and the ayah.  They were paralysed with fear, and stood on the rails staring at it, unable to move or utter a sound.  I well understood their feelings, and knew they were labouring in their minds as to whether the thing that confronted them was a creature of flesh and blood, or what it was.  They could not take their eyes off it, and, as a consequence, did not see me.  The white tiger now went through a series of actions, so lifelike that I could not but believe it was real, and that I had been deceived in thinking I had killed it.  Its haunches quivered, it got ready to spring, and my rifle flew to my shoulder.  I saw it mark Eric, and read the increased agony in my wife’s eyes.  The critical moment came.  Another second, and the thing, be it material or supernatural, would jump.  I must fire at all costs.  If mortal, I must kill it, if ghostly, the noise of my rifle might dematerialize it.  And, as God is my judge, O’Donnell, at that moment I had not the least idea which of it was—­tiger or phantom.  It sprang—­my brain reeled—­my fingers grew numb, and as my wife suddenly bounded forward, the shadowy form of Nahra seemed to rise from the ground and mock me.  With a supreme effort I jerked my finger back and fired.  Bang!  The sound of the explosion acted like a safety-valve to the pent-up feelings of all, and there was a chorus of shrieks.  I rushed forward—­the ayah lay on the ground, face downward and motionless.  My wife had hold of Eric, who was shaking all over.  Of the tiger there were no signs.  It had completely vanished.

“‘Thank God,’ I exclaimed, kissing my wife feverishly.  ’Thank God!  It was only a ghost! but it was very alarming, wasn’t it?’

“‘Alarming!’ my wife gasped, ’it was awful!  I quite thought it was real! so did Eric, and so did ——­ ’—­then her eyes fell on the ayah, and she gave a great start.  ‘Charlie!’ she cried, ’for mercy’s sake look at her!  I dare not!  Is she all right?’

“I turned the ayah over—­she was dead!  Fright had killed her!

“I then told my wife of the curse of Nahra, and of the phantom I thought I had seen of him, when the white tiger was springing.  When I had finished, my wife hid her face in my shoulder.

“‘Charlie!’ she said, ’I did something awful.  I saw what I then took to be the real white tiger single out Eric, and in my anxiety to save him from the brute, I pushed the ayah in front of him.  And the thing sprang on her instead.  It was nothing short of murder!  And yet—­well, there were extenuating circumstances, weren’t there?’

“‘Of course there were,’ I said—­for I verily believed, O’Donnell, fear had, for the time being, turned her brain.

“On our way home she suddenly called my attention to Eric.

“‘Charlie,’ she cried, ‘what’s that mark on his cheek?  He’s hurt!’

“I looked—­and my heart turned sick within me.  On the boy’s cheek was a faint red scratch, just as might have been caused by a slight, very slight contact with some animal’s claw.