Read Online The Phantom Lover by Elizabeth Mansfield - Free Book Online Page A

herself for bed. She had fallen into a deep sleep when a strange clanking disturbed her. At first she thought she was dreaming and endeavored to ignore the sound, but the noise was quite real and very close. At last she realized that it was not a dream and opened her eyes. The clanking seemed to come from somewhere near the window—a casement which was set, dormer-like, into an alcove cut in the two-foot-thick wall. A heavy drapery curtained the window, and the arched opening of the alcove was dressed with a pair of sheer white curtains.
    Her heart beat rapidly, for the sound was both unexpected and horrifying. It seemed to combine the rattle of chains and an unidentifiable clumping noise. But before she could shake off her paralysis of fear, something more horrifying occurred: a shimmering light seemed to materialize behind the curtain. At first it was faint, but it quickly brightened until …
    Amelia gasped in terror. She could make it out distinctly. It was a candle … a candle floating in the air all by itself! It swayed back and forth behind the curtain, and with each sway it seemed to come closer. With eyes bulging in fright, a racing pulse and a scream which stuck in her throat, she threw back the covers, bounded out of bed with the speed of a much younger woman and flew to the door.
    She slammed the door behind her and, in her bare feet, crossed the hall to Nell’s room. Without bothering to knock, she burst in. “Nell, Nell !” she cried into the darkness. “Get up! Quickly!”
    Nell woke with pulse-racing suddenness. “Amelia?” she asked tensely. “Is that you?”
    â€œYes, yes!” the old woman said breathlessly. “Where are you? I can’t see anything in this darkness. Light a candle, quickly!”
    Nell did as she was bid. With the first spark of the match, Amelia found her way to the bed. Tremblingly, she threw her arms around the bemused Nell. “Oh, Nell, I saw it! I saw it! The ghost !”
    Nell stared at her in astonishment. “What are you talking about? Please, dearest, try to calm yourself. I can’t understand a word of what you’re saying.”
    â€œI tell you, it’s true, Nell! There is a ghost—just as the coachman said!”
    Nell, now fully awake, smiled at Amelia as if she were a child. “Goosecap!” she said affectionately. “You were only dreaming.”
    â€œNo, no, Nell, I swear! I thought I was dreaming when I first heard it … You didn’t hear anything, did you? A sort of clanking and thumping?”
    â€œNo, of course I didn’t.”
    â€œNo, I didn’t think so. You couldn’t have been sleeping so soundly if you had. It was a dreadful noise, I can tell you! Dreadful! It came from the window alcove. I know I didn’t dream it because I heard it for several seconds after I had sat up!”
    â€œWell, I suppose there could have been some noise,” Nell said reasonably. “A bird trapped in the eaves, or the wind howling through some crack in the wall …”
    â€œNo, it wasn’t like that. It wasn’t like anything I’ve ever heard before.”
    â€œBut Amelia,” Nell comforted, taking the old woman’s hands in hers, “there could be any number of explanations for strange sounds in the night. It’s ridiculous to blame them on a ghost.”
    Amelia shook her head. “But I saw it … or at least its candle!”
    â€œWhat? You saw something?” Nell asked in disbelief.
    â€œYes, truly ! A burning candle, floating in the air!” She lowered her voice to a tense whisper. “Held aloft by an unseen hand !”
    Nell could not help herself—she laughed. “Oh, Amelia, what nonsense! You sound like a character in a book by Mrs. Radcliffe.”
    Amelia sighed. “Very well, laugh at me. But I shan’t remain here another day. And I shan’t permit you to stay, either. We are both going home.