Can Such Things Be?

tains a doubt of it; incredulity is confined to those opinionated persons who will be called "cranks" as soon as the useful word shall have penetrated the intellectual demesne o

ounds of objection which may be urged against it by the ingenious; b

ther-stained and in dire need of attention from the glazier, the smaller male population of the region having attested in the manner of its kind its disapproval of dwelling without dwellers. It is two stories in height, nearly square, its front pierced by a single doorway flanked on each side by a window boarded up to the very top. Corresponding windows above, not protected, serve to admit light and rain to the rooms of the upper floor. Grass and weeds grow pretty rankly all about, and a few shade trees, somewhat the worse for wind, and leaning all in one di

ng hitched the team to the only remaining post of what had been a fence. The fourth remained seated in the wagon. "Come," sa

!" he said harshly, "this is a trick, a

ich had something of contempt in it. "You will remember, however, that the choice of place

hen unlocked a door on their right as they stood in the passage. This gave them entrance to a large, square room that the candle but dimly lighted. The floor had a thick carpeting of dust, which partly muffled their footfalls. Cobwebs were in the angles of the walls and depended from the ceiling like strips of rotting lace, making undulatory movemen

nt. He was clean shaven, his hair rather closely cropped and gray. His low forehead was seamed with wrinkles above the eyes, and over the nose these became vertical. The heavy black brows followed the same law, saved from meeting only by an upward turn at what would otherwise have been the point of contact. Deeply sunken beneath these, glowed in the obscure light

nd forgets that he met. All were younger than the man described, between whom and the eldest of the

candle and keys, "I believe everything

part from the grou

, Mr. Gr

man bowed

sed to remove you

with the candle now nodded, and the fourth man - he who had urged Grossmith to leave the wagon - produced from t

o principals - for by this time the dullest observer would have und

d tested the strength of blade and handle across his lifted knee. Thei

th," said the man holding the light, "y

n it. In the angle nearest the door Mr. Rosser stationed himself, and after a whispered consultation his second left him, joining the other near the door. At that moment th

altered condition affecting the relations of the senses - "gentlem

the inner door; and finally the outer one closed

om its grasp. This figure, unlike the others, was clad in white, and had undoubtedly boarded the wagon as it passed the haunted house. As the lad could boast a considerable former experience with the supernatural thereabouts his word had the weight justly due to the testimony of an expert. The story (in con