Page:In defense of Harriet Shelley, and other essays.djvu/150

 MARK TWAIN

and leave nothing behind it but a vacant lot. I was unspeakably delighted. I had seen an appari tion at last, with my own eyes, in broad daylight. I made up my mind to write an account of it to the society. I ran to where the specter had been, to make sure he was playing fair, then I ran to the other end of the porch, scanning the open grounds as I went. No, everything was perfect; he couldn t have escaped without my seeing him; he was an apparition, without the slightest doubt, and I would write him up before he was cold. I ran, hot with excitement, and let myself in with a latch-key. When I stepped into the hall my lungs collapsed and my heart stood still. For there sat that same appa rition in a chair all alone, and as quiet and reposeful as if he had come to stay a year! The shock kept me dumb for a moment or two then I said, &quot;Did you come in at that door?&quot; &quot;Yes.&quot;

&quot;Did you open it, or did you ring?&quot;

&quot;I rang, and the colored man opened it.&quot;

I said to myself: &quot;This is astonishing. It takes

George all of two minutes to answer the door-bell

when he is in a hurry, and I have never seen him in a

hurry. How did this man stand two minutes at that

door, within five steps of me, and I did not see him?&quot;

I should have gone to my grave puzzling over that

riddle but for that lady s chance question last week :

&quot;Have you ever had a vision when awake?&quot; It

stands explained now. During at least sixty seconds

that day I was asleep, or at least totally unconscious,

without suspecting it. In that interval the man

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