nces. Once, too, a young lady visiting the house heard in the
next room to that in which she was loud and lamentable sounds, as of
a woman weeping bitterly and in sore distress. She listened in
considerable perplexity for some time, fearing to intrude on the
sorrows of some member of the family; but at last she resolved to go
and proffer aid, if not consolation. As he approached the door between
the two rooms the sound suddenly ceased, and, to her amazement, she
found the adjoining apartment not only empty, but with the door locked
and bolted on the inside.

I once knew a young lady who, on going to pay a visit to a friend who
had recently moved into a new house, was asked to walk up stairs,
and on complying saw an old woman preceding her up the staircase.
Supposing her to be one of the servants, she took but little notice
of her, though struck by the peculiarity of her gait, a sort of jerky
limp, as though one leg was shorter than the other. In the course of
conversation with her friend she mentioned the old woman, and asked if
she was the housekeeper. "Housekeeper? no," said the lady: "we have no
such person about our house. You must have been mistaken." The visitor
then described the person she had seen, and when she mentioned the
peculiar limp her hostess seemed startled. After a pause she said:
"No such person lives here _now_, but the woman who took care of this
house before we rented it was exactly such a person as you describe,
and was lame in just such a manner. But she died here about six weeks
ago--I think in this very room--so your eyes must certainly have
deceived you." The lady still persisted that she had seen the old
woman; so the servants were called and the house thoroughly searched,
but no intruder was discovered.

I have known several instances of persons who have seen the "fetch" or
apparition of a living person, called in Germany the "Doppelgaenger;"
yet, though such appearances are usually supposed to portend the death
or illness of the person thus strangely "doubled," I have never
yet heard of a case where any unpleasant consequences followed. For
instance, an old friend of mine, a gentleman of undoubted veracity,
once told me that on one occasion he entered his house about
five o'clock in the afternoon, and ran up stairs to his mother's
bed-chamber, where he saw her standing near the centre of the room,
clad in a loose white gown and engaged in combing out her long black
hair. He remained look