"It is not expedient to dwell upon her--she plays a very minor part, if,
indeed, any, in the story. Martin Tristram merely thought her pretty,
and that, as I have said, fully reconciled him to taking up his quarters
in the house. "He has, as you are doubtless aware, a weakness for vivid colouring, and
her bright yellow hair, carmine lips, and scarlet stockings struck him
impressively as she led the way to his bed-chamber, where she somewhat
reluctantly parted from him with a subtly attractive smile. "Left to himself, Martin sleepily examined his surroundings. The room,
oak-panelled throughout, was long, low, and gloomy; an enormous,
old-fashioned, empty fireplace occupied the centre of one of the walls;
on the one side of it was an oak settee, on the other an equally
ponderous black oak chest. "Heavy oaken beams traversed the ceiling, and the sombre, funereal
character of the room was further increased by a colossal and antique
four-poster which, placed in the exact middle of the chamber, faced a
gigantic mirror attached to grotesquely carved and excessively lofty
sable supports. "Viewed in the feeble, fluctuating candlelight, the latter seemed
endowed with some peculiar and emphatically weird life--their
glistening, polished surfaces threw a dozen and one fantastic but oddly
human shadows on the boards, as at the same time they appeared in
bewildering alternation to increase and diminish in stature. "Tristram hastily undressed, and stretching himself between the
blankets, prepared to go to sleep. Like yourself, and for a similar
reason, he never sleeps on his left side. Accordingly he occupied the
right portion only of the enormous bed. "Why he did not fall asleep at once he could not explain; he fancied
that it might be because he was overtired. This undoubtedly had
something to do with it, as also had the remarkable noises--footfalls,
creaks, and sighs--that came from every corner of the apartment the
moment the light was out. "He listened to these inexplicable sounds with increasing alarm until
the sonorous clock from somewhere outside boomed 'one,' when, quite
unaccountably, he fell asleep, awaking on the stroke of two from a
dreadful nightmare. "To his intense astonishment and consternation he was no longer alone in
the bed--someone, or something, was lying by his side on the left-hand
side of the bed. "At first his thoughts reverted to the young lady with the scarlet
stockings; then, a sensation of icy coldness, whilst speedily reassuring
him with regard to her, struck him with the utmost terror. Who or what
could it be? "For some seconds he lay in breathless silence, too frightened even to
stir, and panic-stricken lest the violent beating of his heart should
arouse the mysterious visitor. But at length, impelled by an
irresistible impulse, he sat up in bed and opened his eyes. The room
was aglow with a phosphorescent light, and in the depths of the
glittering mirror he saw a startling reproduction of the phantasmagoric
four-poster. "He instinctively felt that there was some extraordinary change in the
supports, and that the suspicions he had at first entertained as to
their semi-human properties had become verified; but, mercifully for his
sanity, he found it impossible to look. His attention was immediately
riveted on the object by his side, which he recognized with a thrill of
surprise was a bronzed and bearded man of rather more than middle age,
who appeared to be buried in the most profound sleep. "The picture was so vividly portrayed in the glass that Tristram could
see the gentle heaving of the bedclothes each time the sleeper breathed. "Fascinated beyond measure at such an unlooked-for spectacle, and
desirous of a closer inspection, Tristram, with a supreme effort,
managed to tear away his eyes from the mirror and to glance at the bed,
where, to his unmitigated astonishment, he saw no one. "Quite unable to know what to make of the phenomenon, he again directed
his gaze to the glass, and there right enough lay the sleeper. "A cold shudder now ran through Tristram--he could no longer disguise
from himself what he had in reality thought all along, that the room was
haunted! "The usual symptoms accompanying occult manifestations rapidly made
themselves known. Tristram was constrained to stare at the luminous
glitter before him in helpless expectation; to save his soul he could
neither have stirred nor uttered the faintest ejaculation. He saw in the
mirror the door of the bedroom slowly open, and a hideous, apish face
peep stealthily in, not at him, but at the sleeper. "Next he watched a figure, brown, hairy and lurid--the figure of some
huge monkey--come crawling into the room on all-fours, and followed each
of its tell-tale movements as, sidling up to its sleeping victim, it
suddenly hurled itself at him, choking him to death with its long
fingers. "This was the climax--Tristram saw no more. The phosphorescent light
died out, the mirror darkened, and on sinking back on his pillow, he
realized with the wildest delight he was once again alone--his bedfellow
had gone! "Tristram was so unnerved by all that had happened that he made up his
mind to leave the house at daybreak, a decision which, however, was
altered on the appearance of the sun and the charming little girl in
the red stockings. "After breakfasting, Tristram strolled about the town, chancing to meet
an old school-fellow, named Heriot, in the Rue de Mermadotte. "Heriot had only recently come to Bruges; he was dissatisfied with his
lodgings, and readily fell in with Tristram's suggestion that they
should 'dig' together. "The maid with the yellow hair was more pleasing than ever, Heriot fell
desperately in love with her, and it was close on midnight before he
could be persuaded to bid her good night and accompany Tristram to the
bed-chamber. "'I wonder why she told me not to sleep on the left side of the bed?' he
said to Martin, as they began to undress. "Tristram glanced guiltily at the mirror. For reasons of his own he
hadn't as much as hinted to Heriot what he had seen there the previous
night, and he was not at all sure now that it might not have been a
nightmare or an hallucination; anyhow, he would like to put it to the
test before mentioning it to anyone, and Heriot, whom he knew to be a
sceptic with regard to ghosts, was so strong and hale a man physically
that, happen what might, he had no apprehensions whatever concerning
him. "Regretting that he was obliged to disobey the wishes of a lady, Heriot
declared his preference for the left side of the bed, adding that if the
maiden was so highly enamoured of him, she must put herself to the
inconvenience of a few extra yards. 'Infatuation like hers,' he
maintained, 'should surely overcome all obstacles.' "Nothing loth, Tristram gave in to him, and before many minutes had
elapsed both men had fallen into a deep sleep. "On the stroke of two Tristram awoke, perspiring horribly.