Tying her bonnet and drawing her shawl round her, Dorothy Stone set off on her lonely walk. She would rather have walked twenty miles in broad daylight than that short course at midnight. All sorts of fears and ghostly fancies were in her mind. It was not a dark night, the stars being well out. Hurrying along with her face down, she had nearly gained the shrubbery, when the great stable clock struck out the hour--twelve. That increased her superstitious fears: and why or wherefore she knew not, but the night seemed to turn icy cold. She looked back, as by some subtle instinct, wondering whether anything was following her. All around seemed as silent as the grave. Suddenly, as she looked, she thought she saw something stirring at a distance behind. Something black, which had not been there a moment ago, and seemed as if it must have risen out of the ground. Fascinated, she peered out at it, unable to withdraw her gaze, her face turning white and cold, her heart standing still. She saw what appeared to be a black hearse, drawn by four headless horses and driven by a headless coachman. It was coming towards her pretty swiftly. But that she drew aside amidst the grass, it would have driven over her. More dead than alive, Dorothy gazed out at it as it passed noiselessly, without sound of any kind, and she watched it till it vanished in the distance. It seemed to drive straight against the wall at the end, where the road took a turn, to go right into the wall and so disappear. "The Lord be good to me!" she aspirated. "It wanted but this. I've never seen the sight myself, though I have heard tell of it by those who have." It must be here explained that a belief in the apparition of a black coach, or hearse, with four headless horses and a headless driver, is common to many parts of Norfolk, and is not confined to any one locality. It is supposed to foreshadow the death of some near friend or relative of the individual who is so unlucky as to see it. The striking of the midnight hour disturbed Miss Winter and Mrs. Toynbee. Neither had any idea it was so late. Starting up, Mrs. Toynbee lighted the bed-candles. "You go on," said Ella, as she wished Mrs. Toynbee goodnight. "I want to gather up my work first: I forgot to take it upstairs this afternoon." It took her a minute or two to do this. As she was crossing the hall, candle and other things in hand, she was startled by hearing a noise in the household regions. It sounded like the back-door being unlocked. Yes! and now it was burst open with a bang, and a voice that was certainly old Dorothy's gave vent to a fearful cry. Believing that everybody was in bed, Miss Winter felt considerable surprise. Dropping the odds and ends of work, she ran with her candle and found Dorothy gasping in a chair before the embers of the kitchen fire. With many moans and sobs, Dorothy related what she had seen.