sometimes overtakes men on stupendous heights,—­the madness of suicide.  With a frightful scream, that sounded partly like a cry of supreme desperation, partly like one of furious and frenzied joy, the horse reared himself to his full height on the horrible ledge, shook his head wildly, and—­ leaped with a frantic spring into the air, sheer over the precipice, and into the foam beneath.  His eyes glared as he shot into the void, a great dark living mass against the white mist.  Was he speared on those terrible shafts of rock below, or was his life dashed out in horrible crimson splashes against the cliffside?  Or did he sink into the reeling swirl of the foaming waters, and die more mercifully in their steel-dark depths?  I could not see.  I saw only the flying form dart through the mist like an arrow from a bow.  I heard only the appalling cry, like nothing earthly ever heard before; and I woke in a panic, with hands tightly clasped, and my body damp with moisture.  It was but a dream—­this awful picture; it was gone as an image from a mirror, and I was awake, and gazing only upon blank darkness.

—­Atcham, Sept. 15, 1884

XXI.  The Haunted Inn

I seemed in my vision to be on a long and wearisome journey, and to have arrived at an Inn, in which I was offered shelter and rest.  The apartment given me consisted of a bedroom and parlour, communicating, and furnished in an antique manner, everything in the rooms appearing to be worm-eaten, dusty and out of date.  The walls were bare and dingy; there was not a picture or an ornament in the apartment.  An extremely dim light prevailed in the scene; indeed, I do not clearly remember, whether, with the exception of the fire and a nightlamp, the rooms were illumined at all.  I seated myself in a chair, by the hearth; it was late, and I thought only of rest.  But, presently, I became aware of strange things going on about me.  On a table in a corner lay some papers and a pencil.  With a feeling of indescribable horror I saw this pencil assume an erect position and begin of itself to write on the paper, precisely as though an invisible hand held and guided it.  At the same time, small detonations sounded in different parts of the room; tiny bright sparks appeared, burst, and immediately expired in smoke.  The pencil having ceased to write, laid itself gently down, and taking the paper in my hand I found on it a quantity of writing which at first appeared to me to be in cipher, but I presently perceived that the words composing it were written backwards, from right to left, exactly as one sees writing reflected on a looking glass.  What was written made a considerable impression on me at the time, but I cannot now recall it.  I know, however, that the dominant feeling I experienced was one of horror.

I called the owners of the inn and related to them what had taken place.  They received my statement with perfect equanimity, and told me that in their house this was the normal state of things, of which, in fact, they were extremely proud; and they ended by congratulating me as a visitor much favored by the invisible agencies of the place.