disability is removed, the law suspended: by the deathless power of
love or hate we break the spell--we are seen by those whom we would
warn, console, or punish. What form we seem to them to bear we know
not; we know only that we terrify even those whom we most wish to
comfort, and from whom we most crave tenderness and sympathy.

Forgive, I pray you, this inconsequent digression by what was once a
woman. You who consult us in this imperfect way--you do not
understand. You ask foolish questions about things unknown and
things forbidden. Much that we know and could impart in our speech
is meaningless in yours. We must communicate with you through a
stammering intelligence in that small fraction of our language that
you yourselves can speak. You think that we are of another world.
No, we have knowledge of no world but yours, though for us it holds
no sunlight, no warmth, no music, no laughter, no song of birds, nor
any companionship. O God! what a thing it is to be a ghost, cowering
and shivering in an altered world, a prey to apprehension and
despair!

No, I did not die of fright: the Thing turned and went away. I
heard it go down the stairs, hurriedly, I thought, as if itself in
sudden fear. Then I rose to call for help. Hardly had my shaking
hand found the doorknob when--merciful heaven!--I heard it returning.
Its footfalls as it remounted the stairs were rapid, heavy and loud;
they shook the house. I fled to an angle of the wall and crouched
upon the floor. I tried to pray. I tried to call the name of my
dear husband. Then I heard the door thrown open. There was an
interval of unconsciousness, and when I revived I felt a strangling
clutch upon my throat--felt my arms feebly beating against something
that bore me backward--felt my tongue thrusting itself from between