ginning to realize
the rapid change which had taken place in my position and
circumstances. It was only now, when I had actually taken possession of
my property, and was absolutely in my house, that I quite grasped the
fact that I was suddenly lifted out of very narrow circumstances to a
position of affluence, and that life was opening before me a vista of
most agreeable ease and comfort. The watchman's discordant voice
croaked out "Eleven," and "Twelve." I was so wide awake that I
distinctly heard my watch ticking on the table, and a cricket chirping
somewhere a long way off; but as the last stroke of twelve sounded,
hollow and faint, from a church-clock in the distance, measured
footfalls began to walk up and down the room, and at every step came
the sounds of sobbing and sighing, growing louder and louder, till they
were like the heart-breaking cries of some creature in deadly pain or
peril, and then there came a scuffling and a scratching on the outside
of the door, and a dog whimpered and moaned, in tones that were almost
human. I had noticed the old pug--my aunt's pet and darling--the
evening before. It was evidently him, whining to get in. I got out of
bed: I stared most scrutinizingly all about the room, which was dimly
lighted by the glimmer of the sky. Everything that was in it I could
make out distinctly; but no form was to be seen moving up and down,
though the footsteps, and the sobbing and sighing, still went on,
apparently close beside my bed. And then, suddenly, I was seized by
that terror, arising from the proximity of a spirit, which I had never
known before. I felt a cold perspiration dropping from my forehead, and
my hair standing straight up on end, as if frozen by its iciness. I
could not move a limb, nor open my mouth to scream, for terror; but my
blood streamed faster in my throbbing veins, and kept my inner senses
active, though they could exercise no control over my organs, which
were paralyzed as with a spasm of death. Suddenly the footsteps
stopped, and the sobbing ceased; then I could hear a sort of coughing
sound--like a clearing of the throat more than coughing; the door of a
cupboard seemed to open; there was a clattering as of a silver spoon;
then a sound as if some bottle was opened and put back on the shelf; a
sound of swallowing, and then a deep-drawn sigh. At that instant a
tall, white figure seemed to come wavering forward out of the wall. I
sunk down into the depths of an ice river