A Ghost Story
That Mounts to a Vivid Climax
THE TAP
MENTALLY I cursed the tap.
If I had risen once to turn it off, I had risen half-a-dozen times during the last quarter of an hour, and still the disconcerting drip, drip, drip continued.
This was my first night in the new flat, and after Mrs. Biggs, who came to do the cleaning and prepare my meals, had wished me "Good-night," I had settled down to run off a short article which I had promised to deliver by morning.
The words had flowed from my pen with scarcely an effort, and probably for this very reason the incident stands out in my memory more vividly than would otherwise have been the case, I recollect, that I had paused in my writing to consider more deeply a certain point in my article. Glancing up at the clock, I had noticed the hands indicating a quarter to eleven, and as I took up my pen afresh I heard that drip, drip, drip of the tap in the bathroom. For a few minutes I paid no attention to the sound, and continued writing; but presently it became so loud and insistent that I found myself counting the drops unconsciously.
Drip, drip, drip. . . .
"A loose washer," I said to myself. "I'll get a plumber tomorrow!"
Rising, I proceeded to the bathroom and turned the tap off so far as I was able. Then I went back to my desk; but barely had I picked up my pen than the sound recommenced.
Drip, drip, drip. . . .
I tried to ignore it; but without success. The very quietness of the building seemed to intensify the noise until to listen to it became painful. I must have gone at least four times to try and screw the confounded thing off, and as surely as I returned to my chair, believing I had fixed it, just as surely would that dripping begin anew.
With an exclamation of annoyance, I rose to my feet once more. And then, suddenly, I became aware that the drip, drip, drip was changing slowly, gradually, to a full rush of water as though someone were turning on the tap to its fullest extent.
In surprise, I hurried to the bathroom, and as I approached the door I heard the little window blow open with a loud bang, and a great gust of air enfolded me, air of so icy a coldness that I shivered involuntarily.
Grumbling at the carelessness of Mrs. Biggs in leaving the window unfastened, I closed it hastily and made it secure, shooting home the tiny bolt that a previ-
