Carmilla

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wonders. Scantily enough ours would have answered among wealthy people at home. My father is English, and I bear an English name, although I never saw England. But here, in this

pension and his patrimony, and purchased this feudal res

ery old and narrow, passes in front of its drawbridge, never raised in my time, and its moat, stocke

s its many-windowed front; its

t this is a very lonely place. Judge whether I say truth. Looking from the hall door towards the road, the forest in which our castle stands extends fifteen miles to the right, and twelve to the left. The n

's schloss, a ruined village, with its quaint little church, now roofless, in the aisle of which are the moldering tombs of the proud family of

striking and melancholy spot, there is a leg

or those dependents who occupy rooms in the buildings attached to the schloss. Listen, and wonder! My father, who is the

cy, but I had a good-natured governess, who had been with me from, I might almost say, my infancy.

I believe, a "finishing governess." She spoke French and German, Madame Perrodon French and broken English, to which my father and I added English, which, partly to prevent its becoming a lost language among us, and partly from patriotic motives, we spoke every day. The consequence was a

ance visits from "neighbors" of only five or six leagues distance. M

re such sage persons would have in the case of a rather spoiled girl,

ery maid. Neither was my nurse there; and I thought myself alone. I was not frightened, for I was one of those happy children who are studiously kept in ignorance of ghost stories, of fairy tales, and of all such lore as makes us cover up our heads when the door cracks suddenly, or the flicker of an expiring candle makes the shadow of a bedpost dance upon the wall, nearer to our faces. I was vexed and insulted at finding myself, as I conceived, neglected, and I began to whimper, preparatory to a hearty bout of roaring; when to my surprise, I saw a solemn, but very pretty face looking at

all they could meanwhile. But, child as I was, I could perceive that their faces were pale with an unwonted look of anxiety, and I saw them look under the bed, and about the room, and peep under

chest, where I told them I felt the puncture, and pronouncing tha

the nursery, remained sitting up all night; and from that time

y. How well I remember his long saturnine face, slightly pitted with smallpox, and his chestnut

n a state of terror, and could not bear to be l

a number of questions, and laughing very heartily at one of the answers; and patting me on the shoulder,

he visit of the strange woman was not

looked at me, and lain down beside me in the bed, and that I must have been half-dreaming n

y to me; his face was very sweet and gentle, and he told me they were going to pray, and joined my hands together, and desired me to say, softly, while they were praying, "Lord he

m, and the scanty light entering its shadowy atmosphere through the small lattice. He kneeled, and the three women with him, and he prayed aloud with an earnest quavering voice for, what appeared to me, a long time.