"A merry Christmas! A merry Christmas, Agnes!"
Their arrival was enough to put to flight all the supernatural visitants that Hades ever sent forth. They hurried me with my toilet; they worried me to come down and see the Christmas tree, and get some eggnog.
I was carried away with their gay excitement, and almost forgot my mysterious dream or visitant, but not quite; for all through the morning greetings of the family, the eggnog drinking, the visit to the Christmas tree, the distributions of presents, the merry breakfast, the arrival of invited guests, the Christmas dinner party, the afternoon sports, and the evening dance, I was possessed with the haunting presence of that dark, handsome woman, and her majestic woe.
We danced in the dining-room through all the Christmas night; and it was two o'clock in the morning before we separated.
Again, when I was about to retire, Mrs. Legare came to accompany me.
"I hope you rested well last night, my dear Agnes, though I have scarcely had an opportunity of asking you to-day," she said, as we entered my room.
"I did not wake until dawn, ma'am," I answered, evasively, for I had determined, since they let me into no confidence upon the subject of the household mystery, to keep my own counsel in regard to my dream and the open door.
"You slept until dawn. That is well. I hope you will have as good a rest for the few remaining hours of the night. Good-evening, my dear. Lock your door after me," said Mrs. Legare, going out with a look of relief and satisfaction.
As upon the evening previous, I turned the key upon my retiring hostess, listened until I heard her pass out and secure the hall door, then searched my room, undressed, said my prayers, and went to bed.
As I hinted in the beginning of this narrative, nature had made me at once superstitious and fearless. In the supernatural I "believed without trembling." And now alone, in this supposed-to-be haunted chamber, I lay with an interest devoid of uneasiness, waiting the development of events.