could come through the oak if they chose, and I preferred to have a fair
trial. Well, I read and chatted and dozed till dawn and nothing
appeared, so I laughed at the whole affair, and the old lady pretended
to be convinced that it was all a fancy.

"Next night I slept in my own room, and in the morning was told that not
only Grandmamma but Janet had seen the spirit. All in white, with
streaming hair, a pale face, and a red streak at the throat. It came and
parted the bed-curtains, looking in a moment, and then vanished. Janet
had slept with Grandmamma and kept a lamp burning on the chimney, so
both saw it.

"I was puzzled, but not frightened; I never am, and I insisted on trying
again. The door was left unlocked, as on the previous night, and I lay
with Grandmamma, a light burning as before. About two she clutched me as
I was dropping off. I looked, and there, peeping in between the dark
curtains, was a pale face with long hair all about it, and a red streak
at the throat. It was very dim, the light being low, but I saw it, and
after one breathless minute sprang up, caught my foot, fell down with a
crash, and by the time I was around the bed, not a vestige of the thing
appeared. I was angry, and vowed I'd succeed at all hazards, though I'll
confess I was just a bit daunted.

"Next time Janet and I sat up in easy chairs, with bright lights
burning, and both wide awake with the strongest coffee we could make. As
the hour drew near we got nervous, and when the white shape came gliding
in Janet hid her face. I didn't, and after one look was on the point of
laughing, for the spirit was Blanche walking in her sleep. She wore a
coral necklace in those days, and never took it off, and her long hair
half hid her face, which had the unnatural, uncanny look somnambulists