it so long, and by which it had been so uninterruptedly warmed, sighed forth its dying breath. Cook smelt this: it reached her nostrils first; and, as experience had taught her to know in an instant what it was, she turned, on the impulse of the moment, with the view of consigning it at once to the fire. She had scarcely, however, touched the candlestick which contained it, when her blood chilled with horror, for she heard distinctly footsteps approaching. Mary heard those footsteps, too; but they had not time to glance at each other, before the kitchen-door absolutely opened, and they beheld a tall figure enveloped in a sheet. They tried to scream, but could not: terror had struck them dumb. They had risen from their seats, but stood utterly appalled.
The figure, apparently unconscious of their presence, now glided gradually through the kitchen, and turning into the passage which led to the pantry, disappeared. But, although they could not see it then, neither could speak, for they plainly heard it still.
Anon the figure again appeared, and their blood grew apparently colder than before; and while their strained eyeballs seemed ready to burst, they stood as if to that particular spot they had been absolutely riveted! Still the apparition seemed not to perceive them: it glided without turning its head back to the door at which it had entered, and when it had closed it with the utmost care, they saw the appalling spectre no more.
Now, although they were still half-dead with fright, and continued to tremble with unexampled violence, the very instant the figure had vanished, and all had become quite silent again, they simultaneously uttered a series of screams, of the loudest and most piercing character.
Sleeping, as he did, immediately over the kitchen, Judkins heard these frightful screams, and conceiving, from their nature, that they did, in reality, mean something, he leaped out of bed, and rushed into the passage: but as, by the light of the moon, he perceived, indistinctly, the figure approaching, he rushed back again without any loss of time; and, having locked his door in the twinkling of an eye, buried himself beneath the bedclothes in a state of indescribable terror.
The short space of time which the whole of this occupied, was indeed amazing. He had never displayed so much alacrity before—he had never in his life made so much haste. Under any other conceivable circumstances, he must have been utterly astonished at himself! he stopped for nothing—he was wonderfully active; no one who knew him could, for a moment, have imagined that he had so much activity in him.
The screaming, however, continued still; and, at length, Aunt Eleanor, throwing a cloak around her, descended with her night-lamp, to ascertain the cause. She experienced no difficulty, of course, in discovering from what particular part of the house those screams proceeded: she knew at once that they came from the kitchen, and hence, to the kitchen she quickly repaired; but the moment she lifted the latch of the door, cook and Mary sank upon their knees, and convulsively buried their faces in their hands.
"Why, what in the name of goodness," said Aunt Eleanor, "can be
