pon the hearth.

"I sat up in bed with that feeling of broad
awakeness and alertness which comes to us
sometimes, and caught my breath as I listened, for
through the stillness of the night came the
unmistakable sound of a gentle tapping from behind
the paneling of the wall. It was not continuous,
but more as one might rap at the chamber door of a
sleeping person, waiting every now and then to hear
if one had obtained a response. An intense and
vivid sensation came over me that I was not alone
in the room; that there was some presence other
than my own personality which was striving in some
way to force itself upon my consciousness and
arrest my attention. Was it only my fancy, or were
the moonbeams actually shaping themselves into a
human form, till against the dark background of the
fireplace, I seemed to see the misty shadowy
outline of a figure, so vague and ethereal that
even as I looked it appeared to melt again into the
moonlight and cease to exist?

"With every nerve on the stretch I strained my
eyes to gain a clearer impression. A passing cloud
left the room for a few moments in darkness, but,
as the beams shone out full and clear once more,
that shadowy figure seemed to gather substance, and
I felt as if some unknown force were compelling my
attention and chaining my every sense in a mute
endeavor to establish some chord of connection
between me and the dim spirit world which floats
forever round us. Now waxing, now waning, the
vision grew, till I fancied I caught a glint of
armor. For an instant a wild imploring glance met
my own, and a transparent finger pointed to the
richly-carved paneling below the arras, but as I
sprang from the bed the vision faded swiftly away,
leaving me standing on the floor in the calm
moonlight doubting the evidence of my senses, and
half convinced that I must still have been in the
continuance of my dream.

"Yet, as I looked, something in the carved paneling
struck my notice, and, following the direction in
which the spectral finger had pointed, I saw that
the dragons and the twisted scrolls w