But that night, reader! It passes all my powers of description. I had always been in the habit of "saying" my prayers before retiring; but of late, since I had been habitually haunted, I had taken to praying devoutly before going to bed. I prayed with unusual earnestness this night, and then I retired to my couch. So wearied out in body was I that, despite of mental excitement, I soon fell asleep.
I do not know how long I had slept, probably several hours, for it was near day, when I was awakened by a strong light and a great noise.
I opened my eyes and collected my senses to find that both proceeded from the opposite bedroom, where Mr. Howard and John were up with a lighted candle, looking about for the mysterious and persevering intruder upon their slumbers. The light from their room streamed across the hall and through the open door into ours and fell upon the tall, dark-robed, stern-visaged haunter of my chamber, where she stood pointing her spectral finger to the spot upon the floor. A moment she stood thus, and then, as before, passed slowly from the room and through the open door, that, without hands, closed behind her.
The silvery beams of the full moon poured through the two east windows, and in its light I now saw Rachel Noales sitting up straight, stark and still in her bed.
"Rachel! Rachel!" said I, "what is the matter?"
"Heaven and earth, Agnes, we are haunted!" she gasped, rather than spoke.
"Have you seen anything, Rachel?" I asked, now hoping that she had, for I felt it terrible to be alone in my spectral experiences.
"No, no, I have not seen anything! But that door! that door! that I am sure I fastened so carefully, was unlocked without a key, and opened without hands! I heard and saw it, for I was laying awake!"
"Let us hope that you were mistaken, Rachel."
"No, no, impossible! Oh, I would not sleep another night in this house for the wealth of the Indies!"