<strong><strong>Dream</strong>s</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Dream</strong>-<strong>Stories</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>Anna</strong> <strong>Kingsford</strong> - 22 - AN EASTERN APOLOGUE. The following was read <strong>by</strong> me during sleep, in an old book printed in archaic type. As with many other things similarly read <strong>by</strong> me, I do not know whether it is to be found in any book: — [Page 64] "After Buddha had been ten years in retirement, certain sages sent their disciples to him, asking him, — What dost thou claim to be, Gautama ' " Buddha answered them, ' I claim to be nothing.' " Ten years afterwards they sent again to him, asking the same question, <strong>and</strong> again Buddha answered: — ' I claim to be nothing.' "Then after yet another ten years had passed, they sent a third time, asking, ' What dost thou claim to be, Gautama ' "And Buddha replied, ' I claim to be the utterance of the most high God.' " Then they said to him: ' How is this, that hitherto thou hast proclaimed thyself to be nothing, <strong>and</strong> now thou declarest thyself to be the very utterance of God ' " Buddha answered: ' Either I am nothing, or I am the very utterance of God, for between these two all is silence.'" ATCHAM, March 5, 1885. Page 40
<strong><strong>Dream</strong>s</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Dream</strong>-<strong>Stories</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>Anna</strong> <strong>Kingsford</strong> - 23 - A HAUNTED HOUSE INDEED I dreamt that during a tour on the Continent with my friend C. we stayed in a town wherein there was an ancient house of horrible reputation, concerning which we received the following account. At the top of the house was a suite of rooms, from which no one who entered at night ever again emerged. No corpse was ever found; but it was said <strong>by</strong> some that the victims were absorbed bodily <strong>by</strong> the walls; <strong>by</strong> others that there [Page 65] were in the rooms a number of pictures in frames, one frame, however, containing a blank canvas, which had the dreadful power, first, of fascinating the beholder, <strong>and</strong> next of drawing him towards it, so that he was compelled to approach <strong>and</strong> gaze at it. Then, <strong>by</strong> the same hideous enchantment, he was forced to touch it, <strong>and</strong> the touch was fatal. For the canvas seized him as a devilfish seizes its prey, <strong>and</strong> sucked him in, so that he perished without leaving a trace of himself, or of the manner of his death. The legend said further that if any person could succeed in passing a night in these rooms <strong>and</strong> in resisting their deadly influence, the spell would for ever be broken, <strong>and</strong> no one would thenceforth be sacrificed. Hearing all this, <strong>and</strong> being somewhat of the knight-errant order, C. <strong>and</strong> I determined to face the danger, <strong>and</strong>, if possible, deliver the town from the enchantment. We were assured that the attempt would be vain, for that it had already been many times made, <strong>and</strong> the Devils of the place were always triumphant. They had the power, we were told, of hallucinating the senses of their victims; we should be subjected to some illusion, <strong>and</strong> be fatally deceived. Nevertheless, we were resolved to try what we could do, <strong>and</strong> in order to acquaint ourselves with the scene of the ordeal, we visited the place in the daytime. It was a gloomylooking building, consisting of several vast rooms, filled with lumber of old furniture, worm-eaten <strong>and</strong> decaying; scaffoldings, which seemed to have been erected for the sake of making repairs <strong>and</strong> then left; the windows were curtainless, the floors bare, <strong>and</strong> rats ran hither <strong>and</strong> thither among the rubbish accumulated in the corners. Nothing could possibly look more desolate <strong>and</strong> gruesome. We saw no pictures; but as we [Page 66] did not explore every part of the rooms, they may have been there without our seeing them. We were further informed <strong>by</strong> the people of the town that in order to visit the rooms at night it was necessary to wear a special costume, <strong>and</strong> that without it we should have no chance whatever of issuing from them alive. This costume was of black <strong>and</strong> white, <strong>and</strong> each of us was to carry a black stave. So we put on this attire, — which somewhat resembled the garb of an ecclesiastical order, — <strong>and</strong> when the appointed time came, repaired to the haunted house, where, after toiling up the great staircase in the darkness, we reached the door of the haunted apartments to find it closed. But light was plainly visible beneath it, <strong>and</strong> within was the sound of voices. This greatly surprised us; but after a short conference we knocked. The door was presently opened <strong>by</strong> a servant, dressed as a modern indoor footman usually is, who civilly asked us to walk in. On entering we found the place altogether different from what we expected to find, <strong>and</strong> had found on our daylight visit. It was brightly lighted, had decorated walls, pretty ornaments, carpets, <strong>and</strong> every kind of modern garnishment, <strong>and</strong>, in short, bore all the appearance of an ordinary well-appointed private flat. While we stood in the corridor, astonished, a gentleman in evening dress advanced towards us from one of the reception rooms. As he looked interrogatively at us, we thought it best to explain the intrusion, adding that we presumed we had either entered the wrong house, or stopped at the wrong apartment. He laughed pleasantly at our tale, <strong>and</strong> said, "I don't know anything about haunted rooms, <strong>and</strong>, in fact, Page 41
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