low and broad; as well as I recollect, she had something--either a cloak
or shawl--on, and wore a bonnet. Her back was turned, and she appeared
to be searching or rummaging for something on the floor, and, without
appearing to observe him, she turned in doing so towards him. The light,
which was more like the intense glow of a coal, as he described it,
being of a deep red colour, proceeded from the hollow of her hand, which
she held beside her head, and he saw her perfectly distinctly. She
appeared middle-aged, was deeply pitted with the smallpox, and blind of
one eye. His phrase in describing her general appearance was, that she
was "a miserable, poor-looking creature."

He was under the impression that she must be the woman who had been left
by the proprietor in charge of the house, and who had that evening,
after having given up the keys, remained for some little time with the
female servants. He coughed, therefore, to apprize her of his presence,
and turned again towards the wall. When he again looked round she and
the light were gone; and odd as was her method of lighting herself in
her search, the circumstances excited neither uneasiness nor curiosity
in his mind, until he discovered next morning that the woman in question
had left the house long before he had gone to his bed.

I examined the man very closely as to the appearance of the person who
had visited him, and the result was what I have described. It struck me
as an odd thing, that even then, considering how prone to superstition
persons in his rank of life usually are, he did not seem to suspect any
thing supernatural in the occurrence; and, on the contrary, was
thoroughly persuaded that his visitant was a living person, who had got
into the house by some hidden entrance.

On Sunday, on his return from his place of worship, he told me that,