Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

The Familiar Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

I was a young man at the time, and intimately acquainted with some of the actors in thisstrange tale; the impression which its incidents made on me, therefore, were deep, andlasting. I shall now endeavour, with precision, to relate them all, combining, of course, inthe narrative, whatever I have learned from various sources, tending, however imperfectly, to illuminate the darkness which involves its progress and termination. Somewhere about the year 1794, the younger brother of a certain baronet, whom I shallcall Sir James Barton, returned to Dublin. He had served in the navy with some distinction, having commanded one of His Majesty's frigates during the greater part of the Americanwar. Captain Barton was apparently some two- or three-and-forty years of age. He was anintelligent and agreeable companion when he pleased it, though generally reserved, andoccasionally even mood