in sight to have this matter determined. Ralph called at the
Squire's, and I saw him admitted. So I shook my head disapprovingly, and
kept on my way.

Not until late in the afternoon did I find occasion to go into that part
of the town where the old Allen house was located, though the image
of its gleaming north-west windows was frequently in my thought. The
surprise occasioned by that incident was in no way lessened on seeing a
carriage drive in through the gateway, and two ladies alight therefrom
and enter the house. Both were in mourning. I did not see their faces;
but, judging from the dress and figure of each, it was evident that one
was past the meridian of life, and the other young. Still more to my
surprise, the carriage was not built after our New England fashion, but
looked heavy, and of a somewhat ancient date. It was large and high,
with a single seat for the driver perched away up in the air, and a
footman's stand and hangings behind. There was, moreover, a footman in
attendance, who sprung to his place after the ladies had alighted, and
rode off to the stables.

"Am I dreaming?" said I to myself, as I kept on my way, after
witnessing this new incident in the series of strange events that were
half-bewildering me. But it was in vain that I rubbed my eyes; I could
not wake up to a different reality.

It was late when I got home from my round of calls, and found tea
awaiting my arrival.

"Any one been here?" I asked--my usual question.

"No one.' The answer pleased me for I had many things on my mind, and
I wished to have a good long evening with my wife. Baby Mary and Louis
were asleep: but we had the sweet, gentle face of Agnes, our first born,
to brighten the meal-time. After she was in dream-land, guarded by
the loving angels who watch with children in sleep, and Constance
was through with her household cares for the evening, I came into the
sitting-room from my office, and taking the large rocking-chair, leaned
my head back, mind and body enjoying a sense of rest and comfort.

"You are not the only one," said my wife, looking up from the basket of
work through which she had been searching for some article, "who noticed
lights in the Allen House last evening."

"Who else saw them?" I asked.

"Mrs. Dean says she heard two or three people say that the house was lit
up all over--a perfect illumination."

"Stories lose nothing in being re-told. The illumination was confined to
the room in which Ca