There was no hair on the face, but that on the head was red and matted.  The eyes were obliquely set, pale blue, and full of an expression so absolutely malignant that every atom of blood in my veins seemed to congeal as I met their gaze.  I could not clearly see the body of the thing, as it was hazy and indistinct, but the impression I got of it was that it was clad in some sort of tight-fitting, fantastic garment.  As the landing was in semi-darkness, and the face at all events was most startlingly visible, I concluded it brought with it a light of its own, though there was none of that lurid glow attached to it, which I subsequently learned is almost inseparable from spirit phenomena seen under similar conditions.

“For some seconds, I was too overcome with terror to move, but my faculties at length reasserting themselves, I turned round and flew to the other wing of the house with the utmost precipitation.

“One would have thought that after these experiences nothing would have induced me to have run the risk of another such encounter, yet only a few days after the incident of the head, I was again impelled by a fascination I could not withstand to visit the same quarters.  In sickly anticipation of what my eyes would alight on, I stole to the foot of the staircase and peeped cautiously up.  To my infinite joy there was nothing there but a bright patch of sunshine, that, in the most unusual fashion, had forced its way through from one of the slits of windows near at hand.

“After gazing at it long enough to assure myself it was only sunshine, I quitted the spot, and proceeded on my way down the vaulted corridor.  Just as I was passing one of the doors, it opened.  I stopped—­terrified.  What could it be?  Bit by bit, inch by inch, I watched the gap slowly widen.  At last, just as I felt I must either go mad or die, something appeared—­and, to my utter astonishment, it was a big, black cat!  Limping painfully, it came towards me with a curious, gliding motion, and I perceived with a thrill of horror that it had been very cruelly maltreated.  One of its eyes looked as if it had been gouged out—­its ears were lacerated, whilst the paw of one of its hind-legs had either been torn or hacked off.  As I drew back from it, it made a feeble and pathetic effort to reach me and rub itself against my legs, as is the way with cats, but in so doing it fell down, and uttering a half purr, half gurgle, vanished—­seeming to sink through the hard oak boards.

“That evening my youngest brother met with an accident in the barn at the back of the house, and died.  Though I did not then associate his death with the apparition of the cat, the latter shocked me much, for I was extremely fond of animals.  I did not dare venture in the wing again for nearly two years.