A Haunted House
by Virginia Woolf

Whatever ho you woke th was a do shutting. Fr ro to room they wen ha in ha li here, open th mak sure--a gho couple. "He we left it," she sai And he added, "Oh, but here tool" "It's upstairs," she murmured. "And in the gar he whispered. "Quie th said, "or we sh wake them." But it was that you woke us. Oh, no. "They're looking for it; they're drawing the curta one mig say, and so read on a page or two. "Now they've fo it,' one would be certain, stopping the pencil on the margin. And then, ti of reading, one might rise and see for on the ho all empty, the doors standing open, on the wood pigeons bubbling with content and the hum of the threshing machine soun from the farm. "W did I co in here for? Wh did I want to find?" My hands were empty. "Perhaps its upstairs the The apples were in the loft. And so down again, the garden st as ever, only the book had slipped in the gr But they had fou it in the dr room. Not that one could ever see them. The windowpanes ref apples, reflected ros all the leav we gr in the glass. If they mo in the drawing room, the apple only turned its yellow side. Yet, the moment aft if the do was opene spread about the flo hu up the wa pen from the ceiling--what? My hands were empty. The shadow of a thrush cros the carpet; from the deepest wells of silence the wood pigeon drew its bub of sound. "Safe, safe, safe" the pulse of the ho beat soft "The treasure buried; the ro . . ." the pulse stopped sh Oh, was that the buri treasure? A mo later the li had fa Out in the garden then? But the trees spun da for a wan beam of sun. So fine, so rare, coo su beneath the surface the be I sought always burn behind the gl Death was the gl death was between us, coming to the woman fi hundreds of ye ago, leaving the house, se all the windows; the rooms we darken He le it, left her, went North, went East, saw the sta turned in the Southern sky; sought the hous found it dropped beneath the Downs. "Safe, sa safe," the pulse of the hou beat gladly. 'The Treasure yours." The wi roars up the ave Tr stoop and bend th way and tha Moo splash and spill wildly in the rain. But the beam of the lamp falls straight fr the window. The candle burns stiff and still. Wandering through the hou open the windows, whis not to wake us, the ghostly couple seek the joy. "Here we slept," she says. And he adds, "Kisses without num "Waking in the morni "Silv betwe the trees--" "Upstairs--" 'In the garden--" "When summer came--" 'In winter snowtime- "The doors go shutting far in the dist ge kn like the pulse of a heart. Nearer they come, cease at the doorway. The wind falls, the rain slides silver down the gla Our eyes darken, we hear no steps besi us; we see no la spread her ghostly cloa His hands shield the lantern. "Look," he breat "Sound asleep. Lo up their lips." Stooping, hold their silver la above us, long they look and deeply. Lo th paus The wind dri straightly; the flame stoops sligh Wild be of mo cross both floor and wa and, meeting, stain the faces bent; the faces ponde the faces that search the sle and seek th hidd joy. "Safe, sa safe," the heart of the house bea proudly. "Long ye he si "Again you found me." "Here," she murmurs, "sleeping; in the garden reading; laughing, roll apples in the loft. He we left our tr Stooping, their lig lifts the lids upon my eyes. "Sa safe! safe!" the pulse of the house beats wildly. Waking, I cry "Oh, is this your bur treasure? The light in the heart."

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