I was soon enlightened. A gigantic
figure, with leaps and bounds, suddenly overtook us, and, thrusting
out its long, thin arms, touched my father lightly on the hand, and
then with a harsh cry, more like that of some strange animal than that
of a human being, disappeared. Neither of us spoke till we reached
home,--I did not live here then, but in a house on the other side of
Pitlochry,--when my father, who was still as white as a sheet, took me
aside and whispered, 'Whatever you do, Flora, don't breathe a word of
what has happened to your mother, and never let her go along that road
at night. It was the death bogle. I shall die within twelve months.'
And he did."
Miss Macdonald paused. A brief silence ensued, and she then went on
with all her customary briskness: "I cannot describe the thing any
more than you can, except that it gave me the impression it had no
eyes. But what it was, whether the ghost of a man, woman, or some
peculiar beast, I could not, for the life of me, tell. Now, Mr.
O'Donnell, have you had enough horrors for one evening, or would you
like to hear just one more?"
Knowing that sleep was utterly out of the question, and that one or
two more thrills would make very little difference to my already
shattered nerves, I replied that I would listen eagerly to anything
she could tell me, however horrible. My permission thus gained--and
gained so readily--Miss Macdonald, not without, I noticed, one or two
apprehensive glances at the slightly rustling curtains, began her
narrative, which ran, as nearly as I can remember, as follows:--
"After my father's death, I told my mother about our adventure the
night we drove home from Lady Colin Ferner's party, and asked her if
she remembered ever having heard anything that could possibly account
for the phenomenon.
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