She  was  in  such  a  morbid,  unstrung  state  that  the  least
thing  startled  her.  But  imagine  if  you  can  her  wonder  and
terror  as  she  saw  Dennis  Fleet  —  the  dead  and  buried,  as  she
fully  beUeved — enter,  carrying  a  picture  as  of  old,  and  look-
ing as  of  old,  save  that  he  was  paler  and  thinner.  Was  it  an
apparition?  or,  as  she  had  read,  had  she  dwelt  so  long  on
this  trouble  that  her  mind  and  imagination  were  becoming
♦disordered  and  able  to  place  their  wild  creations  before  her
as  realities  ?

Her  sketching  materials  fell  clattering  to  the  floor,  and
after  one  sharp  exclamation  of  alarm  she  stood  as  if  trans-
fixed, with  parted  lips  and  dilated  eyes,  panting  like  a
frightened  bird.
If  a  sculptor  had  wished  to  portray  the  form  and  attitude
of  one  startled  by  the  supernatural,  never  could  he  have
found  a  more  fittino;  model  than  Christine  at  this  moment.
AN  APPARITION.  333

As  she  had  been  seated  a  little  on  one  side  Dennis  had
not  seen  her  at  first ;  but,  on  recognizing  her  so  unexpect-
edly, he  was  scarcely  less  startled  than  she,  and  the  valuable
picture  he  was  carrying  nearly  met  sudden  destruction.  But
he  had  no  such  reason  as  Christine  for  the  continuance  of
his  surprise,  and,  at  once  recovering  himself,  he  set  the  pic-
ture against  the  wall.
This  made  the  illusion  still  more  strange  and  terrible  to
Christine.  There  was  the  dead  before  her,  doing  just  as  she
had  been  imagining, — just  what  he  had  done  at  her  bid-
ding months  before.
