I approached and knocked at the door, which was instantly opened by a tall, gaunt woman with a harsh, forbidding face.
"'What may you be wantin'?' she asked, in a Northern accent.
"'I am your neighbor over yonder,' said I, nodding towards my house. 'I see that you have only just moved in, so I thought that if I could be of any help to you in any-'
"'Ay, we'll just ask ye when we want ye,' said she, and shut the door in my face.
Annoyed at the churlish rebuff, I turned my back and walked home.
All evening, though I tried to think of other things, my mind would still turn to the apparition at the window and the rudeness of the woman.
I determined to say nothing about the former to my wife, for she is a nervous, highly strung woman, and I had no wish that she would share the unpleasant impression which had been produced upon myself.
I remarked to her, however, before I fell asleep, that the cottage was now occupied, to which she returned no reply.
"I am usually an extremely sound sleeper.
It has been a standing jest in the family that nothing could ever wake me during the night.