‘At length, the whispers that the room was spiritually troubled, brought two men to try the adventure. I was scarcely struck upon the hearth at midnight (I come there as if the Lightning blasted me into being), when I heard them ascending the stairs. Next, I saw them enter. One of them was a bold, gay, active man, in the prime of life, some five and forty years of age; the other, a dozen years younger. They brought provisions with them in a basket, and bottles. A young woman accompanied them, with wood and coals for the lighting of the fire. When she had lighted it, the bold, gay, active man accompanied her along the gallery outside the room, to see her safely down the staircase, and came back laughing. ‘He locked the door, examined the chamber, put out the contents of the basket on the table before the fire—little recking of me, in my appointed station on the hearth, close to him—and filled the glasses, and ate and drank. His companion did the same, and was as cheerful and confident as he: though he was the leader. When they had supped, they laid pistols on the table, turned to the fire, and began to smoke their pipes of foreign make. ‘They had travelled together, and had been much together, and had an abundance of subjects in common. In the midst of their talking and laughing, the younger man made a reference to the leader’s being always ready for any adventure; that one, or any other. He replied in these words: ‘“Not quite so, Dick; if I am afraid of nothing else, I am afraid of myself.” ‘His companion seeming to grow a little dull, asked him, in what sense? How? ‘“Why, thus,” he returned. “Here is a Ghost to be disproved. Well! I cannot answer for what my fancy might do if I were alone here, or what tricks my senses might play with me if they had me to themselves. But, in company with another man, and especially with Dick, I would consent to outface all the Ghosts that were ever of in the universe.” ‘“I had not the vanity to suppose that I was of so much importance to-night,” said the other. ‘“Of so much,” rejoined the leader, more seriously than he had spoken yet, “that I would, for the reason I have given, on no account have undertaken to pass the night here alone.” ‘It was within a few minutes of One. The head of the younger man had drooped when he made his last remark, and it drooped lower now. ‘“Keep awake, Dick!” said the leader, gaily. “The small hours are the worst.” ‘He tried, but his head drooped again. ‘“Dick!” urged the leader. “Keep awake!” ‘“I can’t,” he indistinctly muttered. “I don’t know what strange influence is stealing over me. I can’t.” ‘His companion looked at him with a sudden horror, and I, in my different way, felt a new horror also; for, it was on the stroke of One, and I felt that the second watcher was yielding to me, and that the curse was upon me that I must send him to sleep. ‘“Get up and walk, Dick!” cried the leader. “Try!”