hes, and
had got perhaps a stone's throw past the barn, when a creeping sensation
about my skin, and a thrill of nervous apprehension made me stop
suddenly and take a look behind.

The impulse seized me unawares, or I should have laughed at myself and
gone on without yielding to such a weakness. But it was too late. My
gaze darted unerringly to the barn, whose great doors stood wide open.
There, swaying almost imperceptibly in the wind, hung the body of our
neighbor, as I had seen it that dreadful morning long ago.

For a moment I could hear again my childish sobs, and the remembrance of
that horror filled me with self-pity. Then, as the roots of my hair
began to stir, my feet set themselves instinctively for flight. This
instinct, however, I promptly and sternly repressed. I knew all about
these optical illusions, and tried to congratulate myself on this
opportunity for investigating one so interesting and vivid. At the same
time I gave a hasty side-thought to what would have happened had I been
one of the superstitious farmhands or fishermen of the district. I
should have taken to my heels in desperate terror, and been ever after
faithfully persuaded of having looked upon a veritable ghost.

I said to myself that the apparition, if I looked upon it steadfastly,
would vanish as I approached, or, more probably, resolve itself into
some chance combination of moonlight and shadows. In fact, my reason was
perfectly satisfied that the ghostly vision was due solely to the
association of ideas,--I was fresh from my classes in philosophy,--aided
and abetted by my own pretty vivid imagination. Yet the natural man,
this physical being of mine, revolted in every fibre of the flesh from
any closer acquaintance with the thing.

I began, with reluctant feet, to retrace my steps; but as I did so, the
vision only grew so much the clearer; and a cold perspiration broke out
upon me. Step by step I approached, till I stood just outside the fence,
face to face with the apparition.

I leaned against the fence, looking through between the rails; and now,
at this distance, every feature came out with awful distinctness--all so
horrible in its distortion that I cannot bear to describe it.

As each fresh gust of wind hissed through the chinks, I could see the
body swing before it, heavily and slowly. I had to bring all my
philosophy to bear, else my feet would have carried me off in a frenzy
of flight.

At last I reached the conclusion