On a night of dreadful storm, when the howling gale shook the stout timbers of Bramhall Hall, the bell of the portal gate clanged furiously. Into the courtyard rode a horseman clad in crimson, mounted on a coal-black steed, whose eyes shone with an unearthly glare. In spite of the horseman's sinister appearance, the Knight of Bramhall Hall made him welcome, and gave him food and lodging for the night. By morning the storm and subsided, and the sun rose peacefully in the clear sky. But the red rider and his coal-black horse had vanished, and upon his bed the Knight of Bramhall lay dead.
