One night, Jane, who had been sweeping the sleeping-room, for a
penance, dressed up the broom-stick, when she had completed her work,
with a white cloth on the end, so tied as to resemble an old woman
dressed in white, with long arms sticking out. This she stuck through a
broken pane of glass, and placed it so that it appeared to be looking
in at the window, by the font of holy water. There it remained until
the nuns came up to bed. The first who stopped at the font, to dip her
finger in, caught a glimpse of the singular object, and started with
terror. The next was equally terrified, as she approached, and the next
and the next.
We all believed in ghosts; and it was not wonderful that such an object
should cause alarm, especially as it was but a short time after the
death of one of the nuns. Thus they went on, each getting a fright in
turn, yet all afraid to speak. At length, one more alarmed, or with
less presence of mind than the rest, exclaimed, "Oh, mon Dieu! Je ne me
coucherais pas!" When the night-watch called out, "Who's that?" she
confessed she had broken silence, but pointed at the cause; and then,
all the nuns assembling at a distance from the window, Jane offered to
advance boldly, and ascertain the nature of the apparition, which they
thought a most resolute intention. We all stood looking on, when she
stepped to the window, drew in the broomstick, and showed us the
ridiculous puppet, which had alarmed so many superstitious fears.
Some of her greatest feats she performed as a sleep walker. Whether she
ever walked in her sleep or not, I am unable with certainty, to say.
She however often imposed upon the Superior and old nuns, by making
them think so, when I knew she did not; and yet, I cannot positively
say that she always did. I have remarked, that one of the old nuns was
always placed in our sleeping-room at night, to watch us. Sometimes she
would be inattentive, and sometimes fall into a doze. Jane Ray often
seized such times to rise from her bed, and walk about, occasionally
seizing one of the nuns in bed, in order to frighten her. This she
generally affected; and many times we have all been awakened, by
screams of terror. In our alarm, some of us frequently broke silence,
and gave occasion to the Superior to lay us under penances. Many tunes,
however, we escaped with a mere reprimand, while Jane usually received
expressions of compassion:--"Poor creature! she would not do so if she
were in perfect possession of her reason." And Jane displayed her
customary artfulness, in keeping up the false impression. As soon as
she perceived that the old nun was likely to observe her, she would
throw her arms about, or appear unconscious of what she was doing,
falling upon a bed, or standing stock-still, until exertions had been
made to rouse her from her supposed lethargy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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