A belief in apparitions was at that time universal, and by no means
confined to the humble ranks of life. Imagination could not conceive a
more suitable scene for the gambols of supernatural beings than the
ruins adjoining the humble tenement which the Beaumonts inhabited. The
unfortunate, waiting-gentlewoman was kept all night in continual tremor
by horrible visions and dreadful sounds: yet to wake her Lady, who went
to bed extremely out of humour, was a still more daring exercise of
courage than to be a sole witness of the alarming noises produced by the
wind rushing through vaults and crevices, or the fearful reflection of a
thistle by moonlight, waving on the top of a crumbling arch. After a
night spent in the exercise of such comparative heroism, Mrs. Abigail
hailed with pleasure the return of dawn; and as ghosts and goblins
always post off to Erebus when Aurora's flag gilds the mountains,
imagined she might now go to sleep in safety. But she was soon roused by
the sound of voices, and beheld an indisputable apparition.
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