"'Merciful God deliver me!' I exclaimed under my first impulse of amazement; and as I said the words she disappeared."
"Then, though you don't believe in ghosts, you thought it was one when you saw it," said I.
"I don't know what I thought--I admit I was a good deal frightened, and it was a long time before I fell asleep again.
"In the morning," continued Mrs. M., "my maid knocked, and I told her to come in; but the door was locked, and I had to get out of bed to admit her--I thought I might have forgotten to fasten it. As soon as I was up, I examined every part of the room, but I could find nothing to account for this intrusion. There was neither trap or moving panell, or door that I could see, except the one I had locked. However, I made up my mind not to speak of the circumstance, for I fancied I must have been deceived in supposing myself awake, and that it was only a dream; more particularly as there was no light in my room, and I could not comprehend how I could have seen this woman.
"I went out early, and was away the greater part of the day. When I returned I found more travellers had arrived, and that they had given the room next mine to a German lady and her daughter, who were at the table d'hôte. I therefore had a bed made up in my room for my maid; and before I lay down, I searched thoroughly, that I might be sure nobody was concealed there.
"In the middle of the night--I suppose about the same time I had been disturbed on the preceding one--I and my maid were awakened by a piercing scream; and I heard the voice of the German girl in the adjoining room, exclaiming, 'Ach! meine mutter! meine mutter!'
"For some time afterwards I heard them talking, and then I fell asleep--wondering, I confess, whether they had had a visit from the frightful old woman. They left me in no doubt the next morning. They came down to breakfast greatly excited--told everybody the cause--described the old woman exactly as I had seen her, and departed from the house incontinently, declaring they would not stay there another hour."
"Nothing; he said we must have dreamed it--and I suppose we did."
"Your story," said I, "reminds me of a very interesting letter which I received soon after the publication of 'The Night side of Nature.' It was from a clergyman who gave his name, and said he was chaplain to a nobleman. He related that in a house he inhabited, or had inhabited, a lady had one evening gone up stairs, and seen, to her amazement, in a room, the door of which was open, a lady in an antique dress, standing before a chest of drawers, and apparently examining their contents. She stood still, wondering who this stranger could be, when the figure turned her face towards her, and, to her horror, she saw there were no eyes. Other members of the family saw the same apparition also. I believe there were further particulars; but I unfortunately lost this letter, with some others, in the confusion of changing my residence.