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ful circumstance back to Frederic's mind with terrible minuteness." Was it a delusion?" he asked himself, and passed his hand before his eyes, as if to clear them from that horrible image: but no, it stood there still; and starting up, he sprung past the figure, out of the apartment, calling loudly for a light.

At the end of the corridor was the room of Mr. Melville, who, engaged in writing, had not yet gone to bed; and startled by the voice of lord Burton, he threw open the door, and advanced towards Frederic, who, with an expression of painful horror, was staggering along the passage. This was the first object he beheld, but immediately afterwards, his eye fell upon a form that glided across the farther end of the corridor. He saw it as distinctly as ever he saw any thing in nature. It was the figure of a man, with a cheek as pale as the garments it had on, which were evidently stained with large drops of blood. -"God of heaven!" exclaimed he, "what

is that?" and instantly sprung forward to stop it in its progress; but at that moment a chill blast of wind blew out the light he had in his hand; and before his eye was sufficiently accustomed to the moonlight to see by it, the figure was gone. It could not have passed him, for he stretched his arms to each side of the passage, and between the spot where he stood, and the window at the end, which was firmly shut, there was no method of escape, no door whatever, except the one into lord Burton's dressing-room. By this time several of the servants had arrived, and, with their assistance, Charles searched every nook and corner of the only apartments into which the figure could have gone; but nothing could he discover; and finding that there was no place for concealment, he endeavoured to ascertain whether there

was any means of escape. He tried every board for a trapdoor; he sounded all the walls, especially near the place where his

light

light had been blown out, but all was as firm as a rock.

Charles was perplexed and astonished; he certainly would not have believed what he had seen, had any other person told it him; but having seen it, doubt was out of the question; and though perhaps he, on another occasion, might have been as prone as any to satirize what he would have denominated" credulous superstition," and "ideal terrors," yet, in the present instance, he could not reason himself out of his eyesight, and preferred the evidence of his senses to any theory that could be objected.

At the same time he felt much for lord Burton. He had long seen with pain that the death of colonel Stanhope still hung heavy upon his cousin's mind, and could easily conceive that he connected the late extraordinary event with that circumstance.

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At first Charles spoke of the subject› eagerly; and with all the impetuosity natural

VOL. III.

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natural to his character, described to Mary and lady Anne (who had been calarmed with the rest), the figure he had seen, the white clothing it had on, the deep, stains of blood upon its garments, and the dead+ ly paleness of its cheek; but remembering how painful such a detail must be to Frederic, he gradually let the subject drop, and pressed his cousin to take some wine.

To pass the remainder of the night alone, Charles easily conceived would be un, pleasant to lord Burton, and little better would it be to have a servant sleep in his room. He therefore insisted on sleeping himself on the sofa in Frederic's, dressingroom, merely, he said, to satisfy his curiosity, should such a thing occur again, without at all alluding to the painful remembrances he well knew this event must have recalled.co.

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Lord Burton, understood his, motives; and the kindly manner in which Charles entered into his feelings made a deep impression on his heart. His cousin's pre

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sence,

sence, however, enabled him to pass the night in tolerable peace, and nothing again occurred to disturb them. Lord Burton rose very early the next morning; and before joining the rest of the party, he signified to Mr. Melville his intention of leaving Naples immediately." Charles," said he, "I am going to leave you. You are aware of a very melancholy circumstance in my life, and therefore cannot be surprised that I fly from a place, where all that I have been striving for years to banish from my remembrance has been recalled in so dreadful a manner."

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"I am not surprised at that, Frederic," replied his cousin; "but I am surprised that a man of your strong mind should suffer an event, purely accidental, but which, if it had been intentional, might have been well justified, to prey in this manner upon your health, and embitter the whole course of your life."

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"Oh, Charles," answered lord Burton, "could the feelings of a man, stained with

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