Yet sensational fiction has
lingered on side by side with other forms of fiction all through
the nineteenth century, because it supplies a human and natural
craving for excitement. It may not be the dominant type, but it
will always exist, and will produce its thrill by ever-varying
devices. Those who scoff may be taken unawares, like the company
in _Nightmare Abbey_. The conversation turned on the subject of
ghosts, and Mr. Larynx related his delightfully compact ghost
story:
"I once saw a ghost myself in my study, which is the
last place any one but a ghost would look for me. I had
not been in it for three months and was going to
consult Tillotson, when, on opening the door, I saw a
venerable figure in a flannel dressing-gown, sitting in
my armchair, reading my Jeremy Taylor. It vanished in a
moment, and so did I, and what it was and what it
wanted, I have never been able to ascertain"
--a quieter, more inoffensive ghost than that described by Defoe
in his _Essay on the History and Reality of Apparitions_: "A
grave, ancient man, with a full-bottomed wig and a rich brocaded
gown, who changed into the most horrible monster that ever was
seen, with eyes like two fiery daggers red-hot." Mr. Flosky and
Mr. Hilary have hardly declared their disbelief in ghosts when:
"The door silently opened, and a ghastly figure,
shrouded in white drapery with the semblance of a
bloody turban on its head, entered and stalked slowly
up the apartment.
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