at I should be visited with so unaccountable and
terrible a calamity? My presence seemed to arouse the malignity of the
_Poltergeist_, and I deemed it expedient to leave the room. I was afraid
to enter that in which the dead (?) man lay, lest I should be exposed to
further causes for alarm. There was certainly a room in the higher part of
the building in which I had been accustomed to sleep; but I dared not
venture there in my present state of mind. I entered an adjourning
corridor, and paced up and down for a few minutes, but the air was chilly,
and I was in total darkness. The disturbance ceased as soon as I had
quitted the room. I could not remain where I was, so I re-entered it, but
my return was only the signal for fresh disasters. The uproar was resumed
with tenfold energy. However much my heart might revolt from it, there was
no other course open than to go into the room where the dead body lay. In
the condition of one who is driven to the last stage of desperation, I
walked, with as much fortitude as I could command, into that chamber. God
of Heaven! I had no sooner reached the threshold than I started back with
affright. I will not dwell upon that horrible scene; I will not minutely
detail the agony I endured. The corpse sat upright! I drew the
chamber-door quickly after me and staggered into the next apartment.
Powerless and overcome, I fell to the ground.

When I recovered, it was day. The light was streaming into the chamber,
and the storm had subsided. Fresh marvels were to be revealed. I was no
longer in the room in which I had been on the preceding night. I was in
bed, in the chamber where I had hitherto slept! How came I hither? I knew
not. I pressed my hand to my brow, and strove to collect my scattered
senses. I was bewildered and confused, and could only account for the
marvelous transition to which I had been exposed, by some remarkable
agency, altogether intangible to my senses, and utterly beyond the power
of my understanding to comprehend.

I descended, as soon as I was dressed, to breakfast, of which I sparingly
partook. I was pale and agitated. My sitting-room was in its usual state
of order. I did not venture into the other apartment, neither did I speak
to the woman touching the spectacles I had witnessed.

Hoffmeister returned in the evening, some days sooner than he expected. He
observed my altered appearance, and said--

"_Was fehlt dir? Du bist krank, nicht wahr?_"

"_Nein; ich bin rec