Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan: Wylder's Hand. V1. 13 May 2010
 

Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (28 August 1814 – 7 February 1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the premier ghost story writer of the nineteenth century and had a seminal influence on the development of this genre in the Victorian era.

Excerpt
I was looking towards the stair-head. The passage was empty and ended in utter darkness. I glanced the other way, and thought I saw--though not distinctly--in the distance a white figure, not gliding in the conventional way, but limping off, with a sort of jerky motion, and, in a second or two, quite lost in darkness.