To my frightened interrogation the answer came, through
chattering teeth, 'It's I--only I--Ted--no--nothing's the matter,
only I can't stand it any longer!'
His hands were cold as ice when he grasped mine, as if to get hold
of something substantial, and he trembled so as to shake the bed.
'That room,' he faltered. ''Tis not only the moans! I've seen
her!'
'Whom?'
'I don't know. There she stands with her lamp, crying!' I could
scarcely distinguish the words through the clashing of his teeth,
and as I threw my arms round him the shudder seemed to pass to me;
but I did my best to warm him by drawing the clothes over him, and
he began to gather himself together, and speak intelligibly. There
had been sounds the first night as of wailing, but he had been too
much preoccupied to attend to them till, soon after one o'clock,
they ended in a heavy fall and long shriek, after which all was
still. Christmas night had been undisturbed, but on this the voices
had begun again at eleven, and had a strangely human sound; but as
it was windy, sleety weather, and he had learnt at sea to disregard
noises in the rigging, he drew the sheet over his head and went to
sleep. 'I was dreaming that I was at sea,' he said, 'as I always do
on a noisy night, but this was not a dream. I was wakened by a
light in the room, and there stood a woman with a lamp, moaning and
sobbing.
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