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Once I had an idea of not going to the hotel that night at all But of

what use could such an avoidance be? The apparition was bound by no

fetters to that terrible sitting-rooht be put to the

ordeal anywhere, even here in the thoroughfares of the city, and upon

the whole I preferred to return toNay, I was the victim

of a positive desire for that scene of my torture

I returned It was eleven o'clock The apparition awaited me But this

time it was not seated in the chair It stood with its back to the

, and its gaze met mine as I entered the room I did not close

the door, and my eyes never left its face The sneer on its thin lips

was bitterer, more devilishly triumphant, than before Erect,

host stood there, and it see the door open? You dare not escape

You cannot keep away froht you shall die of sheer terror"

With a wild audacity I sat down in the very chair which it had

occupied, and dru-table Then I took off