gh it had never been used
within the memory of man. As she kept the keys of all the other spare
bed-chambers--a precaution quite needless with the one we speak of,
which contained only a bed, two chairs and a table, and was, moreover,
by its ghostly visiters, considered as sufficiently secured against
depredations--no excuse nor objection could be made. The Junker,
therefore, suffered himself to be conducted to the formidable apartment;
and the servant having assisted him to undress, left a light on the
table, took his departure, and closed the door after him.

It was a darkish autumnal night. The waning moon was approaching her
last quarter, her curved half disc stood deep in the heavens, and shone
in at the chamber's one high and narrow bow-window; the wind was up;
small clouds drifted in rapid, almost measured time over the moon. Their
shadows glided, as it were, like figures in the magic lantern, along the
white wall, and vanished in the fire-place. The leaden window flames
clattered with each gust, which piped and whistled through the small
loose panes; it thundered in the chimney; the chamber door rattled.
Junker Kai was no coward, his heart was set pretty near the right place;
he dared to meet his man, ride his horse, had it even been a Bucephalus;
in short, he feared no living, or, more correctly speaking, no bodily
creature; but spirits he held in most awful respect. The time and
circumstances, but more particularly the bad reputation of the chamber,
set his blood in quicker motion; and all the old ghost-stories presented
themselves unbidden before his excited imagination. Phantasus and
Morpheus contended for possession of him: the first had the advantage.
He did not venture to shut his eyes, but stared unceasingly on the
opposite wall, where the shapeless shadows seemed gradually to assume
form and meaning. Under such circumstances, it is a comfort to have
one's back free, and all one's foes in front. He therefore sat up,
dashed aside the curtain at the bed's head, and cast a glance backwards.
The bed stood in a corner; at the foot was the window; opposite the side
of the bed was the plain wall, the fire-place, and beyond that the door.
His eyes glided along to the wall behind him, where hung an ancient
portrait of a doughty knight in plate armour, with a face in form and
dimensions resembling a large pumpkin, and shadowed with dark thick
locks. On this his anxious looks were fixed. It appeared and vanished
al