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Can Such Things Be?

Chapter 5 A Diagnosis of Death

Word Count: 1305    |    Released on: 19/11/2017

f you - only a few, I confess - believe in the immortality of the soul, and in apparitions which you have not the honesty to call ghosts. I go no further than a conviction that

ard, an image of one's self to the eyes of another. Doubtless the impressing personality has to be the

ying sensations to the wrong kind o

gratified; that is about the reply that I s

good deal to say, don't you think? Perhaps you wi

n," Hawver said, "but that does n

y. Not only so, but he had withdrawn himself almost altogether from social life and become a recluse. I was told by the village doctor, about the only person with whom he held any relations, that during his retirement he had devoted himself to a single line of study, the result of which he had expounded in a book that did not commend itself to the approval of his professional brethren, who, indeed, considered him not entirely sane. I have not seen the book and cannot now recall the title of it, but I am told that it expounded a rather startling th

nts that slept in the house, but I have always been, as you know, rather fond of my own society, being much addicted to reading, though little to study. Whatever was the cause, the effect was dejection and a sense of impending evil; this was especially so in Dr. Mannering's study, although that room was the lightest and most airy in the house. The doctor's life-size po

ed, but distinctly uncanny. It interested but did not disturb me. I moved the lamp from one side to the other and observed the effects of the altered light. While so engaged I felt an impulse to turn round. As I d

d, somewhat coldly, 'but if

r, as in warning, and without a word went on out of the room, tho

pparition. That room had only two doors, of which one was locked; the other led into a bedroom, f

nes laid down by the old masters of the art. If that were so I should not have related it, even

men were silent. Dr. Frayley absently

asked -"anything from which you

red and di

finger, as in warning. It's a trick he had - a habit when saying som

pparition had done. But, goo

pparently gr

of the most striking and important of the century's contributions to medical sc

ack across the room; then approached his friend, and in a voice not altoget

you to go to your room. You play the violin like an angel. Play it; play

e violin at his neck, the bow upon the strings, hi

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Can Such Things Be?
Can Such Things Be?
“Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (1842-1914) was an American editorialist, journalist, short-story writer and satirist, today best known for his The Devil's Dictionary (1911). He wrote some of his books under the pseudonyms Dod Grile and J. Milton Sloluck. Bierce's lucid, unsentimental style has kept him popular when many of his contemporaries have been consigned to oblivion. His dark, sardonic views and vehemence as a critic earned him the nickname, "Bitter Bierce." Such was his reputation that it was said his judgment on any piece of prose or poetry could make or break a writer's career. His short stories are considered among the best of the 19th century, providing a popular following based on his roots. He wrote realistically of the terrible things he had seen in the war in such stories as An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Killed at Resaca, and Chickamauga. His works include: The Fiend's Delight (1873), Cobwebs from an Empty Skull (1874), Black Beetles in Amber (1892), Fantastic Fables (1899), Shapes of Clay (1903), A Son of the Gods, and A Horseman in the Sky (1907), Write It Right (1909) and A Cynic Looks at Life (1912).”
1 Chapter 1 The Death of Halpin Frayser2 Chapter 2 The Secret of Macarger's Gulch3 Chapter 3 One Summer Night4 Chapter 4 The Moonlit Road5 Chapter 5 A Diagnosis of Death6 Chapter 6 Moxon's Master7 Chapter 7 A Tough Tussle8 Chapter 8 One of Twins9 Chapter 9 The Haunted Valley10 Chapter 10 A Jug of Sirup11 Chapter 11 Staley Fleming's Hallucination12 Chapter 12 A Resumed Identity13 Chapter 13 A Baby Tramp14 Chapter 14 The Night-Doings at "Deadman's"15 Chapter 15 Beyond the Wall16 Chapter 16 A Psychological Shipwreck17 Chapter 17 The Middle Toe of the Right Foot18 Chapter 18 John Mortonson's Funeral19 Chapter 19 The Realm of the Unreal20 Chapter 20 John Bartine's Watch21 Chapter 21 The Damned Thing22 Chapter 22 Haita the Shepherd23 Chapter 23 An Inhabitant of Carcosa24 Chapter 24 The Stranger