ch a
dismal Hallow Eve as this, it was wiolently druv out'n her body! Ah!
good land! what was that?" suddenly exclaimed Miss Libby, breaking off
with a half-suppressed scream.

"It was nothing but Gem's wheel stopping suddenly, as her thread
snapped, you goose," said the old lady.

"Ah! but it sounded just like an awful groan, as it might be an echo of
_her_ dying groan as her soul fled from the body, and revived by memory,
if so be she should be walking now," shuddered Miss Libby.

"And surely, if any soul ever _did_ wander over the earth anywhere, at
any time, her soul, of all souls, would wander in this place of all
places, on this night of all nights, when she--"

"Hush, for Heaven's dear sake, both of you!" exclaimed the old lady.
"Tabby is so sentimental and Libby is so superstitious, that what with
the snivelling of one of you and the shuddering of the other, and the
talking of both, I should get the horrors myself if it weren't for Gem,
my bright Gem there, humming a tune to her humming wheel!" said the old
lady, with an affectionate glance towards the young girl. "And I
wonder," she added, "what has become of Joe? I shouldn't wonder if the
poor fellow had gone out to the pine woods to collect the cones. But
now, Tabby and Libby, let me hear no more of your snivelling and
shivering."

"But I can't help of it, mother. I should die if I didn't cry. Hallow
Eve, especially a dark, drizzly, windy, dreary Hallow Eve like this,
always brings back that awful night so vividly again. I seem to see it
all again. I seem to see my child, raging and burning like the Spirit of
Fire she called herself. I seem to hear that piercing shriek that woke
up all the house. I seem to meet that flying form in the flowing white
dress, and with the scared and pallid face. I seem to feel the hot blood
flowing down upon my hands and face, as I caught her in my arms and
tried to stop her, when she broke from me and fled screaming into the
library, and threw herself upon Lyon Berners' breast, dying. How can I
help it? How can I help it?" cried Miss Tabby with a burst of tears.

"It is her spirit a hovering over you, and impressing on you, Tabitha,"
solemnly whispered Miss Libby.

"I shouldn't wonder! no, I shouldn't wonder the least in the world,"
assented Miss Tabby, with a serious nod of her head.

"And remember, Tabby, that her murderer is still at large, and her
spirit cannot rest until that murderer is brought to justice," whispe