with terror. Twice during my visit I was roused from a sound slumber
by a loud, heavy crash, resembling that which might be caused by
the overthrow of a marble-topped washstand or bureau, or some other
equally ponderous piece of furniture. The room actually vibrated, and
yet a close scrutiny of that and the adjoining apartments failed to
reveal any cause for the peculiar noise. It was a sound which could
not possibly have been produced by cracking furniture, falling bricks,
scampering rats, or any other of the numerous causes of supposed
ghostly sounds. The room overhead was used as a linen-room, and was
always kept locked; and besides, the noise (which I afterward heard
on another occasion in broad daylight, when I was wide awake) was
unmistakably _in_ the room where we found ourselves. My friend told me
that she had heard it very often--so often, in fact, that she had
got quite used to it, and no longer felt any emotion save that of
curiosity.

There was another room in which (also in broad daylight) I heard a
strange crackling sound like the rustling of a large sheet of stiff
paper or parchment turned slowly in the reader's hands. This noise
also was one of frequent occurrence. Among the things seen by other
members of the family was a light that glided over walls and ceiling
in points inaccessible to outside light or reflection. Then there was
a lady in black silk who had more than once been seen gliding about
the house, but who always disappeared when accosted or followed. Three
slow, solemn raps sometimes sounded at dead of night at the door of
one member of the family, a skeptical and irascible old gentleman.

But, strange to say, all these uncanny sights and sounds portended
nothing, and seemed to be utterly without a purpose or a cause. The
house was a cheerful modern one, and the father of my friend was
its first occupant; so there was nothing in the past to which these
unearthly occurrences could refer. Nor were they warnings of coming
misfortune. Neither death nor disaster ever followed in their train,
and in due course of time the family ceased to trouble their heads
about them--were not at all frightened, and scarcely even annoyed.
There were other sounds which I did not myself hear, but of which I
was told--stealthy footsteps that paced a certain corridor at dead
of night; a sharp, rattling noise like hail dashing against the
window-panes, and one or two other trifling yet equally unaccountable
occurre