Joseph Sheridan le Fanu, Irish novelist, poet, and journalist,
was born at Dublin on August 28, 1814. His grandmother was a
sister of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, his father a dean.
Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, Le Fanu became a
contributor to the "Dublin University Magazine," afterwards
its editor, and finally its proprietor. He also owned and
edited a Dublin evening paper. Le Fanu first came into
prominence in 1837 as the author of the two brilliant Irish
ballads, "Phaudhrig Croohore" and "Shamus O'Brien." His
novels, which number more than a dozen, were first published
in most cases in his magazine. His power of producing a
feeling of weird mystery ranks him with Edgar Allan Poe. It
may be questioned whether any Irish novelist has written with
more power. The most representative of his stories is "Uncle
Silas, a Tale of Bartram-Haugh," which appeared in 1864. Le
Fanu died on February 7, 1873.


_I.--Death, the Intruder_


It was winter, and great gusts were rattling at the windows; a very dark
night, and a very cheerful fire, blazing in a genuine old fire-place in
a sombre old room. A girl of a little more than seventeen, slight and
rather tall, with a countenance rather sensitive and melancholy, was
sitting at the tea-table in a reverie. I was that girl.

The only other person in the room was my father, Mr. Ruthyn, of Knowl.