure 4 and for a moment watched her; peering above her shoulder till 1 could almost imagine the hofc broath upon her white neck. Then with a sudden spring, with one hand he snai chert the letter from her, while with Lis other he gripped her in a savaga clutch Wbat followed was the strangest and most a^ful part of all, but it was ove* 1 almost in a moment. I ?aw tho hoad thiovrn back as if: in agony, I saw the amal!, white hands beating frantically aj£«»in*r( the window panes, I saw what seemed a (lash of steol; — and one f rra sank riovvn, r, mysterious, terrible heap which the other bent ever whether wilh remote or exultation 1 know not: and all this while, absolute silence. Not a scream when the star Jed head flung back so widely, and the white lips as in despair ; —not a sound v>-heu tho handy beat so fiorcoly on the window to imploirt for help ; —not a groin as the mysterious lite ebb6d fiom its mvi-itiie «imna. All s-iient, mysterious, uneaithly. And aa I watched, the forms, motionless no>v, L-ded slowly, slowly avray ; tho d-i^k or t lines of thi window were again all tlu.fc T co\ild see j—l wab alone.

***■*■».** That is really the end of my story, but in practice, I find thir, no o? oi«o i« couieut without a word or two after ihe end. What did Ido ? Was there any ex-ol tnation ? What did people say ? Tho^e ate the questions I am always asked —and I nmy as well at once answer them. What I did vino to rise instantly, huddle on my ti< die?. anct pull open the window ;—a profv^e causing an amount of noise which thnvuugUy roused the yard-dog, to niy infinite comfort) and peace of mind. Wlwl tiiy bo^'fc u'tid if hon I quietly told him all in the uurm-.i^ \^ad ohat I had acted with great discretion iv soeaking to him alone ; that there weio iDgeuds which would tally with what I had eQ^n, And far explain it; but that the reputation or being haunted was what ho b;y no raean^ ooveted for KiDguseii Tower ; and th-it tho ifc 1-- '..hose unsatistactory matters weiti Lalked about the better. My doctor, whom I had to consulr and to coijfido in, seilled the matter (to his own satisfaction) in a minute. "I see, sir," said he, " pin;tli room, ponderous door, no chimney, window cluted—the case is clear as A.8.0." So it was, my scientific friend, quite clear enough for mo. And so clear that although the J]ouourablo Archibald was my good fiienrl ever rtffcer, and many a time my hos>l at Kiriguritiil, neither I nor anyone elee has ever *mcc b.?en abked to spend a night wilhin Kusgussil Tower.