Ladies’ Edinburgh Magazine > Volume 5

44 TIic Ladies' Edinburgh Magazine.
seen now, only we hear a step coming along the wooden
passage, she knocks at the two doors we passed, then the
creaking is heard as she ascends the cork-screw stair, then a
moment's pause and she knocks loudly at the door.'
' Do you really mean to say that you have heard this, and
are not afraid to sleep here ?'
' I have' often heard it,' answered Meta, ' and so have the
others. Not only at night but in broad daylight; and then,
thinking it was a child who could not get in, I have opened
the door to find nothing, and to remember that I might have
saved myself the trouble, for it was only Lady Anne !'
So Meta finished her tale. Silence fell on us for a few
minutes. The storm was raging outside, and the bats and
ivy were fluttering on the window panes. Suddenly came a
lull in the wind, and in the silence a slow, soft step came up
the stair. "We all heard it, and looked at each other—no one
spoke. Then came the dreaded sound—a loud sharp rap
against the panels.
I turned white with fright.
' There is no use asking her to come in,' said Meta, ' for it
is the Ghost!'
And so it was. M. E. T.
©cbatcs of tf}c tallies' (!Htimburcj|j iLitcraru .Society.
OuE debates have, during the past year, been remarkable for their
practical character. There has been no plunging about in the deep
waters of philosophy, no elevated feminine views have been elicited
(in ethics or politics, no historical puzzles have been propounded,
hardly any abstract questions handled. Are we growing prosaic or
Positivist as we grow—for such a Society—venerable ? One literary
and one artistic debate represent all the ideal parts of our discussions ;
the others are considerations how best to educate, to dress, to cook,
to spell, and so on.
In January we asked the question whether a thorough English
education was attainable without a knowledge of Latin ; as the voting
gave 22 to 13 in favour of Latin, it seems evident that our Society
should flock to attend the badly supported Latin classes of the
Ladies' Educational Association. But although we suspect few of
them are accomplished Latinists, they do not ask—perhaps buoyed
up by the ambiguity which perplexed the voting—the question how
much Latin is necessary ; possibly only some knowledge of Latin
derivations. In February we took up the question of the deteriora¬
tion of the servants of the day as compared with those of former
times, a subject on which all were qualified to speak. We only
regret that no servants were present at the lively discussion, from
which they might have taken some useful hints. A resume of it—
amusing if not quite correct—was given in the April number of the