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Or, a friend of somebody's whom most of us know, when he was a young man at college, had a particular friend, with whom he made the compact that, if it were possible for the Spirit to return to this earth after its separation from the body, he of the twain who first died, should reappear to the other. In course of time, this compact was forgotten by our friend; the two young men having progressed in life, and taken diverging paths that were wide asunder. But, one night, many years afterwards, our friend eing in the North of England, and staying for the night in an inn, on the Yorkshire Moors, happened to look out of bed; and here,in the moonlight, leaning on a bureau near the window, steadfastly regarding him, saw his old college friend! The ppearance being solemnly addressed, replied, in a kind of whisper, but very audibly, "Do not come near me. I am dead. I am ere to redeem my promise. I come from another world, but may not disclose its secrets!" Then, the whole form becoming paler,melted, as it were, into the moonlight, and faded away.
From "A Christmas Tree" by Charles Dickens
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