Page:The Necromancer, or, The Tale of the Black Forest Vol. 1.djvu/216

 themselves very much, by various conjectures, about the reasons of my connexion with the Austrian; but neither we nor our trusty serjeants communicated our adventures to any one of our acquaintance.

During our absence a strange accident had happened to one of our comrades, which had made every one wish for the return of the Austrian, and no sooner were we arrived, before all the officers repaired to my room to inform us of it.

The officer who lodged at the haunted inn, coming home against midnight three days ago, sat down to finish a letter to his colonel. As soon as it had struck twelve o'clock he heard a tremendous rap at the door, which he did not mind at first, but continued writing. A second rap, more violent than the first, disturbed him soon after, but he still took little notice of it. A third, not unlike a clap of thunder, ensued, after a short pause, the door