for her at a village near London, where he frequently visited her. It seems he spared no expense on the daughters' education, but they were very unhappy, for after their mother's death he took them to reside with him, and he was to them the most cruel of tyrants. His temper was dreadful, and it became daily more morose and more violent. No servant would have remained with him but for the enormously high wages which he gave. Well, he had been quite outrageous for some time, and one night, as our friend there, Dr. Graham, was passing down the lane that runs almost close to one side of the house, going on a night visit to a patient, he was startled by seeing a figure all bloody at a window in Mr. Norton's house; he thought it was fancy at first, but the moon was shining brightly, and on looking attentively he became convinced that he saw a human being covered with blood, and holding up its hands apparently in supplication to Heaven. He went to the house, and with much difficulty roused the servants. When he described what he had seen, and at which window the bloody figure was standing, they said that it was the window of their master's chamber, and that they dared not disturb him; but the doctor insisted that Mr. Norton might have burst a blood-vessel, or be ill in some way, and that he was determined to inquire into the matter; so a man-servant and he proceeded to the room occupied by Mr. Norton. They knocked. No one answered. As they stood waiting at the door they heard a deep groan within, so they burst open the door, which was locked on the inside; and you may imagine their horror when they found the miserable man lying on the floor, at the foot of the window, weltering in his blood! There was a wide gash in his throat, and surgical assistance was in vain. He expired a few moments after. But I should tell you that before he died he expressed by signs much anxiety to have pen, ink, and paper brought to him. It was done, and he tried hard to write a few lines, but death soon arrested his progress, and the writing he had accomplished was so indistinct that the only words which could be made out were daughters'-' sealed papers'-' proofs'-'marriage.""

"What became of the unfortunate girls?" I asked, forgetting, in my interest about them, the appearance of the spirit in the house I occupied. "Ah! poor things," said the old lady, "they have been very badly off since, I fear. They were terribly shocked at their father's death, and much grieved, though he had been such a cruel and unkind parent to them; but their minds were in some degree tranquillised by his body being allowed Christian burial, for at the coroner's inquest it was brought in 'Insanity.' So he lies in the churchyard yonder, but not very quietly, if all tales be true.

“As soon as his relations got notice of his death, his nephew, a rich lawyer in London, came down here and took possession of all the papers and effects of the deceased; no will was found, so this gentleman and his family, being the legal heirs, claimed and got all his property. No provision had been made for the two poor girls by their father, and the heir, who was a hard-hearted, miserly sort of man, refused at first to give them anything, saying they might go to be chambermaids; but he was at length shamed into giving them a few hundred pounds, and with these he turned

them adrift.

"They went to London, where they struggled with many difficulties,

and the last time I heard of them they were keeping a little day-school in the village where their mother had resided, and which afforded them but a scanty pittance, hardly sufficient to maintain them.”

"Could nothing have been done for them here?" I asked-“no subscription entered into for them ?"

"I dare say," replied the old lady, "had they stayed among us, something might have been done to assist them, but their dispositions were very shy; they left S immediately after the father's shocking death, and they took great pains that every trace of them should be lost. absent are apt to be forgotten, and to be poor is far from a claim to remembrance."

The

"But," interrupted the lady with the black eyes, "the ghost-you have forgotten the ghost-I want to hear about it. No doubt it is the cut-throat gentleman."

"Yes," said the old lady, sinking her voice to a mysterious whisper, "they say he walks. His heir endeavoured to sell the house, but no one would buy it; he then left instructions to have it let furnished, but the rent he asked was so high that the house remained long unoccupied

"It was about a year after Mr. Norton's death that a man, passing one clear moonlight night down the lane I mentioned before, saw a figure standing at the window of the room in which Mr. Norton had committed suicide; it seemed covered with blood, and its clasped hands were apparently raised to heaven.

"The man was terrified out of his wits, and not venturing on a second look, he never stopped running until he reached his own door, where he fell down in strong convulsions. The old woman, too, who lived in the house to take care of it, was one night about the same time disturbed by the distant flapping of doors; she supposed that she had inadvertently left a window open in the old part of the building, and on going to ascertain, she encountered at the head of the back staircase some dreadful object, the sight of which frightened her almost out of her senses. could never exactly describe what it was, but she thought it seemed a figure covered with blood. She took shelter that very night at the house of her nearest neighbour, and no entreaty could prevail on her, or on any one else, to stay again in the haunted house,' as it has been called from that period."

She

"And so," interrupted the sceptical dame, "this poor house has been denounced as haunted upon the testimony of a country booby who was probably drunk, and that of a sleepy old woman whose brains, if she had any, were no doubt stuffed with nonsensical stories about witches, and charms, and hobgoblins."

"Have any other persons seen anything in that house to frighten them?" I asked, in a tone of eager inquiry.

"Yes," said the old lady. "I was going to tell you that last summer a gentleman took the house for six months. He had a large family, and brought his own servants; therefore, as they had no introductions or acquaintances here, it was not likely that they could have heard any of the stories relative to the spirit that haunts it. When they had remained here three months exactly, they suddenly took their departure without assigning any reason for going, and forfeiting the rent of the other three

months. They did not complain of any nocturnal visitor, but the washerwoman, who was sent for to receive the amount of her bill, said she heard among the servants that some members of the family had been much alarmed by something they had seen in the dead of night, and that this was the cause of their unexpected removal."

"But," persisted the lady with the black eyes, "the house is occupied at present, and the family do not seem to have been disturbed with ghosts; at least, they take the visitations of the dead man very quietly."

"Wait a little," replied the pertinacious supporter of the ghost story. "They have not been there long yet, but if they remain there they will see him, depend on it. By-the-by, this is the anniversary of the night on which he committed suicide; it was on a Christmas-eve, like this. I should not wonder if he walks to-night."

Supper was just then announced, and our conversation was broken off; but, urged by a painful curiosity, I seized an opportunity before leaving Dr. Graham's to ask the communicative old lady what particular apartments were said to be haunted by the restless spirit of the unhappy suicide. As I had surmised, she described the very rooms which I myself occupied ! It was in one of them that he died, to them his wandering ghost was said thus frequently to return, and that very night I might become the witness of a spectacle terrible to behold! My spirits sank within me, and I returned home in no enviable mood. Persons of vivid imaginations, whether they do or do not believe in ghosts, will understand my sensations as I entered my remote apartment-the scene of a bloody murder, if not the haunt of a damned spirit! I became so nervous that I thought of desiring my waiting-maid, on the plea of indisposition, to sleep on the sofa near me. But how could I pretend to be ill when I had just returned at a late hour from an evening party? I would seem unreasonable, and I never liked to appear whimsical to my servants.

For this night, then, I determined to brave the terrors of the haunted chamber; to-morrow I would return to the smoky room, and no longer expose myself needlessly to uncomfortable feelings. Committing myself to the benign protection of Him who watches over the universe, I trimmed my night-lamp and retired to bed; but, alas! not to sleep. I endeavoured to chase from my mind the gloomy subjects which had taken possession of it-to think of cheerful things, or to recal the cherished remembrance of scenes long past; in vain, fancy would have its own way, and, to my distempered imagination, the pale moonbeams, as they glanced from the high arched windows, assumed spectral forms, that flitted in shadowy mockery before my aching sight. I closed my eyes, and lay in that breathless state of vague apprehension which is too dreadful long to endure. All was stillness around me; the plaintive whistling of the wind had hushed, the very waves of ocean seemed to slumber; there was no sound but the quick throbbing of my own heart. A cold chill crept over me, and I became sensible of an undefinable sensation of solemn awe. Presently I heard the door of the inner room which led to the back staircase open softly; there was a pause of total stillness, and the door of the room I occupied opened gently and slowly as the other. Again all was still; no footfall met my ear-no sound to betray that a living being had entered my lonely chamber. For some moments I lay in an agony

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of suspense, my face covered with my hands; but a curiosity, too painful to be restrained, overcame my dread, and raising my eyes I beheld an object more fearful than words can describe! Oh! the intense horror of that dreadful moment! There it stood-the unearthly gory figure, with its blood-stained hands lifted in apparent supplication to that distant Heaven whose laws it had violated, whose promised blessings it had forfeited for ever! It stood at the identical window at which Mr. Norton had been seen by Doctor Graham the Christmas-eve on which the suicide was committed. I tried to scream-to rise and make my escape from the apartment-but I had no power either to move or to speak, nor had I the power of averting my gaze from the appalling object. It turned, and its hollow eyes fell full upon me; it advanced, slowly extending its right hand, and with a finger (from which drops of blood appeared to fall, although they left no trace on the floor beneath) it pointed to a remote corner of the chamber, in which stood an oldfashioned bureau. Earnestly it pointed, and earnestly was its unearthly look riveted upon me! Cold dews poured down chattered, and, in the emphatic words of Scripture, my very quaked." Human nature could bear no more! my head reeled, and I my face, my teeth fell back totally insensible. When I recovered from my long fainting"flesh fit the morning was far advanced-the bright rays of the joyous sun enlivened my gloomy chamber. I heard the dipping of oars, the boat. swain's shrill whistle, and distant rattling of wheels, and I thankfully welcomed the stirring sounds of animated life. I heard, too, and hailed with transport, the gay voices of my children as they pursued beneath my window the innocent sports of happy infancy.

Blest hours of cheering day! How I rejoiced in their return! How I loathed the sable night

When mortals sleep, when spectres rise,

And naught is wakeful but the dead!

To remain in the haunted house was impossible, and I determined to leave it that very day. It was necessary for me to return to the scene of the preceding night, in order to remove some papers I had placed in the old bureau. Whilst I was engaged in searching the different drawers, I felt something give way beneath my finger; surprised at this, I continued the pressure, when a secret drawer suddenly flew open, and discovered to my amazed view a bundle of old papers, tied with a black cord, and labelled "Certificate of the marriage of Oswald Norton with Matilda Manners." "Will," &c. &c. I stood for some moments lost in astonishment, but having no time to spare, I speedily determined on sending for Dr. Graham, and communicating the discovery to him.

I related to him in strict confidence the awful scene of the past night, the apparent anxiety of the unearthly intruder to direct my attention to this bureau, and the chance which had just led to the extraordinary fulfilling of his restless wish. The worthy doctor heard me with the most profound attention and the deepest awe.

"It was most strange, most startling!" he exclaimed, “even if it had been but a sleeping vision."

"But

"We will not discuss that subject further at present," I said. I shall leave these papers with you, in the hope that you who were pre

sent at Mr. Norton's awful death will take the necessary steps to restore his injured daughters to the rights which have so long been withheld

from them."

I received his promise to this effect, and that day I quitted S― for ever. Circumstances soon after called me abroad; I remained absent some years, and on my return to England I felt a wish to learn if the papers I had found had been instrumental in placing the Miss Nortons in the situation they were born to fill. I despatched, accordingly, to Dr. Graham a letter of inquiry, and heard from him in return that the proper legal proceedings had been instituted with success, and that the daughters of the unfortunate Mr. Norton had received, along with the acknowledgment of their legitimacy, the sum of five thousand pounds each, which had been left to them by their father's will. Dr. Graham added, that the haunted house was haunted no longer, and that the restless dead, its errand on earth accomplished, returned no more from the silent, though populous mansions of the grave!

DIARY OF THE DREAMER OF GLOUCESTER.

Southampton, Friday, June 19, 1854.

I LEFT Gloucester yesterday, and to-morrow will sail from this by the brig Wally for the Black Sea. I may therefore consider my travels commenced, and accordingly ought now to journalise the incidents of yesterday, and describe the different people I met. But now-a-days there are no incidents while travelling in England except railway collisions, which they who witness are in general incapable of relating; and as for the people you meet, it seems the inflexible rule that, from the time you enter a railway carriage until you reach the end of your journey, not one word is to be spoken, and the polite thing is to hide your face behind the cushioned arm of your seat, and either fall asleep or pretend to do so: at any rate, to behave as if you were utterly unconscious of the presence of any other individual in the carriage. I think I played my part well yesterday, as I was too pleasantly occupied imagining the course of my voyage to be at all inclined to break our railway etiquette; and as today I have been the only occupant of the "travellers' room" in the Star, I have had no opportunity of adding to my stock of ideas.

The brig Wally. From Saturday, June 10, to Tuesday, June 13.

We have had foul weather, and I have been very, very sick. However, I have got the better of the enemy to-day, having managed at last to take dinner. We have been two days in the Channel, and are now out of sight of land.

I have purposely avoided bringing books with me, or anything which