title: Graven Images: Fifteen Tales of Dark Magic and Ancient Myth
author:  Nancy Kilpatrick 
description: Nancy Kilpatrick and Thomas S. Roche are well-known and highly-regarded in the horror and dark fantasy genre, having appeared in numerous small press magazines and anthologies. Their previous collection was the critically-acclaimed <i>In the Shadow of the Gargoyle</i>.
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  ##### www.blackmask.com
  
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  # A TRUE STORY
  
  
  ### Benjamin Disraeli
  
  
  This page copyright © 2001 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com  
    
  
  
  SIR, — When I was a young boy, I had delicate health, and was somewhat of a
  pensive and contemplative turn of mind; it was my delight in the long summer
  evenings to slip away from my noisy and more robust companions, that I might
  walk in the shade of a venerable wood, my favourite haunt, and listen to the
  cawing of the old rooks, who seemed as fond of this retreat as I was.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  One evening I sat later than usual, though the distant sound of the cathedral
  clock had more than once warned me to my home. There was a stillness in all
  nature that I was unwilling to disturb by the least motion. From this reverie
  I was suddenly startled by the sight of a tall, slender female who was
  standing by me, looking sorrowfully and steadily in my face. She was dressed
  in white, from head to foot, in a fashion I had never seen