The Last Tenant

ransfixed

placed upon any judgment I may have formed--that if human feet produced it they must have been encased in soft shoes or slippers. It has ever since been to me a matter for wonder how a sound so fine could have reached our ears fr

hen and were on the stairs leading from the basement to the hall. If my surmise was correct there were

an inhabited house near us. We had not seen a human being in the thoroughfare, and, as the prospect, from the windows of the room in which we now sto

tisfaction the intrusion of respectable persons who had unconsciously put themselves in their power. Supposing that these evil-doers were concealed in the lower rooms when we entered, they could rob and murder us with little fear of discovery. But there was also the consoling reflection that they might be in the house with no sinister d

, and we both strained our ears in the endeavor to foll

sh creak of rusty hinges, but no such comforting sounds reached our ears, and presently the dead silence was br

ned. "What shall we do

as not an article of furniture in it--not a stick. I would have given the world for an ax or a piece of iron with which I could have made some kind of defense. We were absolutely helpless and powerless, and it was my terror that made me certain that we were threaten

om whom it proceeded were engaged upon an open and honest mission, but stealthily and covertl

rst floor and, after another deathlike pause, comme

ispered my agonized wife, wringing h

fe flew to the window, and, throwing it open, began to scream for help--that is to say, she would have screamed if she had had the power, but her voice was almost frozen in her throat, and the sounds that issued from her were of a ravenlike hoarse

upon us, but the stealthy pat, pat, pat of the footsteps continued, and were now in the middle of the staircase; there could be but a few more stairs to ascend. Still another hope remained--that when the footsteps reached the second landing they w

diabolical purpose, and that we were in the direst peril--were making preparations to carry it into effect. Presentl

ng done outside the door? The torture of the suspense was maddening; the silence was more harrowing

e shape, a shadow, which as I gazed grew more distinct, and yet was never quite vivid to my sight. It was the figure of a young girl, poorly dressed, with carpet slippers on her feet. Her hair was hanging loose, and the tattered remnants of a cap attached to it was an indication that her station in life was--or more properly speaking, had been--that of a domestic se

ummoned it from the grave? For what purpose had it come? What did it require of me? It is probable that I should have mustered courage to ask some such

e at its feet, but when my eyes traveled up to its face they became magnetized, as it were. The spell was broken by a movement on the ground, not pr

ough its skin, almost bare of hair, its bones were sharply outlined. It was black; it

upon the ground a bloody imprint I could not have been more awestricken. It paused a few inches from me, where it crouched motionless so

I was irresistibly impelled by a desire to convince myself whether the cat which had accompanied me to and fro was as palpable to touch as to sight. Kneeling to put this to the test I found myself kneeling on my wife's dress. So engrossed had I been in the astounding apparitions that

drops of brandy and water down her throat, and I was presently relieved by se

it g

dly argued that I might myself be the victim of

t gone,

; "that dreadful figure

yourself

I made the request, and I nervously

she sighed. "But, Edwar

ew it open,

rd! I heard you turn

s we were, how could we trust the evidence of our senses? An

en my fancy. Did

lusion, but that the spectral figure of the young girl had really presented itself

cessary to ascertain whether the cat lyi

Look round the room--at the door, at the walls, at t

in every direction, not omitting the spo

ee anythin

he figure you spoke of was

ally saw

thi

keeping tight hold of me. I assisted her to her f

id "do not let us remain in

she shrunk back, fearing that the apparition of the young girl was lurking there. She experienced the same fear as we descended the stairs, and clung to me in terror when we approached an open door. I was grateful that the apparition

into the streets with us, or would return to the resting place w

ire to do so. I went down the stone steps to the front garden; the cat accompanied me. I walked through the front garden out of the gate, straight into L

ich we were now surrounded restored

on the doorstep, E

the street do

e that house, my

will not

ote in my voice str

e matter with y

glancing at the

ng at? Why are your

ak in a lively tone, and failing dismally

y explanation

not go through such another tria