ever it was,
had disappeared, and was nowhere, or any longer, visible. Place of
concealment there was none. He examined the ground about him. It was
firm and compact, and without a fissure in which a rat could, conceal
itself.

There is no power in human nature which enables the heart of man, under
similar circumstances, to bear the occurrence of such a scene as we have
described, unmoved. The man was hardened--an infidel, an atheist; but,
notwithstanding all this, a sense of awe, wonder, and even, in some
degree, of terror, came over his heart, which nearly unnerved him.
Most atheists, however, are utter profligates, as he was; or silly
philosophers, who, because they take their own reason for their guide,
will come to no other conclusion than that to which it leads them. "It
is simply a hallucination," said he to himself, "and merely the result
of having heard the absurd nonsense of what that ignorant and credulous
old friar related tonight concerning my family. Still it is strange,
because I am cool and sober, and in the perfect use of my senses. This
is the same appearance which I saw before near the Haunted House, and of
which I never could get any account. What if there should be--?"

He checked himself and proceeded to his lodgings, with an intention of
returning home the next morning; which he did, after having failed in
the murderous mission which he undertook to accomplish.

"Mother," said he, after his return home, "all is lost: Alice Goodwin
has been restored to perfect health by Valentine Greatrakes, and
my twelve hundred a year is gone for ever. How can we enter into
negotiations with that sharp old scoundrel, Lord Cockle-town, now?
I assure you I had her at the last gasp, when Greatrakes came in and
restored her to perfect health before my face. But, setting that aside
for the present, is there such a being as what is termed the Black
Spectre, mysteriously connected, if I may say so, with our family?"

His mother's face got pale as death.

"Why do you ask, Harry?" said she.

"Because," he replied, "I have reason to think that I have seen it
twice."

"Alas! alas!" she exclaimed, "then the doom of the curse is upon you. It
selects only one of every generation on which to work its vengeance. The
third appearance of it will be fatal to you."

"This is all contemptible absurdity, my dear mother. I don't care if I
saw it a thousand times. How can it interfere with my fate?"

"It does not interfere,"